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Guy Cars and Chick Cars: Do They Really Exist?
CarTalk ^ | April20, 2002 | Click & Clack, the Tappet Brothers

Posted on 04/20/2002 7:31:08 AM PDT by yankeedame

Hey, gang! Since we had such a hoot with "Worst Cars of the Millenniun" how about having a go at this? And remember: Keep your punches clean and no hitting below the belt. At the sound of the bell come out fighting. **DING** )

Presenting....The Ultimate Chick Cars of all Time

#5 Dodge Neon

Neons are Barbie cars: little and cute and rounded in the hips. Even in black, they are feminine and adorable, only just a bit tougher, like Tattoo Barbie."

#4 VW Jetta

" Anything by Volkswagen is a chick car. VW realized this years ago and joined forces with another company to sell guy cars-- they called that company Porsche."

#3 Mazada Miata

"I discovered this phenomenon when I got a Miata. 'Girlie car'. That all I heard."

#2 VW Cabriolet

"All teen-age girls classify them as cute. 'Nuff said."

#1 VW Beetle

" The VW Beetle. A chick car, definitely. And made to be so. How? I know of no other automoblie with a FLOWER VASE as standard equipment."

Presenting....The Ultimate Guy Cars of All Time

#5 Dodge Viper

"It might be a guy car if there was a movie or TV show built entirely around it. Other examples include Burt Reynold's Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit, Nash Bridges' Hemi Cuba convertible and Jim Rockford's Firebird."

#4 Ford F-150 Pickup

"Any car with numbers or letters for a name, or tacked on the end, can become a guy car. For example, F-150 or Civic-SI."

#3 Chevy Camero

"...with twice the horse power needed. Used to show other guys how manly you really are."

#2 Chevy Corvette

"I believe the main aspect that determines the male/female state of a car is based on the engine compartment(hood)-to-cab-lenght ratio. A car such as a pickup or Corvette has a large hood-to-cab-lenght ratio."

#1 Ford Mustang

"A back seat guaranteed to be too small for your mother-in-law."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: cartalk; chickcar; guycars
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To: Jim Scott
You seem awfully down on AMC's.I'm no big AMC fan either.Cars,Ford performance fan.Trucks,Ford plus International Scout,Traveler fan.

But back in 1969 AMC introduced a car called a Rambler Scrambler.They took a two door hardtop Rambler which was a small light weight midsized car and put a 390ci engine with a 4spd and 3.91 traction lock gears together.Then they painted them white and bolted on a snorkle hood scoop.

Off the show room floor they would run low 13's high 12's!On a friday or Saturday night if you pulled next to one of those you better of had a super running small block or a big block with some real "go" power or that "Rambler" would "Kick" your Butt at the stop light.

221 posted on 04/21/2002 4:01:32 PM PDT by painter
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To: yankeedame
Here's mine:

well ok this one isn't mine, but it looks very similar. Mine is a 4x4 so it sits a bit higher, and doesn't have the front emblem on it and it has chrome side steps. Oh and I think mine is prettier, (probably because my husband built it)! Great chick car!

kelly in Alaska

222 posted on 04/21/2002 4:12:37 PM PDT by knak
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To: Rate_Determining_Step
I've owned 5 Opels, 3 GTs, 1 Manta and 1 Kadette Wagon. Loved them all!

We loved our Opal GT too. We made a choice between a Datsun 240Z and the Opal GT and were never sorry. I think we paid like $2,400.00 for it brand new. **sigh** I wish we had kept it.

223 posted on 04/21/2002 4:20:35 PM PDT by mtngrl@vrwc
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To: mtngrl@vrwc
We loved our Opal GT too. We made a choice between a Datsun 240Z and the Opal GT and were never sorry. I think we paid like $2,400.00 for it brand new. **sigh** I wish we had kept it.

You could not have gone wrong either way. I love the old 240, but have never owned a Z-Car. You can still find decent examples of GTs. All of mine were standard issue 1.9L 4 speed models.

Some came with automatics and even more rare was the air conditioning. Something really needed in those little ovens! I had two Opel Orange ones and one silver one. All were converted to the 32-36DBG Weber carburators. Geeze, I still remember that model number 20 years later!
224 posted on 04/21/2002 5:54:32 PM PDT by Rate_Determining_Step
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To: Rate_Determining_Step
I had a 280Z my kid brother had an Opel GT (both cars were 15 years old).

The Z car is much faster, handled better and much roomier (and I'm a much better driver). But by far the worst of the era was big sis's Mustang II. Same displacement as the Z, less power then the Opel. Don't even ask about what was required to change the starter.

225 posted on 04/21/2002 5:58:50 PM PDT by Dinsdale
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To: jsraggmann
I like your selections I don't know about the 55 BelAir being a girl magnet...I guess it depends on the era you're talking about.
I was a teen in the 40's and I had a 34 three window chopped and channeled, Ford coupe with a 3/8x3/8 stroked full race flathead, that was a girl magnet.
I had a buddy that had a 36 Ford phaeton (convertible sedan) with a Carson top and a hopped up engine, it should have been a girl magnet except he was a real dork.
I think it has more to do with how appealing we are and not so much the wheels... :o)

I agree with your Cobra views; great cars !!

226 posted on 04/21/2002 6:04:09 PM PDT by blackie
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To: senorita
uhhh? what car?
227 posted on 04/21/2002 6:18:25 PM PDT by gilor
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To: Dinsdale
The Z car is much faster, handled better and much roomier (and I'm a much better driver). But by far the worst of the era was big sis's Mustang II. Same displacement as the Z, less power then the Opel. Don't even ask about what was required to change the starter.

Zs are cool, but I skipped straight to the Supra. :) Nissan should have turboed their I6. I liked the funky original 300Zs, but I don't like the limitations of the V6.


228 posted on 04/21/2002 6:42:25 PM PDT by Rate_Determining_Step
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To: mn12
It's definitely the 4.0 I-6, Dad and I had to put a new exhaust manifold on it. It's a '94, by the way.

Grand Cherokee Laredo????

229 posted on 04/21/2002 7:45:22 PM PDT by usconservative
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To: yankeedame
.............Ford Powerstroke Turbo Diesel............Sparkplugs are for girls!
230 posted on 04/21/2002 8:37:41 PM PDT by CJinVA
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To: vigl
That's mine baby. Got it back on April 10th, 2002. Ford F-250 Super Duty Extended Cab. Turbo Diesel...it rocks and will pull anything.
231 posted on 04/22/2002 6:15:46 AM PDT by dsmatuska
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To: dsmatuska
I bought a 2001 back in Sept. F-250,offroad 4x4,dark blue, extended cab,auto,XLT,PSD. I love it. I had a 96 250 that i drove 200 miles. Bought a 2001 f-150 last year but it was lightweight,so i traded it in on the f-250.

You done any mods yet?

Check out the Forum on.

Ford-Diesel.com

232 posted on 04/22/2002 6:31:21 AM PDT by CJinVA
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To: Dinsdale
Eclipse? Thats the same car as a Talon.
With the turbo all wheel drive package that is not a chicks car.

My favorite car of all time that I owned was my '90 Eclipse GSX (AWD, turbo). I dropped a larger turbo in it and was using a K&N air filter. That car got 35 mpg hiway, and would romp porsches.

I absolutely despised what Mits did to that car in 2000. I guess they did a market analysis and determined that the girlie, "hipper than thou" crowd didn't want a hi tech machine, just something that "looked cool".

I own a Subaru SVX now, and the next car will be a Impreza WRX (227 hp stock, 4 cyl turbo, AWD). Too bad about the "toad eye" headlights though.

233 posted on 04/22/2002 6:52:54 AM PDT by MrB
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To: painter
But back in 1969 AMC introduced a car called a Rambler Scrambler.They took a two door hardtop Rambler which was a small light weight midsized car and put a 390ci engine with a 4spd and 3.91 traction lock gears together.Then they painted them white and bolted on a snorkle hood scoop.

Off the show room floor they would run low 13's high 12's!

On a friday or Saturday night if you pulled next to one of those you better of had a super running small block or a big block with some real "go" power or that "Rambler" would "Kick" your Butt at the stop light.

I have nothing specific against the AMC cars, but they were not a big factor in the musclecar wars of the mid to late '60's and unfortunately, your memories of their performance is a bit more optimistic than the records show.

From the americanmotors.com website:

In 1969, as a bidding farewell to the long distinguished Rambler Marquee, the American Motors Company issued the SC/Rambler, a limited edition Rogue American. The SC/Rambler affectionately nicknamed Scrambler, boasted a big 315 bhp 390 V-8, functional hood scoop, four speed transmission with a "Hurst" shifter, heavy-duty suspension package, and a loud, red, white and blue paint scheme.

Priced at a mere $2998.00, the Scrambler was hardly sensible, in the Rambler tradition. Tradition aside, the Scrambler was certainly a spectacular junior muscle car, with confirmed road tests of low 14 second ETs in the standing quarter mile at over 100 mph, and a 0-60 mph time of 6.3 seconds. In all, only 1512 of these gems were produced, triple the number that had been planned.

Low 14-second et's were good for the time but not spectacular nor did the Rambler S/C strike fear into the hearts of big-block Ford and Chevy drivers back then. With such a limited production run, they were an interesting car (like the Corvette 427) but not a factor at the stoplight races.

I love and respect all those '60's musclecars but the Big Three always had the fastest cars and small companies like AMC did what they could to play the HP game but were never a real factor. Not that they didn't win some races, but the AMC cars were simply never fast enough to tempt Ford, Chevy or Chrysler muscle car buyers to switch, and the styling was, to be charitable, not a big reason to buy an AMC. Build quality was also a negative factor and while they were probably not much worse than the big three manufacturers, AMC had a reputation as a somewhat 'cheap' car and this limited it's appeal in the muscle car market segment.

I never intended to start a flame war with anyone here. We all have our biases and our favorite cars, new and old. I simply don't like to see misinformation being bandied about. Very few mid-to-late '60's muscle cars ran much better than high 13's, at best, off the showroom floor. 14 second et's were about average for that time.
This was mostly due to antique suspension systems and skinny (by today's standards) bias-ply tires on small wheels that couldn't get the power to the ground efficently. The factory-prepped big blocks used slicks and pro drivers and did see high 12's and low 13's at the track on some of the better performers, like the Dodge/Plymouth hemi's. However, these et's were not duplicated on the street.

If you had a low 14-second car in 1965, you ruled at the stoplight battlefields. Today, you need to run at least high 12's to do that, plus pass emissions requirements and get good mpg. Times have changed and recollections of '60's muscle car performance seems to get a bit distorted, which is to be expected, but it's good to try and not only keep it true to the facts but also keep those cars (and today's) in proper perspective. They polluted, they got horrible gas mileage (under 10 mpg for the big blocks), they wouldn't run if it got too hot (or too cold) and they were unsafe in terms of having weak brakes and weak tires, not to mention metal dashboards and other now-antiquated safety no-no's. Fun and fast but not without some price.

Frankly, I'll take a new Mustang Cobra 4.6 over an old muscle car, but I can still appreciate and enjoy them. I just don't need to make inflated claims about any of them in order to appreciate them. That doesn't mean that I dislike or want to disparage any old muscle car. I just want to be realistic, no flames intended, to anyone.
Even nitrous lovers.

234 posted on 04/22/2002 8:26:19 AM PDT by Jim Scott
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To: uglybiker
I've been looking at the photo for some time now, and I still cannot see an automobile. There is a recent model Ford Mustang in the photo - some uninformed people might call that an automobile - but as for me Corvettes, Porsches, Vipers and Ferraris are automobiles - a Ford Mustang is an overgrown tricycle.
235 posted on 04/22/2002 6:44:05 PM PDT by reg45
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To: reg45
ps. The Piece-of-Junk Ford distracts from that really impressive looking chassis in the center of the photograph.
236 posted on 04/22/2002 6:56:01 PM PDT by reg45
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To: Andrewksu
I drove an S6 two weeks ago. What a car. And a great sleeper too. I can't tell you how many highschoolers in camaros I left at intersections. Noone EVER suspects a station wagon. :) Only thing faster I've driven is a Z06, and it's tough to beat one of those.
237 posted on 04/22/2002 8:02:22 PM PDT by Not Fooled
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To: pt17
An Isetta..1 cylinder beemer engine, front door opens with cable activated steering attached to it! always wanted one; I can toss it in the back of "Big Yellow"
238 posted on 04/23/2002 11:21:10 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty
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To: Dasaji
I shared a Volvo turbo wagon with my mother for the past five years or so, and I just loved it, especially having the pro-gun stuff in the rear windows.

Liberal car? Bah humbug. It's what you make it. ;-)

239 posted on 04/23/2002 11:37:02 PM PDT by dbwz
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To: sheik yerbouty
An Isetta..1 cylinder beemer engine, front door opens with cable activated steering attached to it! always wanted one; I can toss it in the back of "Big Yellow"

Yes, having one would be a real "gas." You'd certainly turn heads tooling around in one.

Back in the 80s, I saw a three-wheeler that GM made called the Lean Machine, pictured below, that I wish they'd pursued. The design is a little dated now but was a real head-turner back then. When I get too old to hold my 1000 lb. Goldwing upright, I am going to need something like this. :-)


240 posted on 04/24/2002 1:43:23 AM PDT by pt17
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