<![CDATA[Jalopnik: longchamp]]> http://tags.jalopnik.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png <![CDATA[Jalopnik: longchamp]]> http://jalopnik.com/tag/longchamp http://jalopnik.com/tag/longchamp <![CDATA[Project Car Hell, Best Of 1974 Edition: De Tomaso Longchamp or Bricklin SV-1?]]> Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Last time, we watched in disbelief as the insanely complicated agglomeration of iron oxide shaped vaguely like a Jensen FF got shellacked in the Choose Your Eternity poll by the much simpler- yet more glamorous- Aston Martin DB5. Today we're going to take a trip back to the era of Synanon and presidential resignations, with a couple of innovative Detroit V8-powered machines you rarely hear about these days.


You hear a lot about the De Tomaso Pantera- especially after Vince Neil couldn't even drive one to the liquor store without incident- but the little Italian car company with a love for Ford Cleveland power built other fine automobiles as well. For example, the De Tomaso Longchamp, a mean-looking coupe with 351 snarling Dearborn horses under its hood. Only 409 were ever made, so you're probably breathing a sigh of relief despondent that you can't get one for your personal Hell Project. Not so fast, sport! Jalopnik is on the case, and we've unearthed- yes, that's the word- this 1974 De Tomaso Longchamp with a starting bid of just one dollar... and that's with no reserve, we might add. Some of you who harbor dreams of getting a last-second acceptance into the 24 Hours of LeMons New England race might be taking note of the New Hampshire location of this car, but how could you let a jewel like this get all beat up on a race track? Why, that rust might not be as bad as it looks! And rest assured that this is a numbers-matching car, so you can bank on making a huge profit at Barrett-Jackson after you restore it.

What's your favorite Canadian car company? For us, it's got to be Bricklin. Yes, the man responsible for bringing Subarus and Yugos to our continent also built his own sports car, the Bricklin SV-1. Back in the 70s, the man at the wheel of an SV-1 didn't have to worry about where his next STD would be coming from, because all the ladies were eager to dish up the spirochetes to a Bricklin-equipped gent. While we could have gone with a 351 Cleveland-powered SV-1, this AMC 360-powered '74 model has nine more cubic inches and a big helping of Kenosha Kool. And look- a 4-speed! Jack up the Malaise power output to, say, 500 horsepower and you'd have the best of Early Malaise style coupled with modern-day acceleration. The seller's description would work a lot better without the photographs, we think; words like "excellent" and "beautiful" don't seem to fit the utter basket case challenging project pictured. It appears that the fiberglass has rusted somehow. But hey, the engine runs and the car drives- how hard could it be?

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<![CDATA[Project Car Hell: One Longchamp or Three Bitters?]]> We had our second two-thirds majority vote in a row for yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll, with the Infiniti Q45 using its V8 to pound the V6-powered Mazda 929 into submission. We went Japanese yesterday because it's Japan Week here, and also because we needed to give you a little breather after the terrible punishment of an all-French L'enfer des Projets-Voitures. Today we're turning up the temperature a bit, with a return to the tried-and-true Hell Grab Bag option.


You want a Cleveland-powered De Tomaso machine, but the Vince Neil stigma has you firmly in the No Panteras camp? Ever considered a Longchamp? Yes, a luxurious Ford-powered Italian coupe that will have heads a-turnin' and jaws a-droppin' wherever you go. You're in luck, because here's a nice '76 on eBay, bid up to a mere 15 grand at the time of this writing. The seller claims this one is in "very nice" condition, with a recent engine rebuild and 10-year-old paint and interior. So you figure, hey, this car ain't no project- it's ready to go! Thing is, any Italian car is a project the minute it rolls off the assembly line; just keeping this thing drivable and looking presentable is going to be an endless, wallet-emptying task. For one thing, how could you tolerate a flawed 10-year-old paint job in such a beautiful car? And what right-thinking Jalopnik reader could look at that 351C and not want to get, oh, 600 horsepower out of it (with associated broken parts)? See, it's already dragging you down!

But why get one car nobody has ever heard of when you can have three? Would you believe three '85 Bitter SCs for just $22,000? The Bitter SC was based on the Opel Senator chassis, so maybe you'd be able to find some of the mechanical parts (better start learning German). Thing is, one of the cars has the original Opel running gear, and another has a Chevy LT-1 with a claimed 305 horsepower (the third car has no engine, so maybe it's an ideal recipient for the Nissan 4.5 V8 from yesterday's Q45). Was the Chevy swap done correctly? Can the Opel suspension and differential handle it? How about those flaky Opel electrical systems? Oh, there will be surprises aplenty for the lucky winner of this stable of German thoroughbreds!

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