The Ultimate "Q Car"*

F

FullerH

Joined
Nov 25, 1998
Messages
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I have a sneaky aspect and if I had the money, here is the car that I would love to have, over just about anything currently made but a Ford GT.
As one of the reviews starts off:
CITY ISLAND, NY (CNN/Money) - On the way to work one morning a fellow in a Lexus SUV pulled up on my right using an empty bus stop as his personal passing lane, figuring he'd dust the guy in the Mercedes station wagon when the light turned green.

To make it even more annoying he started edging out around me long before the opposing light even went to yellow.

I tried to take a Zen-like approach to this behavior. After all, what is it to me if this man -- this poor little man with so little of real value in his life that the scant moments he would add to his workday are so important to him -- wants to push his way around me? I could rein in the 469 horses under my hood, allowing him this little pleasure:

screeEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! VROOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Get back in line, punk.
Click to expand...
I love an iron fist in a velvet glove, Zorro or the Scarlet Pimpernel.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Followup/articleId=105529
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/content/11159483671710325660/
http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/26/Autos/carreviews/mercedes_e55_amg/

* As an explanation of the title, in WWI, the Royal Navy began to arm tramp freighters and trawlers to the teeth so that they would lure German U Boats to the surface since they looked so harmless and then they would blow the U Boats out of the water. They were called "Q Ships". This is, of course, what led to the Germans adopting the shoot first from under the water method of attack that we, the USA, got so bent out of shape about.
 
35 years ago M-B had a sleeper too ! I wanted my father ,who always drove a M-B to get one .A big sedan the only hint was a little '6.2 ' on the back.One of my tecnicians came in one morning asking what kind of M-B had left his Super Bee way behind in the dust. I couldn't stop laughing as I explained what it was !!!
 
I don't care how fast it is, I wouldn't be caught dead driving a station wagon/suv/minivan. Uh-uh. No way.

-Bob
 
i want one of the new '05 ZO6 'vettes, 500 horses, IIRC weighs less than a viper, and about $70K, a lightly used one is definitly in my future, MAYBE a new one if i can find the right car/deal, imho a car that will be a collector car in 20 yrs like a '67 427 vette is now, an investment, thats what i'm telling my wife anyway.
 
I'm a huge fan of Mercedes wagons so that is right up my alley. Unfortunately it will never be in my garage, though.

I'm definetly thinking Z06, too. I'm not buying a 2005 but 2007 should be about right. Convincing my wife we need two 'Vettes may be a problem.

Win
 
I thought it was common practice for manufacturers of bigger cars to omit the markings - there are plenty of BMWs around without any indication of model or engine used in it (ditto for MBs and some Audis). The absence of badge should be enough of a warning - whoever can splurge for one of those probably paid enough to get the best avaliable engine under the hood too.

On subject of Ford GT: even if you had the money you'd have to stand in line I hear ... not many will be made :( It's a very nice-looking car.
 
faramir said:
I thought it was common practice for manufacturers of bigger cars to omit the markings - there are plenty of BMWs around without any indication of model or engine used in it (ditto for MBs and some Audis). The absence of badge should be enough of a warning - whoever can splurge for one of those probably paid enough to get the best avaliable engine under the hood too.

On subject of Ford GT: even if you had the money you'd have to stand in line I hear ... not many will be made :( It's a very nice-looking car.
Click to expand...

In the US, car manufacturers go out of their way to add markings and words to cars. I'm not sure if "badge delete" is even an option when ordering a new car. When you see a car in the US with no badge, it usually means the owner has taken dental floss and removed the badge. I did it on my BMW 325i for the clean look and for easy waxing.

I think the worst I've seen when it comes to badges is subaru. They tell you several ways the size of the engine, the fact that it has ABS brakes, what ABS stands for, that it is AWD, what AWD stands for , that it is a subaru and more. The back of a subaru forrester looks like a billboard.
 
Faramir, I have seen adverts for Ford GTs in Autoweek for something over $200K, which is a lot over the $150,000 list, but it is what you expect when you want to be the first boy on the block with the new toy and it still one Hell of a lot less than any other car of comparable performance.
 
Hey, whole 3, huh ? :D Some of the smaller EU countries apparently aren't getting even one, so sayeth the allmighty car 'zines :) It's a really nice car, I think they even had a how on it on Discovery Channel the other day ... a piece of trivia I still remember: once upon the time original Ford GT was kicking butt at Le Mans race and both cars drove through finish line together in attempt to win "split" victory. The organizers decided that the car that started further from the start/finish line (the one with worse starting position) won because it actually covered more distance during those 24 hours. Heh, history :)
 
Yeah. That piece of showboating on Henry Ford II's part cost Ken Miles his well-earned victory, for he was leading the race and he was the man who had done most of the development work that made the car a winner. He was killed later that year, 1966, while developing the "J Car" into the 1967 LeMans winning Ford GT Mark IV.
 
Take a look at the Cadillac CTS-V. For $50-60K you get a Vette V8 in a chassis so good that Bondurant uses em as a standard vehicle in driving schools.

Let Lingenfelter or Mallett get hold of it and it will waste that AMG or an M5.
 
I would suggest to you that the suspension on any cars that Bondurant uses is very different from that on the original street machines. And it matters not the original car. He must modify the suspensions in order for them to take the forces to which his schools subject them.

And, yes Lingenfelter or others can hop the CTS-V all to Hell and gone, but at what cost. I seem to remember that his mods to the Viper were running some $50K - $60K over the price of the car.
 
Another nice Q ship is the Buick GN and Jay Leno's ancient Roadmaster. I'm all for the look ugly, but spanks others appeal
 
It is my understanding that the CTS Bondurant uses are stock, except for stickers.

I know the Mallet is 10-20 over stock, so 70k or so. Considerably cheaper than an AMG.

The Lingenfelter package is 25K. So 75K still under AMG M budget. That gets ya 510 ponies and 530 ftlbs of torque.
 
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