We here at Bold Ride are content to keep our noses out of the political limelight, as debates between Mustang or Camaro are more fit to dominate our time. That said, any automotive aspects of note in the campaign are are fair game. While the talking heads may debate whether or not the auto bailouts worked, or if the government should sell its stake in General Motors, we see fit to analyze a far more pressing concern in the eyes of the voting public, and that’s the candidate’s choice of cars!
As I see it, owning muscle cars in the 1960’s and 70′s meant the driver fell into one of several categories. If you had a Corvette, you were a lucky kid who had a dad that loved cars. If you had a Mustang, you were quarterback of your football team. If you had a Mopar, you were more likely to rob a 7-Eleven. And if you had a Camaro, you were the kid in town with the best fake ID and everyone relied on you to get the beer for the house party. You also had a mustache before your friends. You were pretty awesome. Camaros of those decades were angry beasts. They didn’t corner well, but that wasn’t the point. The quarter mile was.
Americans in the 1960′s didn’t want to live in the cities; they wanted to live in the suburbs, so developers made all these little towns on grids. This meant 90 degree turns everywhere you went. Thus, American cars from that era never had to do anything other than go very fast in a straight line. And they were all about excess. Domestic manufacturers thought, “Let’s take the regular car grandma would buy, put a huge V8 in it, some pizza cutters up front, big slicks in the back and turn it into it into a drag car.” Enter the Ford Mustang.
When the Chevy Volt was launched by GM in 2010, it won the 2011 North American Car of the Year, as everyone expected. Most people recognized it as a game changer from American manufacturer, General Motors. High hopes rested on consumers who would embrace the Volt as the car they were begging Detroit to build. Finally, something to compete with the Japanese juggernaut, the Toyota Prius. However, hardly anyone could have anticipated the insanely politicized and polarizing response the car would generate in the wake of government bailouts, presidential campaigns, and fickle environmental agendas.
When Ariel Motors ran into some financial problems a while back, they got a sort of bailout, but it wasn’t from the government. It came from Jay Leno, who was such a fan of the company that he negotiated a deal for Atoms to use a GE Eco boost motors that gave more torque and higher RPMS (and cost less). Those were fitted into Atom 2s. They got back on track and the new Atom 3s have a K20 Honda Motor in it, which is out of the Civic Type R. I have an Atom 2.5, since it’s an old chassis, but a new motor. And it’s a phenomenal machine.
I’ve got a rule about never driving my heroes. Those include the Lamborghini Countach SV, the Porsche 959 and the Shelby Cobra. As a kid, these rides were the only things – other than Transformers – that mattered, and they’re the three cars that singlehandedly made me a motoring mentalist. And when I began working on a project with Cobra for their 50th Anniversary car, it required me to drive it. So what’s a fella to do?
When the Acura NSX first hit the streets in 1990, it was one of the best driving cars ever made. That credit is due, in large, to Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna. Senna, who raced for Honda, had a heavy hand in the NSX’s design process. He worked closely with the engineering team and tested this visceral beast extensively on the Suzuka Circuit in Japan. The finished result was automotive perfection.
One of the best cars I have ever driven is the CTS-V Coupe. Which is funny because when I first saw photos of it, I assumed I wouldn’t like it at all. It just didn’t look right. How quickly I was proved wrong.
If Darth Vader had a daily driver, it would be the CTS-V Coupe. It’s simply bad-ass from every consideration. The car is nothing but right angles; there’s nothing Euro about it with all those crazy-looking lines. Yet they made it work really well. Even the paint job of the tester I received was incredible. It was Diamond Black and it has metal flake mixed in. It had so much “flake” to it that when the light hits it, it sparkles like a disco ball. I loved it. Top that off with black wheels, a black interior and faint blue LED lighting accents on and under the dash – the only other car with a similar lighting system such as this is a Maybach – and the finished visual affect is stunning.
Michael Prichinello is a contributor to BoldRide and owner of Classic Car Club Manhattan
In the movie Drive, Ryan Gosling flicks around a Ford Mustang GT with relative ease during the chase scene with the Chrysler 300. The Mustang, obviously, handily outmaneuvers the 300 and that’s just a stock Mustang. Imagine if it had been souped up. In truth, the GT 5.0 is a fantastic platform for people to build a better car from. And they have. While there are a ton of those options out there, parked in our club’s garage is a 2011 Mustang RTR (Ready to Race) tricked out by professional drifting driver Vaughn Gittin Jr. It’s an insane beast.
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