What is perfect/quintessential MV 80s car?

[Paul Veres]

Folks, I truly cannot believe this hasn't been brought up before, and if it has, please point to that thread, and I'll remove this post. But I couldn't find such topic posted before.

What would we call the Miami Vice/80s car? I don't think it actually has to be an 80s model, but most of ideas will certainly be. It has to be a real production car probably. And who knows what makes it MV 80s: does it have to be a convertible, does it have to be a 2-door, does it have to have hidden headlamps, does it have to have flared fenders?...

A somewhat arbitrary starting set is in the photos, no names disclosed for now for additional fun, but you probably know the most. I intentionally didn't use any palm trees/water side photos not to get us biased. Also, in photos please disregard colors, possible slight mods, or even convertible/coupe differences - these are just quick photos I found.

I am not a car expert, so pardon if the opening set looks weird or biased, just something to kick off the conversation. And I'll tag a couple of members that I know are into cars: @Kalci @AndrewRemington

Soo... if you need to drive down Collins/Washington/Biscayne looking for Izzy and Noogie... in which vehicle would you rather be??

And by the way, please watch this great video, note the music, the visuals... It is NYC, but I wish they did something similar in Miami... with the ultimate MV 80s car we choose!

 

 

[Kalci]

For me its always about budget. How much money would I spend on a car if I actually want to drive down the road lookin for Izzy, Noogie or some drug dealer.

Some important things for me : POP UP HEADLIGHTS takes us back to the 80s era

So of course different budget buys different cars.  All these cars can have a different maintenance and running cost.(spare part availability and so on)

If I was in the US I would certainly pick a C4 (only coupe, all has the targa top) corvette that is a perfect representation of the Vice Era. Spare Parts are still available for cheap so in the US it can be a quite good deal. I would consider production year 1990(newer dashboard and gauges, means lower maintenance cost but lesser Vice vibe) with ZF6 manual transmission.

From 1991 the C4 got a facelift which made it much like a 90s car. No problem with that I love that look to, but might made it less Vicey. But from 92 there was LT1 engine in it which made it more appealing if you paired it with a ZF6 !!! Absolutely amazing combination then.

Chassis type: Backbone frame and fiberglass body. Not as stiff as a Unibody construction so it needs an aftermarket stiffening kit but that is not the end of the world. 500dollar plus cost of the shop that does the job.

KIT : https://www.vette2vette.com/?q=productdisplay%2F86-96-corvette-c4-no-flex-frame-stiffener-bar-system&fbclid=IwAR3y5oOJFXKfqyBJqmogsCJqOF2ujAuYAI8dKC67vzwfZo29wI99YmO5fLY

Build in step by step : https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/1711-cure-for-creaking-c4-corvettes-vette2vettes-no-flex-kit/?fbclid=IwAR04gJYPPmnv7cKYX02_BxZ5lg7haNLPEAOfx7R1s8CZEjRQnkZfqgb0Lb4

I could talk about a C4 a lot since that is the car I really consider to be my next car. (but they are hard to source here in Hungary....)

If we have a bigger budget around 30K$ for the car I would go with a C4 ZR1 (LT5) that is a wider car compared to a normal C4. Not only the price is higher but the maintenance cost as well thanks to the LT5 engine which is a full aluminium masterpiece.

But might enough of the C4.

My next one would be Lotus Esprit S4. That is a remarkable car although its running cost can be much higher and its build quality is not good as far as I know.... Rattle here rattle there after 30years can happen. But a stunning stunning looking car. My fav example: Basic Instinct(1992 I know....)

Mid Engine, Turbo absolutely amazing experience.

Wouldn't be amongst my top 4 but it has definitely the VICE VIBE so after the corvette c4 I had to mention it, because it is an EXOTIC still to this day.

3rd pick : Porsche 928S. It has a front engine (5.0L 32valve V8) and the transmission is in the back so its a transaxle, therefore great weight distribution, great balance, great handling capabilities. So its a real Porsche.  Not cheap to maintain, spare parts are not cheap either. Ablsoultely high end luxury car. Back in the day the 928 was the flagship model at Porsche not the 911.  But now this car is underappreciated so it is still much cheaper to buy than a porsche 911 of this era (porsche 964)

Famous film credits : Scarface 1983, The Hidden 1987, Looker 1981. Business 2005(which takes place in Spain back in the 80s)

4th pick : Might go with a Mercedes W126 coupe 560sec(5.6L V8 M117engine block) which had later 299hp. In the video you shared @Paul Veres they picked 500 with 230hp only because the AMG look (AMG bumpers and side skirts) that is really VICELIFE. (Season 1 Lombard, and so on)

5th pick : Porsche 944 turbo : Not as exotic as the Lotus Esprit S4 but TURBO and cheaper to maintain. Porsche is so much more reliable. Pop up headlights !!! and front engine, so easier to service it since easier to get to it. A lot has been produced over the years so I think not impossible to source the parts needed. Also a Transaxle. Great great driving experience. Best to look out for a 944 Turbo S that is 250hp from 1988

We could go on.. BMW 8 Series from 90-99. a lot of microchip based computers in it hard to repair, and hard to source them if there is a porblem. I would put it next to the porsche 928 in maintenance, but those lot of electronic issues make it less desirable for me even if I think with those pop ups it must be mentioned among the greatest looking of that era. Next to talk about: DMC Delorean. Love the car in S4EP15 Indian Wars. Such a stunner but the car is far far behind in production quality and in performance. Never consider it among my top 20 pick.

I don't want to talk about cars over 100k$ since that is far from my level.(Testarossa, Countach etc.) F40 is over a Million Dollars

If somebody eyeing with a Ferrari but a testarrossa costs too much I would definitely go with a Ferrari 348. I consider it a SMALL TESTAROSSA Not cheap either but late 80s VICE ERA

If the budget is almost limitless but we don't want to be spotted at every corner and we dont want to spend more than 100k$  I would definitely buy a Maserati Shamal too. That is a brutal looking piece of Devil. Maintenance ? A lot   It is basically a widened Ghibli of this era. So much 80s in my view. Absolutely necessary for a collector I wish I could be a collector

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Kalci

[Paul Veres]

Awesome input @Kalci! 

I agree on the pop lights. To me they'd probably need to be rather hidden and square, so the two named Porsches wouldn't be on this list for me, though I like Porsche and they have a color called Miami Blue! 

I didn't mean any budget to be attached to the question, and rather for it to be a 'dream car' topic, but this is great detail to bring it also to a practical level - C4 looks like a great option! I'm not as verse in the technical details you are bringing up, and superficially mostly go by the looks  so cannot comment well on all the Corvette specs you mentioned.

By the way I recently watched Body Heat for the first time, and 1964 Corvette there looked great (image attached, driving into Miami). As a side note, we should have a discussion of the most 80s looking movies, e.g. crime noir like Body Heat with its incredibly permeating style of almost palpable hot Florida nights. I'll search across forum and will start a topic if I don't find it.

Love the Lotus option, and it's interesting you propose a 90s model rather than the 80s! I like S4, it's a bit smoother lines than earlier S3 and X180 models, though they look great too. Why are you going for the later model specifically?

W126 is nice, but speaking of bumpers/skirts, I do then prefer E24 with its crazy "sharknose". The attached M6 was just sold for $55k (with 100,000 mileage). I am generally a bimmer guy (over Mercedes). Now, since I said it has to have pop-up lights, I guess E24 can't go into my shortlist, and the 8 series will. The attached super clean V12 CSi (with just 40k miles) was recently sold for $143k. What a beaty, including the color!

Great insight with Ferrari 348, it does look a lot like Testarossa 

Shamal looks awesome. And similar to Lancia cars for some reason, maybe same designer? No pop-up lights though soooo... next! 

[Kalci]

If I would look out for a Porsche with square pop up headlamps from this era, then we have to look 911 slant nose/flat nose builds. One great example for that is S5EP18 "World of Trouble" where Lombard's son is driving a slant nose 911 Turbo cabrio

Body Heat (1981) - I like that movie too Yeah that C2 cabrio looked cool in that.  C2 is a classic of course. Richard Gere also drove one in Internal Affairs(1990)

If I could buy a C2 I would definitely go with a Big Block 427ci version although I am not into old Corvettes But yeah bigger displacement the better

Lotus : I love the  S3 turbo too especially for this appearance in James Bond.  This body design is soo much eighties, although looking at the performance S4 turbo has the clear edge ! That is a 2.2Liter inline 4 engine equipped with that turbo it produces 268hp(around 1989) in the S4 against the S3 turbos 160hp(1981). big big difference also in torque.

Shamal has similarities with Lancia cars of this 80s era ? Hmm never thought about that, but yeah you are saying something with this. Lancia Delta is for example somewhat similar when we take a look at some design element.

[pahonu]

1980 to 1992 couldn’t be more 80’s.  Give me a vehicle that was sold for the ENTIRE decade… and this one is the same color as mine! 

Edited August 18, 2022 by pahonu

[Paul Veres]

3 hours ago, Kalci said:

If I would look out for a Porsche with square pop up headlamps from this era, then we have to look 911 slant nose/flat nose builds. One great example for that is S5EP18 "World of Trouble" where Lombard's son is driving a slant nose 911 Turbo cabrio

Body Heat (1981) - I like that movie too Yeah that C2 cabrio looked cool in that.  C2 is a classic of course. Richard Gere also drove one in Internal Affairs(1990)

If I could buy a C2 I would definitely go with a Big Block 427ci version although I am not into old Corvettes But yeah bigger displacement the better

Lotus : I love the  S3 turbo too especially for this appearance in James Bond.  This body design is soo much eighties, although looking at the performance S4 turbo has the clear edge ! That is a 2.2Liter inline 4 engine equipped with that turbo it produces 268hp(around 1989) in the S4 against the S3 turbos 160hp(1981). big big difference also in torque.

Shamal has similarities with Lancia cars of this 80s era ? Hmm never thought about that, but yeah you are saying something with this. Lancia Delta is for example somewhat similar when we take a look at some design element.

Got it on S4 vs S3, yeah any power you can get counts, when we talk about 80s and HP feels so small vs today's numbers where 600 HP is new norm for sports cars...

[Paul Veres]

Throwing in Ferrari 308 GTS, I think the lip is also not standard (?) and looks cool.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Paul Veres

[Kalci]

Great observation ! Looks a lot better this way I agree.

Its a hard one I guess. I found this.

This is the EU spec front bumper/lip + Small circular side marker light          VS            This is the US spec front bumper/lip + Big rectangular Side Marker

 

But I guess later this EU spec lip was also available to buy in the US since it is looking much much better. And the owners might put it on.

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Kalci

[Kalci]

between the 308 and 348 there was the 328 which once appeared in the 4th season.

Naming : 308 - 3.0L V8 , 328 - 3.2L V8, 348 - 3.4L V8

[Kalci]

9 hours ago, pahonu said:

1980 to 1992 couldn’t be more 80’s.  Give me a vehicle that was sold for the ENTIRE decade… and this one is the same color as mine! 

This could have been a funny surveillance car for Zito & Switek

Anyway just to name an other car that has been sold for the whole decade : Lamborghini Countach :P  Or porsche 928 which was sold between 1978-1995

[pahonu]

2 hours ago, Kalci said:

This could have been a funny surveillance car for Zito & Switek

Anyway just to name an other car that has been sold for the whole decade : Lamborghini Countach :P  Or porsche 928 which was sold between 1978-1995

I’m sure there were other cars sold for the whole decade too.  The unusual thing about the VW is that the exterior hardly changed during the whole run!  The change from round to rectangular headlights was the only major change.   It’s not even possible to tell many years apart without asking the owner. On the other hand, VW made lots of changes mechanically and to the interior.  They changed the whole engine from air to water cooling in 1983, but the exteriors remained almost untouched over the years, besides different color options.

[Paul Veres]

4 hours ago, Kalci said:

Great observation ! Looks a lot better this way I agree.

Its a hard one I guess. I found this.

This is the EU spec front bumper/lip + Small circular side marker light          VS            This is the US spec front bumper/lip + Big rectangular Side Marker

 

But I guess later this EU spec lip was also available to buy in the US since it is looking much much better. And the owners might put it on.

 

Not sure if you know, but the US has this regulation since the 70s that made a lot of supercars look stupid, with manufacturers adding an additional simple bumper just for the US market. The regulation was done to ensure that head or tail lights are not damaged during low-speed collisions, I guess so the car leaving the accident scene on its own could still illuminate the road and be visible to others. 

So I could ascribe the US spec of 308 GTS to that, with the bumper extending further out, absorbing more damage at collusion and not letting the crumble get to the pop-up lights at low speed accidents. 

This is not the ugliest version even, see other examples attached. 

[RedDragon86]

The Ferrari 308 GTS is the ultimate 80's sports car. "Rick Master's car in "To Live and Die in LA" as well.

My second favorite car.

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by RedDragon86

[Kalci]

@RedDragon86Yes, I Like the 308GTS myselft too

This car popped up in a lot of movies and defined our "Coolest cars of the 80s" perception

Some of my favorit 308GTS credits on the big screen

 

[king77]

I once read somewhere that the one of the most seized cars if not the most from dealers in the 80's was the "producers" Mercedes. 

380SL convertible Mercedes.

 

 

[Paul Veres]

Guys, I think we are ready to come up with a short list, including color. To avoid too much argument, I propose each can vote on what we'd call "MV 80s consensus car" and include a second MV 80s car of their own preference otherwise. 

For example:

Consensus car: Ferrari 328 GTS, which in my understanding is an updated 308 with more power so I'm going for it instead of 308 posted above. I'm on the fence about the color of red vs black, but leaning red. 

My car: BMW 8 series E31 850CSi, maybe in Alpina, even though this car didn't start production until 1990 so technically post-80s. Color black or dark blue.

My other consensus could be Testarossa, but I'm so lost between it and Ferrari 512 and Ferrari 348 I left it out. I might flip and pick one of these jumping on somebody else's wagon later 

Countach and F40 while very 80s are a bit too fancy to me. I think of them as a car we could be chasing - some drug dealer overlord - not the car we'd be in.

By the way guys, if you don't know this place, this might be the place for our [imaginary] car shopping, check it out: https://wearecurated.com/

They are in the middle of Miami, in Edgewater, a block off Biscayne Blvd, and they previously sold one of the original MV Testarossas. Unfortunately sold cars on their website don't show date and $ of sale... but you can currently buy this Ferrari 512M for just under half a million 

[Marc]

my dream car since I was a kid and that's sorta realistic if I knew how to maintain the thing would be a Porsche 944.

[Kalci]

@Marc The 944 turbo is an amazing car I agree. My uncle has a finetuned 944 Turbo. Might around 260-270HP which is a real pleasure to drive.

Here is an old video I edited about it back in 2013.

@Paul Veres I agree that the 328GTS is a great concensus car I cant explain why but my taste would go for a black one, but yeah, that is not that important

[wolfie1996]

Black for me too. And I love your choice, being a Porsche fan myself!

[pahonu]

While they are very similar, I always preferred the look of the 308 over the 328.  The integrated bumpers of the 328 look too bulbous to me.  There are other small detail differences as well, like the door handles and hood and trunk vents.  The earlier 308’s in European spec really have the clean wedge look, which was new in the 70’s.  I agree, the US spec bumpers were initially hideous but they actually improved in subsequent years.

I have an excellent book on all the Ferrari V-8’s including the 308/328 series with all kinds of detail. The earliest models actually had fiberglass bodies and were lighter and quicker.  They also had little emissions equipment and excellent carburetors, meaning more power until the four valve heads and engine enlargement at the end of the run.  Unfortunately all the fiberglass models were hardtops.

 

[Augusta]

I would love to have seen these two '80s performance cars in the show.

Putting aside the MEN's street-cover cars, I have to say I despised nearly every car I day Gina or Trudy drive.  Their attire got no arguments from me through all five seasons, from the badge-n-button cluttered denim Trudy wore at the end of Miracle Man episode, to the nearly schoolmistress-frontdoor/hooker-backdoor yellow excellence Gina wore in Missing Hours. 
But their cars always looked as though the creators didn't think THEIR vehicles were of value, or wouldn't have any worthy impact in the Vice visuals,... and I disagree with that concept, if that's what they actually thought.

Word on the street was that Gina's "official" car was the white open-top Mercury,.. but that's too long a car for her.  
I like the idea that Gina would be in a white-colored cabrio of some kind, a modest Mercedes OR my preference for her, this Fiat 124 spyder from the '80s.  And it must be in white----white's a good background for any the fashions Gina seems to wear.

 

Trudy on the other hand, needs a small, tight, nighttime-colored car, and the Nissan NX2000 with the removable roof sections is the racy "economy" suggestive sports car that could really KICK fast on the streets back in the '80s. Again, not the red color shown in these shots---but definitely colors as glossy and deep as Crockett's Daytona.

 

In both cases, the headlights of these cars grab interest on the streets.  The pronounced circle-headlamps of the Fiat suggests some of Gina's delicacy and Cuban refinement.  
Those headlights tucked deep in the Nissan (in fact the entire treatment around the front and engine hood) have a kind of fast-car meanness to them that matches that sudden no-nonsense gun-n-handcuffs style that Trudy surprisingly showed in some episodes.

Sized to each personality, I see Rico in the longest car, Crockett in the mid-size, Gina in the slightly shorter continental variant of Crockett's size, and Trudy in the mean little shark car.

 

[Paul Veres]

@pahonu appreciate the knowledge on Ferrari and @Augusta thank you for bringing in a lady's perspective - it's an interesting separate topic of which character would match best with what car. Rico did have the longest car, his Coup De Ville measures at 223.5” vs for example Testarossa's 176.6"! 

Below, I am trying to sum up what we have so far, and my goal is truly to come out of this thread with ONE car democratically voted for as the most Miami Vice 80s vehicle!  Again, thinking of looking for Izzy in Little Havana, chasing a drug dealer along Biscayne boulevard, or taking your flavor of the night to a restaurant somewhere in South Beach - all in this car.

Apologies if I interpreted anybody's opinion incorrectly, just trying my best to count the "votes".

MV 80s consensus car so far: black Ferrari 328 GTS with 2 votes from myself and @Kalci or Ferrari 308 GTS (black too I believe) also with 2 votes, from @RedDragon86 and @pahonu. Granted, these are very similar, but this is how votes seem to tally up, and I struggle interpreting other answers as clear votes, so...

My 2nd favorite: BMW E31

@Kalci's 2nd favorite: Porsche 944 Turbo or Lotus Esprit S3/S4 or Maserati Shamal??

@pahonu's 2nd favorite: Volkswagen Westfalia Camper?? 

@RedDragon86's 2nd favorite: unknown - sorry I think your post got cropped in some way maybe

@king77's consensus/2nd favorite: Mercedes 380SL convertible

@Marc's consensus/2nd favorite: Porsche 944 Turbo

@wolfie1996's consensus/2nd favorite: Porsche 944 Turbo

@Augusta's consensus/2nd favorite: 1980s fiat 124 spider

Those whose opinions I couldn't clearly determine as votes, please clarify if you join the Ferrari's 328/308 wagon or if you push your cars towards voting for consensus car too! Then maybe Porsche 944 will get to the top as well, let's see!!

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Paul Veres

[Tom]

I am on the Ferrari 3x8 bandwagon!

 

[Paul Veres]

@Kalci check out the car, @Dadrian check out the music:

Pasting separately the 3 synthwave tracks used in the video:

 

[RedDragon86]

I like this Mercedes Tubb's drives in "One Eyes Jack" I know his Cadillac is nice but this is more cool and stylish for him.

Edited December 18, 2022 by RedDragon86