Toyota Prius and Honda Insight get Tommy Kaira Kits
Body kits and tuning are nothing new to fans of Japanese imports, although they tend to remind us of Supras and Civics, rather than the fuel sipping hybrids of the 21st century. Hybrids, by nature, are not the speedy performance machines generally associated with aggressive body styling and over sized rims, so this seems like an unlikely market for tuner accessories.
A Hybrid of a Different Sort: The SV9 Competizione
If an Alfa Romeo 8C is too far out of your range, you may take consolation with the SV Motor Company’s SV9 Competizione.
As the name suggests, this custom-build sports car mimics the Alfa’s appearance, but carries enough different cosmetic features to prevent a lawsuit. The SV9 is actually based on a Corvette platform, and is re-skinned, adorned with a fresh interior, and tweaked for higher performance. The upgrades include Pirelli sport tires, four exclusive wheel combinations, composite panels, an upgraded intake, and a tuned V-8 delivering 400 hp. The SV team is promising a four-second run to sixty and twelve for the quarter-mile.
Pricing for the SV9 is set at $100,000.
Mansory Vincero: Most Expensive Upgrade Ever?
The Mansory Vincero may be the most expensive tuner work ever created. The Vincero is a smoothly freshened up Bugatti Veyron with new fashionable accessories and an even more power quad-turbo W-16 engine, now rated at around 1,100 hp.
The price for this French blessing? The upgrade alone is over $980,000. So you’ll be coughing up more than two million dollars when all is said and done.
It still beats that $11,000,000 Shelby.
Techco’s Low-Cost Answer to the ZR1
Tired of all the gloating from the middle-aged and balding men who pre-ordered a C6 ZR1? Techco has an answer for you.
Specter’s Corvette GTR: Instilling Terror in a Porsche Near You
Specter Werks’s C6 GTR is just flashy enough to win us over at CarVersation. While its appearance may echo polished aluminum, the body is made up in large part of light composites. The aesthetics have been altered with a new splitter and rear-diffuser, 19″ alloys up front and 20″ out back, and a vented hood. The Chevy LS3 V-8 has its displacement raised from 6.2 L to 6.8, pushing up horsepower to 615 and torque to 578 ft.-lbs.
Shelby Whips Out Its ‘10 Snake
Shelby’s put out official pics and specs for the 2010 GT500 Super Snake. The Super Snake, unlike the regular GT500, is an actual Shelby project undertaking directly by the company staff. (The GT500 uses the Shelby name pretty much for marketing purposes.) The benefit of having the Ford/Shelby name running side-by-side is that Shelby’s own tuners can market their specials as being almost factory-grade.
Gallery: Edo’s 500 hp California Spider
The Edo tuner house has released its gallery for a worked-over California Spider. The Edo Spider is a pretty open-ended offering, with interior customization up to the customer’s imagination. Buyers will have a choice of a lowered, ghetto superstar suspension, or an adjustable sport setup that will change depending on the driver settings. The car’s internal ECU has been recalibrated to put out 500 hp, pushing the top speed to 196 mph and the 0-60 time under four seconds.
The Air Force’s Other Recruiting Tool
The Galpin X1 evokes the name and appearance of the legendary Air Force test plane. With all the equipment we can see here, this X1 may be just as able to hit Mach 1 as the jet it’s named after. The X1 is more about style than it is about substance–the actual cockpit is hooked up with special monitors and a flight stick. That’s hardly legal–but still pretty cool.
Galpin’s Stealthy Vapor Muscle Coupe
Galpin’s Vapor custom is a reworked Challenger, emplying a blacked-out color scheme to help convey a stealth image. The analogy is proper, for the Galpin is a promo stunt for the US Air Force. Headlamps are of the hidden kind, putting the Vapor in-line with Dodge’s famed Charger coupe of the 1960s. Also matching the Air Force style are the Vapor’s hi-po nitrous system and neon lights. Raw stats are unknown, but this is easily the finest job done on a Challenger yet. Thumbs up for that cabin display too.
[Images by J. Julius]
Introducing the Lee Iacocca 45th Anniversary Edition Mustang
I know the post title is long, and many of you may be complaining about us wasting our time covering another “limited edition” Mustang. But this time things are different. Lee Iacocca, the father of the Ford Mustang, is attaching his name to a commemorative edition Mustang, available exclusively through Southern California’s Galpin dealer network–of which only forty-five will be produced.
The “2009 1/2″ special features a Gaffoglio coach-built body, hand-crafted to exquisite detail. One can note a blend of both the 2003 Mustang concept and the later Giugiaro custom in Michael Leone’s design. The base 4.6 L V-8 is uprated to 320 hp, but an available dealer-installed supercharger will push output to the 400 range. A downside will be that the engines are linked to Ford’s rather flat 5-spd. stick. A Ford Racing performance package will add stiffer springs and uprated shock absorbers; a 14″ brake package is also available. Interior decor is flooded with specially embroidered and hand-stitched leather. Special Iacocca lettering and appliques are spread from the seats to the dash to the 20″ chrome rims. Even the door sills are specially plated.
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