Reply With QuoteGreat vid and sonnet. Lots of memories
If you are awake, I will begin.
I’m 44. Assuming you’re a similar age to me:-
Remember when we were kids, in the 80’s?
Unless you went to the motor show the closest you’d ever get to a mythical Supercar was a poster on the wall or maybe a book for Xmas.
Top gear back then was all about boot size and fuel economy. Clarkson was still writing for the Doncaster Post and some Supercar makers didn’t yet exist. Indeed McLaren, who are a bastion of performance today, were just another F1 team, Mercedes didn’t make a Supercar then, awaiting the capture of AMG before setting sail on the sea of performance and Konigsegg was just a mass of meaningless letters. Horacio Pagani was still an engineer at Lamborghini (he was a pioneer of carbon fiber construction) before his Zonda dream machine and latterly Huayra epic were even a spark in a madman’s mind.
No. The 80’s were a time of drama and excess with very few Supercar makers.
Who would forget Joan Collins and her shoulder pads? The pastel suits and espadrilles of Miami vice, and the music!!!
Who didn’t try to learn “crockets theme” by Jan hammer, or “axel f”? Be it on a Casio or a bontempi, these were the things a kid in the 80’s did!
We watched the tv shows, revelled in the excess and spotted AC cobras and Kit car ferraris being blown up. White Testarossa’s, Corvettes and Magnum’s 308 were what we saw and love although we’d never seen a real one on the road!
I had a Testarossa on my wall. (A poster of course, not a real one!) it was deposed in the 90’s by a Diablo and finally Claudia Schiffer in a bikini, but I digress.
I remember A mate had a Countach on his wall. It made the crazy strakes on the Testarossa look tame! It was wide, low, flat and angled to death. A true Supercar to overpower the senses.
Another pal used to build air fix models, usually a Ferrari of some kind and I remember A mate and I seeing a rare Alfa Romeo SZ at a park and rushing home for a camera but alas it had gone when we returned. Nowadays kids with smartphones never miss a chance like that, but it’s not as rare as it used to be.
.........
Super cars and the 80’s are indelible in our collective blood, it would seem.
The thrill of a Supercar is diluted nowadays. Kids just aren’t as “WOW!” As we were. They see the cars on Top Gear, read online on their IPads and phones. Smartphones are always handy to get a few shots, and the instant gratification of the “selfie” isn’t the same as the anticipation at Max Spielmanns, hoping the developed pics are in focus and as clear as you hoped.
And the cars. There are faster and more economical supercars, that flatter the driver and are less likely to end up in a tree. The cars are nannied with traction control and ABS, electronic controls to baffle and compliment in equal measures. Your grannie could drive one (allegedly) although I bet she couldn’t park it!
Countach’s, testarossas and 911’s of the ‘80’s weren’t known as the widowmakers for nothing! There’s lots of stories about Porsche’s in ditches and Ferrari’s on fire......
And (whisper it!) some people said that they weren’t even that good to drive, and a spot on a teenagers wall was the best thing for them!
Well I disagree. And I’m gonna show you why.......
............
Nowadays you see Lambo’s on the M60, Ferrari’s on Deansgate and hired Aston Martins all over the place. Porsche even make 2 different 4wd models and you see those outside schools and tesco’s all the time. Hell, even I’ve got a Porsche nowadays (not a Supercar but shows how much more accessible they are) and whilst I love to see supercars, a small part of me laments the days of only ever seeing one on the wall or at the motor show.
Anyway. I’ve got a video for you. I watched it this morning and it inspired me to write this sonnet.
Imagine a quartet of 80’s supercars, being driven HARD by the factory test drivers, set in an 80’s theme with FGTH soundtrack.
https://youtu.be/NokxivBEtQo
Enjoy 😉
Great vid and sonnet. Lots of memories
The above is why I bought a 1987 911 Supersport coupe about 17 years ago. My, do I wish I still owned it!!
The guy in the Aston gets the girl and the three blokes with poofy cars get to eat sausage. There's a moral there...
You surely mean he gets the super hot well endowed Italian girl!Originally Posted by SimonK
She’d go well in several threads in the BoysRoom!
That Aston Martin is a thing of true beauty.
I used to love watching magnum and seeing his Ferrari ,but the countach was the car for me when I was younger and Lamborghinis are my holy grail,maybe one day ,I think Valentino balboni is probably the coolest name ever
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The mechanic that looks after my TVR has a Countach he’s been restoring for about 15 years. He’s put a V8 in it though because apparently the engines are crap. He’s had to modify lots of things like bonnet hinges as the panels didn’t line up and rubbed each other. It’s nearly done and is in for the paint now.
amazing! fantastic vid, thanks for sharing
I drove a Countach at Donnington once (around the paddock) and it was horrible, don't like 80's Ferrari's(especially the 308) so my pin-up was a Porsche 962.
Perhaps this is why a bought a 89 911 16 years ago - and still own it. Not quite a super car, but more than quick enough.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Must be a replica, surely?
Or he’s made £250,000 worth ££50k.....
Its not a replica, he sold the knackered engine so got a free Countach, bit of a strange one though to have a V8 in it.
Brilliant video, but the Aston is the one for me.
Good post. I'm of a similar age. I wasn't really interested in cars until my big sister bought me a poster of a testarossa (which went up on the wall in-between my commando and cobra movie posters).
Growing up in a Glasgow suburb the site of anything more exotic than a ford Capri was rare but I do remembered the extremely successful son (he was one of the partners of a certain triple barrelled estate agency who had a rather annoying jingle in their advertising) of an elderly neighbour visiting once or twice a year in a different supercar. I vividly recall sitting at the end of their drive on my red Raleigh burner with about 5 of my mates aching with envy at his red testarossa, then another time it was a dark blue countach. To us he was like a rock star.
Thank you for bringing these happy memories back to me today OP.
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Super video. I am an Aston lover, but in this instance nothing can compete with the Countach for me!
Nice.
Our little video is a bit less aggressive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpx3DUkDMp8
Last edited by notnowkato; 17th December 2017 at 20:20.
Oh dear.
I would not let him service anything of mine - I suspect he may find a horse's head in his bed at some point..........
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Balboni is the man.
Thanks for posting this - very well done.
I had the Aston on my wall as a boy. Always preferred the look of a muscle car to a supercar and my tastes havnt really changed. Shame most cars are designed in a wind tunnel these days and all kinda look the same to me.... give me a stinking V8 and a long bonnet anyday.
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Anyone remember this one?
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Not even in the same league IMHO
Thankfully no.Anyone remember this one?
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Looks like a diablo welded to testerossa...
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Opening scene from Cannonball Run was a fond childhood memory, I watched this countless times and it always made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/evA3_NV7cPM
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It had 16 pots, huge spoilers, four pop up lights and it was Moroder.. what I was thinking back then?!
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Cool video, thanks for posting it.
I can recall having a Lamborghini poster on my bedroom wall, it was a white Countach and I thought it was amazing. Imagine my joy then, when I noticed the very same in a local garage in Axminster, Devon. The very kind salesman let me sit in the car, a memory this video bought straight back!
Iirc it was up for sale at £60k? Be worth a fair chunk more now.
Quarter mill plus!
Super post RJM - I really enjoyed reading that and watching the video (yours also NotNowKato).
https://youtu.be/NokxivBEtQo
Some of my favourite cars ever, along with FGTH (one of my favourite bands ever). Perfect.
So clever my foot fell off.
The RUF Yellowbird is the "plane Jane" of the 4 cars, but having had the privileged of several PAX laps round Spa in one, with a guy who could really drive, I can confirm it's an astonishing car. The Ferrari, Lambo & Aston would be left for dust.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
Great vid and great cars. It also led me to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSMCfPASImQ which just shows how gifted (in the cojones department) Stefan Rozer really was.
Cheers,
Mark C
When all my mates lusted after the Testerossa and Countach the Aston was always my choice but only when they put the V8 in. That Testerossa near sideways on that bend, was a site to behold. Great vid by the way
Thank you. I took a few minutes out to relax and that's put a smile on my grumpy (way too busy) face!
excellent video, i was wincing slightly as he was drifting the testarossa! anyone else google GiorgiaPagliacci??? (i say!!)
regards
Saggs
Fastest production car ever before the McLaren F1. Top speed measured in 1988 was 213mph.
As for the Astons, Lambo and Fezza's - tractors by comparison.
Was it Stefan Rossier by chance who took you round the Ring?
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Aren't you forgetting the Vector?
Oh hang on, no. Didn't quite make it. Shame though.
I remember the low volume Koenig specials as well. Wasn't there a Testarossa with 1000bhp?
Lost in the mists of time...
Like tears in rain....... (keeping the 80’s vibe going!)
B+B made some horrors but I like that.
The Konig stuff was insane. 1000bhp twin turbo, then they did the convertible complete with plexiglass engine cover!
The wide arch 512 appears at a Ferrari day every year!
my 83 Vantage 580 - 10 wonderful years sadly i sold her last year
The Koenigs weren't true production cars in so far that they did not carry a Koenig VIN number. All true Rufs all carry a unique RUF VIN number.
As for the Vector the only ones I have ever seen were 1990's.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
my 83 Vantage 580 - 10 wonderful years sadly i sold her last year
Now that its a lovely bit of tin.
Looking at the spec, its the same as my Porsche 964 (1990), except mine is only 3.6ltr 😀
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Simply gorgeous cars...my 83 Vantage 580 - 10 wonderful years sadly i sold her last year
When an Aston really was an Aston.........
Clicked through to this video of the RUF at the Nurburgring and I think at this point I would pass out from fear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSMC...=youtu.be&t=50
^Amazing driving.
Lost count of the times he nearly oversteered into the scenery.
This. Don't know how he managed to keep it on the road at some.points.....
sent by elves while I'm asleep....
Nice video, thanks for posting. Cool cast too.
Anyone ID'd the watch on the RUF driver yet (as he opens the briefcase)
If you want to see some horrors, look here: http://www.1000sel.com/index.php
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