Running out of talent

We've all been there. That foolhardy moment when unabashed joy turns to "ohshitohshitohshit". Sometimes we get lucky. Sometimes we end up in a ditch. I know the second one has happened to me on at least two occasions.

I was stoked when I found my Celica in the local classifieds and even more stoked after making the purchase. It was affordable, all-wheel-drive and had a turbocharged four cylinder with nearly 200 horsepower. It was my first car and I couldn't wait to start testing its limits.

Or so I thought. As it turned out I wasn't as dumb as I looked, because for the first six months I owned it, self preservation handedly won out over teenage bravado. After six months though, i finally worked up my courage enough to vividly experience the extent of my stupidity.

It was a left hand turn, nearly a hairpin, heading up a hill not too far from where I lived. As far as "places to do something stupid" go it wasn't half bad. Good sight lines and hardly any traffic. I remember thinking that if i were going to crash it wasn't going to be with anyone else.
Attack. Brakes. Turn in.

It was all going well. Then Jeremy Clarkson yelled "POWER!" in my head and I floored the gas. The Celica gave the meerest hint of hesitation, sighing almost as if it knew what was coming next. The turbo spooled, my front tires skidded and suddenly the right side of the car was about a foot lower than the left side. I had found the ditch.

This was not a good situation. But it immediately got worse as the ditch abruptly ended. I heard a loud banging sound and the right side of my car went from being a foot lower than the left side, to being about a foot higher than the left side, before finally finding solid ground again and leveling out.
I pulled over. Things looked kinda sort of okay. No obvious damage. But I can tell you right now that the Celica was never quite the same.

It took me a while to work up my courage like that again. But the young and foolish are not to be deterred for long. This time I'd found a spot that was the polar opposite of where i'd had my previous adventure.

Instead of uphill, it was downhill. Instead of turning left, it was turning right. Instead of tarmac it was gravel. "Instead of going into the ditch, i'm going to be awesome." I logically concluded.
I knew the physics of things. I'd drifted enough in video games to know how to control a car in a slide. This time, I was ready.

Lining up for the corner, things looked good. I hit it at just the right speed. There was no understeer this time. The rear end was coming around nicely, i just had to control it with the gas pedal and a beautiful four-wheel drift was mine. All i had to do was press the gas pedal.

Funny thing about panic, it kind of makes you forget what you're supposed to do. My brain said "gas! you fool!" my body said "AHHHH BRAKES!!!"
The Celica sighed again.

Almost as if in slow motion, the ass of my car swung around in a partial spin, shoving the nose of my car into the ditch and hillside there.

To it's credit, the Celica didn't just give up on me then and there (though there's an entertaining story for another time, when it did just that.) I threw it in reverse and without even a hint of unhappiness it pulled out of the ditch. Not exactly the way I'd intended to use the all-wheel-drive heading into this mess. The front bumper was crumpled and wavy looking after that, but luckily it was entirely cosmetic.

I limped home, tail between my legs. It was the last time the Celica was ever in the ditch by my hand, though thankfully it wasn't the last time I ever got it sideways. I'd learned my lesson though. The next time oversteer happened, it was in an empty snow covered parking lot, the Celica for once, not getting the chance to sigh at my incompetence.

This was the actual car. You poor poor bastard you.

Great White Whale

Every true car enthusiast has their automotive Moby Dick. That ultra rare beast they're always on the lookout for that they simply must own someday. It may not be the best car out there, but something about it calls to you. Some of us have even owned our great white whales at one time or another, hell some people are so obsessed they collect them. But regardless of our situation we all have that one, often rare, often specific car that defies all logic. Yet for some reason, we must have it.

This is mine.

1988-1989 Toyota Celica All-Trac.

As I hinted at earlier, I've actually owned a Celica All-Trac, which greatly contributes to my lust for this vehicle. In fact, it was my first car. As a result, I've got many amazing memories of my 1988 Celica All-trac. At the same time, the car suffered greatly at my hands, as any first vehicle does (should?) It was eventually sold shortly before I left the country for a year.

But my love of all-tracs goes deeper than simply wanting to re-aquire my first car. I love what the car represents historically. I love it's place in the automotive mosiac of the past century. It represents the height of 80's technology. It represents homologation rules that have given us many of the best streetcars to ever be built. It represents a time when Japan could do no wrong. And it represents the greatest form of motorsport ever created.

At the same time it was both a harbinger of the future and a spectacular sales flop. It was a WRX long before the U.S. knew it wanted a WRX.

With only about 1500 ever imported to the U.S. it is a rare beast. Whenever I see one it brightens my day. But I know, like a serial killer, that fantasy eventually won't be enough. I've gotta have one. It's my great white whale.

Every now and then, car manufacturers will come up with an engine that, for whatever reason is a bit more special. These engines often find their way into deserving chassis, resulting in great cars. Sometimes they even end up in multiple chassis, spreading their goodness far and wide. The last generation Celica for instance, wasn't a bad car, but it's engine went on to power the diminutive Elise, a car better able to exploit it's sky high redline and revvy nature.
Can you imagine though, if instead of the Celica and Elise, Toyota had simply stopped after shoving the 2ZZge into the Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix? It would be a phenomenal waste of a pretty good engine. But unfortunately this happens all the time. Here's a list of some of my favorite engines that never really made it in the automotive world. Engines that I wish had come in more cars.
side note: I live in the U.S. so these engines are all from USDM cars. Apologies to the rest of the world and I'd also love to hear your opinion and thoughts about these engines or cars.
1996-1999 3.4L V8 from the Taurus SHO - 235 hp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40ay52N4SYE
Why I like it: Yamaha makes damn good engines and this is probably one of their rarest. The V8 was a scant 3.4L making it pretty tiny and smaller than the V6 i've got in my car. Usually V8s of that size are found in Ferraris.
Why it's wasted: The 1996-1999 Taurus SHO was both FWD, and A/T only. It was also heavy and lets face it, not the best chassis in the world. It was also one of the ugliest cars to come from Ford in a very very long time.
Where I'd tell them to stick it: This is tricky because Ford really didn't have a chassis at the time that could exploit this engine. The Mustang had it's own V8 at the time that was much bigger and more powerful (on paper.) Ford did have an association with Mazda however and Mazda did just stop importing the FD due to people hating rotaries. It would never happen, but it would be kind of cool. In a perfect world, this engine would power 2nd generation MR2s.
1992-1996 1.8L V6 engine from the MX-3 - 130 hp

Why I like it: Continuing my theme of "tiny for their cylinder count" the K8 engine in the MX-3 is one of the smallest V6 engines to ever find its way into a production car. It had a 7K redline, but the fuel cutoff wasn't actually until 7800 RPM. It was similar in size and power to many of the higher performance 4-clyinders of the day, however it had them all beat in refinement.

Why it's wasted: The MX-3 was actually a pretty decent little car. It did look like a bean and it was FWD, but truthfully it wasn't half bad. The problem is that the K8 engine is just so damn cool it deserves to be in more than one car sold for only a few years.
Why it's wasted: The MX-3 was actually a pretty decent little car. It did look like a bean and it was FWD, but truthfully it wasn't half bad. The problem is that the K8 engine is just so damn cool it deserves to be in more than one car sold for only a few years.

Where I'd tell them to stick it: I think the answer here is pretty obvious; this should have been an optional engine on the Miata. The MX-5 was making about 115 horses at the time and I think Mazda's engineers could've probably pulled another 10-15 horsepower out of our little V6 here. The result would be a slightly more refined gran turismo style Miata. But of course it would still have a tiny engine that pulls smoothly to the upper reaches of the tach. In short, it would still be a Miata.

1992-1996 3.3L Flat 6 from the Subaru SVX - 231 hp

Why I like it: Flat sixes are always kind of cool, but the EG33 engine in the SVX was no slouch either. 231 hp from an NA engine was pretty dang good for the early 90's and in fact, Subaru wouldn't build a more powerful NA engine until 2008. Plus, its design lends it's self to a good center of gravity, which would  be helpful in something with more serious sporting pretensions.
Why it's wasted: The SVX, like the MX-3 wasn't a particularly bad car, it just wasn't hard core enough to do justice to its engine. It's well documented that the SVX came equipped only with an automatic, which is it's self a great tragedy. Furthermore Subaru refused to equip the SVX with the much more sporting center differential from the Japanese version of the car, meaning that the AWD SVX was essentially FWD most of the time. In fact, the BRZ is the first car since the SVX to be offered with 2WD; as a desperate attempt to cut SVX base prices in 1994 led to a short lived FWD model.
Where i'd tell them to stick it: I would have liked to see a 2.5RS coupe with this engine. Obviously it would have to be a 3.3RS coupe, but a sportier impreza with just a bit more refinement than the WRX could've been really cool. The WRX could then be brought over in four-door-only form as a wanna be rally car, while the 3.3RS would be the grand tourer.

Alright, i'm missing a ton of great engines, but those are my top three as far as underutilized. What do you guys think? Chime in below.