So, given how much fun we seem to have had with the other ultimate dream garage threads, I am going to start another one.

Your Crazy uncle is offering to give you a Cadillac ATS brand new free and clear, but it must be the only performance car that you own.  This will be a three part question.

Part #1, Spec out your ATS and tell us about it!

Part #two, you must pick 2 (only two) GM cars built between and including 1975 to 2004. The rub is, no performance vehicles allowed.  Corvette is off the table, even if ti is the 305 cubic inch California emissions model.  V8 Camaros and Firebirds are off the list with one exception. Fiero is excluded, as is say a Turbo Regal that is not a Grand National, Supercharged or Turbocharged Riviera, Supercharged Bonneville, etc.

Celebrity Eurosport or say a Type 10 Cavalier should be fine. Monte Carlo Front wheel drive SS models are not considered performance vehicles for the purpose of this thread, so if you want to pretend to be Dale Earnhardt go ahead. You may have a Camaro of Firebird, but it must come with a factory six cylinder motor and an automatic transmission.

You may up the motor size to the max allowed under a regular production vehicle for anything other than a Camaro or Firebird. You may also combine that with any special edition or appearance package, so cars like the 75 Buick Century pace car or the 77 Olds 88 Pace car with the 403 V8 are fair game.

You may put a police package on any vehicle, including the Camaro or Firebird.  If you get a police package Camaro or Firebird, it will come with lights, siren, period correct radios, gun racks and holsters, spotlights, police paint job and lettering, etc. An Impala or Caprice police package car can be had in any color or option configuration, as these were sued by the FBI, detectives, et al. unmarked.

You may modify any vehicle here with a couple of exceptions. It must still look somewhat like the original GM product when you are done, and you cannot radically increase horsepower.  In other words, you cannot pull the body off of an Impala, drop a 49 Mercury body on the chassis, and build a 50's era custom.  You also cannot drop a 502 big block into a truck because you need the power to turn a set of 44 inch tires in a mud bog.

Building a donk, low rider, trail vehicle, competition stereo vehicle for audio competitions, or whatever you want is up to you and you are encouraged to use your imagination.  You can cut the roof off of a two door Imapla and make a convertible out of it for all I care. You may also modify the car for handling or racing, such as autocross use.  You may also build a full race car out of it so long as the motor and transmission remain stock. Local stock car track, before it went out of business, had a class called crazy compacts that raced J body Cavaliers and Sunfires. They were required to leave the motor unmodified, and this type of use is permitted in this thread.

 

Part # three...take each car on a road trip and tell us where you go!

Buick pace car for Era correct inspiration!

Oh and a note about police package Camaro/Firebird-it must remain in mostly as delivered condition. We will also assume that it is legal for you to have and operate this in your local municipality for the purposes of display and enjoyment with the slights and lettering attached.

Good luck!

Edited October 18, 20169 yr by A Horse With No Name

The ATS has no price ceiling? Everybody will just say ATS-V loaded to the gills. Lol

25 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

The ATS has no price ceiling? Everybody will just say ATS-V loaded to the gills. Lol

No price ceiling, but I want to know color, content, and where you will go on your road trip with it.

You are also allowed to modify the ATS, so you could add aftermarket rims to it for all I care.  If you desire, one can build a full Pirelli World Challenge Race car out of it. Just make sure the driver finishes ahead of those pesky Porsches rather than behind them, as the races are televised and we want to protect the image of GM....

 

Edited October 18, 20169 yr by A Horse With No Name

Fully allowable....

I got busy, but I'm going to post up tomorrow.

Agreed, And this one take some more thinkin..lol

I need to plan this one out carefully.

 

12 hours ago, Frisky Dingo said:

I got busy, but I'm going to post up tomorrow.

Looking forward to it...

 

23 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

I need to plan this one out carefully.

 

That was the thought...I absolutely love our late model discussions, but want to get to knwo you guys better and what your likes and dislikes are.

So to be clear, we get a total of three cars? Or we can have an ATS in scenario 1, or 2 GM cars in scenario 2?

2 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

So to be clear, we get a total of three cars? Or we can have an ATS in scenario 1, or 2 GM cars in scenario 2?

Three cars, but ATS should be the only "performance"  car per se. ATS plus the two GM oldies.

Okay, so my ATS would (obviously) be a V Sedan. Vector Blue, 6MT, Luxury and Carbon Fiber Pkgs.

ATS-V Build

 

It'd be my daily and back road terror. I'd occasionally track it, as well. It would split family toting and highway duties with my following choices.

My next choice would be a GMT800 Gen Tahoe Z71 w/ a mild lift and slightly bigger tires. Like this-

 

It would be friendly enough to double as a regular family hauler. But it'd be rugged enough I could take a trip out to the Grand Canyon, do some camping, and then via trails and dirt roads (as much as possible, anyway) slowly make my way up North, connecting dots at Moab, central Colorado, Yellowstone, then Glacier National Park. I'd then cut over to the Pacific NW, and loop back down through Oregon, the Redwood forests of Cali, and Death Valley. 'Cause nature and stuff.

4 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

My next choice would be a GMT800 Gen Tahoe Z71 w/ a mild lift and slightly bigger tires. Like this-

 

It would be friendly enough to double as a regular family hauler. But it'd be rugged enough I could take a trip out to the Grand Canyon, do some camping, and then via trails and dirt roads (as much as possible, anyway) slowly make my way up North, connecting dots at Moab, central Colorado, Yellowstone, then Glacier National Park. I'd then cut over to the Pacific NW, and loop back down through Oregon, the Redwood forests of Cali, and Death Valley. 'Cause nature and stuff.

An excellent choice.  Was hoping for a slightly earlier era of vehicle (1975-2003) but this will do.

Would love to own this myself as a tow vehicle! I like the choices on the ATS as well!

Let me suggest an era appropriate vehicle similar to what you posted.  I love the two tone paint on trucks of this era!

My last pick, and just so I can keep this well-rounded and to complete the theme-

 

1977 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado. It's big, beautiful, and undeniably American. A rolling embodiment of vintage U.S.A.

 

I'd take that joker down Historic Route 66 and stop at every tourist spot and food joint that's ever made it on to 'Diners, Drive-in, and Dives', 'Good Eats', and any other terribly hosted food show you could think of. Probably gain 20lbs in the process. Make a detour to Vegas. Wind up on the beach in SoCal to soak up some sun. The most American of road trips.

Edited October 19, 20169 yr by Frisky Dingo

Let me add though, I am not the car police...if anyone wishes to post up something modern, I will gladly post up something from the era.

Just now, Frisky Dingo said:

My last pick, and just so I can keep this well-rounded and to complete the theme-

 

1977 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado. It's big, beautiful, and undeniably American. A rolling embodiment of vintage U.S.A.

 

I'd take that joker down Historic Route 66 and stop at every tourist spot and food joint that's ever made it on to 'Diners, Drive-in, and Dives', 'Good Eats', and any other terribly hosted food show you could think of. 

An excellent choice.  My room mate had this EXACT car when I was in college. Lots of memories here!

That pistachio green on green w/ dark green landau is money!!

I am going to go a little different on my ATS.  Loaded ATS coupe AWD.  All options, gray in color of course.  I would take it to New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

My next choice would be a 97-2003 Grand Prix GTP sedan.  I would modify like my old 2000 with BPU upgrades, but will find the best mufflers to keep the exhaust quiet.  Also would go for a coil-over suspension and 18 inch rims.  Something similar to the one below.  My road trip would be south to Tennesee to tackle some very nice scenic backroads

 

 

Finally a 96 Caprice Station wagon.  Lowered, Impala Rims and grill with everything else that is chrome blacked out or body color.  Would take her cross the country to the Grand canyon

 

Nice list @Stew. I almost picked a Buick Roadmaster Wagon.

3 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

Nice list @Stew. I almost picked a Buick Roadmaster Wagon.

Could there be a more comfortable long distance cruiser than an old B-Body wagon?    I kind of wish i had chosen a roadmaster.  i had a 96 Limited sedan and man, the seats in it were a lot more comfortable than my 96 Caprice seats haha.

Edited October 19, 20169 yr by Stew

Well I my ATS would be pretty easy.. Loaded up ATS-V Sedan. I couldn't find a picture of one with the optional dark wheels but I'm going to go with diamond white with black/carbon accents. All said and done it was 76k. I left it as a manual but if this is getting daily'd I think I'd actually add the 8spd.. Still not sure about that though.. I think it's too damn sporty to be an auto.

2 other GM vehicles would be a 70's GMC Jimmy and a mid-late 90's Silverado. Those were the sh!t generation of Silverados back when I was in high school(graduated in '07 but no kid has a brand new truck). I wouldn't do much to it other than restore it to great condition. I guess if I'm building a dream one I'd put a modern engine transmission in it so gimme a 6.2L and any transmission 6spd/8spd. But I wouldn't lift or lower it, I wouldn't want some crazy paint job. Give me the 90's crap colors just really cleaned up.

The Jimmy's just looked cool as hell and this range of years just sucks for almost anything, IMO.

With these:

 

Nothing fancy, just a cool truck, imo.

The Jimmy would be more show 'n go. I'd want it to look more aggressive like this one but again nothing too flashy.

Sorry if the Jimmy pic if of the wrong era but I know they looked similar enough in the late 70's so I just went with this pic because the red and black looks awesome.

Pic is a CTS-V.

 

Nice list.

5 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

Pic is a CTS-V.

 

Nice list.

Hahaha Nice catch, I was flipping though so many pictures of white ones trying to find a good one/accurate for what I wanted and ended up picking probably the only picture that was a CTS-V instead.

Thanks!

Part 1

This ATS:

Whatever that ATS-V may be...

I dont track cars so the Carbon Black Edition is off the table. If there is a softer riding V coupe but with this look then that is what I want. A regular ATS does not fit my definition of a "real" Cadillac but I do like the Boy Racer look of the ATS V sedan or Coupe. I prefer the Coupe because it looks bold enough to be a "real" Cadillac.

Part 2:

Im an Oldsmobile type guy....this is tough....

OK....Ill do a 1983 Hurst/Olds or a 1987 Olds 442 redone:

I wouldnt change a damned thing on it on the exterior. T-Tops are a must.

On the inside. Id just leather it up but keeping the same look.

Under the hood. Id try and find a decent early 2000s LS1 from either a F-Body or Pontiac GTO and drop that under the hood. 320-350 HP/ 345ish ft. lbs torque should be enough motorvation for this chassis. That and I want the displacement to be 350 cubic inches. (Yes, I know, the LS1 falls a tad short of 350...but using the Metric system, it still is 5.7 liters.) 

Beefier brakes and better suspension to handle the power upgrade is a must and for it to handle a bit better that for what it was stock....not bad for back in the day but not what we are used to in 2016 on our modern cars.

Second car. Oldsmobile Intrigue

We take a Buick Lacrosse Super:

We borrow its FWD transverse 5.3 LS engine and its bilstein shocks and add it to the Intrigue.

Then we make the Intrigue look like this:

Then we travel to Banff Alberta or Whistler British Columbia.

Or we travel to Fort Sumner New Mexico to see where William H. Bonney aka Billy the Kid was buried...and we do all kinds of Old West visits to see where all those famous Cowboy outlaws rode their horses...

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 20169 yr by oldshurst442

Ill do a second one:

Part 1 stays the same

Part 2:

Since my uncle gave me a Cadillac,  and I really really want a REAL Cadillac, then my hand is forced to get myself a REAL Cadillac...

1990-1991 Fleetwood Brougham D'Elegance

Id keep the exterior stock....fatter tires maybe, as fat as those rims could take.  The interior too would stay stock:

Now....for the rest of the stuff....Id try and do some magic here...

Id take a scrapped 2006-2009 Cadillac STS-V or XLR-V and borrow its

 4.4 liter CADILLAC supercharged Northstar engine:

The magnetic shock suspension:

And every other piece of modern hardware that is under the STS or XLR's undercarriage to bring the Fleetwood into today's world. And if that proves to be too much horsepower upgrade for this thread, then a regular RWD 320 horsepower 4.6 liter Northstar will do.

Then we will do another Oldsmobile. A small one:

We would take a 2.0T LTG 4 cylinder crate engine or from a Buick Verano or Buick Regal and just enjoy that Oldsmobile as if the brand never went away...in Greece.

Yes. Id take this car to Greece to enjoy it over there (engine displacement taxes to worry about and this little ecotec engine could be serviced at any Opel dealership) while the Fleetwood would travel back and forth to Montreal and  Key West Florida.

Ahhhhh, the Florida Keys....

Greek beaches or the Florida Keys....THAT is where its at!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 20169 yr by oldshurst442