Tuesday, March 19, 2013

De Tomaso Pantera

In 1971 a small Italian car company released their 3rd sports car: The Pantera. It was a very small rear engine, rear wheel drive coupe. It was so small in  fact the if you where any taller then 6ft you would be scraping your head off on the roof. But how cares about that when it had a 380hp Ford V8 in a car that weighed 3,123lbs. That might seem like a heavy car for 380hp but Car and Driver got it from 0-60 mph in just 5.5 seconds and all the way up to 159mph. The first year the Pantera was in production 1,0037 made it to the US. Unfortunately those first one where unreliable, unsafe, and would rust easily. For instance Elvis Presley shot a gun at his Pantera when it would not start.The last Panters rolled off the production line in 1991 with a total of 7260 made with 5,500 of them ending up in the US. The original 1970's price was 10,295 but you can buy a 1986 Sport with 26,390 miles on it for $119,995.







Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Caparo T1

The Caparo T1 is not only the craziest car I have ever seen but it is also street legal. Yes this two seater is legal in GB, but you would have to be mad to get it. First off it only weighs 1,000lbs and it also has a 3.5L V8 which cranks out 575hp which gives the T1 a power to weight ratio that is better then a Bugatti Vayron at 1hp for every 1.74lbs. The T1 can reach 60mph in just 2.2 seconds and reach a break neck speed of 205mph. If you have the right tires the body, which was designed by the same people who designed the McLaren F1, can produce 3g of downforce which is more then the average car would dare try. There is a downside to the T1, there are only 16 units in the UK and each one was sold to its lucky owner for $306,969.