"America's first supercar"
Not a big car guy myself but these do have some coolness going on.
https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles...m_source=zaius |
The blue one looks like a stretched out 90s Acura NSX with a Delorean window installed.
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I will go out on a limb and state that the street versions of the Ford GT40 may qualify while only just a few decades earlier .
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I remember those but with a dad who started collecting cars before an early death I was exposed to American cars decades older that I always though there the first super cars.
Before we had consolidation and a few giants there were small shops and there was really interesting innovation with some name brands. Also innovative materials use. There were overhead cam engines long ago, front and all wheel drive, hidden headlights and streamlining - really, 1930s stuff. Cords, the Chrysler/Plymouth/DeSoto Air Flow, and Pierce-Arrow had streamlined lights, aluminum and I believe cast aluminum body parts before all that. I did not get it visiting the Henry Ford museum as a kid in the 1960s and maybe display was different then. The summer before last we visited and you see some of those greats in the context of how long an average family had to work to buy one. That also lets you redefine what a super car is. Some innovators were out of reach and some attainable. Finally, on the Ford GT comment. That last Henry Ford visit let me get a photo of my wife and born same year most famous Ford GT in the same photo. BTW, a trip to the Henry Ford and Detroit might surprise you. Take your passport and have dinner at Motor Burger across the river. Do the F150 tour after you see the museum and village to see how far we've come. |
Didn't Delorean claim the same thing?
Bob |
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I don't know if that adds up to "American" or "supercar". :D |
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Yup, supercar is a kind of loose and subjective category, and I'm not sure if anyone has ever written an objective definition that is widely accepted.
It is swoopy, impractical looks? Is it slightly tuned down race technology? Is it top speed well above the rate of mortal cars? Is it rarity and high price tag? Does a car need all of the above to wear a S on it's leotards? I think Ken Purdy made the case (without using the word) that the Stutz Bearcat was a supercar of it's time. Duesenberg could make a case, but almost all street versions were oversized and had no bodies that referenced current race car practice. The Mercedes 300SL would certainly qualify. Some other pre-1964 or so cars would also qualify as street-legal versions of contemporary race cars. Ferrari's, Jaguars, Porsches, but none of them were American. I thought of Cunningham of course (a personal favorite), but the street versions while handsome were not particularly racy or extrema in looks. A case could be made for the top of the 1960's Corvette line, though they don't meet the cost factor. Lance Reventlow/Traco produced at least one street legal Scarab. That so completely meets the rarity rule that it may rule it out. There's nothing in the Ford GT40 street-legal version that doesn't make it an American supercar before the Vector, unless you write some codicils like must have supercharging, multiple overhead cams, gullwing or scissor doors, etc. Counter our globalized world, I suppose someone could object to the GT40 based on it having international roots from it's original design onward (based originally on an British design). In my mind that would be like claiming the Marshall guitar amp is American, but.... |
Oh my! I have a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport! I think it would be a close race. ;)
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For those who prefer not to click the link, it's a Vector:
https://cdn.dotcom.sothebys.psdops.c...sothebys-2.jpg When I was a kid, I had a Vector poster over my bed. |
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Do all DeLoreans come with a flux capacitor?
A few months ago, I drove a McLaren. “Supercar” is highly accurate for that car. |
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For it's time, there are several others as well. This is just another one. |
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