You total yanker. New American metal on show

[cort16]

I was over in new orleans getting pished up on bourbon street attending a car dealer conference the last few days. There's was loads of modern yank metal I thought you may/may not be interested in. I really enjoyed my visit but as mentioned by PhilA all the old shitter seem to have got wiped out by Katrina so there's not much of that kind of thing around.

 

This is the new C7 Corvette. This one has an Ali chassis, carbon fibre and a 450bhp v8. Looks pretty good I recon.

 

IMG_0478 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Booted Fiesta. UR doing it wrong.

 

IMG_0481 by cort16, on Flickr

 

SRT-8 Viper

 

IMG_0568 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Big assed truck

 

IMG_0559 by cort16, on Flickr

 

In desperate need of wolf airbrushed onto it.

 

IMG_0556 by cort16, on Flickr

 

IMG_0554 by cort16, on Flickr

 

ecto

 

IMG_0543 by cort16, on Flickr

 

bit of an engine

 

IMG_0523 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Goes in one of these

 

IMG_0522 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Built tough, built massive

 

IMG_0520 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Thunderfud

 

IMG_0517 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Great looking cars these.

 

IMG_0515 by cort16, on Flickr

 

This isn't the ideal position for an engine though given there's love of bursting into flames

 

IMG_0518 by cort16, on Flickr

 

subtle

 

IMG_0513 by cort16, on Flickr

 

even more subtle

IMG_0500 by cort16, on Flickr

 

This Camero had a very cool Satin Pearl paint job

 

IMG_0498 by cort16, on Flickr

 

It has one of these in it

 

IMG_0499 by cort16, on Flickr

 

This is the Mustang they're going to be selling in the UK in the next couple of months. I recon it looks great. Its got IRS and the 5.0v8 is quad cam direct injection/

We're getting the v8 but the eco model is a 2.3 4 cylinder with a big fug off turbo. It still puts out 300bhp though. The v8 is 420bhp, they recon the 2.3 model will be about 30 grand.

 

IMG_0484 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Interior didn't llook bad.

 

IMG_0485 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Dr1ft WEPON

 

IMG_0482 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Floppytop version

 

IMG_0525 by cort16, on Flickr

 

22% scene tax. Check out the finger fudness

 

IMG_0650 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Slightly Ropey looking Silver shad in slightly ropey area

 

IMG_0652 by cort16, on Flickr

 

These cruise liners do a U turn in the river then are shot off by the current before having to do what looks like a drift around a really sharp bend in the river.

I wanted to do a paddle steamer cruise as they have a bar on them but we didn't have time.

 

IMG_0712 by cort16, on Flickr

 

 

 

[RedSparrow]

I may sound really weird, but if I could have any one of those motors I'd probably choose the Fiesta.

 

I just don't like massive cars. Those pickups have no redeeming features- people don't even use them as pickups anymore.

 

GR8 photos though.

[Bobthebeard]

That big assed truck (Chevrolet?) looks like it was mocked up in butter that then melted a little bit....

The front end has a 'double vision' too many Jack Daniels kind of look too!

[mercrocker]

And I thought all day vans left the factory with wolf-age...T-Bird and Corvair are ace though.   I bet you cursed the Cleese-walker in the mustang shot!

[cort1977]

Didn't realize they still made the custom vans, not as popular as they used to be.  

 

Hope you got back OK before OMGSNOKAOS struck the South.   Schools and offices are closed here in Houston due to a bit of sleet.

 

The big cars and trucks don't make much sense in the US either but the size doesn't cause any problems like they would in the UK, roads are wide, parking spaces are big.

[Partridge]

See, it's a total myth that American cars are brash.

 

That 'Stang floppy top is nice...I still say when the they bring the Mustang here they should call it the Capri and give it quad lamps...

[JasperFoxx]

I kind of like that Corvette but it would have to lose the chrome wheels first!

[oman5]

I heard they were going to sell the mustang here officially. if thats the one we get, I hope it sells well so I can have one in ten years when they are cheap. I had visions of some stupid downsized world car built on a KA platform with a diesel option, but that one is a nice looker.

[PhilA]

We are closed today due to OMGSNOKAOS. It's currently raining.

 

Looks like a fairly normal, relatively well rounded demonstration of chod. Not sure I like the Mustang, having lived with all the previous incarnations of the remake. The Camaro is getting to be more and more like a concept sketch. The front is one massiv* kidney-chopper, really. HELF AN SAFTEY

 

Looks like you got to see some of the best* bits of New Orleans. If you did Canal and Bourbon then you're good to go

 

--Phil

[Ghosty]

That Fiesta looks exactly like a mini Mongdeo. Unsurprising, really, but they could've done anything...

[trigger]

That Mustang is most sexual.

[cort16]

The american cars are so much better then they where 10 years ago. The design, engineering and interiors are all much, much better than they used to be. They really stack up against european and japanese cars for similiar money.

Also there's was a noted reduction in engine capacity so a lot of stuff is running 4 pot turbos or smaller v6's with 16v per head and direct injection. It's only really the flag ship stuff that is running v8's.

Camaro's seem to be extremely popular, no wonder when they costs $23,000 (about 14 grand). Even better the bogo ones seem to run on steel wheelz!

 

As PhilA things there was a lot of worry about the new Mustang being a world car but they seem to have pulled it off.

 

I can only imagine what Bourbon Street's like at Mardis Gras as it was mental when we went on a could Friday night!

[dangerousdave]

I don't think the corvairs were as known for bursting into flames it was the handling and ralph naders book unsafe at any speed they were more infamous for

[Squire_Dawson]

I know some of you here are fans of U.S. cars.

 

My impression of most Yank autos is that they are are needlessly vast, vulgar, and look so damn home-made. The 'trucks' are especially ludicrous, just seems like a load of macho crap, and from inside how could you possibly ever see a child run out in front of one. I haven't liked any American car built after circa 1956, when they lost the plot big time, and still haven't fully seemed to grasp it again.

[cort16]

To be fair the standard saloon car is much, much smaller in size and capacity but the trucks are still stupidly enourmous. You see them driving around with loads of stuff in the back folk could just nick out of them with 2 seconds effort. You have to think a van would be a much better idea for business and for home use the quad cab ones have so little bed space you couldn't get anything worthwhile (like a front sub frame and engine from an Allegro) in there.

[Squire_Dawson]

Yes, that is something I've noticed about load-bed space.

 

The hatchback doesn't seem to have captured America quite as much as it did here and Europe.

[brickwall]

The oldies look good but the newer things are so very ugly.

[Junkman]

The american cars are so much better then they where 10 years ago.

 

Yes, if they really keep working hard, in another ten years they might be almost as good* as the shit China cranks out at the moment.

[brickwall]

I don't see why the designs for the American market need to be so vulgar. The age of massive chromed up cars is gone and no amount of shiny plastic is going to change that. Having a massive grille on a car just says "look how ugly I am". Same goes for the double headlight/side light thing that 4x4s have had over there for ages.

 

Another issue for America is that they compared the USA to Europe in production. Each American worker produced 10 cars a year equivalent compared to nearly 27 in Europe.

 

I'm still a  fan of American cars, though not all.

[cort16]

They're obsessed with chrome wheels, which look completely shit. The price of the cars are so low that there's always going to compromises, which is what got them into bother the last time as they just wanted to tick the specification boxes and not bother their arses about looks or build quality. In comparison the user stuff seems expensive. We drove past a used car lot full of well worn Camry's and Cherokees that would struggle to make a grand here and they were all over $5000.

You could probably make decent coin exporting premium LHD german stuff then bring yank stuff back into the country.

[Junkman]

The "US-Spec" already starts in the  bare shell and hence it is impossible to register even remotely current Teuto-tin anywhere in the USA.

Seinfeld can't even get his 959 on the road over there, since Porsche never bothered to make it US spec. That's a 1986 car. The last non-US-spec tat you can register over there with relative ease are pre-1974 cars.

America, the country of the unlimited number of laws.

[cort16]

For the land of the free the seem to have a hell of a lot of laws unless it's to do with pollution or guns. When I was there someone told me it's now legal to carry a concealed hand gun in Chicago, which means loads of folk commuting to work are now carry hand guns!

[Tayne]

The "US-Spec" already starts in the  bare shell and hence it is impossible to register even remotely current Teuto-tin anywhere in the USA.

Seinfeld can't even get his 959 on the road over there, since Porsche never bothered to make it US spec. That's a 1986 car. The last non-US-spec tat you can register over there with relative ease are pre-1974 cars.

America, the country of the unlimited number of laws.

 

It's a rolling 25 year import restriction they have, hence why a lot of 80's Land Rovers get Defender'd up and shipped over.

 

Gates and Seinfeld got their car's register on a show and display law, less than 500 examples ever made and only 2500 permitted miles per year.

[Junkman]

Is that rolling 25 year rule federal, or only in some States?

[Tayne]

Federal.

 

Not saying it's easy though.

 

http://www.eastcoastrover.com/imports.html

[PhilA]

I don't see why the designs for the American market need to be so vulgar. The age of massive chromed up cars is gone and no amount of shiny plastic is going to change that. Having a massive grille on a car just says "look how ugly I am". Same goes for the double headlight/side light thing that 4x4s have had over there for ages.

 

Another issue for America is that they compared the USA to Europe in production. Each American worker produced 10 cars a year equivalent compared to nearly 27 in Europe.

 

I'm still a  fan of American cars, though not all.

 

Around about 2007-2008 most makers here stopped, took a look at the competition and why people were buying from them and actually got their collective arse (ass) into gear and began making vehicles that are actually screwed together properly.

My 2006 Silverado was a parts-bin special that even BL would have raised a few eyebrows at momentarily. The interior was not so much designed, rather assembled and then had a piece of trim with the appropriate random holes cut into.

My 2008 is a whole different story. It was redesigned, has a box-section chassis instead of the Saab 9000 cabriolet inspired U section, the interior is specific to the vehicle and resembles Audi/VW's build quality. It's been reliable and so far my only gripe with it is one of the front suspension bushes has failed and creaks in the cold. Sure, it's ugly in the typical American style of making trucks that look like small apartment buildings but some thought has actually gone into it and the aerodynamics.

 

They have since gone downhill with the designs, the new ones there pictured are attempted to be styled after the mid 80's Silverado (http://www.futureclassicsnj.com/Cars/1986Silverado_dsfrt1.jpg) which is an interesting move because the front of those was ugly also.

 

The reliability, handling and so forth of the designs has improved.

For example, my Dodge handles remarkably well for its weight (4100 lb/ 1850 kg) because it's mostly Mercedes underneath. Yes, it's kinda big. But so are the roads here. Horses for courses. Turning circle's impressive though..

 

A lot of the "styling" seems to follow Cadillac or Toyota with either HUEG FUGLY grilles or styling that looks like the prototype was moulded from soft butter. 

 

Oh, and as a side-note, the whole vehicle exemption thing applies, apart from Minis and Land Rovers. I've seen an EFi Rover Mini, complete with side repeaters, new hinges, rear quarters (all the things that give it away as a post City X/A+ model) as a 1960's car to circumvent the rules. Usually they get through because not many officials are much the wiser and stamp the books.

The restrictions apply to Fed-spec glass, lighting, airbags, emissions, brakes... to get a newer vehicle here that blatantly wasn't made for this market can be... interesting.

 

Still, it's not as bad as it used to be. Things are turning (marginally) for the better, automotively.

 

--Phil

[cort1977]

On the subject of Landys in the states I saw an article recently about a newish Defender that was brought in with a 25 year old VIN.   Customs spotted that something wasn't right and crushed it.   http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1086521_u-s-customs-crush-illegally-imported-land-rover-defender-video

[sheffcortinacentre]

mustang is nice except for the headlights.

[Junkman]

The last time I drove a newish yank was in Winter 2000, when I commenced a half year stint in California (a country west of the United States).

They kitted me out with a brand new 2001 model Chrysler Sebring hire car. It had 63 miles on the clock when I got it.

I think the new car price translated to something like £4.93 in real money, and there was a reason for this. It was made by people who either deliberately pretended to be terminally daft, or were four years old.

The ridiculously low purchase price meant that no part used in it having even a trace of quality. Whenever you crossed a railway X-ing, or one of the quite frequent 'Caution Dip' signs, or hit a pothole, it sounded like a drawer full of cutlery. Handling was sub-standard even on American roads, the brakes scared the shit even out of this old Stockcar jockey, and the petrol consumption was right up there with the absolutely magnificent 57-63 Imperials I collected in my former life. When you gave it full welly, for a long time nothing happened, then it lethargically shifted down a cog and the pitch of the engine note changed, that was all.

After two Months driving this miserable piece of shit, I clearly understood why Americans nowadays outfit themselves with an arsenal of guns and 4000 rounds of ammo, then go to town and shoot everyone who is within 100 yards in the head 15 times. I was milliseconds away from doing the same.

However, sanity kicked in after a Euro-style piss-up and the next day I dumped the heap in the forecourt of the hire company.

I then bought me (with my own money, all 600 Dollars of it) a 1976 Caprice with the 400 Small Block and a TH400, in all its shiny* mustard yellow glory. From that day on, I was a different person. I was relaxed, got friendly with people, and eventually I even hauled some pussy.

It might still be in the long term car park at LAX with a 'Take Me' sign taped to the windscreen.

 

And I tell you one thing. It will take a shitload of proof to convince me, that that hideous 2014 American stuff is any better than that miserable '01 Mopar was.

[PhilA]

 

And I tell you one thing. It will take a shitload of proof to convince me, that that hideous 2014 American stuff is any better than that miserable '01 Mopar was.

 

If you're ever down here, stop in. You can try my Dodge for size.

 

--Phil