Anybody Have a Soft Spot for TURBO Cars?

-
BrianT

BrianT

Here we go again...
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2007
Messages
6,066
Reaction score
3,008
Location
Kansas City, Mo
I don't have much info on it yet, but I'm going to go look at this 1985 600 later this morning. It has wiring issues (probably from being stored in a barn for the last seven years) but supposedly ran when parked. Has a "ding" on the other side that the owner can't send pics of? He did say that the convertible top was replaced before storage.
upload_2018-2-11_5-25-20.png

What do you all think?
 
I had an 86 gts. It was a fun car. Oil line to turbo broke and the wife run it out of oil. Rings rod bearings and main bearings,seals and bearings in the turbo and it lived again.
Drove it for a couple years and sold it. Man that car had good heat!
Used diesel oil in it, to me the turbo was cooking the regular oil,would turn black in very short order.
I ran light diesel motor oil and it quit burning oil and stayed clean much longer. Technology has changed in the last 20 plus years so im sure turbo approved oil is much better now.
 
Those 600's are nice... That's not an original color that I remember, but I like it...

Crawl under and check the floor boards... My friend and I saw one of those 4 cyl convertible cars for sale a few years back for $3500 and the floor boards were practically falling off the car when we looked under it...

PS... I have an 89 turbo II motor with 70 k miles on it that I'm selling as I just sold the car that I was going to put it in...
 
The snow storm that was supposed to hit has missed us so I'll be able to crawl all over it around noon and I'll check the floorboards. Any other areas that are a concern?

Not sure about the color but it looks pretty good from the one picture he has. Someone cared enough about the car to put a new top on it and store it away. Maybe it's worth saving?

Edit: Definitely not a factory color for 1985

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/dodge/85600/bilder/13.jpg
 
Last edited:
Had an 89 Daytona Shelby back in the late 90's. 2.2 intercooled 174hp w/getrag 5-speed. Car was pretty zippy. Only thing I did to it was replaced the catalytic converter with a section of pipe. Made a noticable improvement, biggest was turbo lag was reduced. The acceleration/power came on harder.
 
BrianT said:
I don't have much info on it yet, but I'm going to go look at this 1985 600 later this morning. It has wiring issues (probably from being stored in a barn for the last seven years) but supposedly ran when parked. Has a "ding" on the other side that the owner can't send pics of? He did say that the convertible top was replaced before storage.
View attachment 1715140757
What do you all think?
Click to expand...


i like thise rag tops too.. people are starting to try and sell them for good money but they don't seem to move at high prices. be a cool rag top..
 
Brian, it's definitely worth that, I would like that deal to land in my lap (even with our sucky buck exchange)!
 
played with a few of the turbo cars......
Had a '85 Caravelle i bought for 200, put exactly 200 more into it and ran 14.60's on a hot day. I think I've had about 5 or 6 of these little turbo cars.
  • New head gasket with bolts/timing belt is a must on these. Then, your set for some fun! :D
  • some really cheap upgrades that make huge "seat of the pants" difference!
 
I had a 1986 Sundance turbo 1 and a 1988 Daytona Shelby Turbo 2. Man those cars where fun! Worked at the dealer back then. Put a lot of cylinder heads on the turbo 1 engines. They where good for cracking. Put a couple on my Sundance too. That 600 looks nice. Might be tough to find parts if it needs anything.
 
Turbocharged cars are a lot of fun, especially when they are taken care of. My daily driver, for the past 10years is turbocharged and, knock on wood, it’s given me no problems. Just make sure the oil is changed in it frequently, and more importantly, you let the turbo charger cool down (idle) for a couple of minutes after a hard run before turning the car off. It’s a sign of the times to come when even Honda is selling turbocharged cars (for fuel economy) in regular Civics!
 
BrianT said:
The guy wants $600 obo for this one. I'm taking $500 and a trailer.
Click to expand...


That's actually.....pretty reasonable. K cars are becoming old, unique, and....spendy. At $600 you could double your money pretty easy I'd expect. (Meaning, it's a convertible, and I have seen a LOT of demand for them lately, even beyond standard K cars).
 
Still have the Bug. Sure wish I would have kept my Shelby. Don't see many around anymore. That car would fly!!

B&D12.JPG


D&B11.JPG
 
BrianT said:
The snow storm that was supposed to hit has missed us so I'll be able to crawl all over it around noon and I'll check the floorboards. Any other areas that are a concern?

Not sure about the color but it looks pretty good from the one picture he has. Someone cared enough about the car to put a new top on it and store it away. Maybe it's worth saving?

Edit: Definitely not a factory color for 1985

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/dodge/85600/bilder/13.jpg
Click to expand...

The original black ones with the two tone gray interior were very sharp... I liked the two tone gray interior...
 
BrianT said:
The snow storm that was supposed to hit has missed us so I'll be able to crawl all over it around noon and I'll check the floorboards. Any other areas that are a concern?

Not sure about the color but it looks pretty good from the one picture he has. Someone cared enough about the car to put a new top on it and store it away. Maybe it's worth saving?

Edit: Definitely not a factory color for 1985

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/dodge/85600/bilder/13.jpg
Click to expand...
Front wheel wells at the footboards, all the rocker pinch-welds & floors along them, unibody rail by the tank-strap studs, rear "curtain" along the back right above the
muffler hanger. And that blue looks to be close to the blue on Hellrats's ShelbyZ. If it's solid that's a steal, depending on how much of a "ding" You can't see turns out
to be. Mechanicals can still be had, but body parts/repair panels...................good luck!!!
 
318willrun said:
played with a few of the turbo cars......
Had a '85 Caravelle i bought for 200, put exactly 200 more into it and ran 14.60's on a hot day. I think I've had about 5 or 6 of these little turbo cars.
  • New head gasket with bolts/timing belt is a must on these. Then, your set for some fun! :D
  • some really cheap upgrades that make huge "seat of the pants" difference!
Click to expand...
Depending on how long & damp it's been, I'd add buy a new timing kit w/a new idler/tensioner. I had an '84 Chrysler Laser XE Turbo I put together with O/S Intake
valves & a little porting including the mannies, no muffler straight mandrel exhaust. Everyday car till the SW PA metal mites got the better of it. Sat for years before I stripped it to the bones and scrapped
it. Started up and idled, moved it around, drove it up & down the driveway now & then. When I went to put the engine in My '87 Caravelle SE, had to change a few things,
figured a new belt'd be a good idea, LOL!! The tensioner had frozen & it was still running, wore & burned the back-side of the belt paper thin!!!!
 
a friend had a 84 i think it was exactly like this one. it would rip.. when ya dumped the clutch the tq steer would damn near want to break your wrists..


maxresdefault.jpg
 
abodyjoe said:
a friend had a 84 i think it was exactly like this one. it would rip.. when ya dumped the clutch the tq steer would damn near want to break your wrists..


View attachment 1715140811
Click to expand...
Yea the early ones has BAD torque steer. In 1988 they went to equal length axles and that helped a lot. My Sundance was a hand full from a dead stop but the Shelby wasn't to bad. Although It would smoke the tires off then wheel hop in first gear. Had to get a rolling start but man it would pull right up to 125 with no problem. Speedometer quit at 125 and I buried it many times. LOL Made some V8 Mustangs look stupid too :)
 
Killer6 said:
Compared to..............?
Click to expand...

Not compared to anything. They are just an ugly car. Not attractive. Hard on the eyes.

I'm sure most in this thread who are a fan of them disagree, and that's okay. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

:poke:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top