These days, the "concept car" is almost nonexistent. What we get are prototypes, close-to-production models. Some of them are very nice indeed. But they're rarely the sort of breathtaking conceptual leaps forward we got in the prosperous, optimistic post-war years, when General Motors would use their Motorama shows to debut future production cars, like the Corvette, on the same stage they used to debut cars from the not-too-distant future. Those were the days. Here's seven noteworthy concepts that tried to tell the future — seven concept cars of future past.

Firebirds I, II, and III
General Motors
1953-1959

The Firebirds were incredibly striking cars, the very essence of Jet Age design, but their significance as futurist artifacts comes from the fact that they actually worked. The 1953 Firebird I was built, in part, to test the feasibility of gasoline turbine engines in automitive applications and driven, somewhat hesitantly, at Indianapolis. Firebird II, showing three years later, had a less powerful if supposedly more user-friendly engine and a body made of titanium, which was extremely exotic as it was still considered a strategic metal at the time; it also had an autopilot of sorts, a guidance system that would supposedly follow wires embedded into the highways of tomorrow. Firebird III, in 1959, had it all, the turbine, the titanium, the bubble canopies and the fins, as well as being steered, throttled, and braked with a joystick between the seats— as the pamphlet said, it was "An Amazing Experience In Automatic Car Control!"

Of course, none of the Firebird's marquee technologies made it into production, although the research and development probably paid off in countless ways, as R&D always does. What makes the Firebird concepts remarkable is the sheer optimism of the engineers and designers who put them together, who decided that the complexities of 1200° F exhaust temperatures, driver's joysticks, and functional aerodynamic surfaces were going to be part of an increasingly ambitious national landscape someday sooner than we thought.

Photo Credit: Automotive History Online

Chrysler Turbine Car
Chrysler
1963

Once the idea of the turbine got into Detroit's head it didn't seem to want to leave. Chrysler was so in love with their high-rpm, burns-anything motor that they put it in a special Ghia body, which unlike the Firebirds didn't have canopy bubbles or gigantic fins. However, it did feature exhaust-nacelle taillights, which was neat if not particularly outrageous for the time, and was actually given to a few dozen preferred Chrysler customers to drive on the road for a set period of time, which was incredibly daring. A lot of thought was given to solving the problems of putting the car in the hands of everyday drivers, specifically that of the exhaust, which was a potential bumper-melter even back when bumpers were made of steel. It was a first step towards everyone whooshing around in jet-engined cars, a sign the future of driving was almost here, if not next year, then certainly by the 1970s.

Then, as far as most people were concerned, nothing happened. The program was allowed to run its course, during which the cars functioned with remarkable reliability, and the cars were almost all scrapped as per usual with test vehicles. Chrysler kept experimenting with turbines, even dropping one into a LeBaron as late as 1977, but never again took the bold step of putting radical new space-age technology into the hands of potential consumers.

Photo Credit: conceptcarz.com

Nucleon
Ford
1958

When people think of the nuclear optimism of the 1950s, the Nucleon is the sort of thing they imagine: A passenger car that would be powered by nuclear fission. While the Firebirds were retro-futuristic in design and the Chrysler Turbine was retro-futuristic in execution (if that's possible), the Ford Nucleon was so far beyond them in pure concept that it's hard to believe it was even considered. Power was to be provided by a lead-shielded uranium fission plant situated well back of the passenger compartment and driving twin steam turbines. After about 5,000 miles, the entire plant would be swapped out at a Ford recharging station.

It's hard to say whether this concept was recklessly optimistic or just reckless, in the context of 1958; the same year the Nucleon design debuted, Las Vegas tourists were taking their martinis up to on the roofs of the casinos to watch nuclear bomb tests just 70 miles away, and the scientists of Project Orion were hard at work on a spaceship that would atomically pogo men to the stars by detonating a series of small nuclear charges behind them. In this atmosphere, the prospect of a couple production Nucleons T-boning each other may have seemed like the sort of thing engineers would worry about in due time. As it stood, despite hundreds of hours of conceptual design time, the Nucleon never got beyond the three-eights-scale model stage. The idea itself survives as a symbol of that time between Hiroshima and the Cuban missile crisis when The Power Of The Atom was going to solve all our problems.

Photo Credit: Automotive History Online

Oldsmobile Aerotech
General Motors
1987-92

For a long time, there wasn't really a lot of long-range future-think in the automotive world. Emerging safety-consciousness, fuel crises, and the arrival of Japanese practicality and reliability meant that most designers were anchored to the demands of the present, and most designs were mired in those frankly boring contemporary concerns. The Aerotech program of the late 1980s, aimed at aerodynamic research and with the goal of breaking top-speed records, was one exception. There was a strange idea floating around, in the automotive press at least, that there should be some sort of American Autobahn system on which qualified drivers could drive as fast as they wished. Chevrolet had already built the otherwise forgettable 1987 "Express" concept car around the idea, vague though it was. The Aerotech was built with a similar mindset.

Oldsmobile took a two-liter version of GM's Quad-4 four-cylinder, turbocharged it to within an inch of its life, dropped it into the Aerotech along with A. J. Foyt, and drove it 257 miles per hour to break the closed-course record. Oldsmobile was quick to announce that the Aerotech was showing the way forward for Oldsmobile. Sadly, this didn't mean advanced aerodynamics launching us into an unlimited top-speed future; instead, we got the moderately good Aurora sports sedan and the moderately awful Quad-4 production engine. The aerodynamic future has indeed arrived, but as a path to greater fuel economy, and it's taken the shape of the slippery but uninspiring Prius instead of the Aerotech.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Pod
Toyota
2001

The Pod came about as an early attempt at fusing the car with the Internet, with a bit of electronic pet thrown in. Toyota designed the Pod concept in collaboration with then-unstoppable-giant Sony, whose Aibo robot dog was still an object of fascination. The Pod would wait patiently outside your house, its AI interfacing with your TV-watching and net-surfing habits, thoughtfully downloading music you liked and newscasts related to your interests. When you drove the Pod, it would play your content back for you. It would also change its exterior lighting to match your mood based on your driving, from angry red to cool blue, and wag its antenna when you were being especially relaxed and polite. The Pod was, therefore, a friend you could drive around, albeit a somewhat judgmental and creepily attentive friend.

The networked component of the Pod is of course old hat by now, as today it's hard to prevent any internet-capable hardware from showering you with recommendations. And it's hard to imagine that driving around in a two-seat mood ring would be the least bit appealing. But the Pod is a pretty good example of attitudes towards the Internet from just a few years back. As far as everyday utility of futuristic gadgetry, though, that place in our culture is pretty much taken up by the Roomba.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

iReal
Toyota
2007

If the Pod was the turn-of-the-century Internet interpreted as a car, the iReal is social networking interpreted as, well, a conveyance. The shadow of Wall-E, the Hoveround, and the Segway loom large over what looks like an Apple-designed wheelchair-which, for all vehicular intents and purposes, it is. While puttering about town, you sit upright. When it's time to go all the way to a different shopping district, it reclines, leans into turns, and tops out at not quite 19 miles per hour.

The social networking component is the iReal's ability to locate and communicate with other iReal users in the area in order to exchange information, presumably about iReal related activities, and invite them to meet up, presumably for safety in numbers. The iReal is already in limited release, and a patrol version equipped with portable defibrillators is in use by Japanese airport security. But as interesting as it may be, it's also somehow depressing to imagine a future in which we'll all be wheelchair-bound.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

FCX
Honda
2006-present

When Honda introduced this version of their Fuel Cell eXperimental concept, which uses its hydrogen to power three electric motors, they announced that it would soon be available for lease for selected participants in specific areas. They made good on this ambitious promise, and there are currently twenty-some FCX drivers whirring around in Honda's proof-of-concept in a modern version of Chrysler's turbine-car program. This, therefore, is a car of future present.

The idea here is that a network of fueling stations would provide hydrogen just the way they provide gas now, and drivers of tomorrow will live their automotive lives in roughly the same way we do today, certain smells and sounds aside. By all reports, the FCX performance is a perfectly acceptable, if unremarkable, much like its appearance. Which is fair enough; of all the possible futures predicted by these concepts, the FCX's is by far the most probable.

Perhaps that's disappointing, as it's more fun to imagine some sort of 257-mph tail-wagging atomic wheelchair with working tailfins. If that's the case, take heart; as these cars demonstrate, the future we get is hardly ever the future we're preparing for. Who knows? Perhaps the seemingly practical, usable electric car is the first misstep on the road to jet-packs and flying cars after all.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Yesterday we dragged Johnny Cash through the bondo-crusted mud and came away with 79% of you wanting to give that crazy cavalier a life sentence. Today, we're going to look at something with a bird on its hood.

Nineteen seventy seven was a grand year to be alive- Jimmy Carter made passivity hip, CHiPs lit up TV screens from coast to coast, and a little film called Smokey and the Bandit made movie-going fun again. While Burt Reynolds method-acted his way through this high-octane comedy, his Pontiac-powered costar stole the limelight. The black and gold Firebird Trans Am evaded a regional stereotype-playing Jackie Gleason, and fulfilled the testosterone-fueled fantasies of many an American male that year, with its daring deeds of constable consternation.

What we have here is a '77 Trans Am, however not in the black and gold of the film car. No, this one is blue and gold, and also lacks the desirable T-tops, denying your lady friends the opportunity to air out their chesticles in homage to Sally Field's bug-catching stunt work.

The seller, who is asking a bandit-like $12,000 for the screaming chicken-emblazoned coupe, claims that the rebuilt motor is rocking 400bhp. That is more than likely a typo- as the the T/A 400 cid engine was rated was at a more modest 200 bhp, but that didn't stop Burt from jumping his over that moleberry bridge! Yee-haw!

With 68,745 built in '77, the Trans Am isn't a rare Pontiac, but that just means parts availability should be pretty painless, and you'll never be wanting for friends at the Pontiac car shows. And you'll want to drive this bird to those shows because Pontiac's advertising of the time claimed it had precise, sports car handling and outstanding road performance. Here, see for yourself:

So, it's not going to fully fulfill your Burt Reynolds fetish, but it will keep that Pontiac flame alive, at least in your garage. And for only $12,000. What do you think, is it worth that to keep smokey at bay? Or is Buford T. Justice doling out the Crack Pipe along with the speeding tickets?

You decide!

Orlando Craigslist or go here if the ad jumps a creek. Hat tip to engineerd!

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Amid all the recent political uproar, car enthusiasts in Tehran, Iran still have something good to live for and it's not the new Mercedes-McLaren SLR 722GT Type R Chrome Edition. No, there's a unique group of individuals that have fallen in love with the Pontiac Firebird. As it turns out, cruising in any one of the various vintage 'Birds — or any car really — is one of the very few outlets for young men to meet women in Iran due to very strict rules regarding male/female interaction. We applaud this crew for everything they stand for because at the end of the day, vintage American muscle knows no borders. (Hat Tip To Taylor!)

[via The Atlantic]

Scott Listfield studied art at Dartmouth College and in 2001 found his muse. His oil paintings feature a "lone exploratory astronaut lost in a landscape cluttered with pop culture icons, corporate logos and tongue-in-cheek science fiction references." We got a good chuckle perusing his collection, so after taking a peak at the decidedly auto-erotic paintings below, head on over to his site and see the rest of his amazing work and maybe even see what his iconic Dinosaur has been up to.

[Astronaut Dinosaur via Booooooom]

Rock The Casbah
2005 36x48 — oil on canvas
©Scott Listfield, Astronaut Dinosaur

Mach 5
2005 18x24 — oil on canvas
©Scott Listfield, Astronaut Dinosaur

Stop Drop Kaboom
2004 36x36 — oil on canvas
©Scott Listfield, Astronaut Dinosaur

Waiting Dangerously In Rio
2009 24x48 — oil on canvas
©Scott Listfield, Astronaut Dinosaur

The Firebird
2006 36x48 — oil on canvas
©Scott Listfield, Astronaut Dinosaur

Back To The Future
2006 24x48 — oil on canvas
©Scott Listfield, Astronaut Dinosaur

Grand Canyon
2006 24x48 — oil on canvas
©Scott Listfield, Astronaut Dinosaur

It's A Question Of Simian Survival
2007 36x48 — oil on canvas
©Scott Listfield, Astronaut Dinosaur

The accident happened on Ponderosa Drive in Clear Creek County, Denver on a winding mountain road that local residents had been trying to have widen for years. The sheer weight of the fire truck caused the shoulder to give way which eventually placed it on top of both an ATV and a 1969 Pontiac Firebird that the owner had been building into a race car over the past 30 years. Luckily, the driver of the fire truck was wearing a seat belt, only suffering minor bruising, and the crushed Firebird was parked, unoccupied, in the owner's driveway. The fire truck is considered a total loss, but on the positive side of things; at least it's wasn't two fire trucks. (Hat Tip To Scott!) [via TheDenverChannel]

Each of these photos is a link to the car's original DOTS page, where you'll find its complete gallery for your enjoyment. Maybe bringing back the illuminated Indian-head hood ornament might have saved Pontiac? We'll never know now.

Pace cars for drag racing? Sure, makes sense… but what doesn't make sense is the abomination that Dominick found accompanying the NHRA Pace Car Firebird Camaro. Can anyone decipher the script above? Here's what Dominick has to say:

hey im a daily reader, new to writing back. correct me if i am wrong , i have found what to me is a late 70s NHRA pace car firebird i found it while browsing thru a local used car dealership in malaga spain also found this other thing got no clue what it is but it looks wicked thanks alot and it figured u guys whould know what to do with these

The winner! Not much more needs to be said here, but we'd like to point out that the Metro Gnome's best lap of 1:36.298 was only the 12th-best of the race. That's right, consistency (and a 10-lap bonus, awarded by judges who felt sure that chain would snap) wins this race!


This car was moments from winning the SF '08 race when the fuel pump failed. Here's more proof that you don't need to be fast to do well in a LeMons race; just stay out of trouble and don't break parts and you can win. This time around, the Spirit Of San Diego cruised to a solid 7th-place finish, which should give you 305 drivers some ammunition in your debates with the 350 guys.


Sure, this car spun out quite a bit, but Team Unsafe At Any Speed added greatly to our enjoyment of the race. The best lap time was 1:54.807, which wasn't so quick, but they beat nearly half the other teams in the lap totals with their 54th-place finish.








We can't find any photos of the incident- which apparently took place on the back side of the hill- but the super-veteran Cavalier finally ended its racing career with a rollover. No injuries, and we're hoping the ONSET guys will be back with that Cimarron they've been threatening to buy.

It's not a Sky Bird Esprit, just a plain ol' Firebird. In '78, the price tag on one of these with a Buick V6 was $4,545, which $1,254 less than the Trans Am's price. That's quite a bit of money for a few acres of decals and- we're not kidding here- just 75 additional horsepower over the V6.


I've always liked these Pontiac rally wheels, because they look very similar to the wheels on the old Hot Wheels cars I had as a kid. You can still find them pretty readily at self-service junkyards these days, and the bolt pattern fits plenty of non-Pontiacs.


In California, a vehicle must be 1975 or older to be emissions-test-exempt, so most of these Malaise machines remain un-hot-rodded. Perhaps that means this Pontiac will continue to be its original owner's everyday transportation for additional decades.

Polls are fun! After you look at the gallery, vote on your favorite Alameda DOTS Pontiac.

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With the look of a car that spent a few years behind a double-wide outside Lodi, where it served as a convenient target for Schlitz-enhanced marksmen and bumper-jack-wielding yahoos, this Firebird seems strangely tranquil in an East Bay wrecking yard. I counted at least 100 bullet holes and at least that many empty beer cans in the old Pontiac, but all that lead and aluminum will soon be melted down with the steel.

Not much to say.. but on my way to Trader Joe's in West Hollywood, I noticed this car covered in orange blossoms... but I felt a good Karma here....Yes, I know, I'm an old fashioned romantic type!

Not much represented gaudy performance cars American muscle in the 1990s better than the Pontiac Firebird. This convertible 'Bird is decked out like he just did 120 down Findlay, Ohio's main street. [Cars Photos]

See the rest of our Jalopnik Auto Flag-Elation here and check out our pre-Fourth Jalopnik Automotive Amerigasm here.

AMC Concord AMX
Powered by an optional 5.0-liter V8, the '78 AMX was based on the otherwise boring new-for-'78 AMC Concord. You could get the 4.2-liter straight-six with a 4-speed manual, but if you wanted the macho V8, you were stuck with a 3-speed slushbox. For those wanting to rebel against the empire of Detroit's big three, while still buying American, this was the way to go. Besides, who else was gonna offer you authentic Levi's denim seats?
[source]

Ford Mustang King Cobra
With the new fox-body Mustangs right around the corner, the '78 King Cobra was a last hurrah for the old Mustang II. The Cobra-adorned hood featured a new reverse hood scoop, and tucked underneath was a 5.0-liter V8. That mill wheezed out about 140 HP, and was connected to a 4-speed manual or an optional automatic. Really, not much was mechanically different from the previous Cobra II, but if you wanted a bitchin' snake on your hood, this was the car for you.
[source]

Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am
Starring in the previous year's film Smokey And The Bandit, the T/A went mostly unchanged for '78. However, GM did make changes where it counted, as 1978 actually saw an increase in the 6.6-liter V8's compression ratio — to 8.1:1. Of course, output was still only 188 HP, but that was still more than you got in a base '78 Corvette. Plus, if you were a real bandit, you could order a special high-altitude model that used an Oldsmobile 403 CI V8 rather than the Pontiac 400 CI lump...and somehow lose 8 HP in the process. Either way, you were lucky sure to outrun any smokey.
[image source]

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Thanks for posting my pictures of the Datsun 710. Attached are the long promised pictures of Jim Rockford's Firebird.

This is a 77 or a 78, I don't know which, but I know where Angel hid Jim's car!

The car is in New Westminster, BC in the Queens Park area, a neighbourhood of Victorian era heritage homes.

135 horsepower from a sub-2-liter engine was pretty good in 1978, and that's what the Saab 99 Turbo managed that year. In a car weighing just 2,600 pounds, 135 horses gave a power-to-weight pretty close to what you got from a '78 Corvette... at a price tag $500 higher than the top-of-the-line Chevy. Thanks to the magic of depreciation, however, it's possible to get a Saab 99 Turbo project for a fairly reasonable price nowadays. They're not so easy to find, what with the rust and breathtaking repair costs over the decades, but we've managed to find one for- you ready for this?- just 600 bucks! Yes, this '78 Saab 99 Turbo (go here if the ad disappears), which appears to be reasonably complete (if you count random parts in boxes), is available for just six Benjamins. The seller was going to put in a black interior and paint it metallic burgundy, and that plan must add value, right? It's got rust, including an 8" x 8" hole in the floor, the engine is out of the car and has a crack in "the manifold" (we're guessing exhaust). No problem! It's been sitting for years and the registration seems dodgy, but don't let that scare you away from the incredible Swedish potential of this Hell Project!

When you're talking about Turbo Malaise Hell, is there anything that can beat a carbureted draw-through turbo system? Why yes, there is: a draw-through turbocharging system that uses a computer Quadrajet! The computer Q-jet is fun enough when naturally aspirated, but bolt it to a hair-dried Pontiac 301 (an engine which itself is the essence of V8 Malaise) and the fun really begins. That's right, we're talking about the notorious Turbo Trans Am... and not just any Turbo Trans Am. We've found a genuine 1980 Indy 500 Pace Car Turbo Trans Am (go here if the ad disappears) for you! The price tag is a grand higher than the Saab's, but that's just because this car is more complete. Now, we're not musclecar purists around these parts, but there's really no choice with a Turbo Trans Am Indy Pace Car but to restore it to its full Malaise glory, 210 unreliable blown horses and all. Oh, sure, you could drop a modern fuel-injected turbocharged small-block Chevy in there and get reliability and power, but then you wouldn't be experiencing the full nostalgic impact of 1980. This one needs some work, no getting around that; first, there's rust (from the car "sitting for years back east"), and we're not talking about harmless surface rust. It doesn't run, but the seller seems to feel that it'll fire right up with the addition of a new distributor, and maybe he or she is right!

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Chevrolet Corvette B2K Callaway Twin-Turbo
We all know about the legendary "Sledgehammer" pictured here. With over 880 HP and a top speed of 254 MPH, it was the poster child for Callaway's Twin-Turbo systems. If you wanted your own, you could actually order a similar package by checking the box for option B2K when ordering a Corvette at your Chevrolet dealership. Granted, the price of the twin-turbo system cost nearly as much as the car itself, but you did get 382 HP and a monstrous 562 lb-ft of torque from your 5.7-liter V8.

Buick GNX
The ultimate evolution of the Buick Grand National, the GNX is pure badass. An intercooled, specially-made T3 turbo put up to 15 PSI of boost into the 3.8-liter V6. The official rating from the General was 276 HP. In reality, an unmodified GNX would make about 300 HP and 400 lb-ft of torque. Combine that with trick underpinnings, and the all-black Buick would go 0-60 in well under five seconds. We like it so much that there's one of the 547 examples in our Jalopnik Fantasy Garage.

Pontiac Firebird Turbo Trans-Am
For 1989, Pontiac created a special 20th-Anniversary Turbo Trans-Am. Affectionately known as the "TTA", this wasn't just some tape-stripe go-faster package. Power came from the Buick-sourced 3.8-liter V6, with the intercooled turbocharger pumping out up to 16.5 PSI. The conservative rating from GM was 250 HP and 340 lb-ft of torque, but some people think the TTA was nearly as powerful as the Buick GNX. Basically, the TTA was KITT-style turbo boost with a white paint job— and not autonomous.

Ford Mustang SVO
Ford Special Vehicle Operations' alternative to big-displacement pony cars was the Mustang SVO. The 2.3-liter inline-four was force-fed by an intercooled turbo that boosted output up to 200 HP and 240 lb-ft of torque. It was a fairly civilized package, but overwhelming favor of simpleton V8 models eventually killed the SVO.

Merkur XR4Ti
Based heavily on the European Ford Sierra, the Merkur has a distinctly German flavor. Powered by a 2.3-liter inline-four with a T3 pushing up to 14 PSI, it was a similar setup to the Mustang SVO. The lack of an intercooler meant power was down to 175 HP and 200 lb-ft of torque. Though if you had access to Euro-spec parts, it was possible to swap in an AWD drivetrain.

Shelby GLHS Dodge Omni
It's no secret we love the Shelby GLHS. A 2.2-liter inline-four combined with a intercooled turbocharger made 175 HP and 175 lb-ft of torque. Max boost of 12 PSI helped the Omni run 0-60 in about 6.5-seconds. For a 5-door hatch in that decade, it indeed Goes Like Hell - Somemore. Only 500 blacked-out examples were available, making it a true sleeper.

Shelby CSX-VNT Dodge Shadow
Some see the CSX as just a gaudy Dodge Shadow. If you know your stuff however, the CSX-VNT is quite special. VNT stood for "Variable Nozzle Turbo", meaning that these 500 examples were the first ever production cars to utilize a version of what we now call a "variable geometry turbo." These variable nozzles meant there was no need for a wastegate. The setup provided up to 15 PSI of boost, which meant torque from the 2.2-liter inline-four was up to 205 lb-ft, though power was still rated at 175 HP.

Pontiac Grand Prix McLaren Turbo
No, the Grand Prix Turbo was not designed by Gordan Murray. But it did have a 3.1-liter V6 with an intercooled turbo that made 205 HP and 225 lb-ft of torque. Unfortunately, the turbo Grand Prix was FWD and only came with a 4-speed slushbox. So despite the "Grand Prix" and "McLaren" emblems, this was no Formula One racer.

Chrysler TC by Maserati
Not merely an expensive LeBaron, Chrysler's TC by Maserati often gets overlooked for its performance. A joint venture sparked by Lee Iacocca's friendship with Maserati's owner, Alejandro DeTomaso, the TC was multinational and had little in common with other K-cars. Despite looking alot like any other Chrylser, the body was unique and built in Italy. The 2.2-liter engine had special pistons made in Germany. A 16-valve head made by Cosworth in England replaced the standard 8-valve Chrysler unit. The IHI turbocharger came from Japan and was connected to an intercooler, helping the engine produce 200 HP and 220 lb-ft of torque. This was the most powerful version yet of Chrysler's 2.2 turbo, but it would only be offered on the 500 '89 models paired with a 5-speed manual transmission.

Chrysler Conquest TSi
Ok, so the Conquest is essentially a re-badged Mitsubishi Starion, but who cares? After all, re-badging a Japanese car as with an American brand is quintessentially '80s. Actually, the American models were a bit different than their JDM counterparts. The Conquest TSi came with a 2.6-liter inline-four that made 188 HP thanks to an intercooled turbo. That power was sent to the rear wheels for Japanese-style drift-o action.

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[Image Sources: High Performance Pontiac, cardomain, turbograndprix.com, cardomain, rides.webshots, and the best 80's turbo ever]