So, I was driving down the same chunk of road again as the last post, but I remembered the cars I had forgotten when posting. a big "OH fuck!" as a eureka moment occurred during my un-lapse of memory.
The forgotten ones.
The Pontiac 6000 STE. Sure, your used to the gooole (Parts counter joke), but the STE was a rare AWD performance model of the 6000! GM during the mid and late 80's, the more I read, seem to have had a pile of amazing cars that for one reason alone, never made it to the market. The Corvette killed GM. There's more about the STE in this thread from GM Insider.
Ford Tempo, Mecury Topaz; AWD.
Yes, it happened, most people just don't know. There's apparently plenty of them out there, but similar to the 6000 STE, these AWD Ford's look near identical to the rest of the line up so you'd never know to look at them. Can you imagine how many of these off beat, and rare AWD cars we've talked about in these two posts have driven past you in your life time and you've thought nothing of them? Funny how some cars are popular and others arn't when all basically have the same potential for speed and fun.
Although not as cool or rare, but definatly ignored as much as the rest. The Dodge Grand Caravan was also offered in AWD to compete with the 4WD Aerostar and Safari. Nothing super neat or special, just interesting. The rear axles on these vans were an odd interpretation of the De-Dion rear link setup.
Now it's time for some Bonus awesome.
Remember how I said the Corvette killed GM? well, it's fucking true. There was a whole slew of Japanese killing Beretta prototypes. Logitudianl V8 AWD, a transverse V8 FWD, and a transverse twin turbo AWD V6 beretta. During the Early 90's this would've been our local equivilant to Japan's R32 skyline. You think that's a bit harsh, but read the article posted below.
For something really offbeat, check this post out from a fellow working in an Embassy in California.
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This is the greatest nonsenese I ever heared off.
How about the Nissan Stanza wagon (Prairie elsewhere)… that came with AWD. Not so hot for performance stock but plenty of potential for AWD turbocharged stupidity as they came with a CA engine.