The Original Four Door Porsche

Ever wondered what the Porsche Panamera would have looked like if it had been conceived, designed, and built during the 1960s? 

Me neither, but that doesn’t mean that a one of a kind ancestor to the Panamera wasn’t built. Leave it to Motorheads to cut a Porsche 911 in half and slap it back together with an extra pair of seats and room to spare.

Panamera's Granddaddy

In 1968, the aforementioned Motorheads Dick Troutman and Tom Barnes decided that two seats were simply not enough for a 911. Their solution? Cut the car in half, design new body panels and sheet metal to accommodate the longer wheelbase, and then weld and rivet it all back together.

The result is a strange 911 that you may not even take a second look at unless you got close. Then you would see that this car is sporting suicide doors hinged at the rear and it is 21 inches longer than its 2 seated 911 brethren. It was perfectly drivable and, in my opinion, doesn’t look half bad:

Suicide doors FTW. And legroom!

I think the impressive part of this whole endeavor is the amount of room they were able to add to the original frame. 21 inches gave any rear seated passengers ample leg room. That’s a far cry from today’s 911s. They are technically four-seaters, but good luck getting anything larger than a small child or a bag of groceries back there. It makes one wonder why they even bother sticking seats into that cramped space.

Anyway, I thought this was a cool article. And I am very impressed with the final result. It’s amazing to think that this was done by only two guys in a garage. Motor heads come up with some crazy stuff don’t they?

Read the full article here. Thanks to Road and Track for tracking down one heck of a car!

Z Car Zunday

Who Doesn't Love a Healthy Dose of Vitamin Z?

In the same spirit of Ferrari Friday, Turbo or Targa Tuesday, and Maserati Monday, I have decided that Z Car Zunday is a must have. I tried Z Car Zaturday, but that sounds too ridiculous even for me. So here is a gallery of the beautiful Z car from all eras, Datsun through Nissan. Enjoy!

Lotus: Go-Karts On Steroids.

I have always been an admirer of Lotus cars. Their dedication to making light and agile automobiles is refreshing, especially when most American made autos are looking more and more bloated. I understand the attractive aspect of a big, bad, drag strip monster like the new Ford Mustang GT and the Dodge Challenger Hellcat, but take one of those into a windy mountain road and all that weight makes things a bit tricky. And with V8s with oodles of torque on tap may send you into the gravel if you aren’t careful. 

Anyway, enough about American cars, back to the Lotus.

Have a look at this:

Uhhhhh. Windshield? NOPE!

That, dear readers, is the Lotus 311: A windshield-less, single seater, weighing less than 2000 pounds and sporting an engine with nearly 400 pound-feet of torque on tap. Let that sink in for a minute. With an average sized person you are talking about just over 2100 pounds of car and driver with a zero to 60 mph time of under 3 seconds. That is a rocket. That is motorcycle territory.

And for an overweight go-kart, the Lotus 311 still has pretty decent styling! I look at this thing and I immediately think “Hot Wheels”. And boy howdy thats an understatement. This is a track car pure and simple, as if the lack of a roof said anything different. All that is between you and the road is an aluminum chassis on one side, and a roll bar on the other. Plus, for the road version of the 311 anyway, the top speed is 180 mph. I think most people would be satisfied with far less, but leave it to Lotus to crank it to 11. I bet it’s good on gas too, something which most supercars aren’t. And that’s just what this is: A supercar. Small, sure, but just as fast as your Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s, at least until the 400+ pounds of downforce the aerodynamics generate limit the top end. But really, who needs to go 200+ miles an hour? Nobody. Nobody needs to. Sorry Bugatti, I hear you guys are trying to make a nearly 300mph car, but unless I am at the Bonneville salt flats, I am never going that fast. 

The downside? Being a limited production model. That means a price tag of about $130,000 and only 311 to choose from. I bet they are already snatched up, but maybe I can find a second hand one in a couple years for cheap. One can dream!

Read the full article here, and thanks to Road and Track for the news bulletin! 

The Only View Many of us Will Ever See of a Porsche 918 Spyder

Still... Not a bad view!

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When Ford Mechanics Go Mad!

Brace yourselves, and buckle up the kids:

With 550 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque, Curtis Haley’s 2011 (Ford) Taurus SHO might be the ultimate sleeper. - Road & Track.com

Yeah…. Overkill? I guess if you are a busy parent, nobody would blame you for basically obtaining Mach 1 while running errands. And for kicks you could cruise around on your local straightaways, challenging high schoolers with tricked out Hondas to a quarter mile sprint. When your car looks like this:

Nobody will suspect a thing! Make some bets, win some cash, and race home in time to catch Leno. R&T Has the Full Scoop!