Cars-n-Coffee is a weekly gathering of automobilia in Irvine, California at Ford's former Premier Auto Group parking lot. Every Saturday morning from 6AM, Ferraris, Jaguars, Lamborghinis, Porsches, '50s hot rods, Mercedes, Camaros, you name it, rumble their way into the lot. On one recent overcast morning, Autoblog headed down to the dawn soiree, having been offered a drive in the Hurst HEMI Challenger. Although 6AM is closer to our bedtime than it is to reveille, we stayed up and paid a visit to the Challenger, hoping to find out if it had any hope of being a champion. Follow the jump for the story.
Hurst is at it again, breathing their 50th anniversary magic on a Dodge Viper. Fifty cars will be made, each featuring a number of details already seen on the Hurst Hemi Challenger, including the Hurst pistol-grip shifter and Hurst wheels. The interior will be stitched up by Katzkin leather, and sound effects will come via a Corsa exhaust. As for colors, you will be offered the usual two: black with gold stripes, and white with gold stripes. The car you see peeking through in the picture above is a 1-of-a-kind that will go under the gavel at next month's Barret-Jackson auction. That one is matte gold with matte black racing stripe and black chrome wheels. But we have a feeling that if you don't get the car at Barrett and you really want one just like it, Hurst will be happy to exchange some of your green for some of their gold.
The Pontiac Trans Am has always been a bit over-styled, to put it mildly. As the ultimate expression of the Firebird, the TA was always adorned with all manner of scoops, wings and bulges, setting it off from more mundane versions of Pontiac's pony-fighter. In the late '90s, the last-gen F Body got its final restyling before heading to the great automotive graveyard in the sky, and its overwrought design left very little room for external customization. Where there's a will, there's a way, though, and Automotive Services in Sterling Heights, Michigan managed to add some extra pizazz to the car's swoopy shape with a Kammback rear hatch. A Trans Am Wagon? Sign us up! All it's missing is a huge Screaming Chicken on the hood.
The one-off machine, known as the Hurst Hauler, has made it to auction on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $35K. Originally introduced for the Y2K SEMA Show in Las Vegas, the car went on to star in the 2001 Hot Rod Power Tour driven by the guys at Year One. Based on a 2000 WS6-equipped TA, the ram air-fed 5.7L LS1 small block has seen some extra tuning in the form of a Corsa exhaust, custom-ground Erson camshaft, Accel fuel injectors and custom ECU tuning from TTS Power Systems. The result is about 370 horses according to The General's official press release from back in the day, which we've gone ahead and pasted after the break.
Hurst is no stranger to offering up special edition Mopars. The 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst packed a 440ci "TNT" V8 with 375 horsepower, as well as a fiberglass hood and trunk, Satin Tan leather interior, and a Spinnaker-White paint scheme with gold trim. Ok, that was nearly 40 years ago, but Hurst is still going strong and planning to renew its Mopar connection with a limited edition Dodge Challenger that will make its debut at SEMA this year. The Hurst Challenger will be available in four trim levels and include features like a supercharger system good for 500 horsepower, 5-spoke Hurst alloy wheels, and a "Pistol-Grip" Hurst shifter. Pricing will start at a $10,000 premium over the stock Challenger and could go as high as $20,000 for the top level model. Follow the jump for the press release from Hurst.
We knew that the Aussies hoon it large, but Syndey's own Len Cave took it to a whole 'nother level. While racing his Mazda3 MPS (Mazdaspeed3 here in the U.S.) during the Bathurst 12-Hour race, Cave put a wheel wrong nine hours and 42 minutes into the event, slid sideways and then flipped over 10 times – many of which were in mid-air – before coming to rest on what's left of his wheels. Soon after the initial impact the entire engine, transmission and front suspension were ripped out of the car, bursting into flames as they hit the ground. Cave, who was reportedly traveling around 150 mph at the time of the crash, walked away with some minor scrapes and, we're sure, some serious bruising.
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Motor Trend's Arthur St. Antoine heartily recommends that you enroll in a quality performance driving or racing course if you ever have the opportunity to do so. As you're all aware, that kind of instruction doesn't come cheap, so while you keep plugging that spare change into your piggy bank, he has four basic free tips that can improve your ability behind the wheel. They are:
Be Smooth
Turn Later
Look Ahead
Brake like...
uh, well...suffice to say it's something you experience regularly. And by "regularly," we mean in the Metamucil sense.
Arthur goes into detail for each tip in his latest editorial. Straightforward, good-practice stuff. As for that braking thing, once you read his explanation, it kinda sounds like a stealth plea for print subscribers if you ask us.
