We hate saying this but many people buy expensive supercars just to be seen in them. Rather than appreciating the engineering and hard work which is put into creating these exotics, the sad truth is people buys cars like the Lamborghini to find beautiful women who will be “wooed” by their expensive taste.
But does expensive always mean more girls will be attracted to you cruising in your car? Well, Motor Trend teamed up with HOT ROD Magazine’s David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan when they rented a Lamborghini Aventador for 24 hours, costing a cool $6000 dollars. They were also lucky enough to take an extremely unique and one-off 1930 Model A ‘Rat Rod’ which was only ever designed for automotive conventions and shows, rather than actual driving.
The goal of the test? Well, it was simply to find out which car attracts the most attention when cruising through Californian streets, and the result may surprise you.
One Lap America actually has roots dating back to the original Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, known simply as Cannonball. Many of today’s enthusiasts think that Cannonball was simply a movie or plot, but this was actually a real-life cross-country race that included high speeds on U.S. highways.
The original Cannonball only lasted five runs until its organizer, Brock Yates, decided he had better quit this no-holds-barred race before the authorities decide to close it down. In 1984, the Cannonball returned, but was not about making it across the country as fast as possible, but about making it through a course that went throughout the lower 48 states and ended up with the amount of miles closest to Brock’s estimate.
In the modern era of the One Lap America, the race is now about following the rules of the road, as you drive throughout a predetermined course, and between these leisurely drives, you have track events. The scoring of this event is solely based on the track event results, but you and your co-driver(s) must also survive driving 24 hours on end, stopping only to enjoy a “gourmet” gas station hot dog or two along the way.
This 19-event, eight-day racing series just wrapped up on Saturday and we have your full list of winners in each class and we have also broken down a list of all of the oddest and most awesome cars to grace the 2012 running.
Click past the jump to read about the odd and awesome cars, as well as the winners from each class.
The original AC Shelby Cobra debuted back in 1961 in a joint venture between AC, a company owned by famed racecar driver Carroll Shelby, and Ford. An interesting fact is that had it not been for Chevy trying to protect its sacred Corvette model, the AC Shelby Cobra would have ended up being a Chevy-powered machine. As it ended up, Chevy turned down AC, and Ford stepped in to help power the Cobra.
The AC Shelby Cobra was a short-lived project that lasted only three generations between 1961 and 1967. AC managed to hang on for another 17 years before closing up shop in 1984. During the fire sale that took place following AC’s closing, Autokraft snatched up all of the toolings and spare parts of the failed company, which allowed it to become a parts reseller and replica car builder.
Autokraft’s replicas were so awesome and respectful to the history of the AC Cobra that the Hurlock family, the family that purchased the AC name, sold off its closely guarded rights to the name to Autokraft in 1986. This sale officially made all Autokraft Cobras the real deal, and not just the replicas of the past.
Staying true to the sequence of the original AC Shelby Cobras, Autokraft dubbed this model the AC Cobra MkIV – the prior three Cobras were dubbed MkI, MkII, and MkIII. Despite the fact that the MkIV Cobra was produced for a decade, only 480 models ever made it to the street, making this sometimes called “kit car” just about as rare as the original Shelby version.
With how rare these cars are, it is typically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to snag one up. Well, RM Auctions is making this a possibility at its Dingman Collection auction on June 9th through June 10th, 2012 in Hampton, New Hampshire.
So how does this replica car company turned legit Cobra builder stack up today?
Many years ago, okay maybe less than two years ago, if you were cruising down the road in your hopped up Mustang GT and came across a Mustang bearing the “Saleen” name on the side, you knew your poor GT had no chance. In 2007, this all started to change, as Steve Saleen left the company. Then in 2011, the performance vehicle side of Saleen shut down altogether. This rendered the once feared custom car builder just a high-performance parts supplier.
Shortly after leaving Saleen, Steve Saleen started SMS Supercars, basically a new version of Saleen. A long legal battle ensued after Saleen’s new ownership group refused to honor warranties for the performance vehicles it manufactured prior to taking ownership and SMS Supercars stepped in to try to help. The legal battle circled around whether or not SMS Supercars had the right to use the “Saleen” name.
After what seems like ages, there is finally a decision. Steve Saleen has been awarded the rights to use the “Saleen” name on all of his vehicles. In addition, all previously manufactured SMS Supercar vehicles will be added to Saleen’s master registry, making them official Saleen vehicles. Plus, Saleen will start producing badges for all of the old SMS Supercar vehicles, which SMS Supercar owners can buy and put in place of the old “SMS” badges.
SMS Supercars essential now becomes one with Saleen, which means Saleen will begin producing super high-performance models of the Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang, and Chevy Camaro.
Saleen lovers of the world rejoice! The days of Saleen being little more than AutoZone on steroids are over. We cannot wait to see the first Saleen branded cars, which should be coming very soon, though there is no official release date.
“Epic fail” is ultimately one of the most overused and incorrectly used phrases in the world. But, we are going to go ahead and chalk this one up as just that, an epic fail.
If you have ever watched drag races, you have likely noticed one thing in common with all of them. They are always on a straight and flat track. This is not without good reason, as drag cars, rail cars especially, are designed to simply go in a straight line really fast. If you’ve ever seen a rail car veer off the track you might notice that they rarely ever recover prior to a spectacular crash. This is because they have the turning capabilities of a fully loaded semi truck on an icy downhill slope.
Now that we’ve let you in on that secret of the dragster, what do you think would happen when a 1,000+ horsepower rail car decides to take a Sunday drive down a back country road? If you still don’t know, we’ll fill you in. It would crash at the first tiny kink in the road, much like the above video.
In what looks to be some sort of dragster road racing event, these guys take a rail car about 50 feet up the road before sitting it down in a small ravine, in a less-than-desirable way. It’s absolutely hilarious to watch the driver attempt to correct the car and you can really see the minimal amount of steering these things actually have. Fortunately, the driver wasn’t hurt, but we are pretty certain the car has a couple of bucks worth of damage… Enjoy!
This awesome roadster was crowned America’s Most Beautiful Roadster for 2012 earlier this year at the 63rd annual Grand National Roadster Show. The custom 1927 Ford Track T Roadster, better known as the "Indy Speedster," is owned by Bill Lindig of Houston, Texas, and was built by SoCal Speed Shop in Pomona, California. The craftsmanship that went into this roadster is absolutely amazing. It features an Art Chrisman built small block engine. The 352ci Ford makes over 450HP and is mated to a Tremec T5 five-speed transmission. And don’t think for a second this is just a show car; Bill actually does drive the Indy Speedster.
The Indy Speedster project goes back 16 years. Bill’s friend, Indy car driver Jack Howerton, wanted a racecar-inspired hot rod like the old sprint cars he used to drive. About 12 years ago, Jack started the Chrome-moly chassis, but never finished. Later, he brought in Moal Coachbuilders, and they made some progress, but the car was still very far from complete. Finally, Bill asked Jack to sell him the roadster, and promised him it would get finished. Jack sold the car to Bill, Bill took it to SoCal Speedshop, and the rest is history. As you can tell from the video, no corners were cut and this hot rod was done right.
The Grand National Roadster Show, once known as the Oakland Roadster Show, is the longest running indoor car show in the world. It was held at the Fairplex in Pomona, California for the ninth consecutive year. The show features the best of the best when it comes to roadsters, and this year the Indy Speedster proved to be the absolute best.
Hit the jump to watch America’s Most Beautiful Roadster for 2012 on HOT ROD Unlimited
Factory Five is known for being the premiere Shelby Cobra replica builders of the world, but how does their Mk4 Roadster stack up against the original 427? On March 17th and 18th, 2012, Powerblock TV will be airing episodes of MuscleCar TV that will show both cars stacked up against each other in a variety of driving categories. The Mk4 Roadster was jacked up with Ford’s new 5.0L Coyote engine, upgraded Wilwood brakes, Moser’s wavetrack rear end, and KONI’s latest double-adjustable shocks before both cars went to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a little one on one action. To watch the action, make sure you catch those episodes on March 17th and 18th, then again on March 24th and 25th on The Powerblock. Of course, if you want to be part of the action, then head over to the PowerBlock website, or visit the PowerBlock TV Facebook page where you can sign up to win the Ultimate Do-It-Yourself Package.
PowerBlock is holding a sweepstakes in which the winner will receive a complete Factory Five Mk4 Kit, complete with Ford Racing parts and Matco Tools, as well as a bunch of other prizes. All you have to do is sign up online to win. No purchase necessary.
Anybody that has ever had an appreciation of classic cars knows that the annual Woodward Dream Cruise is one of the can’t-miss events of the calendar year.
Held annually at Michigan’s legendary Woodward Avenue, the world’s largest classic car cruise is shaping up to have another memorable 2011 staging, complete with over 30,000 classic vehicles and an attendance that’s expected to reach well over 1.5 million people.
This year, the Chevrolet-sponsored event will be held on August 20th when you’ll see some of your favorite cars in history. An event like this brings out all types of cars from different generations. You name it, it’s there: from hot rods, classic cars, muscle cars, rat rods, art cars, TV cars, and everything else in between. In fact, at least one of every type of Mustang model made since the car debuted in April 1964 will be in attendance, as well as the Shelby GT500, both street and racing versions of the Boss 302, and the Mustang GT and V6 Coupe with performance package. Getting back to the main sponsor, Chevrolet, the Detroit-based company is bringing many cars from their past, present, and future, including the Cruze, Camaro, Corvette, Volt, Sonic, and ZL1 Camaro.
If you happen to be in the area this weekend, you’ll get a first-hand look at some of those classic rides that you’ll have the chance to check off of your bucket list. But if you’re not within the vicinity, you can still keep up-to-date with the latest happenings courtesy of the event’s official radio station, 104.3 WOMC. Head over to the WOMC website and find out everything you need to know about the Woodward Dream Cruise 2011.
There’s an old saying that states, "If you want something done right, do it yourself." While the millions of people that have uttered that phrase a time or two mostly do it when co-workers screw something up or when something at home goes array, Yannick Sire of Sire Performance Custom Performance in Inglewood, CA meant it on a much bigger scale. He didn’t want to provide better landscaping or execute a perfect parallel parking job; he wanted to build a car. And not just any car, he wanted to build the perfect hot rod. A few years - and some spare parts and elbow grease - later, Sire had hand built himself a car that he felt earned the name of Priapism.
Priapism is actually a medical condition that was named after the Greek god Priapus who was known for his disproportionately large and permanent ----. Go ahead and look it up; you know you want to. But whatever its name translates into, the Sire Priapism has got some balls in the form of two Chevrolet 350 small block engines producing a total of 1000 HP. Adding that power to a comfortable 2,370 lbs car gave Sire a hot rod worth getting into.
Hit the jump for details on the Yannick Sire Priapism.
In the world of classic cars, the Woodward Dream Cruise is the cream of the crop. The event is held annually on the third Saturday of August and it takes place in the former home of mostly all American car production, Michigan. The drive starts on Woodward Avenue in Pontiac, through Ferndale in Oakland County, and goes all the way to the State Fair Grounds inside the Detroit city limits, just south of 8 Mile Road. It might not be a Los Angeles beach cruise, as it’s Detroit, but for lovers of all the old days, it’s as good as it gets.
The event isn’t just big for the fans, it’s big for the city of Detroit as well. It is now the largest single day classic car event in the world, and brings in over $56 million annually for the Metro Detroit economy. It is, without a doubt, the world’s largest one-day automotive event, drawing about 1.5 million people and 40,000 classic cars each year.
After the jump, we have assembled numerous photos of the events. If you have photos of your own, feel free to share them with us.
