Car Lust

Car Lust--Toyota Prius

In most car enthusiast circles, admitting affection for a Toyota Prius is like putting a "Kick Me" sign on your own back. While I like the Prius, I can understand the antipathy.

I've read an amusing description of the Prius that describes it as powered by a small gasoline engine, an electric motor, and its owners' smug sense of superiority. Fair or not, for many people who love cars, the Prius has become a symbol both of people who hate cars and of haughty environmental elitism. The Prius, as the most famous and visible hybrid, also takes a lot of the heat for the fact that hybrids often are overly expensive, complex, use lots of environmentally unfriendly batteries, and tend not to live up to their EPA mileage estimates. Given the fact that a decade-old Geo Metro can match the Prius' mileage without a massive environmentally unfriendly battery pack, there is a perception that hybrids (and, by association, the Prius) are more a symbol of environmentalism than a useful way to save gas.

When Car Lust goes too far

After reading this eyebrow-raising story, I felt the need to share it and discuss what can happen when Car Lust goes just way, way too far.

There is a lot of wild stuff in that story, including a passage about a helicopter that I wish I had never read. Since this is a family blog I'll just include the least steamy quote from the story:

"There are moments way out in the middle of nowhere when I see a little car parked and I swear it needs loving. There have been certain cars that attracted me and I would wait until night time, creep up to them and just hug and kiss them."

Car Lust--Ford Mustang Boss 302

I've been doing a little bit of introspection lately, and in the course of that introspection I've realized I've done a really poor job of representing muscle cars. Okay, I started off with a few bona fide muscle cars, but after that most of the muscle car-related Car Lusts have been poseur muscle cars, or cars like the Chevy Cavalier Z24 or Shelby Charger. Don't get me wrong--I love those cars--but frankly my inattention to true, glorious muscle cars is scandalous and unrepresentative.

I've also realized that the only love I've thrown the Ford Mustang's way, in the form of dubbing the Mustang II a poseur muscle car, was pretty backhanded. Happily, Anthony Cagle responded with a post extolling the virtues of his Mustang II. Well, no more of this shabby treatment.

Car Disgust--Ford EXP

The idea behind the Ford EXP was a good one, especially for the fuel-crunched but performance-starved automotive world of the early 1980s. The basic concept was similar to that used by the later Pontiac Fiero and Toyota MR2: You start with the foundation of an existing small car, strip out the rear seats to save weight, add on some performance upgrades, tighten up the handling, and give the package a longer, lower, and tantalizingly sleek body. Given the fact that the EXP would beat both the Fiero and MR2 to the market, and that Ford was gathering itself for a strong performance and styling push for the rest of the decade, the idea sounded like a slam dunk.

When the EXP debuted in 1982, it was clear that the slam dunk clanged hard off the back rim.

Car Lust--Noble M12 GTO-3R

It may not have much name recognition on this side of the pond, but the Noble M12 GTO-3R is one of the all-time great performance cars the world has ever seen. Like the Ariel Atom, the Noble is available in the United States under kit-car regulations if assembled here. But don't let the kit car designation fool you; this is no VW Bug that looks like a mashed Lamborghini, or a Pontiac Fiero made to look like a lumpy Ferrari.

No, the Noble is a thoroughbred. The light, intricately designed mid-engined chassis and aggressively voluptuous body were designed specifically for the Noble, without intrinsic family car-based compromises. The Ford Duratec V-6 started off as a family car plant with Ford Contour--not typically a great foundation for exotic performance. But, with the addition of two big turbochargers, and an output of 352 horsepower and 350 lb. ft. of torque, with less than 2,400 pounds to haul around, it holds its own.

Challenge Update: Helping Alice

Alice, I haven't forgotten about you--unfortunately, I had more than 20 prospective cars open in different web browser windows last night when my browser crashed. So, after sobbing for a few minutes, I had to start over again.

This post will be my broad suggestions for Alice, some specific listings, and my response to the various interesting things you guys have found.

Random Dodge Magnum XE Love

While I was looking up the commercials for the Shelby Charger Car Lust, I stumbled across this for-sale walkaround of a 1978 Dodge Magnum XE--a previous featured car here.

These walkaround videos always hypnotize me with their silent, languid movement, and in this case I was especially entranced. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous Magnum XE. Not many people seem to care for these, so I doubt anybody (including potential sellers) really cares, but this is a beautiful car.

--Chris H.

Car Lust--Shelby Charger GLH-S

I was all prepared to write a suitably mournful and shamed intro to this Car Lust. After all, I'm writing to honor the Shelby Charger GLH-S and, by association, its less acclaimed Dodge Omni 024, Plymouth Horizon TC3, Dodge Rampage, and Dodge Charger brethren. These are all based on the late 1970s Chrysler subcompact Omni/Horizon series, which were average bare-bones economy cars for the time--which is to say, awful by any objective standard. The early L-body Chryslers, especially, were simply Omni/Horizons with swoopy bodywork--matching unexciting mechanicals with looks that, according to mainstream motorheads, were not particularly pleasing.

But you know what? I'm not ashamed of this guilty pleasure. Anybody who has read this blog for more than a week or so knows that I like bad cars, and the Charger isn't even in the top 10 of most embarrassing car lusts I've revealed in this space. I've already shown off the closely related Omni GLH-S and (inappropriately-named) Dodge Rampage (RAMPAGE!), so none of this should come as a particular surprise.

Challenge: Helping Alice

It seems like everybody else enjoyed the $5,000 challenge (original challenge and results) as much as I did, so here's another used car listings challenge. The difference is that this one isn't just an intellectual challenge--we actually might help somebody out.

Car Lust reader Alice (not her real name) is 15 years old, has a $4,000 budget, and would really like a hatchback or a station wagon. She says she is a "hatchback fiend" and horror of horrors, says she has aesthetic tastes similar to mine. My most sincere condolences, Alice--I hope with counseling and medication, modern medicine has a solution for you. Alice has a set of needs but doesn't know exactly what to buy.

Car Lust--BMW 635CSi

The other day, my wife and I were driving past a gorgeous pristine BMW 635CSi, which prompted a predictable lusty reply from me. My wife, though, was less impressed.

"CSi," she commented thoughtfully. "CSI? Like the CBS show? That's just weird."

I'd never associated that BMW model number suffix with the CBS criminal procedural drama before, and to be honest it's an association that annoys me. Yes, CSI is a hit TV show, but the BMW 635CSi was first and, to my eye, more timeless. I know which I'd prefer to spend more time with. BMW doesn't use the CSi suffix on its new 6-series--now I'm left to wonder if that's just coincidence.

Anyway, on to the post.