Fastest - 1997 Mustang Cobra Slowest - 1991 Dodge Spirit. Mid-size sedan with 100 hp of fury under the hood.
Woo hoo! My parents owned one of those. It was doodoo brown. That thing used to feel like it was falling apart when we hit anything over 55. After you hit 60, it would take another week to hit 65 upon which it would be a crapshoot as to whether it would die or not. I remember the roofliner would fall down as we were driving, too. My dad bought a 74 Impala and a 79 Chevette as our first 2 cars when we came to this country. I think he gave up on GM's after that and went import afterwards. We had the 74 Impala for a while tho'... no AC for the last half of its life.
Hmm, well I got to drive a Ford GT once (yes the supercar), but I certainly did not own it Fastest car I owned (however briefly) would be the M3. Slowest? Probably an Accord.
Slowest - 1991 Ford Ranger. It's top speed was about 78 mph, 82 with a tailwind. Fastest Car - 1998 Honda Accord. I know it's not fast, but I'm not really a car guy. Fastest vehicle - 2003 Suzuki SV 1000. It's top speed is limited by my ability to hold on (no fairings).
I never understood the appeal of the naked sportbikes beyond looks or lower price. The full fairings make the ride so much nicer and slicker through the air.
I should add this one for slow cars, although I didn't own it personally: I had a 1985 Mercury Grand Marquis for a work car that hadn't left the gates of the refinery (speed limit - 19 mph) where I worked for 15 years or so. I had to drive it to the mechanic shop once for new brakes. When I got up to 35 mph, it started shaking and rattling so bad that I was afraid to go any faster. It was technically my slowest car ever, just out of habit.
HAHAH, I drove a similar vehicle that had never been over 20 or so for probably 20-30K miles. I bet the tires were totally gone on it after that long. Just the tread wasn't worn because of the low miles. Seriously that usage kills a car so fast.
One of the first of two cars I ever drove was my mom's 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis. It was very well maintained car that had a pretty good top end speed. Ours had been a detective car in Orlando so it had a good bit of tuning and some extra get up. It was a 302 like the Mustang GT's of it's day. For such a huge car (second largest production trunk of it's year), the thing simply flew. I was pulled over twice in it, but got out of it twice with a warning. Had I still been at the top speed that buried the needle far past the top on the speedometer and lingered buried for easily a quarter mile after letting off the gas, I'm certain the warning would have been a ticket. I'd suppose I was doing around 115 at the top. That's the fastest I've driven personally. But this thread says "owned" in the title.
All this talk of horsepower made me google "1976 Chevette". The number 1 link was - Time's 50 worst cars of all time...: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658533_1658523,00.html which listed this car (mine too was the basic 3 door with a 4 spd) at 51 hp. 5...1... That would explain a lot. I thought only mopeds had those kinds of numbers. Nice pic too... <img src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/2007/50_cars/chevy_chevette.jpg"/> Mine was army green with 2 big racing stripes the length of the car.
My Dad bought a 1950 Ford (in 1950) that was built for a detective. Somehow, he ended up with it. It had a chrome spotlight by the sideview mirror on the driver's side, was souped up, and was baby blue. The first time I ever went over 100mph in a car was in that sweet machine. We were going up to visit my Grandpa's ranch around Quitman, in East Texas, and we were on a two lane blacktop. Dad just got the itch and easily hit 100, sayin', "Son, quit crawling around back there (no seatbelts, of course. it was the early '50's) and look over my shoulder at the speedometer." It really tripped me out! Mom wasn't too thrilled, but that's what mothers are for, right?
Sweet! I have fond memories of riding in the back deck above the seats, looking out the back glass at the stars in a '76 Buick Electra Limited. Seat belts? Car seats? Pssshhhh... Good times. Here's a video of one... <object width="500" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PvhJuWlEvuY&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PvhJuWlEvuY&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></object>
Yeah, it was a trip. I used to crawl under the rear window of our '57 Ford Fairlane. No one thought anything about seatbelts because no one had any.
