O/T: Talking Cars Tuesday

Submitted by JFW on

Recently I've been jumping into the wayback machine and looking at some old vehicles. Some of them were crazy; As a kid my next door neighbor had a Lincoln Zephyr with a V-16. It was practically steampunk.  It was wired like 2 V-8's so occasionally 8 cylinders would just stop firing and go along for the ride. It had a mechanical lever to open a scoop in the cowl to bring air to the passengers. The back seat looked like a couch from a victorian mansion. Seat belts are for the weak.

It was glorious. 

My other recent 'Thank you God for not giving me enough money to do something stupid' interest is in mid to late 70's luxury barges. I saw a Lincoln Continental Coupe with a 460 making like 180hp. It was 'luxurious' for the day, but with stuff that you can find on a mid level focus now: Leather seats, power windows, power doors, good stereo. But it was HUGE! And the suspension could soak up any pothole. 

Both were examples of being crazy, over the top in terms of going after an end. 

What kind of cars are over the top for you? Is it like me? An ancient sedan? Or are you more into the Bugatty Veyron? 

bostonsix

June 26th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^

The AMG 6x6 is a limited run of 20-30 made per year for ONLY $515,000. They weren't sold in the U.S. market, but in 2015 there was one for sale in Florida for $975k and in 2016 there was one for sale for $1.35 million. 

 The Hennessy raptor F-150 6x6 has 600hp and roughly runs $315k.(your picture above)

JFW

June 26th, 2018 at 4:31 PM ^

You are correct. I meant to say it was only a concept. 

But that was when Dodge was doing crazy assed stuff with concepts (Viper. Prowler.). 

I remember wishing they would have done it. 

 

That said, the Prowler itself could be over the top; at least in design. I still think that would have been a better car with a slightly hopped up 318 and a stick...

 

bostonsix

June 26th, 2018 at 4:47 PM ^

The prowler was definitely missing a larger power plant, I remember I had a prowler trapper keeper in the 4th grade, and having seen a few in person lately I don't know what I was thinking back then other than it was the early 90s and looked cool compared to what was out at the time. I agree, definitely over the top car.

bostonsix

June 26th, 2018 at 4:47 PM ^

The prowler was definitely missing a larger power plant, I remember I had a prowler trapper keeper in the 4th grade, and having seen a few in person lately I don't know what I was thinking back then other than it was the early 90s and looked cool compared to what was out at the time. I agree, definitely over the top car.

MichiganFan1984

June 26th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^

Had an 84 Bonneville. Driving a caprice classic station wagon now. Nothing is over the top for me. 

Trebor

June 26th, 2018 at 2:32 PM ^

When I think of "over the top" cars, I think of the ones that are designed with no real purpose. The Jeep Cherokee Trackhawk is an example. You take an engine designed for a passenger car with 707 hp and put it in a Jeep that was designed as an off-road vehicle and it doesn't make sense. You've made both worse (though, in all honesty, I'd still drive the hell out of the Trackhawk). Same with the old F150 Lightnings, Ram SRT-10, and Silverado SS. They're interesting, but over the top because you've defeated the purpose of a truck

Additionally, things that are stupid overpowered for street car use. The fact you can buy a Challenger with 800 hp or a Corvette with 755 hp from the factory for a not-exorbitant amount of money (at least compared to other super-high-powered cars like the various Lamborghinis, McLarens, etc. with 700+, or the Koenigseggs and Bugattis with 1000+) is ridiculous to me, especially if you plan to do any daily driving with them. There's no place for them on the street as it's literally impossible to use more than about 15% of the car's potential within the laws of the road. Don't get me wrong, I love those cars and that you can get warranties on them, but that doesn't make them reasonable vehicles.

Trebor

June 26th, 2018 at 3:31 PM ^

Haha, that's not a phrase I've uttered very often. There are some that take it a bit too far (a quick google search that I will not do at work can certainly back that up), but in general I'm fine with however a woman naturally, or unnaturally, looks.

I did state that I would drive the hell out of those cars. But that doesn't mean they're not over the top. I've seen many, many drivers that I would be legitimately scared of if they had 700+ hp under their right foot. Hell, I was that driver in my younger years. It's more about giving the general public access to cars that can move so fast, so quickly, that I don't trust their reaction times to avoid serious incidents.

JFW

June 26th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^

The Demon and 'Vette don't bother me. Sure, it's unlikely to be able to use them on the street. But the Demon is a car that you can take to Milan and drag, then drive home and get some milk on the way back. The road tests say it's day to day driveability is impressive. 

I can see what you mean about the TrackHawk (though, like you, I'd drive the shit out of it). 

The Ram V10, I believe, was just Dodge creating a truck with a gas engine that had the torque of their diesel models. It was never intended as a performance model, and could do all of the 'truck' things that many performance trucks don't do well. 

potomacduc

June 26th, 2018 at 5:19 PM ^

I was born in Lansing in 1971 & have always had a dream of buying a car that rolled off a line in Lansing the same day I was born. That might be difficult, so maybe same month is more realistic. The three cars made in Lansing were Cutlass, Toronado & Eighty-Eight. Going for a Cutlass 442 W-30 would be the obvious choice, but I like to do things differently. A Delta Eighty-Eight Royale Coupe would be fabulous. I used to not like the 2nd gen Toros, but in the theme of this article, over the top, they are growing on me. They are big coupes (& I love giant doors) & fairly pimptastic, so what’s not to love?

JeepinBen

June 27th, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^

Does racing count? because if racing counts...

Image result for 917

The Porsche 917 was around in the 70s. One of the first real turbocharged race cars. McLaren was running in the -literally unrestricted- CAN/AM series with 8 liter Ford V8s under the hood.

 

Porsche decided to up the ante with a "180 degree V-12". No languages have 180-degree V's as far as I know, but what Porsche did is they bolted two 911 Turbo engines together. Flat-6+Flat-6= 180 V12 I guess.

The aerodynamics were so bad originally that it killed a driver, before winning a few world championships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_917