Nice cars other than x-fire

[LE BARON]

Everyone knows the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard was a Hemi Orange 1969 Charger R/T. Except none of those facts are actually true. Of the estimated 300 Chargers used during production of the show, only 17 are confirmed to still exist, and the vast majority of them were not R/Ts. Most had nothing bigger than a 318 cubic-inch V8 under the hood. The real R/T is a completely different animal from what television told you it was.

The genuine 1969 Charger R/T came standard with the 440 Magnum V8 producing 375 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque, backed by either a four-speed manual or the 727 TorqueFlite automatic, with the 426 Hemi as the only available upgrade. Total R/T production for 1969 reached 20,057 units, of which 18,344 carried the 440 and just 432 were built with the Hemi.

The 440 was good for zero to sixty in around seven seconds and a 13.9-second quarter mile at 101 miles per hour straight from the factory. In the 1968 film Bullitt, Steve McQueen's Mustang GT390 was the hero car, but the villain drove a Charger R/T. McQueen won because the script said so. Whether the cars agreed is another matter entirely.

 

[LE BARON]

The 1969 Plymouth Road Runner was originally built as a cheap stripped down budget brawler for kids who wanted to go fast without spending a fortune. But the madmen at Nostalgia Hot Rods in Las Vegas completely flipped that script. They took a basic budget muscle car and spent 8 years and over $1 million turning it into the ultimate custom street terror.

They chopped and widened the body stretching the rear fenders 3 inches just to tuck massive 24 inch billet wheels underneath. Then they ditched the ancient carburetor and dropped a modern 392 cubic inch Hemi V8 into the engine bay. They bolted a massive supercharger right on top to push out 700 horsepower through a heavy duty 6 speed manual transmission.

Despite the bespoke Italian leather interior and digital air ride suspension the owner absolutely demanded they keep the original factory front grille. It sits there as a perfect vintage nod hiding a $1 million exotic supercar underneath a classic Detroit disguise. The Roid Runner is a pure heavy metal rebel injected with raw horsepower steroids

 

[LE BARON]

By the late 1950s, Studebaker was fighting for survival against Detroit's Big Three. Instead of playing it safe, legendary designer Brooks Stevens decided to imagine what the future might look like. The result was the astonishing XF-58 "Ice Princess."

Created in 1958 as a full-scale dream car, the Ice Princess combined aircraft-inspired styling, dramatic tailfins, a transparent twin-bubble canopy, and an unusual six-wheel layout that made it look more like a jet-age spacecraft than an automobile. The car was reportedly built using a modified Studebaker chassis and was intended to showcase futuristic styling themes rather than serve as a production proposal.

The Ice Princess was part of a series of Stevens-designed concept vehicles that toured auto shows and exhibitions during an era when Americans were obsessed with rockets, supersonic flight, and the coming Space Age. Every curve, fin, and chrome accent reflected the optimism of the Eisenhower years, when many people genuinely believed families would soon be commuting in vehicles that looked like science-fiction machines.

Unlike many famous concept cars from General Motors and Ford, the Ice Princess never received the publicity it deserved. Studebaker's financial struggles meant projects like this remained fascinating "what if" exercises rather than production realities.

Today, the XF-58 is remembered as one of the most outrageous and imaginative American dream cars ever created. Looking at it now, it's hard to believe this futuristic six-wheeled fantasy was designed nearly seventy years ago. It still looks like it belongs in tomorrow rather than yesterday

 

[LE BARON]

Custom 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle "Doughboy" by Blazin Rodz

Blazin Rodz, a team of young builders pushing the boundaries of innovation in the custom car world, presented Doughboy at the 2024 SEMA Show, fusing the power of a drag racer with the aesthetic of a GT Cup car and the interior luxury of an exotic supercar. Builds of this complexity typically take three to five years. The Blazin Rodz team completed it in twelve months.

The centerpiece is a 540 cubic-inch twin-turbo big block V8 developed by ACE Racing Engines, fed by dual 10-GPM fuel pumps, a custom intake manifold, and an air-to-water intercooler, pushed by Next Gen 8385 turbochargers to 2,800 horsepower. The chassis is a heavily modified Art Morrison Enterprises frame running C7 Corvette independent front suspension geometry, custom CNC 7075-T6 aluminum suspension components, JRI hydraulic coilovers with on-the-fly ride height adjustment, and Wilwood SX6R six-piston brake calipers finished in 24-karat gold.

hand, then 3D-scanned to create precision bucks for duplication into metal. The side-exit exhaust mimics the shape of a rocker panel, with a custom 3D-printed stainless steel tip that pays direct homage to a 1969 Camaro rear quarter gill. Thirty-five individual components across the car were CNC-machined or 3D-printed in-house. The interior features BMW carbon fiber seats, a MoTeC C1812 display, and an Audi R8 steering wheel.

The name Doughboy does not fit the car at all. That is entirely the point

 

[1st Vette]

 

[dyoung]

Post 1805,,,,The nearly famous soup can exhaust..

 

[1st Vette]

Custom 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle "Doughboy" by Blazin Rodz

Blazin Rodz, a team of young builders pushing the boundaries of innovation in the custom car world, presented Doughboy at the 2024 SEMA Show, fusing the power of a drag racer with the aesthetic of a GT Cup car and the interior luxury of an exotic supercar. Builds of this complexity typically take three to five years. The Blazin Rodz team completed it in twelve months.

The centerpiece is a 540 cubic-inch twin-turbo big block V8 developed by ACE Racing Engines, fed by dual 10-GPM fuel pumps, a custom intake manifold, and an air-to-water intercooler, pushed by Next Gen 8385 turbochargers to 2,800 horsepower. The chassis is a heavily modified Art Morrison Enterprises frame running C7 Corvette independent front suspension geometry, custom CNC 7075-T6 aluminum suspension components, JRI hydraulic coilovers with on-the-fly ride height adjustment, and Wilwood SX6R six-piston brake calipers finished in 24-karat gold.

hand, then 3D-scanned to create precision bucks for duplication into metal. The side-exit exhaust mimics the shape of a rocker panel, with a custom 3D-printed stainless steel tip that pays direct homage to a 1969 Camaro rear quarter gill. Thirty-five individual components across the car were CNC-machined or 3D-printed in-house. The interior features BMW carbon fiber seats, a MoTeC C1812 display, and an Audi R8 steering wheel.

The name Doughboy does not fit the car at all. That is entirely the point

View attachment 141031

Needs braces for that overbite........

 

[LE BARON]

The 1967 Ford Mach 2 was a mid-engine, two-seat GT based on a production Mustang floor pan. Read that sentence again. Ford took a 1967 Mustang convertible, chose it specifically for its reinforced rocker sills, cut it apart, installed a small-block V8 and a ZF four-speed transaxle behind the driver, and created a mid-engine sports car that weighed 2,644 pounds. And then they destroyed both prototypes.

The engineering and construction were handled by Kar-Kraft, Ford's private performance contractor in Brighton, Michigan. The same shop that built the GT40s, the Boss 429 Mustangs, and virtually every other serious Ford racing project of the era. Kar-Kraft installed a small-block Windsor V8 in the rear of the chassis. Some sources say a Bud Moore-prepped 302 was installed at one point. The German ZF four-speed transaxle sent power to the rear wheels.

The front suspension was production Mustang, kept stock to hold production costs down if the car ever reached the showroom. Disc brakes at the front, Galaxie drums at the rear. A mid-engine car with off-the-shelf Mustang parts underneath. The concept was brilliant: take the most popular car in America and turn it into an affordable mid-engine GT using as many existing components as possible.

The exterior design came from Ford's styling studio headed by vice-president Gene Bordinat. Simulated air intakes in the rear deck gave away the engine location. The bodywork shared DNA with several Ford concepts of the period, including the Bordinat Cobra and the Cougar II. A stock Mustang rear bumper was beautifully integrated into the Kamm-effect tail. The car looked like a Mustang from certain angles and like nothing else Ford had ever built from others.

Two complete examples were constructed. A development mule in plain white paint, seldom photographed and rarely seen. And a fully detailed version in red lacquer that debuted at the Chicago Auto Show in March 1967. The red Mach 2 was fully functional and roadworthy. Selected members of the press drove it at Ford's Dearborn Proving Grounds. It can also be seen in an amazing home movie filmed by Kar-Kraft employee Larry Lawrence in the summer of 1969, driving in a convoy of Ford performance vehicles.

The Mach 2 was not approved for production. The ZF transaxle was expensive and fussy, reportedly a major objection. Both prototypes were reportedly destroyed. That's the part of the story that hurts.

But there's a sequel. When Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen became president of Ford in 1968, he brought along his favorite GM stylist, Larry Shinoda. Shinoda revamped the Mach 2 concept with longer, sleeker bodywork and space for a 429 cubic-inch big-block V8. This version, known as the Mach 2C, never made it past the studio glider stage. The DeTomaso Pantera was already in the pipeline by then, and Ford didn't need a second mid-engine, low-volume sports car in its family.

The Mach 2 is one of the great what-ifs of the Total Performance era. Ford had the platform, the engine, the transaxle, and two running prototypes. They had a mid-engine car that could have been built on an existing production line using existing components. They had press drives and a Chicago Auto Show debut. They had everything except the corporate will to take the final step.

A mid-engine Mustang in 1967. Based on a convertible floor pan. Small-block V8 and a ZF transaxle. 2,644 pounds. Two prototypes, both destroyed. Ford would wait until 2005 to put a mid-engine GT into production, and even then it wasn't based on a Mustang. The Mach 2 was forty years ahead of its time and forty years too early

 

[LE BARON]

Ford made the right call in 1964. The Mustang was a four-seater, not a two-seater. That decision opened the car to young families, commuters, and people who needed a back seat even if nobody sat in it very often. It defined the pony car category and separated the Mustang from the Corvette. The rear seat was minimal, but it mattered.

And yet Ford never stopped wondering what a two-seat Mustang would look like.

It starts with the original. The 1962 Mustang prototype, later known as the Mustang I, was a petite mid-engine two-seater with a Ford Cologne V4 engine and aluminum bodywork. It contributed almost nothing to the production Mustang except the name and, in stylized form, the distinctive side cooling scoops. The Mustang I now lives in the Henry Ford Museum. It's the genesis of the Mustang story, even if the production car went in a completely different direction.

Days after the four-seat Mustang debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair, Ford's styling studio was already working on a two-place coupe variant. A proposal dated April 23, 1964 shows a two-seater on the standard Mustang platform. Ford was contemplating the idea from the very beginning, before the first customer car was even delivered.

Then the "Shorty" Mustang. Possibly the most famous two-seat Mustang ever built. Vince Gardner and Dearborn Steel Tubing, Ford's favored performance subcontractor, took an early pre-production Mustang coupe assembled in late 1963, sectioned 16 inches out of the stock floor pan, and designed new rear fenders and sail panels molded in fiberglass. The result was a unique two-seater that toured with Ford's Custom Car Caravan in 1964. It survives today in a private collection.

An October 19, 1966 styling proposal shows a two-seater with the fastback SportsRoof profile, badging, and overall styling theme that would appear on the eventual 1969 production Mustang. A beautiful design that shared its visual language with the car that reached the showroom, minus two seats. There's no evidence it went beyond the mockup phase.

Then the 1993 Mustang Mach III concept, introduced at the North American Auto Show in Detroit. A two-place cockpit with a low, roadster-style windscreen. Several styling elements foreshadowed the 1994 production Mustang, but the two-seat layout made it clear this was a concept exercise, not a production preview. It looked like the Mustang that Ford would build if Ford didn't have to sell Mustangs to people with children.

The pattern is consistent across three decades. Ford kept exploring the two-seat Mustang idea and kept arriving at the same conclusion: the back seat sells cars. A two-seat Mustang would compete with the Corvette instead of complementing it. It would narrow the buyer pool instead of widening it. It would be a better sports car and a worse business decision.

The four-seat Mustang sold over a million units in its first two years. None of these two-seat concepts could have matched that number. Ford knew it every time they drew one, built a mockup, or sent a concept to an auto show. They kept designing two-seat Mustangs anyway, because some ideas are too beautiful to stop drawing even when you know you'll never build them.

 

[1st Vette]

Ford made the right call in 1964. The Mustang was a four-seater, not a two-seater. That decision opened the car to young families, commuters, and people who needed a back seat even if nobody sat in it very often. It defined the pony car category and separated the Mustang from the Corvette. The rear seat was minimal, but it mattered.

And yet Ford never stopped wondering what a two-seat Mustang would look like.

It starts with the original. The 1962 Mustang prototype, later known as the Mustang I, was a petite mid-engine two-seater with a Ford Cologne V4 engine and aluminum bodywork. It contributed almost nothing to the production Mustang except the name and, in stylized form, the distinctive side cooling scoops. The Mustang I now lives in the Henry Ford Museum. It's the genesis of the Mustang story, even if the production car went in a completely different direction.

Days after the four-seat Mustang debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair, Ford's styling studio was already working on a two-place coupe variant. A proposal dated April 23, 1964 shows a two-seater on the standard Mustang platform. Ford was contemplating the idea from the very beginning, before the first customer car was even delivered.

Then the "Shorty" Mustang. Possibly the most famous two-seat Mustang ever built. Vince Gardner and Dearborn Steel Tubing, Ford's favored performance subcontractor, took an early pre-production Mustang coupe assembled in late 1963, sectioned 16 inches out of the stock floor pan, and designed new rear fenders and sail panels molded in fiberglass. The result was a unique two-seater that toured with Ford's Custom Car Caravan in 1964. It survives today in a private collection.

An October 19, 1966 styling proposal shows a two-seater with the fastback SportsRoof profile, badging, and overall styling theme that would appear on the eventual 1969 production Mustang. A beautiful design that shared its visual language with the car that reached the showroom, minus two seats. There's no evidence it went beyond the mockup phase.

Then the 1993 Mustang Mach III concept, introduced at the North American Auto Show in Detroit. A two-place cockpit with a low, roadster-style windscreen. Several styling elements foreshadowed the 1994 production Mustang, but the two-seat layout made it clear this was a concept exercise, not a production preview. It looked like the Mustang that Ford would build if Ford didn't have to sell Mustangs to people with children.

The pattern is consistent across three decades. Ford kept exploring the two-seat Mustang idea and kept arriving at the same conclusion: the back seat sells cars. A two-seat Mustang would compete with the Corvette instead of complementing it. It would narrow the buyer pool instead of widening it. It would be a better sports car and a worse business decision.

The four-seat Mustang sold over a million units in its first two years. None of these two-seat concepts could have matched that number. Ford knew it every time they drew one, built a mockup, or sent a concept to an auto show. They kept designing two-seat Mustangs anyway, because some ideas are too beautiful to stop drawing even when you know you'll never build them.
View attachment 141218

Not hard to see why they got away , lol .

 

[LE BARON]

The 1969 Mustang was a different animal. Bigger than its predecessors, wider, more aggressive. The days of being a rebodied Falcon were gone. This was a purpose-built muscle car that couldn't be confused for anything else. Scalloped outboard headlights, an open-mouth grille, and new dual headlights gave it a face that looked like it wanted to eat everything in its lane.

Three body styles: Coupe, convertible, and the fastback, which Ford renamed "SportsRoof" because marketing departments in 1969 couldn't leave well enough alone. The SportsRoof was the one that mattered. The long, sloping rear window and the wide stance made it one of the most aggressive-looking American cars of the decade.

The GT Equipment Group carried over from previous years, available on all three body styles. It included the new 351 cubic inch two-barrel V8, dual exhausts, GT wheels with meaty tires, and upgraded suspension. But the GT was overshadowed by the brand-new Mach I. Similar standard equipment, but the Mach I was exclusive to the SportsRoof and had its own stripe package. Both the GT and Mach I could be ordered with serious engine upgrades: the 351 four-barrel, the 390, and two versions of the 428 Cobra Jet, including one with the pioneering "Shaker" hood scoop that protruded through a hole in the hood and visibly shook with the engine. You could see the motor breathing from outside the car.

The 1969 Mustang told the rest of the muscle car market that it was time to play catch-up again. Chevrolet had the Camaro. Pontiac had the Firebird. Dodge had the Challenger coming. But Ford got there first and got there hardest. The 1969 SportsRoof with a 428 Cobra Jet and a four-speed manual was as close to a street-legal race car as Detroit produced that year.

Today, clean 1969 Mustang SportsRoof examples regularly sell for six figures at auction. At Bonhams' Quail Lodge sale, a SportsRoof Fastback Coupe in PPG Mercedes Silver with a manual transmission was estimated at $200,000 to $300,000. From a car that cost a few thousand dollars new. The 1969 Mustang aged the way every muscle car hopes to age: Violently appreciated.

 

[LE BARON]

The Mustang II is the Mustang nobody wants to talk about. Built from 1974 to 1978 on a Pinto platform during the oil crisis, it was smaller, slower, and more sensible than anything the Mustang name had ever been attached to. Most came with four-cylinder or V6 engines. The performance crowd moved on. Ford knew it had a problem.

The King Cobra was Ford's answer. A 1978-only package that tried to inject muscle car attitude into a car that was born without any. Approximately 4,300 were built. The package added a 302 cubic inch V8, power steering, power-assisted front disc brakes, and enough visual drama to make the car impossible to ignore. A massive snake decal dominated the hood. King Cobra badging covered the body. Pinstriping ran around the side windows, decklid, wheel arches, and rockers. A rear lip spoiler. Painted bumpers. Dual exhaust outlets. 13-inch lacy-spoke aluminum wheels. If subtlety was what you wanted, this was not your car.

The 302 V8 was not the screaming big-block of the early Mustangs. Emissions regulations had strangled it down to somewhere around 139 horsepower. But in 1978, that was enough to make the King Cobra the fastest Mustang II you could buy. It came with either a four-speed manual or a three-speed automatic. Some owners swapped in a five-speed for better highway manners.

New, the King Cobra listed at around $5,400 with options. A bargain by any standard. For decades, Mustang II King Cobras were ignored by collectors who only cared about the 1964-to-1973 cars. That has changed. Clean examples now sell for $15,000 to $20,000 at auction. One sold on Bring a Trailer for $18,250 in 2020. As one commenter put it: "I guess Mustang IIs are officially collectible now."

The King Cobra was the last gasp of the Mustang II generation. In 1979, Ford replaced it with the Fox-body Mustang, which would go on to define a new era of affordable performance. The King Cobra disappeared. No successor. No spiritual follow-up. Just 4,300 examples with a giant snake on the hood and a 302 under it. The Mustang nobody wanted is slowly becoming the Mustang everybody regrets not buying when it was cheap.