Inspired by the Motor Trend thread, describe your favorite rear-engined car! But to keep it interesting, you cannot select a Volkswagen or Porsche, and mid-engine cars do not count.

Here's mine, the Fiat 850 Spider, brilliantly styled and packaged, but the only car ever made that would rust out after three years in the Arizona desert...

Tatra 87 or the Tatra 700GT coupe. I thibk the 87 is a genuinely good looking car while the T700 was so fabulously 80s (despite being from the 90s, the eastern block was always a few years behind stylistically). Both rear engine and neither German.

I'd like to find a tatra at some point but they are pretty uncommon in the US.


My car is sort of communist.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

I was going to say a Tatra also. Definitely not a Renault Dauphine. I did like the Corvairs I've owned although the oil dripping on to the heater boxes was really distasteful in winter.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

If I can't have a 911/912 or a VW Type I, I don't think I'll bother with rear engine.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Schwimmwagen

Neither a VW or a Porsche...

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

I drove a FIAT in the early 70's for a few months. I think it was called the 600.

Very small, very slow and no A/C. It was not mine; I just had access to it through a friend who thought it was the greatest car in the world.

For total weirdness you can't beat the early Subaru 360's. Top speed of about 60, but they would get 50 mpg and had plenty of head room.

The Isetta is also an interesting choice. I never drove one, but they do have a rear engine and they, or at least some of them, were built by BMW.

Subaru 360 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Renault 5 turbo 2.
or

Alpine A110

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

moved to od

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Jim

R5 turbos are mid engine afaik.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

When I first met my wife in 1975, she was driving a 66 Corvair Corsa coupe.

I was a not a fan at first, but over the years, I realized they were a pretty nice car in a lot of respects. Regardless of the Ford/Nader film debacle, which was proven to be fake anyway, the second series cars had solved any issues with handling when driven in a normal manner. If you tried hard enough you could bring the rear end around on a late model (2nd gen), but it was significantly harder to do than on my swing axle 59 190SL.

Style wise, they were one of Bill Mitchell's outstanding designs when he was at his peak. Like the pony cars, you could get them in mild to wild trim. If you could find a nice one with a 4 speed, and either the turbo or the 4 carb engine, they were pretty quick and agile. Brakes were from the intermediates and for the time, they were exceptional. Very easy to modulate, and not prone to fading. Car was light enough to not require power steering or power brakes, and also delivered respectable gas mileage.

We had a 66 Corsa 140 four carb, dual exhaust car with a saginaw 4 speed for years. Even had factory air and a AM/FM radio. I kept it stock except for a set of magnum 500s and low profile tires. With the 2 gen suspension cribbed off the Corvette, camber change wasn't an issue. Also had a decent 68 Monza convertible with powerglide and 110hp engine (2 carb, single exhaust). Much slower car, but it was for cruising, not canyon carving.

I still enjoy seeing the occasional one, I think they are even prettier than when we owned ours.

It wasn't Nader that killed the car, it was the Mustang and the Camaro that matched it's price with a much more conventional car AND a V-8.
It's considered by the Corvair nuts that Nader's interference actually led to production past 1966. GM put zero into development for the after 1966. They killed off the turbo and the Corsa premium series, and production plummeted after 1966. The prevailing thought is that GM wanted to cancel the car, but it would look like they were capitulating to the safety accusations.

It was a different engineering approach, something we likely won't see again, had some teething problems, but hit a home run with the second series introduced in 1965. Ultimately, complexity and cost killed the car, it just couldn't compete with it's sibling, the Camaro.

If the right one came along at the right price, I'd have to think pretty hard on why I would not want to get it.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

Renault Dauphine.

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Out side of a 911 I really like the bugs and micro bus. Curse me if you must.

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Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Always one of my favorite cars: http://www.mysubaru360.com/manuals_and_documents/Subaru_360_Consumer_Reports_April_69.pdf

"" But to keep it interesting, you cannot select a Volkswagen ( Type 1 bug ) or Porsche ( 911 / 912 ), and mid-engine cars do not count. ""

Now that I've got that fixed.

VW Type 2 Bus ( had 3 from 1970, 1 was a walk through w sun roof , one front bench seat, one camper. )

VW Type 3 Square back wagon , Fastback sort of a hach back looking car with a trunk. ( had many in the 68 to 72 range , bought not running fixed D-Jet injection , sold off. )

VW Type 4 ( 411 / 412 ) in wagon and hatch back form, the pinnacle of rear engine air cooled development, too bad the cars rotted badly. The rubber underseal was partly to blame. ( had a 1974 412 wagon and painted it Mack truck orange, drove it for a while sold off. Later saw it hit in rear in a salvage yard, called buyer , the relayed a story where someone in a full sized van hit car when stopped at a traffic light. Van driver claimed they didn't see car. . .About all you can see if the roof of the _bright orange_412 from van height. . .

( But never a type 1 bug )

Sebring Vangard Citicar ( electric, have one I'd like to sell. Basically a golf cart with a windshield wiper )

Delorean ( never had one )

Modern cement mixers. . . ( know where some are parked )

Delorean by all means.

I say this grinning my teeth since they had such bad reputations, I like Corvairs too. Not as much without a V8 swap. Otherwise it's like driving a VW.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k