Years and years ago, my dad was "in the market" for an "old man sports car". He ended up with a Corvette - but there was a used lot in town that had a 1980 Turbo T/A on the lot. Black...had the big gold screaming chicken on the hood. Tan interior. Pristine. Car was being sold with several trophies and plaques the car had won at shows. The guy let me test drive it "because I was helping my dad shop...hahahahaha". Turbo 302 (or maybe 301??). What. A. Turd. Seriously. Sure looked good, though.
As I mentioned right above, my dad ended up with a 1980 Corvette with the L82 engine. When new, it was rated at a whopping 230 HP. Probably at the fly wheel - because it certainly wasn't at the wheels. HOWEVER - there was a ton of funny business going on even then and one can argue that they downrated the numbers on many/most of the engines to appease those who needed appeasing. I was pretty ignorant on how to do such things back then (still am, actually), but I couldn't manage to get the rear wheels to spin without damp pavement or making a turn. No torque.
Was a pretty car to look at - from the outside. It was the Silver Metallic paint scheme with the Oyster leather interior. Automatic transmission. T Tops. Power locks/windows. Rear defroster. Think I've got it nailed down to his car being 1 of 1800 or so in that configuration. Not that being 1 of 1800 is a big deal. There were tons of those cars sold. And all of them were turds.
He has a 1996 Collector Edition now (For sale!). Silver, convertible, black interior, LT4/6spd, adjustable suspension. I think I've gotten that one down to his being 1 of 150 or so in that configuration. Again - not a super big deal. BUT a Collector Edition convertible with the adjustable suspension is kind of a "rare bird" - a rare bird for a turd of a car. heh.
