Weekly car reviews: 2/18 1966 Chevy Nova SS

Forza Horizon Legacy Horizon FH3 Discussion
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This thread was in part inspired by the very fun Weekly “Beater or Sleeper” thread over on GT Planet, link to which can be found here: Beater or sleeper fh3 edition
Every week, a car is chosen, and a course, and everyone who chooses to participate drives a STOCK version of the selected car on the given course, compares times and gives feedback. I encourage participation as it’s been a quite enjoyable experiece and has broadened my “horizons” (haha see what I did there) in regards to trying vehicles I might not otherwise drive.

On to the review:

(In my best Jeremy Clarkson voice)
BOLD. BREATHTAKING. POWERFUL.
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These are words typically used to describe the offerings from Italian car maker Lamborghini. Unfortunately, they don’t fit when describing the Jalpa. From certain angles, it screams 1980’s auto styling.
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The wheels for example, are dated but still quite attractive.
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It’s side profile resembles a “sporty” door stop.
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Indeed, it has some muscular, masculine lines.
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But there is one issue when describing the Jalpa’s looks that can’t be ignored.
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THE HEADLIGHTS. Pop ups are quite common in this era of design and some models are made more endearing by their inclusion, but in the case of the Jalpa, they look like a frog-eyed afterthought.

In fact, they’re so massive they can obscure AN ENTIRE HOT AIR BALLOON.
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Now, on to the interior, accessible via a classy, beautiful square door handle:
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Typical '80’s fare here. Simple gauges, and basic, boxy cues, plus that classic gated Lamborghini shifter.
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There isn’t much room for storage in the trunk, with the battery and Air Con fan taking up much of the space.
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The V8 engine is mounted transversely behind the driver, giving the Countach’s brother classic mid engine handling characteristics, that is, requiring the brave pilot to stab the brakes, transferring weight to the front end so the tires can grip and avoid understeer, then mashing the gas to transfer the weight back to the rear so the tires can grip and avoid oversteer. It takes a bit of practice but the Jalpa can be made to take a corner. Speaking of corners, they’re where it’s most entertaining to drive, as the engine in the Jalpa fails to produce enough power to truly make the straightaways of Coalcliff drags, where I tested the Jalpa, engaging and enjoyable.

So all in all, what can be said? '80’s styling, massive pop ups, soft suspension, not a lot of power. It can be hustled but it just isn’t fun to do so. A beater in my book.

The lap: Utilizing the afore-mentioned gated shifter and the manual transmissions decent gearing nets the quickest acceleration, provided you wind the V8 up to redline. This course is fairly straight, with only a few corners really giving the tires and suspension a workout. If you brake early, then turn in, then throttle out before the rear starts to slide too much, all while maintaining as smooth a line as possible, the result is 3:21:335.

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Great review and idea. I’m quite fond of the Jalpa and will definitely be putting in a few laps this weekend.

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Created a fake magazine on InDesign article based on your pics / text. Will finish it tomorrow !

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Nice review! I love the Jalpa and I think you made me want to drive it again (even though you were critical of it)

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Where is the race?

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Makes a great DeLorean and fun to drive :slight_smile:

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I totally just read that in Jeremy Clarkson’s voice. XD
Well done!

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Morgan 3 Wheeler vs. Jalpa - The Ultimate Showdown

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While the Jalpa was offered in the 80’s it’s really just a face lifted Urranco from the 70’s in the the midst of both the fuel crisis and Lamborghini impending demise. From 1978 to 1988 Lamborghini was one day away from closing down for food ever day for an entire decade until Chrysler stepped in. Only the mighty Countach kept Lamborghini afloat, if your not old enough to remember these times the Countach should be revered loved and respected if you have any affinity for Lamborghini as with out it the company would have ceased to exist long ago. As for the Jalpa, all cars born in the mid to late 70’s and early 80’s where incredibly slow, it was a by product of both the fuel crisis and the early days of pollution control. On top of that it was being built by a company that had absolutely no money to invest in serous r&d.

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Wow that’s cool man, can’t wait to see it!

Glad it stirred some interest in the 'ol girl, and yes I was critical but hey that’s part of what reviews are about right?

Coalcliff Drags, it’s one of the street races.

Thanks dude!

Good idea, I may start doing comparisons at some point and that would be an interesting one!

The cynical tone was intentional as I was “channeling” the legendary car cynic, Clarkson himself. You’ll see different styles of reviews as I had an idea after posting this one that should make it more entertaining as I keep going!

Thanks for the info, I didn’t know most of this. It explains a lot about the Jalpa’s shortcomings!

Next review is will be posted this Friday, so stay tuned!

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Last week Jeremy was reliving his forties in the mid eighties, and this week I, Richard Hammond, will rewind the clocks a little further to when things when I was just a wee lad and things were starting to get… really groovy.

The fuel crisis hadn’t yet hit, so American car makers were in a mad rush to install ridiculously overpowered engines in their family cars, all in the name of speed and attracting new buyers. AMC decided to join the muscle-car fray with this, their AMC Rebel “The Machine”.

The example you see here is a 1970 model, and my does it look… AMERICAN. I love the hard to miss patriotic paint job which carried over to the center console and even the full size spare wheel.
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Speaking of the interior, it’s not a bad place to be. There are pleated door cards. Chrome window cranks. A left-to-right horizontal speedo, which reads to 120mph. More on this later. The seats aren’t going to hold you in place on hard corners, but that’s not really what “The Machine” is about.

The Machine has another nice feature under its brashly colored skin: A MONSTROUS 390 cubic inch V8 resides under the “hood” (as the American call it) that pumps out a thundering 340bhp along with 430 torques.

The standard trans residing behind it was a 4 speed manual which put the power to a “Twin-Grip” differential and finally out to wide 15" Goodyear tires on special “Machine” mag-styled wheels.

The Machine was targeted to young, affluent, style conscious buyers (like me) who wanted big horsepower and dragstrip dominating performance. We didn’t know if we’d be able to test the last part of that marketing since this particular model, while pristine in every way, suffered a strange hood-hinge malfunction which caused it not to want to close. Fortunately the owner knew another Rebel owner in town, (an incredible coincidence, since there were only a couple thousand Rebel Machines ever made.)

He’s called John, and it was still early morning when his “Big Bad Green” Machine rumbled up to the desolate airstrip we had chosen as our meeting point.

We waved John in to a nearby empty building so we could take a better look at his beast.

It had clearly seen better days, but like Han Solo said, “it’s got it where it counts.” John’s car was very healthy, capable of easily breaking the back tires loose on the wet pavement and barking fire when the mighty V8 de-revved.

All told, the not closing-hood issue turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as John’s car was already a little bruised and a little beaten, so he had no problem exercising it’s rebellious nature by taking out some moldy crates and boxes:

Running down the muddy, dirt roads in the nearby town:

Or showing us how capable this barge is in the water.

After all the morning fun it was time to find out how fast I could wrestle one of my childhood favorites around our chosen course: The venerable Tugun Bypass Sprint. With a wide variety of mostly flat corners and unforgiving walls, not to mention the proximity of families homes we’d be racing next too, I was admittedly more than a little nervous. John assured me that The Machine wasn’t like those in the Terminator movies, sent here to kill me. Have some respect for the tires and brakes, and I’d do just fine he said.

All in all, it took a few practice laps to build up my nerve, and truthfully I did swipe a few mailboxes and even scraped the wall at one point. (John couldn’t tell as scrapes already existed on the corner of the bumper) but I fianlly managed to run down a respectable 3:13.627.

It doesn’t look like much compared to some of the other more well known muscle cars of it’s day, but was capable of outrunning all of them back in 1970. While the suspension is soft (the rear springs did come from a station wagon) and the brakes aren’t super grippy, it all manages to work well and John’s example, which he swears is stock down to the factory air pressure in the new-old-stock tires, managed to hit near as makes no difference 140mph according to our radar gun. This thing screams Sleeper in the most non-subtle way possible. And I love it.

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This is very cool. Great job with the write ups and bringing something unique to the forums!! Stuff like this is what makes forza what it is and keeps the game fresh and fun. Thank you!

ps If theres ever a readers ride section, lol, look my storefront up!

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Do you have a specific tune and livery combination on a certain car that you’d like to see me review?

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Oh, no. Not anything specific. I have I think 50 something tunes, anything from D-S2 stuff, circuit, offroad, drag but RWD Drag. I have a ton of paints though. Nothing over the top flashy, mostly subtle, hotrod flavor. Not a lot of Exotics or tuner cars. Just a simple little speed shop!

Mostly I was just throwing that out as a thought. This is your thing and you’re doing a great job with it!! Keep it up, with or without the “readers rides”. It’s really cool!! I know doing more than what you’re already doing could open a huge can of worms so no worries at all if you don’t want to do anything but what you are already!!

Ps, hopped on at lunch and took a look at what I have shared. If you were interested, one of my favorite, more stock like cars I have is an A Class '93 Mustang. RWD 533hp so it’s not overboard powered. I usually use that for my “sighting laps” for any A class rivals stuff when it’s mostly tarmac. I used the orange and black paint on mine.

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I like this! I look forward to the next entry! :slight_smile:

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Good evening readers, and many apologies for the late submission of this review. James May, or, “Captain Slow” as I’m also know, here and ready to discuss my time with the car of the week.
Upon landing in the wonderful “Land down under”, I was immediately greeted by the producers with directions to the Byron Bay Horizon Festival. It was a lovely drive down the coast, and I was excited to review what I was told was a simple, red Italian hatchback. I pulled up and was overjoyed as I huge fan of the Fiat 500.

However, before I even had a chance to check it out, I was directed inside the main tent to see the actual car I’d be driving and writing about for you, dear readers.
And here it is.


Yes, ladies and gents, it’s a hot hatch, the Abarth 695 Biposto. Now, some of you want to know more about the flashy bits and strange bobs, such as the carbon fiber components, the plexi-glass windows, and the bright red Brembro brakes. Well, now I’ve told you.

I suppose I should also tell you about the fabric door pulls on carbon fiber panels, the Sabelt race seats matched with four point harnesses and the cargo net hanging over the scaffolding in the rear where the bench seat used to be, and well, I suppose I just did that as well.

As I’m sure you all know, I’m not a fan of these, track inspired, Nürburgring tuned sporty versions of normal, sane, sensible cars. So with that said, I decided to continue my employ here, fall into the tightly bolstered seats and fire up the a-little-too-loud engine and head out to do a road test.

I decided to stop once we got outside to get a better look at the vinyl wrap the head car wrangler at the Horizon Festival, Warren, decided to use to dress up the Abarth.

It really is a nice color, but a little too flashy for my tastes. Okay, on to city, where little cars like this are usually a real joy.

Usually. That was the operative word. This little tre o cinque porte (hatchback, in italian) was stiff, loud, and generally unpleasant.

It even barked rudely when I accidentally hit the gas getting my phone out to tell the producers how displeased I was with them for having to suffer in the Abarth.

Rather than ride around all afternoon in the Biposto, I decided to stay in the Byron Bay Restaurant and Bar until I was able to go home, but I wasn’t allowed to drink as I was told that once night fell in a few hours, I HAD to take on a local street race course, known to the locals as the Byron Town Throwdown. Lovely.

As I rolled up to the line, I was nervous. I had studied the course map diligently while killing time in the restaurant, so I felt confident I wouldn’t embarrass myself and subsequently give Richard and Jeremy new material with which to mock me.

Unfortunately, things were not meant to be. I missed the first turn. Whose bright idea was it to mark the route with flares?!

I wish I could report that being the only turn I missed, but alas, I also overshot the hard left about halfway through the course. Oops, sorry Warren, I’m sure the finish will buff out.

Ultimately, I did figure the course out, and it only took a few tries. I found the raucous exhaust note annoying, and the engine buzzy. The brakes were very grippy, nearly throwing me through the windshield when I applied them before entering a corner. The differential Abarth installed in this car did a fine job of putting all 188hp down in the bends, and the reduction in curb weight made the rear end more eager to rotate under braking. All in all, the attitude of the 695 Biposto was simply dreadful. I’m sure the 133 owners of this limited production, $37k “mighty mouse” will disagree with me though.

As the sun was nearly coming up, I called it a night and went back to the hotel, content with my 2:42.898 laptime.

I really wanted to dislike this car, as it represents everything I think is wrong with tuning, but I have to admit, it really did take me by surprise and even defeated more powerful and more expensive cars on the course. I suppose then, that makes it… a sleeper.

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Another great write up!! Awesome!!

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You really managed to capture the essence of the three hosts quite well.
Everything from car choice to wording in the writing. You should submit this as a resume to write for the grand tour.
:clap: Bravo

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Thanks man! It’s a lot of fun!

Thanks again, I am a huge fan of those three scoundrels and it’s fun trying to emulate their styles, it’s almost like I get more Top Gear/ Grand tour this way!

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Good evening loyal viewers, and welcome to a very special “Forza Horizon” episode of Wheeler Dealer! I’m your host, Mike Brewer, and I’m joined as always by my co-host, friend and master mechanic Edd China. We’ve set up shop in the Land Down “Undah” to seek out old, forgotten classic cars and trucks, bring 'em back to the workshop, set Edd loose fiddling with them, and then try to sell them on at a profit.
So, let’s get on with it shall we? We decided to look for a car that is very nearly impossible to find in the UK that might be more readily available and therefore in our budget of $5000 USD. There were many potential makes and models but Edd and I decided for our first choice we would look for a mid '70s Fiat X1/9.
We’ll get into some of the neat bits about the little Italian but for now let’s try to find one.
Reviewing the local auction turned up lots of great examples, but they were too pricey and Edd’s spanners weren’t likely to get much use had we been able to afford one anyway.

We asked our “mate” Warren if he knew of any place else we could check and as luck would have it, Warren is a bit of a rare car blood hound. Within a few hours, we at a house in the country checking out a 1975 model.

We pushed the non-runner out into the sunlight so we could see how the Bertone-designed body had fared under the harsh Aussie climate.

To my delight, the powerboat inspired body was in great shape apart from some minor surface rust. A fresh battery and some petrol and surprisingly the plucky little thing popped and sputtered to life. I was ecstatic! Edd’s gonna love this…

I decided to try and drive it back to the shop and as I was passing the train tracks that ever present in the outback, I wondered how many poor little Fiat’s back home had been crushed and recycled into other kinds of metal things? Oh well, it’s sunny and the little 128ci SOHC engine was purring so no time to fret now!

Edd was quite pleased with the overall condition of my find which was well and good, as an angry tall man is not someone you want to be in opposition of! As we opened all the various panels, boots and trunks Edd remarked it looked a bit like a rusty little insect. Oh ho Edd, don’t insult it now!

Straight away Edd was all about getting the engine looked over, and after a few gaskets were replaced everything was given a good steam cleaning, and the engine bay looked good as new!

Next on the list was getting the body prepped for paint. After much sanding, a coat of primer was laid down, followed by a beautiful blue plus a surprise accent that I can’t show you yet! Edd also tackled restoring the near mint interior. Don’t you just love the classic style of the '70’s interiors? I know I do!

I’m getting ahead of myself though! I told Edd from the get-go that I wanted to rip the cheeky little rascal around a local track, the Archways Meadow Circuit. We agreed it’d be best to do so before the paint and body work. I greatly enjoyed the car and track, but found I had to abuse it a little by cutting off road to turn a truly fast time. The suspension is fairly soft and the engine doesn’t produce too much power so it was very manageable and I was able to put in a respectable 1:10.404

I had a blast on the track but let’s jump back to the resto!

Edd has finished the car and my is it fun! The light weight, skinny tires, and mid engine design mean throwing the rear end out is easy, safe and can be done even at low speeds whilst staying in your lane!

Don’t tell the Aussie Rozzies or the next owner what I did to the rear tires, alright?

Sadly though, our time came to a close as we listed the finished product on the local auction boards and sold it within minutes for double our total investment of $3000 USD. Not bad for a weekends work eh Mr. China?

I’ll miss the X1/9, as it was a true sleeper, but I’m glad we were able to save it from “sleeping” in the weeds until it inevitably rusted away. Oh, and how about that fantastic blue paint and bronze wheels?

Well, that all for now, from me and Edd thanks for watching and tune in next week for more diamonds in the rough, rescued, restored and resold here on Wheeler Dealer!

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