I bought an ’87 Shelby Daytona in dark metallic blue, brand new in ’86 (one of the very first of the new body style). 2.2L turbo II with 5-speed. A very fun car to drive – especially in the mountains.
From a dead stop, my car was at a huge disadvantage (small engine, heavy car, no turbo boost). But a much different story from a 30 MPH roll. Not even a ’90’s 1100 cc motorcycle could outrun me, until we got to 130 MPH or so, in a straight line.
Get the tires slightly damp, and that car would put on quite the (FWD) tire smoke show, as well.
I never did get around to making any performance mods to that car (was quite happy with it stock).
Surprisingly, the car was not bad to drive in snow or ice – because of the wide tires it had – except for plastic air dam (under front bumper). It did not like scooping up snow – when snow was 8” deep or more (I replaced a bunch of ‘em). Did have to take of in 2nd gear to get traction, though.
Also, because the car was intercooled (which was wider/bigger than the radiator), that car had little noticeable turbo lag. A bunch of friends drove my car, like normal. I asked them to look at the speedo and they were doing 80 MPH in city streets – and they “thought” car was only doing about 40 MPH.
The car grew legs and walked off in the late ‘90’s. I suspect someone needed a parts car (insert shrugging icon, here). At that point in life, I needed a bigger car due to family, so didn’t get around to finding a replacement.
I should have because about that time, Daytona’s seamed to all evaporate. It is hard to find one, now days, in these parts.
BudW
Edit: it also had T-tops, leather seats, etc.