Between the first gas crisis of the 1970’s and…well, now…we have been inundated with front-wheel-drive cars. While front-wheel-drive has been around since the early days of the automobile, for most enthusiasts the earliest cars that stand out in memory are the Cord 810, Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado. Those cars all shared something: great styling, decent performance, and good luxury.
Then came the late 1970s and with the second gas crunch hitting, manufacturers saw the writing on the wall and shifted from large RWD yachts to small front-wheel-drive cars. Chrysler used the Taco Bell Menu business model and turned the vanilla K-car into all thirty-one flavors from Baskin-Robbins, while Ford did some good (Taurus SHO) and some questionable (remember the EXP?) GM, meanwhile, shot themselves in the foot with the FWD X-cars (Citation, Omega, etc) but by the mid-1980s had sorted themselves out with the Celebrity. By 1988, the majority of GM cars were front-wheel drive.
So, where are you going with this, McTaggart? you’re probably asking. Easy: while we easily deride a lot of front-wheel drive vehicles for what they are, there are some really good-looking ones, some that if it weren’t for the wrong wheels driving the car, would probably be hot-rodder fodder. For example: How would the 2006 Monte Carlo SS have done if GM had just shoved a north-south 5.3 in the car instead of the FWD LS4? Ever pictured a rear-wheel-drive 1996 Ford Probe GT and wondered if it’d be better with a turbo 2.3? Picture a rear-drive 1994 Eldorado with a wild Northstar build done full Pro Street. Maybe you have an import that you’d like to make work the proper way…anything’s game! Take a shot, get out of your comfort zone for a minute, and pick one FWD car that would be worth the effort to make RWD. How would you do it, and more importantly, why?
80’s Daytona and 90’s Avenger. Either would make a killer rwd conversion with a 3rd gen Hemi.
Funny you should mention that…
What have you got up your sleeve? Cough up the details McTaggart!
No big Caddy should have ever been FWD. So all of them. The last Cutlass Supreme’s would have been good RWD cars too.
Mini Cooper
almost any that looked half way decent
FJ Smith had done tons of FWD conversions for Super Stock GT classes and they all look good!
My favorite though is the first picture posted, mid-90’s Monte Carlos.
79-85 Buick Riviera.. It was so close already with the longitudinally mounted engine and a full frame.
Otherwise, the corporate cousin to the Probe, the Mazda MX-6. I thought it would look great RWD or even better mid-engine RWD.
I could go on this all day. I want a compound turboed Duramax in a RWD Prius. A LSX in a subaru brat. A CRX with a S2000 drive train. 1968-70 Eldorado with a 502 of course. A VW GTI with a 5.0 V10 VW Diesel (this engine is BA if you haven’t seen one). And a K car charger with a Mopar 360. I could go on, but I don’t want ya’ll to think I’m weird.
Check out motoIQ’s blog. They had a CRX rwd with a s2000 drivetrain.
PT Cruiser
I always thought the 97-01 honda preludes would be cool rwd. The short trunk and long hood is classic muscle car proportions.
Or for that matter, the ’98-’02 Accord coupe would be a pretty good candidate as well.
Some others:
’90s era Buick Riviera.
Buick Reattas should have been mid engined with a stick shift option.
Or how about putting a new Hemi in a 300M so it could have an honest 300 hp?
The BB6-chassis Preludes, like EthanT mentioned.
Also, my father had a 1995 Cutlass Supreme coupe with the factory transverse-monoleaf IRS, 16″ alloy wheels and leather bucket seat interior that he loved. We wanted to convert it to RWD with a Buick Grand National motor but it was kind of a pipe dream that never happened.
Buick Reatta. Buick did one back in the late 80’s with Vette suspension and GN drivetrain. Pretty cool.
2002 chevy lmpala
I was gonna say those 1980’s Shelby Dodges, and I really like that black Daytona posted on the next page on this site.
The Chevrolet/Vauxhall Calibra was very popular for the Pro Mod treatment in the UK back in the 1990s. Much as I dislike Vauxhalls, it was a pretty car, especially in tubbed form!
A Probe GT with
A Probe GT with a 393″ SBF and a clutch………..
Early ’80s Riv/Toro/Eldo. Those cars are large and heavy, never should have been FWD.