Actually, if you could figure out how to get the a/c to work, a milano wouldnt be bad. Its kinda like a non boring e30 that is as fun to drive as a miata. I have had one for a daily driver for a couple years, and other than the headlights and taillights being annoying it has been fine.
I like the idea of something that hasn't seen a lot of coverage. Since our current "fun fleet" consists of a Miata, Sentra SE-R, and CRX, I won't expect to see anything that covers something we already have. :)
The P71 is an interesting option. The GRM Holy Trinity is Miata, E30, and P71, yet the P71 is the only one that hasn't had much coverage. Lots of room, and cops love cold AC so that requirement is no problem.
The Maxima is an interesting option. About 10 years ago there was a small but enthusiastic contingent of Maxima owners at the autocrosses I attended at the time. I rode in some of these cars and was quite impressed with their performance, as I've been with every Nissan I've experienced. (I wonder why it took me so long to finally get one...!)
I'd also put a vote in for an S series Saturn. They've been covered some in the past, but the situation is different now. You can get a decent example for around or under a grand. The path to forced induction, which was almost unheard of when we built our $2004 Challenge car, is well traveled at this point. There's an enthusiastic tuner community (sixthsphere.com). The downside is the aftermarket is drying up, and it was never very big to begin with. On the other hand, that could lead to some interesting innovation...
David, another vote for the Maxima's here. It's an easy daily driver that holds it's own in both track and autocross.
Similar to your SE-R project with 50 extra horses and a few hundred extra pounds. I can vouch for the trunkspace - removing 2 screws gives it similar storage of a pickup truck, holding up to 2x12x10 decking boards & posts. Lots of community support including cheap go-fast parts from yours truly (worthy of GRM challenge inclusion). Ian Stewart helped setup one locally which took a trophy in the 2003 Solo Ft Myers Tour and I campaigned one in the '05 Topeka Natl Solo. Kim and Per could help shake it down on course for you too.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/526/1841/1313420292_large.jpg
BEJAY1 wrote: David, another vote for the Maxima's here. It's an easy daily driver that holds it's own in both track and autocross. Similar to your SE-R project with 50 extra horses and a few hundred extra pounds. I can vouch for the trunkspace - removing 2 screws gives it similar storage of a pickup truck, holding up to 2x12x10 decking boards & posts. Lots of community support including cheap go-fast parts from yours truly (worthy of GRM challenge inclusion). Ian Stewart helped setup one locally which took a trophy in the 2003 Solo Ft Myers Tour and I campaigned one in the '05 Topeka Natl Solo. Kim and Per could help shake it down on course for you too. http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/526/1841/1313420292_large.jpg
lol, love the pic brian. My maxima looked exactly like that on many occasions - I transported all the wood for a 50-foot wood fence in my maxima and a friend's maxima, lol...
and there is more interest/support that most people think there is. Even our local maxima meets have turnouts around 40-50 cars (about the same size as the local Subaru meets I occasionally go to now)
Heck, Maximas are so cool that even boosted Miatas come crash our meets 
Plus, they're so fast, it takes two park police cars to catch one! lol
ok....'nuff shameless whoring.
If you can find a 164 in decent shape, you will also dig the great leather interior and totally-80's sea-of-buttons dash. Very Italian, as are the chromed intake runners. They were on the Saab 9000 platform, so you might have some interesting parts swapping.
I think the Saturn suggestion deserves more attention. They are practically free, and that would leave lots of room for improvements. I have seen some wicked turbo Saturns out there, and some of the coupes really tear it up in Autocross competition. It is also a dead brand, so there is some GRM appeal there. You can also choose from 2-door, 3-door, 4-door or 5-door wagon!
Oh, maybe a Saturn isn't such a good idea...
Another vote for the Saturn. It's interesting, cheap and hasn't been done to death.
I can understand the point of 164's on the autocross track, but would it any worse than the Maximas and Volvo Wagons already mentioned?
Or
Or
I'm serious with that last one. You could bet that word would get around quickly that GRM had a Yugo project car.
Hasn't GRM had a Yugo project car? Seems like every Yugo-"tuner" in the world is on this forum, lol...
btw, there is only one difference between a 164 and, say, a maxima. It's not the autocross. It's the reliability/availability of parts/aftermarket factor. I would think that doing a street/performance build on a 164 would involve alot more overseas ordering, scrounging for parts, and finding "custom" solutions.
irish44j wrote: . I would think that doing a street/performance build on a 164 would involve alot more overseas ordering, scrounging for parts, and finding "custom" solutions.
That is a good thing in my book. Ingenuity is what made the Berzerkely and the ro-spit such great reads.
irish44j wrote: Hasn't GRM had a Yugo project car? Seems like every Yugo-"tuner" in the world is on this forum, lol... btw, there is only one difference between a 164 and, say, a maxima. It's not the autocross. It's the reliability/availability of parts/aftermarket factor. I would think that doing a street/performance build on a 164 would involve alot more overseas ordering, scrounging for parts, and finding "custom" solutions.
Did they? I'm not really sure if they had a Yugo before or not.
You could get some parts for the Alfa from the Saab 9000, and there are probably enough Alfa V6s here to suffice for stock bits, but aftermarket and Alfa-specific items would be a bit harder to come across. Same story for anything unique, though.
Turbo'd Ecotec in a C4 please! 
Or a 240/740 wagon with eventual 5.0 swap.
Or a S-series Saturn. Wagon.
I'm biased, but I'll cast my vote for a 740 turbobrick: Creature comforts, enough cargo room to MAKE a family of 5 in the back, let alone carry one, and a lifetime membership in the, "What kind of dork tries to make a fast Volvo wagon?" club.
For very little $$, you can make a really fun toy, either by boneyard raiding, or with the assistance of a great bunch of guys here in North America cooking up some pretty slick go-fast bits for 'em in garage machine shops.
Most importantly though - There are few things in life so emasculating to a grown man as getting his ass handed to him by a 20-something year old Volvo...wagon!
If you're gonna do a turbobrick, at least make it a red brick!
The more that I think about this I strongly feel that a car with very limited aftermarket support would be ideal for the magazine. You get to really break out your clever side and try different things.
Bolting kit "A" from company "Q" onto a car is really only interesting to a reader that owns that same car.
Flipping through the magazine and seeing "coming next issue we test aftermarket chips for an expensive new BMW" makes me yawn, but I do remember thinking "Hot Damn! they are building their own reversing differential from scratch? I better camp out by the mailbox now incase it comes a few weeks early!"
just gonna put these here
ditchdigger wrote:
lol, I think this photo is posted in every single discussion on every single forum where 740/760 volvo wagons are so much as mentioned...
I wonder if there are actually any OTHER cool photos of a 740 waggy running 
Hyundai Accent
Cheap, light, everywhere, not been done and one of the few 3 door hatches left. I'm sure they can carry a E36 M3 ton of stuff and would be a very economical DD. I can't imagine they would be hard on brakes, tires, etc. It shouldn't be too hard to make it handle, brake, etc
White_and_Nerdy wrote: The P71 is an interesting option. The GRM Holy Trinity is Miata, E30, and P71, yet the P71 is the only one that hasn't had much coverage. Lots of room, and cops love cold AC so that requirement is no problem.
Except, you know, it sucks.
There is a split in the Paved Church of the Heavenly Cone... the infidels and their P71s, and the true believers following the old ways of the Astro van.
irish44j wrote:ditchdigger wrote:lol, I think this photo is posted in every single discussion on every single forum where 740/760 volvo wagons are so much as mentioned... I wonder if there are actually any OTHER cool photos of a 740 waggy running
You maybe right, but that is a pic of an 850 turbo wagon. I believe from the british touring car championship. I think a similar one won one year.
I'm going to throw something a little odd out there: Mid to late 90s Z24 Cavalier. It had a motor that wasn't a turd. People seem to always write them off as the ultimate disposable car/car for people who don't like cars. Should be able to find one for pennies on the dollar and it would be interesting to see one that actually can handle and be turned into a decent performer.
92dxman wrote: I'm going to throw something a little odd out there: Mid to late 90s Z24 Cavalier. It had a motor that wasn't a turd. People seem to always write them off as the ultimate disposable car/car for people who don't like cars. Should be able to find one for pennies on the dollar and it would be interesting to see one that actually can handle and be turned into a decent performer.
Watch out when/if you're doing a teardown, as the Cavalier and Sunfire contained asbestos in their construction
(No, asbestos wasn't banned in the early 90s for applications in which it was currently used; usually shocks the heck out of people when they find out, like me)
92dxman wrote: I'm going to throw something a little odd out there: Mid to late 90s Z24 Cavalier. It had a motor that wasn't a turd. People seem to always write them off as the ultimate disposable car/car for people who don't like cars. Should be able to find one for pennies on the dollar and it would be interesting to see one that actually can handle and be turned into a decent performer.
He did specify that it should be interesting to read about in the magazine. I absolutely don't want to read about those.
Toyota Echo?
Vigo wrote: Ive always wanted to see a non-v8 swapped corvette (i.e. turbo 4, supercharged v6, whatever etc).. motorless c4 + some kind of motor could be ~5k$.
There can only be one motor (not a V8) that I would put into a 'vette: GM Vortech 4200 I6 - 290HP 275Lb/FT stock...
Okay, here's the most braindead thought I'm gonna have today:
It's gotta be a minivan. If you think people are going to be floored by a volvo wagon beating them out, a turbo minivan would rip their live beating heart from their chest and show them how withered and unrepentant they really are.
E36 M3, ive got two turbo, 5spd manual minivan builds going on in my yard right now. Might as well just set up shop out here and take pics as i go 
Thanks for the suggestions. Some have got me thinking about new options....
Don't project car a Vulva. Dear God. Please no. While they're great cars they're still uber expensive to maintain and heavy. They aren't called bricks for nothing. Also, the turbo 850 R's didn't come with manuals transmissions. Epic fail there.
No wacky engine transplants was stated in the first post. No Corvette's with Toyota motors or some ridiculous crap like that. If GRM was going to spend all 100+ pages wrenching that would work great. But a few of us like to drive cars instead of welding for two years and then selling some half-finished and bastardized pony wagon. Engine swaps mean less reliability. If you want to race, don't swap. 
This, obviously, leaves the Maxima as the only choice. Light weight for it's size in the late 90's. Manual transmission. Plenty of grunt from a motor that won some sort of award for about 10 straight years. Solid cars are available and not thrashed to death by stupid kids in sideways hats. While they are common on the street they are not common at performance events.
DO THE RIGHT THING GRM! Project car = Maxima!
EDIT - I almost forgot the most important thing. Money.
With a Maxima you could quantify it's evolution by following the project car paradigm.
All these steps can be taken or just some. Hell, you could do all the autocross and HPDE stuff in a stocker. This could save GRM some cash and show how an average enthusiast can buy a "regular" car and do some cool things with it on a limited budget.
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