Phantom Corsair

Im staying on exotic unknown super cars and this one fills the unknown quite well. You've probably never heard of the Phantom Corsair I know I haven't, so here we go. Now the Phantom Corsair was designed by Rust Heinz from the ketchup company. But unlike their ketchup this guy never took off. The Phantom Corsair never went into production even though it was above the times. For example it had very futuristic styling for 1938. The Phantom Corsair had steel-and-alumminum body which was unheard of. Also there were no door handles. Instead it used electronically controlled buttons inside and out to open the doors. On the dash board there where lights to let the driver know if a door was ajar or if the radio was on, now thats high-tech. It also had an adjustable ride hight thanks to its "most advanced chassis available in the United States" from a Chord 810. The Phantom Corsair was also a ver wide car, 76.5 inches wide to accommodate four passengers in the from row with the far left to the left of the driver. Unfortunately only two people could fir in the back thanks to beverage cabinets. Even thought it weighed 4,600lbs, the 190hp Lycoming V8 could get this beast of to 115mph. In July of 1939 Rust Heinz died in a car accident which halted the project. If the project continued the Phantom Corsair would have been sold for $24,000 is equivalent to to $370,000 today.

Devon GTX

The Devon GTX is no ordinary Swedish designed, Los Angles based and built super car. It has aircraft grade carbon friber front to rear. Underneath the high tech body is a state of the art frame built by interlocking pieces of steel, yes steel. With all that said I should add in Devon's modo is "less is more". And with that said I guess you could say a 8.4 liter, V10 with 650 horsepower is less? I like how they think. It does have a boring six-speed manual gear box which I think was a fine choice. But both of those plus its light weight design (~3,000lbs) take the car from 0-60 in just three seconds and will get the GTX up to 210mph. Unfortunately Devon are only going to make 36 units at a price of $500,000.

Dome Zero

The dome Zero was a car that nobody suspected from the Japanese in 1978. It looked crazy, crazier then a Lamborghini Countach to exact. It never left the factory unlike the Countach for some very good and bad reason. Some of those reasons where for example the fact that Japan had very strict rules on cars witch Dome could not fulfill do to lack unlike the other mainstream  Japanese automakers. They also made a race edition to race at the 24 hour Le Mans race, but the Zero did not finish and only managed last place a year latter, so the project was dropped. Even if the Zero had made it off the factory floor there was the lack of power. It only had Nissan 2.8 liter I6 which produced 145hp but the car itself only weighed 2,028 giving it a power to weight ratio equivalent to the Porches of the day. The Zero was to be offered for $32,820 back in 1980.

GTA Motor Spano

The Spano is a small Spanish car that was built by engineers that have had several years experience with racing. Even though the Spano is fairly small and made from carbon fiber, titanium, and kevlar, it still weighs 2,976 thanks to a 8.3 liter V10 engine built by GTA Moto. The V10 produces 780hp or 840hp when using bio-ethonal. The Spano can reach 60mph in just 2.9 seconds and supposedly reach atop speed of 217mph. Unfortunately there are only going to be 99 units made at a price of $690,000.00 with a option of either a 7-speed manual gearbox or a 7-speed automatic sequential gearbox.

Covini C6W

The Covini C6W is one of, no the weirdest car I have ever seen. And yes there are actually four wheels up front. It was not some crazy idea, but instead an idea that was born in formula 1, on one grand prix car in the late '70s. The idea of having more rubber while also having a lower front hood should, in theory, give more traction to the front of the car. In fact it seemed to work making it less of a chance for the front of the car to lose traction or hydroplane, because of the separation of the rubber. But in return there are two times the amount of capoenent to maintain and the added weight makes the front tiers give less steering feedback. Now for the car, it has an Audi 4.2L V8 which pumps out 434hp and 350 ft-lb of torque. the car itself only weighs 2,535 lbs thanks to a carbon fiber body. However the extra weight of the four front tiers still reduces steering feedback. With the C6W being so light it can achieve 60mph in just 3.8 seconds and reach 186mph. Unfortunately it cost $320,000, darn.

Worlds Fastest Production Car: Hennessey Venom GT

Recently the Hennessey Venom GT got up to 265.7mph in just two miles. Now if you are are slightly oriented with cars you might be thinking, 'Wait didn't the Bugatti Vayron Supersport (SS) go 268mph a few years ago?' Well technically the Production SS are limited to 258mph so the tiers will not explode. So folks, let me present to you the world fastest production car, the Hennessey Venom GT. Im gonna come straight out and say that I'm a SS fan so this might be hard to be fair but I will try my best. The Gt is based of of a Lotus Exige that is stretched. Now the GT has a 7.0-liter, twin-turbocharged, V8 with 1244hp and 1155 ft-lb of torque. From inside the cockpit you can adjust between 800hp, 1000hp, and 1244hp. The GT only weighs 2,742lbs which gives it a power to weight ratio of 2:1. So for every horsepower it moves two pounds, thats really good. The most amazing part about the GT is the acceleration. In just 2.7 seconds it can go from 0-60mph. In just 9.92 seconds it will do a 1/4 mile. In just 14.51 seconds the GT will go from from 0-200mph. The best part is its half the price of the SS at only $1,000,000.00 yeah.

Lotus Esprit

The Lotus Esprit was first introduced in 1972, at the Tuirn Motor Show. It was later released to the public in 1976. The Esprit was originally going to be named the "Kiwi" but like all the Lotus models before, and to continue the tradition, it had to start with the letter "E", so they named it the Esprit. Most people know the Esprit from the James Bond films "For Your Eyes Only" where that one bad guy decided to blow it up by smashing the window with a AK-47 and "The Spy Who Loved Me" where he drove the Esprit under water. There have been five generations of the Esprit with a sixth proposed at the 2010 Paris Auto Show, but today I'm going to talk about the third generation or S3 which is my favorite generation. The S3 went from 1981-1987 with two engine options: a 2.2L inline four and a special edition 2.2L inline four Turbocharged version. The non turbo engine produced 160hp at 5000rpm which for a car that only weighted 2,690lbs is a lot. Since it weighed so little the Esprit could go from 0-60mph in just 6.5 seconds and do 135mph. On the inside things where kinda funky, like a tape deck, on the celling. But those weird bits made it iconic and what I think is a great looking car. New the Esprit cost $17,256 which in 1981 is like $42,917 to use which is pretty awesome I have to say. Also the S3 Esprit got 23.2 mpg.