Muscle-nekada i sada

[luci]

dopada mi se samo bi bilo dobro da je hauba duza

[Bzuva]

Bash je sexy ovakva...

[matija]

hallelujah za pop-up headlights!!!

[BRABUS]

Da ne otvaram novu temu...

Sta mislite o ovome?



Muscle Cars Reborn

XV Motorsports turns Chrysler classics from the 1960s and '70s into modern racing rigs.

By Jason Harper
Bloomberg Markets November 2007

Police lights are flashing in the rear-view mirror of my yellow 1970 Dodge Challenger on a highway north of New York. It's understandable, since the classic car has a 5.7-liter Hemi under the hood, which produces a vroom-inducing 440 horsepower. Still, I'm under the speed limit.

The officer edges his cruiser alongside, and suddenly I understand. "You want to look at the car, don't you?" I say through my open window.

"Yeah, pull over, he says.

The car-mad state trooper recognizes that the Dodge is unique. Produced by XV Motorsports, this 38-year-old Challenger is actually very new. A muscle car reborn, if you will.

The company's president, John Buscema, is riding shotgun, and he's soon telling the officer about the car's refinements. While the exterior is original, the suspension, steering components, brakes and engine are new--all made for it using modern racing technology. The result, he promises, is a classic that handles like a modern sports car.

Buscema and partner Sean Hyland started XV (which stands for xtreme velocity) in 2005. They buy and rebuild Chryslers such as Dodge Chargers and Plymouth Challengers and Barracudas from the 1960s and '70s, retaining only the original shell. To achieve higher performance, XV Motorsports redoes almost everything else in Woodstock, Ontario, elevating the company to more than a mere aftermarket operation. The cars are in effect their own brand.

Each one is custom ordered and costs $140,000-$230,000, depending on the body (1970 and '71 'Cuda convertible shells bring top dollar), the size of the engine (a 6-liter Hemi with 600 hp is available) and options such as six-speed transmissions and GPS navigation systems. The company takes six to eight months to rebuild each vehicle. The company also sells mint- condition original muscle cars at its Irvington, New York, showroom for as much as six figures.

Hyland, who has years of experience developing aftermarket parts and engines, supervises the shop in Canada. The company's biggest challenge has been building the suspension systems-- springs and linkages that connect a car's body to its wheels. Among the drawbacks of the original models were their simple (and poor-handling) leaf-spring rear suspensions and solid rear axles.

Before taking on the rebuilt model, I drive a stock 1970 Challenger for comparison. It's a classic muscle car, with a big snout and flowing yet beefy lines. This one has a four-speed manual transmission and original interior, and it's loaded with rumbling power.

Making a nimble turn, though, is next to impossible. The steering is so loose that you have to spin the wheel all the way around for a turn to take effect. I wrestle with the wheel just to stay in my lane. Buscema laughs. "And this one was installed with the special handling package, too," he says.

Now I'm ready to test the XV Challenger, the company's prototype, which is not for sale. (In August, XV was building six cars for customers and can handle as many as 18 custom jobs a year.) Before I can open the car up, though, we are pulled over by the cop.

After he checks us out, he says, a bit mischievously, that he'll be driving the other way and we'll have the road to ourselves. "Just don't leave 30 feet of skid marks when you pull outta here," he says.

The XV Challenger is not an exercise in subtlety. It's hugely loud, even inside the car, and the tight suspension isn't especially accommodating to the spinal column. It's finicky in traffic, too, and I manage to stall it once.

On the open road, though, it comes alive. Buscema promises that the harder you push the XV into curves, the better it reacts. I run through the five speeds on the gearshift in quick succession--the noise from the V-8 reverberating through my chest--and the dotted yellow center line quickly blurs. We charge into a deep bend, and the car sets firmly onto my chosen line, with absolutely no body roll. The steering is as tight as the original Challenger's is loose. When I purposely try to upset the suspension, the car remains solid and sure. Even at high speeds on curves, it feels predictable. The brakes are equally sticky and fade free.

I'm impressed, and Buscema is grinning like a proud papa. Chrysler LLC's Dodge will be selling a new, revamped Challenger of its own in 2008. The concept car, first shown at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show, is a nice-looking vehicle. Still, it doesn't seem nearly as muscled and gritty as the original. And I'm betting that its XV brothers will spank Dodge's brand-new Challenger up and down the road and back again.

Jason Harper writes about autos for Bloomberg News in New York.

[Guest]

Ekshumacija? Bolje da se fokusiraju na to šta je taj challenger predstavljao u vreme kada je napravljen.To je jedna velika i dosad neviđena dilema potekla iz USA,da li se vratiti nekim klasičnim oblicima u smislu dizajna ispod kojih bi se nalazila moderna tehnologija.Da li je to moguće uopšte?Jer ako već hoćeš da kopiraš te stare modele kako ćeš opravdati ogromnu karoseriju i relativno malu kabinu,gde se sve to uklapa u bezbednosne karakteristike i obaveze proizvođača,i ko će to kupiti na kraju? Chevy je imao slabu prodaju onih ssr hhr šta li retro modela.Mada ja bih lično voleo da vidim oživljavanje stila '30-tih

[Horsepower]

Samo u 1. delu onog teksta sam nasao dve velike greske. Za pocetak, klasicni Hemi nije bio 5.7L vec 426 cid (oko 7.0L). 5.7L je moderni Hemi koji se proizvodi od 2002. cini mi se. Druga stvar je da ni jedan ni drugi ne razvijaju 440 hp. Klasicni je razvijao 425 hp, a moderni 340 hp.

[luci]

u tome i jeste poenta texta koliko sam ukapirao u stare klasike se stavljaju novi motori i elemeneti vesanja da bi postigli dobre vozne karakteristike, slicnu stvar je uradio ford kad je a jedan car show dovezao mustanga iz 65 u full resto mod varijanti

[starac vujadin]

Nije to nista novo. To se u Evropi radi sa Austin Healey, Jaguar E-type, Mercedes 300SL...

Tako slicno nesto je i sam Ford GT kao reinkarnacija GT40 na neki nacin...

U svakom slucaju mislim da je to izvanredna stvar za onog ko moze to da plati. Ja sam za.

[luci]

meni je definitivno ideja neki resto mod, bilo koji auto, bilo bi odlino neki trans am, druge generacije, posto ima slab motor, a izgleda prilicno lepo...

[Horsepower]

Nikad nebi stavio moderni motor u klasicni automobil. Po meni to je gore od onih ljudi koji izimaju hot rod Fordove iz 1930ih i stavljaju Chevy motore u njih.

Kada bi kupovao klasicni muscle car (sto se nadam jednog dana uraditi) zelim da bude restoriran u originalnu kondiciju.

[HEMI 426]

Origanlost je za postovanje ali ako hoces da pravis ultimativni street rod, onda je resto mod prava stvar jer kompilira sve najbolje iz proslosti i sadasnjosti... Ja jako volim da vidim 69 Camaro u stock stanju ali mi se jako svidja i ono sto radi Baldwin Motion....





to mu dodje kao odlicna kombinacija muscle nekad i sad, nekad: izgled, koncepcija, deo tehnike, sad : lezanje, kocenje, performanse i oprema...

[Horsepower]

Neka, hvala, ja vise volim originalnost.

[luci]

@ HP ti cesto spominjes taj slucaj sa fordom iz 30ih i chevy small block motorom... sta bi ti stavio u tom slucaju, ostavio njegov originalni motor ili sta...


ja nisam za restomod varijantu ako je u pitanju redak model, ali sam skroz za ako je u pitanju cest model koji nema nikakvu posebnu vrednost....

sa obzirom da su vecinom muscle modeli imali dobos kocnice to se mora menjati, suludo je na tome voziti, a kad radis to valja se i malo vise snage(snage nikad dosta) i bolje lezanje i eto za cas promenis pola auta...

[Horsepower]

Daleko od toga da bi ostavio originalni motor, ali bi definitivno ubacio Fordov motor. Danas ima gomila kompanija koji rade replike Fordovih motora iz 1960ih (Roush Racing, Ford Racing ...) i ne vidim razlog zbog cega bi ubacivali Chevy 350 kad mogu ubaciti recimo Ford 390.
Nemoj pogresno da me razumes, Chevy je u tom periodu imao daleko bolje motore od Forda, ali nekako Fordov auto i Chevy motor (i obrnuto) ne idu zajedno.

[luci]

kad se radi HOT-ROD mislim da je besmisleno gledati na to cijij e deo... ako je deo dobarn nema svrhe ne staviti ga.... bez obzira sto je to ljuti protivnik.... ipak ti radis full custom auto, koji nema osim nekog osnovnog oblika nikakvih dodirnih tacaka sa originalom...