Jalopnik
When Gone in Sixty Seconds came out in 2000, the Mustang which held the lead role as "Eleanor" became an overnight sensation. You couldn't throw dead blow hammer without hearing someone compare a car to Eleanor. The brutish fastback was just the right mix of vintage and modern. In that vein, the Obsidian SG-1 is a car as modern as anything on the road, but maintaining a throwback look. Originally a puke green '67 fastback, the SG-1 (which does not travel through wormholes to faraway planets) is now a study in excess.
We're not too sure about everything that goes around the engine and drive train, but nobody is going to argue with the guns this car is packing. A stroked SVO 351W V8 good for 392 cubic inches, two, count 'em, two Rotrex superchargers feeding two air-to-air intercoolers and firing up for over 830 HP and 770 lb.ft. of torque. That monster drives a Tremec 5-speed with a set of steering wheel mounted paddle shifters which cranks a Mittler Brothers 9" rear end. Really damned impressive.
It's all the other stuff that has us down. While it does sport a tube frame and a hidden roll cage, they managed to duct and reshape a little too much of the car. And while we know the mesh is high quality, it just has a certain Pep boys feel to it. The current Mustang headlights are worked into the nose, and we really can't complain too much about them, but that seems like a weird choice. And don't get us started on all the gee gaws and gadgets in the interior. A cabin should be an office and the business should be driving, not fiddling with a 3000W kicker sounds system and a 10.5" LCD screen. Nonetheless, this is a damn impressive piece of machinery, even if it needs to have a couple hundred pounds of electronics garbage tossed to the curb. Obsidian SG-1
Comments
Sick.
Flappy paddles!? HAHAHAHA! Forget it.
mmmmmmm HHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
I love the horsepower, the wheels, and the rear end , but the interior is absolutely awful.
Needs more stupid foglights to compete with the "Oh So Beautiful" Eleanor.
the ass on that thing is fantastic and I had to comment again on it... YUMMMAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
I want a miniature version made out of a Kei-car
I don't get it. I just don't get it.
If you want an '07 'stang, why not just start with an '07?
Do you have one in puke green I can see?
Yes I would stop to walk around it...in the same way I'd take a second look at "Angelina Jolie" at Hollywood and Vine. If you ignore the lumps and bumps that are in the wrong places, and forget that it's motor has been stroked beyond all recognition, I suppose it's okay. But I'd rather spend a hot summer evening with the original, thank you very much.
A lot of pretty, and a little ugly. The dragon is confused.
clutch & flappy paddles? What gives?
So how does it compete with Eleanor in terms of bondo and prison labor?
Okay:- I now want to do this to an '87 Ford Capri 280 Brooklands. 'Tis what the world needs, right now.
PS:- 'Merica, thanks for your help during the war, I just ate a quarter pound of Green Apple and Licorice Jelly Belly as a toast.
@milo_carrera: That's a dude.
...and like said "Angelina", I'm gonna give this a solid "close but no cigar."
The headlights and stereo ruin it for me. The '05+ lights look the way they do because the originals looked good, not the other way around.
Re: the stereo. If I'm going to be injured by my car, I'd rather it be the result of torque than air pressure.
Perhaps I'm just exposing my ignorance here, but why do I count three pedals? I thought SMG/DSG/paddleshifty nonsense gearboxes didn't have a manual clutch pedal. Is it the e-brake, or am I just misinformed?
@Rust-MyEnemy: Not bad, eh... First post in 8 days and i put it in the wrong thread. I rule.
I almost feel like I don't need to comment, since the article and the comments seem spot-on. But I'm a sad little narcissist who gets a sad little thrill out of seeing my name on the comments, so I'll just say that the motor and tube frame are good (except for the flappy-paddles-- muscle cars should be shifted with a stick, and it should feel like trying to stir gravel with a spoon) and the body is lame. Come on, Obsidian-- Eleanor and her clones are SO eight years ago. Doesn't anyone want to make a custom Mustang that doesn't look vastly inferior to the car they started with?
Judging from the size of that fastback, there's ample room for an Obsidian-amino conversion.
/ducks
I actually recognize some of those parts - most notably the square Kicker subwoofer. It's all super-expensive stuff that is, when you get down to it, altogether useless and not very good.
A muscle car should have a sound system cobbled together by a man named David who owed your older brother a favor, and the only bling should be a $8 Chinese-made shifter knob in the shape of either an 8-ball or a skull.
meh
The backside is nice, but that hoodscoop looks like a tumor.
I like the concept of a polished, black, uninterupted exterior that they've got going on. And the hardware inside is definitely worthy of notice. However, there's this thing called "moderation." Do something, but don't over do it.
The hood is obnoxious and overblown. The "DUB"ed suspension is useless, the enormous rear rims are excessive, and the entertainment work could've been made more flexible and useful with less money. The safety of a tube-frame is nice, but is it really necessary in what is undoubtably a trailer queen? Dual superchargers pushing 800 horses is all fine and dandy, but others have done more with less, and even then it's more than you'll ever need without harkening back to the "trailer queen" status. All in all, if they would scale all of their work back by an order of magnitude or two, it would be a much better car IMO.
brilliant american engineering.
put a 600lb subwoofer in a 3000lb car.
In the immortal words of the bush
administration...
"we suck."
ughh... gawker glitcheth me
Exserp from website: Vehicle is sold as is with no warranty. Inspection, registration, tax, title, licensing and delivery is the responsibility of the buyer.
Sounds good, where do I sign?
where the hell did the COTD post go?? WTF!!!!
oh well.. i blame engadget and the comunists.
For some reason I sort of like the "hood scoop", yes, it's ugly but it looks like it may actually be functional, not for sucking air into the engine but for giving the intercoolers room to breath.
@Starlton Heston: and of course as soon as I post that it showed back up...
I would need a better factor than this to leave my Eleanor.
@PAPAL POLAЯ:The old Boss Mustangs rolled off the truck pretty much the same way. No warranty of any kind because they knew they would get the bejeesus run out of them. They rolled it off the truck, you took the keys and that was the end of the relationship between you and dealer. It's a wonder they didn't make you meet them at a dark crossroads somewhere.
Does this cost more than the GT500KR??
@vtac-attack: oh yeah, by a wide margin... so wide I can't even bring myself to type it without breaking into laughter. visit their site and click on the "make an offer" section.
@Rust-MyEnemy: So you don't want to do this to an '87 Ford Capri 280 Brooklands? That sounds like it would turn out better then this.
not close to Eleanor
Too low, and the wheels are too big. Tucking the top of the rim under the fender is tacky.
@Novaload: I assume you're referring to the Boss 429 Mustangs? Those weren't really intended to go more than a 1/4 mile at a time anyway...
Hella tacky.
The sad thing is the cost to replicate this car is around $1.3 million.
@Novaload: And I would have signed back then too!!
Ill take the Camaro SS when it comes out
Except the New Mustang headlights, the design is pretty sharp. But if you want modern technology, go buy a new car instead of a butchered Mustang or Challenger G-Machines.
@kolorfast:
paddle shift doesn't automatically imply automated manual. it is presumably a true sequential gearbox, as per many racecars, with a sequential system installed to improve shifting speed but a clutch pedal still present
@Spasticteapot: The maximum output of the sound system in any muscle car should not be able to be heard over the engine at half-throttle or the road noise at 60mph, whichever is quieter. It's for listening to at stop lights and drive-throughs.
we drove it....
[www.whipnotic.com]
@k: worst.review.ever
I'd most likely take the motor and if anything drop it into Eleanor
p.s. manual tranny is a must
Didn't TLC do one of their car shows on this a few months ago? It looks really familiar.
Wait. so a yellow '73 Mustang isn't an Eleanor?
I give this one a meh. I like the rear and the color but that's about it.
@Mad_Science: Exactly. "That tranny don't make no sense!" Applies equally to both.