r/WeirdWheels

The defining feature of the EcoRacer is its highly versatile, modular body made entirely of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP).

The car can be manually converted into three distinct vehicle types in just a few minutes:

Coupé: The baseline configuration, complete with a hardtop roof and a rear hatch.

Roadster: Removing the T-bar roof panels and the rear hatch converts the car into an open-air targa sportster.

Speedster: Releasing a special catch allows the driver to completely remove the front windscreen and its frame, replacing it with a low-slung flyscreen.

Powered by a mid-mounted 1.5-litre TDI turbodiesel four-cylinder engine.

It generates 136 horsepower (100 kW) and 250 Nm of torque.

Power is routed to the rear wheels via a DSG dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

Thanks to its lightweight carbon-fibre monocoque chassis, the vehicle weighs a mere 850 kg.

The "Eco" in its name comes from its astonishing fuel economy. It consumes just 3.4 litres of fuel per 100 km (equivalent to roughly 69 mpg US / 83 mpg UK).

The concept also showcased Volkswagen's experimental Combined Combustion System (CCS), which allowed the engine to run cleanly on synthetic fuels to meet strict environmental standards.

While the EcoRacer never entered production, elements of its minimalist interior layout later influenced tech like Audi’s Virtual Cockpit, and its spirit lived on in Volkswagen's ultra-efficient, limited-run XL1 hybrid.

Sauce: https://it.motor1.com/news/455464/opel-coupe-diplomat-concept-realta/

La Citröen SM a déjà été mentionnée à plusieurs reprises ici, mais jamais dans sa forme la plus quintessentiellement "Giscardpunk", tant dans l'excès que dans l'esthétique.

Voici donc la SM Proto Michelin de 1972, conçue pour tester la puissance maximale délivrable sur une voiture à traction ; en l'occurrence avec un V6 Maserati de 300 chevaux.

Source des photos (avec un peu plus d'informations) : Citroen SM Michelin : La Super SM !

Developed by the Soviet automaker VAZ, this striking, teardrop-shaped prototype was envisioned as a futuristic multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) or family minivan decades before the segment gained global ubiquity. 

Built as a design exercise to showcase future possibilities for the smart fortwo platform, it combined the brand's ultra-compact urban footprint with bold, Jeep-like styling cues.

It measured just 2.68 metres long. This made it only slightly longer than the production fortwo of its era.

It featured short overhangs, a bold stance, and a unique stowaway windscreen that could be completely folded down down for an open-air driving experience.

It was equipped with an electronically controlled convertible soft top.

The vehicle was powered by a 0.7-litre (700 cc) turbocharged 3-cylinder gasoline engine paired with an electric motor.

According to smart, the hybrid setup provided 15% better fuel economy and 10% better acceleration compared to standard gasoline models of the time.

The cabin included a "linear" instrument panel decorated with graffiti. It featured unconventional materials like used-look leather, skate wheels, and pedals designed to look like mountain bike pedals.

Tailored for a tech-savvy urban audience, it included integrated connections for MP3 players, PDAs, and USB sticks.

While it generated significant interest for its "urban jungle" theme, the smart crosstown remained strictly a show car and never entered commercial production.

Hey everyone, I'm not sure this is the right place, but I'm looking for info on the Zil-135 and its engines.

The Zil-135 is a heavy military truck from Russia, which entered production in 1959, and has a very strange twin-engine/twin drivetrain setup, where one Zil-375Ya engine drives one side of the vehicle and the other drives the other side, withiut any sort of mechanical connection between the two sides.

Does anyone have any info regarding the size of the engine bay and the dimensions of the engines and the engine+transmission units?

Note: if this post is rulebreaking, please point me in the right direction where I can ask my qn's before deleting.

Cheers!

Credit: sick.cars.and.trucks

Coachcraft, Ltd. was a Hollywood-based coachbuilder established in 1940 by former Howard "Dutch" Darrin employees Burt Chalmers, Rudy Stoessel, and Paul Erdos.

It existed somewhere in the tightly-knit space between coachbuilt and custom.

Not long after the firm opened its doors, Coachcraft began experimenting with ways to introduce drama to the metallic form. One experiment was the "Yankee Doodle," a flag-waving little slip of a thing that was Coachcraft's attempt to shape the budding identity of the American sportscar, and all before America marched off to war.

Dutch Darrin supported his former employees and was a near-constant presence at Coachcraft. Stoessel, his ex-foreman, welcomed his input; Darrin's influence can be seen in the windshield frame, upholstery patterning, and sweep of the door cut-out. If the Darrin name is familiar, you are a bonafide enthusiast: He was the principle behind respected Paris-based coachbuilder Hibbard & Darrin, and the pen behind the Kaiser Darrin.

But more than anything, the Yankee Doodle was really the dream of a young high school kid, Seward Allen, who built the chassis as a high school auto shop project while a student at Palisades High School.

Essex frame rails and a narrowed '40 Ford front frame section were the bonafide backbone of the project. A modified 59A Ford flathead, dyno-tested at 200 bhp, was the the powerplant of choice, complemented by a 1940 Ford side shift transmission, and a Columbia two speed rear end. That was true ground-pounding stuff in 1940.

With the chassis buttoned up, young Allen approached Stoessel, who had recently closed the Darrin Packard shops in Hollywood and hung a shingle outside Coachcraft of Hollywood, to build the body.

Realizing that cost was a factor, but that the car would become a rolling billboard for Coachcraft's handiwork, Rudy agreed to work with young Mr. Allen on price, and dispatched the teen to source a pair of 1940 Mercury fenders, as well as various and sundry other bits and bobs. In all, Coachcraft's bill for completing the body, windshield, dashboard, and interior came to a still-stout $1500. All in all, that's a lot of lawns mowed in 1940.

No matter. The end result was stunning.

Performance was certainly not an issue. The car's 200 bhp was pushing a scant 1600 lb. unladen curb weight. The little Yankee Doodler was no dawdler.

A pity that all the fun came to an end on December 7, 1941. Seward Allen did what any young patriot did in those days: he enlisted in the Navy. Creeping authoritarianism would not creep onto American shores. Not then.

Allen took the car with him to his many postings during the war, putting miles on the car and giving it the well-earned monicker of the “Yankee Doodle Roadster”. In 1948, with his days in the Navy winding down, Allen put the car in Coachcraft’s sales showroom and sold it to a local machinist.

The new owner was as proud of the car as Allen and Rudy ever were, and so commissioned a bit of a refurbishing.

Renowned Indy car builder Frank Kurtis was tapped to update the car, employing a signature Kurtis grille, a new dashboard, and updated shapes in the cowl and hood. Entered in the well-publicized 1952 Motorama, the car was not only a sensation while there, it was a prizewinner, too. Magazine covers came calling by the score.

And then, just like that, it simply vanished. Decades passed before the Yankee Doodle Roadster was heard from again.

In 1984, Bill Stoessel, Rudy's son, received a phone call at Coachcraft, still in operation. The Roadster was for sale; would Coachcraft be interested in a purchase?

Over the objections of his father, Bill readily agreed. A besotted customer saw the car at Coachcraft, negotiated its purchase, and commissioned a ground-up restoration.

After seeing the Yankee Doodle in the metal again after more than thirty years, Strother MacMinn, the influential instructor of the Art Center College of Design, remarked on the car's historic significance when he noted that not only was the little car the first full custom sports car, but also the first sports car produced in the United States.

Oh, and was it mentioned that the foot wells in the Yankee Doodle are below the frame rails for step down body chassis construction, eight years before the introduction of the famed step down Hudson of 1948? Well, they are.

No small feat, that.

Restoration complete, the Yankee Doodle has been invited to attend a host of prestigious automotive events, including the 2007 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

The Yankee Doodle Roadster gleams today the same as it did when it was displayed at the 1952 Motorama Show, resplendent in its navy blue paint and terra cotta interior.

Sauce: https://www.carrozzieri-italiani.com/listing/autonova-gt/

Looks like someone likes shopping at Hot Topic.

I spotted this car in 2012 in Los Angeles, when going to a movie at Arclight Dome movie theater.

I recently found this listing (from 2018) for this exact car for sale! (To be clear - the listing isn't recent -- I just hadn't seen it before.

I marked out the license plate in my photos, but it is the same plate number as this Oddimotive listing which has a detailed history of the car. Thought this group might enjoy it. :-)

https://www.oddimotive.com/1985-armaretta-coupe/

Just seen in Como, the Brabus Bodo from the Concorso d'Eleganza in Villa d'Este.
Hard to see due to low lighting but the entire body is made of visible carbon fiber. One of the most beautiful cars I have ever seen in real life

Sauce: https://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z1122/renault-racoon.aspx