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Pick your favorite iconic car from any decade....
- Thread starter Iridescentone
- Start date
I'll play
1950's: Mercedes 300SL (known as the Gullwing) this car was so far ahead of it's time, most people don't realize is came to be in 1954
1960's: Invalid Link Removed. The iconic boat tail Corvette is its finest hour. 4-wheel disc brakes, console mounted e-brake, the bone crushing L88 427 with Aluminum heads making ~ 500HP.
1970's: De Tomaso Pantera. This may be the coolest looking car ever made - Italian bodywork mated to the mid-engined Ford 351 Cleveland. It had problems, but everything in the '70's did.
1980's... ah god do I have to choose something in this god-forsaken era? If I have to name a favorite, I think the Renault R5 Turbo is my favorite. This is an odd little cheater car to qualify for WRC Modified. Tiny hatchback based on the LeCar, but with RWD a mid engine and a BIG turbo.
Honorable mention to the 5.0 Mustang, probably the most prolific car of the decade.
Also honorable mention to the 1987 Buick GNX big V6 with a big turbo this was actually the fastest American car that year. I think the first American car with coil on plug ignition A car so cool the FBI bought a few.
1990's. This is where the Corvette's started getting good again. 1996 Corvette Grandsport. 375HP LT4, 6-speed transmission, 17x11" wheels out back with real brakes. The last and best of the C4 chassis. This was what happened when the GM engineers got pissed off that the ZR1 engine was outsourced.
Honorable mention to the 1995 Invalid Link Removed. Such a fun car to drive. One of the best shifters ever.
Honorable mention to the Ferrari 355. The last of the hand-built cars and one of the prettiest. Watch Golden Eye for a cool chase scene with one.
2000's. This is where the Corvette finished getting good again.. I adore my 2002 Z06, but the 2009 (C6)Z06 with its 7-liter, 7000RPM V8 is a masterpiece. 505 HP and earth shaking performance for well under $100K. This put the entire exotic car industry on notice.
Honorable mention to the Porsche 997 GT3 - the only real contender against the C6 Z06 for the performance king (at 2x+ the cost). I still don't understand how this is a street car someone could just buy.
Honorable mention: The Mercedes AMG C63. This was quite simply a German muscle car. 4 doors with maybe the best engine to ever come out of the Mercedes factory 6.3 Liters of twin turbo V8 fury. It made over 400 ft/lbs of torque... everywhere.
2010's. The Ferrari 458 is quite simply the best naturally aspirated driver's car ever built. The 4.5L, 562HP@9000 engine made every car manufacturer realize that the naturally aspirated era was over, they couldn't top that in a production car.
1950's: Mercedes 300SL (known as the Gullwing) this car was so far ahead of it's time, most people don't realize is came to be in 1954
1960's: Invalid Link Removed. The iconic boat tail Corvette is its finest hour. 4-wheel disc brakes, console mounted e-brake, the bone crushing L88 427 with Aluminum heads making ~ 500HP.
1970's: De Tomaso Pantera. This may be the coolest looking car ever made - Italian bodywork mated to the mid-engined Ford 351 Cleveland. It had problems, but everything in the '70's did.
1980's... ah god do I have to choose something in this god-forsaken era? If I have to name a favorite, I think the Renault R5 Turbo is my favorite. This is an odd little cheater car to qualify for WRC Modified. Tiny hatchback based on the LeCar, but with RWD a mid engine and a BIG turbo.
Honorable mention to the 5.0 Mustang, probably the most prolific car of the decade.
Also honorable mention to the 1987 Buick GNX big V6 with a big turbo this was actually the fastest American car that year. I think the first American car with coil on plug ignition A car so cool the FBI bought a few.
1990's. This is where the Corvette's started getting good again. 1996 Corvette Grandsport. 375HP LT4, 6-speed transmission, 17x11" wheels out back with real brakes. The last and best of the C4 chassis. This was what happened when the GM engineers got pissed off that the ZR1 engine was outsourced.
Honorable mention to the 1995 Invalid Link Removed. Such a fun car to drive. One of the best shifters ever.
Honorable mention to the Ferrari 355. The last of the hand-built cars and one of the prettiest. Watch Golden Eye for a cool chase scene with one.
2000's. This is where the Corvette finished getting good again.. I adore my 2002 Z06, but the 2009 (C6)Z06 with its 7-liter, 7000RPM V8 is a masterpiece. 505 HP and earth shaking performance for well under $100K. This put the entire exotic car industry on notice.
Honorable mention to the Porsche 997 GT3 - the only real contender against the C6 Z06 for the performance king (at 2x+ the cost). I still don't understand how this is a street car someone could just buy.
Honorable mention: The Mercedes AMG C63. This was quite simply a German muscle car. 4 doors with maybe the best engine to ever come out of the Mercedes factory 6.3 Liters of twin turbo V8 fury. It made over 400 ft/lbs of torque... everywhere.
2010's. The Ferrari 458 is quite simply the best naturally aspirated driver's car ever built. The 4.5L, 562HP@9000 engine made every car manufacturer realize that the naturally aspirated era was over, they couldn't top that in a production car.
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Fantastic, well thought out wright up of the decades… lots of goodness throughout. Back in the 90s I was working in San Francisco and friends had tickets to the Stanford/Notre Dame game, it was alumni day and they drove about a dozen celebrity alums in with SL500 convertibles… then the last car that drove in was a silver 300SL driven by an alum (doctor) with the Gullwings open, he was donating the car to the school for auction!
Your 2000 paragraph, is spot on. I'm especially fond of the 911 heritage and today's version of the GT3 is insane, out of reach for most… but very cool.
This one appears to be someone's daily driver, like you say 'a street car (race car) someone can just buy'
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Scan of a ORWO WolfenNC500 film that was developed this week.
Photo of a Citroën CX 2000 Pallas, that was rented for a day.
Nice Classic.
Photo of a Citroën CX 2000 Pallas, that was rented for a day.
Nice Classic.
The relatively rare 1980 Mercedes 300SD. This still uses the W116 body which was discontinued that year. I love the 5 -mph bumpers. Also, most imported W116 were probably SEL versions unlike the 300SD.
Pegas Z-102 Cupula (Louwman Car Museum The Hague)
Duesenberg SJ Lagrande Dual-Cowl Phaeton (same museum)
I'm not much of a car guy, but I've always liked the Mustang Fastback.
My 97 Ford Escort was a great car. I dream to one day acquire a NOS specimen of the van version.
That's crazy, it looks like it came right out of a cartoon or comic book!
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Another of my favorites from this decade 
a 440hp 5 door performance hatchback.
a 440hp 5 door performance hatchback.
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Saw this in a Road & Track magazine while waiting for my car to be repaired - 2025 Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider. Looks like a full-scale Hot Wheels car! Ironically, it reminds me of a Corvette, while the new Corvette reminds me of a Ferrari.
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Is this one of those chicken or egg conundrums?
Saw this in the same magazine - 2025 Aston Martin Vanquish:
I agree FilterFunk. The body lines are close to the Corvette C7 Stingray which I much Prefer over the new C8 mid-engine model. The C-7 stays more in line with the Corvette heritage.
My son and I just watched some of this video the other day, and there are a couple that are very similar in here… amazing $$$ in vehicles that likely just putt around vs being driven like intended.
