The father of a childhood friend ordered a new 1980 Citation 4-door in order to stop using his 10-mpg all the time 73 Biscayne 454. It was 151 4-cyl, but he also went for the 4-speed (with a bench), h.d. suspension, full gauges and an am/fm stereo that back then pulled in Q107 way up in cottage country. My friend remembers their insurance agent asking, "it's not an X-11 is it?" (X-11s were all V6s.) Apparently the insurance rate for an X-11 was the same as a Z28!
I remember later they ended up putting 2 bolts into the hood to tie it together at the corners. At speed the outer skin of the hood wanted to pull up (I've seen that on 1982+ Camaros as well).
One thing that could effectively fix the Citation's trait of swapping ends during panic braking would be rear wheel ABS.
Regarding that Victoria Craigslist car it appears to have some stuff that GM Performance had available for it. Back then you could get a lot of stuff for the 2.8 narrow angle V6 that started with the Citation & X-car lines spring 1979. I am trying to tell, is that a 2.8 60° V6 or is that a 90° V6 of larger displacement? Like a 4.3 Chevy? Either way, it is a Hot Rod circa mid-80s with that car. It seems to me Hot Rod magazine covered a swap of a 4.1 (252) Buick V6 4-barrel into a FWD Skylark around that time.
Nitrous is a no-go here in Ontario, they will impound your car now because of NOS and its association with street racing.
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
I had an 81 X-11, it was my first new car. It had lots of pep, and had the 4 speed manual tranny. I remember one of the car magazines reviewed it, and said the tranny felt more like a gear bag than a gear box, which was true. It really needed a 5 speed as there was quite an RPM change between 2nd & 3rd gear.
I'd say the motor in this one is definitely the 60 degree V6. I don't think there's enough room for the 90 degree motor.
Well my 1981 X11 was a little beast. I bought it new in March of 1982, it was hidden away in the basement of a dealership on Danforth Avenue in Toronto, Robertsons.
Motor Trend and Car and Driver loved this model at the time and had many rave reviews about the car and even put it head to head with Saab Tiurbos, Volvos and Alfa Romeos of the time and beat them. It could also run with the Z28 at that time. The heart was an HO660 engine with special heads and high lift cam, dual snorkel ram air style cowl induction hood and special exhaust and gearing. The thing idled like a muscle car, say a L79, very lumpy. I couldn't leave well enough alone so I de-smogged the engine, AIR catalytic converter etc.. fell off and I ordered a set of Hooker Headers form California, Don Valley Performance installed them, there was no way to dual exhaust this baby so it got a three inch straight pipe down the centre tunnel where the original pipes were routed and into a turbo dual outlet muffler hung right at the rear with dual chrome trumpets. A 4bbl Holley carb went on with some guidance from the Chevrolet Power manual issued by the dealers back then. I de-chromed the car a bit and removed all badges, no-one had a clue what was eating them up. It would completely annihilate my V8 Monza which I handed down to my BIL and believe me we raced often, Cousin's 80 Z28, no contest, Cousins's L48 Corvette, dead heats. Mustnag LX's a few fenders. It sounded like a big Harley at low speed and idle and at highway speed like you were lapping Watkin's Glen. That Cowl induction with solenoid operated intake was a blast. I figured it had to have around 180 HP and it was just a free flowing engine to drive. The car was still a low cost Chevy and it suffered from bad fit, finish quality and workmanship. I stuck it out for three years then traded it in on a new 1986 Monte Carlo SS which arrived in November 1985. The dealer asked for all the parts I had taken off it and I obliged when I picked up the Monte.
-- Edited by 73SC on Saturday 27th of June 2020 11:40:15 PM
The 1980 version Carl posts was a joke, that's why Chevy beefed the car up for 81 and 82. No goodies on an 1980. The HO 660 was short lived then they replaced it with the same FI version all Citations got. 81 and 82 are the only years worth having. Hagerty recently did an article on the 81 X11 and showed Road Test Data favourably with Corvette data.
Hmm, as you can tell, I am not very familiar with X11's. I didn't realize they are so different Ray. I assumed the X11 package was basically the same for all the years. I'll have to check for newer version road tests.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I remember when they came out, I thought it was the start of a resurgence for the performance/muscle car. In a sense it was. Of course Camaro/Firebird was there all along but had become watered down somewhat.
Then we started to see some offerings in the lower price scale with upgraded performance and appearance additions. X-11, Charger 2.2 to be followed by Shelby and turbo versions, Ford brought back Mustang GT with 2bbl 302 for 1982, Camaro/Firebird upped their game... it was a start. Now today we can get 'muscle cars' that would absolutely fry the most heralded muscle cars from the 1960s in almost every category.
Nice looking X11 Ray. Did you ever run it on the quarter mile? Just curious what kind of times your modified version would have run.
No I never got any official times, being 24 I have a lot of good stories of this car though, most involve pretty girls and fun times in Muskoka and on Georgian Bay.
I found paperwork under the passenger seat dated July 1981 and I bought it in March of 1982 so these were not well known cars or appreciated at the time as mine was tucked away in the basement in a corner. It really peeved them off that they had to move just about every car in the basement showroom when I bought it. I have to admit that if Motor Trend and Car & Driver never featured this car so much and raved about it I would have had an Alfa GTV6.
-- Edited by 73SC on Sunday 28th of June 2020 12:32:16 PM
Well my 1981 X11 was a little beast. I bought it new in March of 1982, it was hidden away in the basement of a dealership on Danforth Avenue in Toronto, Robertsons.
-- Edited by 73SC on Saturday 27th of June 2020 11:40:15 PM
Interesting that you bought your 81 in the spring of 82, as the 82's would have long been available by that time. Basically the same story with my 81, I bought it new in May 82, and used that as a bargaining tool.
I always figured mine was missing something under the hood as it had the cowl induction hood, but nothing to join that to the rear snorkel of the tall X-11 air cleaner.
