SCCA, NASA, VARA, SCTA and ECTA- amateur racing can keep your blood pressure high, and your bank account low. There's nothing better than dicing it up through the turns, going tire to tire, as you watch your money scrub off into the weeds. It's an unforgiving hobby; if an inattentive driver runs into you on the highway, you call your insurance agent, but if a particularly aggressive driver knocks you into the tires on Oak Tree at NLRC, you call your lender, and ask how much is left in the HELOC. It's not a sport for the timid, nor those with shared bank accounts.

Today we have a 1971 2002 that has been set up for either SCCA or vintage events. There's not much detail to the car, but the seller claims to need to be rid of it due to arthritis- hopefully not the car's. He also manages to offer up some creative math in justifying his claim that the car is, for all intents and purposes free. He says that for your $15,500 you'll not just get the car, but also the trailer- worth $3,000- as well as $10,000 in spare parts. Well, that actually makes the car $2,500, but why split hairs?

That's still outside of LeMons pricing, but not so many Deutsches that you couldn't leave your mark on some SCCA action. And a 2002 makes for an excellent racer- it's competent enough to be competitive, and yet big enough to be a rolling chicane, if you aren't.

Now here's your chance to see if you do have what it takes out on the track, to determine if you've got the mastery of the inside pass, and the possession of some deep pockets. If, on the parade lap, what you're thinking about is the waste of $5.00 a gallon 100 octane, then maybe you're more of a spectator, rather than a participant. But if you look at this ad and don't even bat an eye, then slip on your balaclava!

There's no better place to test the mettle of both man and machine than in the heat of wheel to wheel racing action. Do you think that, for $15,500, this wheeling dealer is sitting on the pole, or is he DNF'd in the pits?

You decide!

Colorado Springs Craigslist or go here if the ad returns to AZ/CA venues. Thanks to Highmile for the tip.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a tip.

Like most of you, we remember falling in love with cars during our childhood while riding in the back of station wagons on vacations across the U.S. to obscure tourist spots in the middle of no where. We also remember falling in love with cars just by seeing them down on the street. In dealerships, parades, driving down the freeway — it doesn't matter much to us. We love cars just the way they are and this huge collection of vintage photos helps us to fall in love all over again. (Hat Tip To Robert!)

[via Yenko]

The good ol' days are gone, never to return again, but we've compiled a huge 60-image gallery, with the help of our friends at both Yenko and The Car Lounge, depicting the better days.

These were days when the bar was set so low, Fords were viewed as more dependable than any car and a Cadillac was something to aspire to. We miss those days. Although maybe that's got less to do with a real love of the era and more to do with the mind culling and removing painful negative imagery from thoughts of the past. Whatever the reason, join us in our idyllically over-idealized, idealized dream-like pictorial tribute to the great automotive dealerships of the halcyon days of yesteryear.

[via Yenko, TCL]

It is a safe bet to say there is a lifetime of stories wrapped up in this Porsche found resting in a barn somewhere in Mississippi. With no proper documentation or previous owner spouting off his personal sagas, one can only guess what type of action this car has seen.

Estimates put the Porsche at a '53, but nothing is certain. Based on how high the bids have been chased up at this point, we can be relatively assured the next owner will put the proper amount of care into such a machine and return it to glory.

[eBay]

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," was the phrase uttered by J. Robert Oppenheimer shortly after developing the atomic bomb. We can only hope he builder of this certain-death machine felt a similar emotion the first time he planted the progress pedal and rocketed himself into hot rodding lore.

Details are scarce, but we do know this street weapon is powered by a turbocharged 5.3 liter LSx-based engine. Taking the extra indie step forward, the fuel is managed by the beautifully homebrewed Megasquirt system. Die hard vintage VW fanatics will throw a rod when they notice very little original Bug remains, as it sits on a fully boxed one-off chassis with matching integral cage. Enough with the chatter — we'll let the pictures and video below do the talking.

Hat tip to TenBeers!

[LS1Tech]

Legend has it a car dealer, buying cars for parts, couldn't bring himself to scrap these beauties and began parking them in his yard. The dealer retired in the 70s, passing the business on to his son, who left the cars untouched. This scenic farm land location can be seen here.

As is the common plight of every forest junkyard, the Swiss government says the grounds must be cleared, paved and sealed to prevent fluids from seeping into the ground. Local crusader Heinrich Gartentor says rare trees and moss will be destroyed if the car graveyard is cleared, not to mention all of the steep automotive history that will be lost in the process.

The cars are agreeably too far gone for restoration, but the collection is arguably more thorough than most car museums. The current owner of the yard agrees to pave the area holding newer models, but refuses to disturb the vintage iron. We say keep fighting the good fight!

[SwissInfo via ArtificialOwl]

Hat tip to Rodrigo!

Rhode Island authorities have ordered this illicit junkyard crushed immediately, but such an undertaking takes time. Word says that these cars are slowly marching towards the fateful crusher, but there is hope. The owner goes by the name of JR and he's willing to make a deal. For the address, you've gotta swear to not go trampling around this guy's backyard without his permission. That's uncool to start, but what's more, you might be on the receiving end of a rock salt salvo. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Now that we've got that out of the way, this dream junkyard can be found here, which is in the forests of Rhode Island. If any readers decide to purchase some vintage iron from said junkyard, drop us a few pictures at tips@jalopnik.com. Happy hunting. Hat tip to Zack!

[MustangForum]

Here's Franzouse's report:

For my birthday I went home this weekend to my quaint little southern french town of St Geniez D'olt (yup try pronouncing that) in the beautiful Aveyron region and got a real nice present: race day! They wouldn't let me enter the mehari in the "course de cote" (road climb, 46 turns in 6 miles of beautiful asphalt with guard rails...), but I did get to see the vintage racers that were parked on the plaza during the racer's big sunday lunch. It being bastille day, so here are the French cars

[The San Diego Collection]

I walked across the bridge to the paddock and it was like I crossed over into a sculpture garden for gearheads. Open wheel racers lined up on either side, but a Bugatti T-35B in that blue pulled me toward it like gravity. The eight wide spokes on its wheels gleamed, and the grease that lubricated its leaf springs was so clean it could have been olive oil. My eyes raked an Alfa Romeo Volpi Special and fell on the drivers' names painted on the body: "J. Fangio." Oh. Right, then.

Depression-era sprint cars squatted under tents on my right, and the hoods of two Lotus Elevens stood up to my left. Every ten steps there was another million-dollar car, and this wasn't the concours day. These were here to be driven. I thought about what it'd be like to drive Fangio's car until it made my head hurt. I rested my searing eyes on a pair of Maseratis, a '55 300S and a '60 Tipo 61, which is one of the most beautiful cars ever made, racing or not. Go to the gallery and check out the "Birdcage" frame, made of hundreds of narrow tubes.

You can't help but wonder at details like that as you walk around the paddock: How many arms were burned on chest-high exhaust pipes which sat inches drivers' bodies? How did they keep an Lotus Eleven's differential from overheating as it was sandwiched in between the two inboard disc brakes? Has there ever been a sexier shape than a Jaguar C-Type? (Answers: many, magic, and no.)

The open wheel cars took to the track in their Pre-1941 Sports and Racing Cars class (Group 1) and the ex-Fangio car won in a rout. There's something about seeing a three-wheeled Morgan running in this crowd with a rainbow colored spinner trailing off its teardrop tail that has to bring a smile to your face. This just in: old cars cure hangovers.

The drivers really went at it in Group 2, a '52 Allard K2 with a Caddy motor sounds remarkably like a stock car roaring down the front straight, being chased by a herd of XK-120s who weren't afraid to mix it up, loop it, take it into the dirt, and jump back out into the action. The organizers played it equally fast and loose with the rules - there's no way a six-plus liter Allard is in the same class as an MG TD. But it's about seeing them on the track, about showing the life that's in these antique machines. Stanguellinis, Brabhams and a Lancia-Pagrada duked it out next in a Formula car race. My money was on a BT-2, but a Cooper ended up taking the checkered flag.

It was a ton of fun watching a Fiat Abarth give hell to the Group 5 cars, but it was a Porsche 356 that crossed the line first.

My second favorite race of the day went to a battle in Group 6 between a '58 Allard GT with Chrysler Hemi power and a '59 Aston Martin DB4/GT. It was like watching an AWD car in the wet, the way that Allard pulled away from the pack once the green flag dropped. The Allard was quickly dogged by the DB4 and both were caught, lost and caught again by a '64 MG B with a hell of a driver. Three Ferrari 250s didn't even have a chance. The nimbleness of the Aston Martin was to prevail in the end, but the MG driver may have gotten the loudest applause from the crowd.

A team of two beautiful XKEs abused a field of Mustangs and Corvettes while a Se7en (much to the delight of Jalop super-commenter Al Navarro, I'm sure) diced through the V8 beasts and took home third place behind the Jags.

Now, ladies and sunburned gentlemen, it was Can-Am and IMSA GT time. I could hear them fire up from my seat on a hill across the track and I just started giggling. I'd seen the rows of Chevrons, the GT40, T-70, the two Monzas, and all the rest earlier in the day. Their owners may have been playing with grandkids in the shade, but these cars were all ready for battle - all wedges and jagged ranges of intake trumpets. God, I couldn't wait to see them thrash around the course.

The #20 '76 Dekon Monza was on the pole and leapt off the line, its enormous rear wing seemed to be waving bye bye to the rest of the final group. The sports racers were going to have something to say about that. The Chevrons and a Royale crept up over the course of the race. Spectators on the inside of the track got a show as a 914-6 lost the back end coming down the diving turn before the front straight, executed a full 360, and hammered back on the gas to continue racing. A Chevron B19 was nothing but bare, dull metal with a single, black "3" on either side. It was just a grey doorstop flying around the course and it looked like a cheap toy. It also went on to win the biggest race of the weekend. In true racer fashion, that car had nothing on it that didn't serve a purpose.

I streamed out with the crowds, trying to replay the sound of the Allards in my head. I almost missed it when my Dad looked at me and said, "That was a good day." — James Gribbon

If you've read Jalopnik for longer than 20 minutes, you just knew we were going to stick a "Killer B" in our Fantasy Garage. And why wouldn't we? Created by the FIA in 1982, Group B offered manufacturers a way to show off all their engineering prowess, achieve racing victories and reap the subsequent publicity windfalls, all without the need and expense of launching a full production model. Very low homologation numbers (200 streetable cars in this case) meant that for a modest investment — especially when compared to Group A with its minimum 5,000 production cars mandate — a company could claim some serious rewards. Group A also had more stringent restrictions in terms of power, weight, materials and overall cost, not to mention a four-seat rule that in essence prohibited mid-engine machines. Group B was essentially unlimited, especially in terms of power.

And we mean unlimited. While engine displacement was strictly categorized, Group B rules failed to specify any limit in terms of boost (insert maniacal cackling here). This proved to be a loophole engineers gleefully exploited with stupefying, almost dumbfounding results. Actual horsepower numbers are murky at best and even downright cryptic. Quoted numbers for the 2.1-liter Ford RS200 for example range anywhere from 550 hp to over 800 hp. Reasons for this secrecy are many and varied. The most commonly cited are that the primitive all-wheel-drive dynamometers weren't up to the job. And because there was no cap on power, manufacturers just didn't care all that much. We would wager however, that teams didn't want the competition to know just how full-on berserk each others' cars were. But here's the skinny: Group B cars could out accelerate F1 cars. 0-60 times of less than three seconds were common – on gravel. Sadly, in the days before computerized traction control, so much unwieldy power proved to be Group B's downfall.

At the start of the 1986 season, the big boys (Audi, Ford, Lancia and Peugeot) were simply (and literally) fire-breathing. And then everything went very wrong. Near Sintra in Portugal, driver Joaquim Santos came out of a gully only to find dozens of fans standing at the peak. His Ford RS200 careered into the crowd, killing three and injuring more than 30. Every team immediately pulled out of the race. Soon after, Lancia's Henri Toivonen inexplicably missed a tight left-hander and plunged into a ditch. The fuel tanks of his Delta S4 ruptured and burst into flames, incinerating him and his co-driver Sergio Cresto. A few more races took place that year, though rife with nationalistic argument (e.g., the Italians said the skirts on the Peugeots were too low). The 1987 season was canceled, and soon after the FIA banned Group B altogether. Notwithstanding the human tragedies, it was is one of the saddest days in the history of sport.

General Group B Radness

In Jeremy Clarkson's most excellent book, I Know You Got Soul, everybody's favorite Thatcherite discusses the Concorde, its crash in Paris and subsequent decommissioning. He quips, "for the first time since the Titanic we were actually mourning the loss of the machine itself." Jezza actually flew aboard the very last Concorde flight. As he walked off the plane in London he thought to himself, "This is one small step for a man. But a giant leap backwards for mankind." This also happens to be true of the Killer Bs. Group B was essentially a sanctioned hoon division. Unlimited forced-induction power, the first mature applications of AWD in motorsport and ultra-lightweight, exotic materials are the things our dreams are made of.

To quote Clarkson one last time, "You see, unlike any other machine that has been mothballed or donated to a museum, Concorde has not been replaced with something better or faster." With the exception of the Group B cars, Jeremy. Think we're being a bit dramatic? The Bugatti Veyron, with its 8.0-liter 16-cylinder engine, four turbochargers, 1,000+ horsepower, Cray supercomputer and million-dollar price tag hits 60 mph in 2.5 seconds. The Ford RS200's 0-60 mph time was 2.1 seconds, you guessed it, in the dirt. Sigh...

Audi Quattro S1

Audi is of course the granddaddy of Group B. Because the class hardly had any rules, Audi was free to introduce AWD (with a little help from Jensen) to the world in 1980. The results were epoch making and are still being felt today. However, at first there was much doubt whether a heavy and complicated AWD system would be stout enough for rallying. Audi won its first rally on its first attempt by nine minutes. From that moment on, there was no doubt at all about AWD. Other manufacturers struggled to get AWD cars of their own into production.

The Quattro did very well in the early 1980s, including a win by Michèle Mouton, the first woman to win an international rally. While the initial Quattro had an AWD advantage over the competition, it was too heavy, too complicated and handled rather poorly. In 1983 other manufacturers began making huge strides and even though it was still RWD, Lancia's 037 won the constructor's title.

Audi fought back in 1984 with the Sport Quattro. Power was up to over 450 hp. The Sport did retain its monocoque chassis (as opposed to most of the competitions' tubular frames) but was re-skinned in fancy kevlar. The gearbox gained a gear (from five to six) and most important, almost 13 inches were chopped out of the wheelbase, giving the Sport Quattro massively improved handling. One of the greatest hoons of all time, Stig Blomqvist, even took to driving the car sideways. Audi won the both the constructor's title and the driver's championship.

1985 saw the introduction of Peugeot's 205 TI6 (more on that in a bit). To fight this French monster, Audi released the devilish Sport Quattro S1. Long story short, its 2.1-liter inline five produced over 600 horsepower and had massive wings festooned all over the place to provide downforce. Although the S1 was too heavy (and too front-engined) to fully be competitive in Group B, Michèle Mouton drove an S1 up Pike's Peak. Not only did she win outright, but she set a record in the process. The next year Bobby Unser drove an S1 up Pike's Peak, also winning outright and setting a record. The next year Walter Röhrl did the exact same thing. And Audi wasn't even warmed up. Legend has it Audi worked up a 1000 hp engine that it tested in several hillclimbs, but drivers deemed it too batshit insane to drive. We can't even imagine.

Ford RS200

Arguably the best looking of all the Killer Bs, the Ford RS200 was and is totally mad. And out of all these rally studs, we like the RS200 homologation the best. It's not only fierce, but also rare. Seeing one is like stumbling on a leprechaun. The RS200 represented Ford's second, more serious attempt at Group B. Its first rather botched attempt was the Escort RS 1700T. Details are sketchy as to what went wrong; most references indicate, "troubled development," sometimes followed by "complete disaster." However, even without specifics, I imagine trying to get a front-wheel-drive economy car to run with an Audi Quattro in 1983 would be troubling and disastrous.

Not so with the RS200. Much of the development was outsourced. Tony Southgate designed and Reliant built the space-frame chassis. The kevlar body was designed by Ghia and constructed by Reliant, which had considerable expertise with composites. The RS200 featured AWD with adjustable torque split, a Group B first. Without stopping the car, the driver could rout all the power to the rear wheels, choose a 37/63 front-to-rear split or go for 50/50. The RS200 employed three viscous couplings to make this possible. It also had a mid-engine layout and dual-shocks at each corner. Legendary F1-er Bryan Hart tuned the 16-valve, turbocharged 2137 cc BDT-E Cosworth engine to at least 550 hp, and some claim as much as 800 hp. In reality, the RS200s probably competed at 650 hp.

Under the RS200's Kevlar Hood. Clock the Dual Shocks

Regardless, 60 mph arrived in a hair over two seconds, depending upon the gearing. In fact, two separate RS200 Evolutions hit 100 km/h in 2.1 seconds, which is basically two seconds flat to 60 mph. That is ludicrous. More important (to the drivers), the RS200 was extremely tough and faired well in crash tests. The only drawback was that all that overbuilding meant the Ford was heavier than its competition. Extra pounds coupled with horrid turbo lag meant the RS200 had to be beaten with a go-faster stick. And that's fine by us. Plus, if you watch the video, it shot fire out of its tail pipe constantly. That's even finer by us.

Lancia Delta S4

Like the rest of the competitors, Lancia got caught with its pants down when Audi arrived with its mean, old Sport Quattro. In 1983 the rear-drive Lancia 037, predecessor to the S4, managed to hold off Audi (Lancia had Walter Röhrl at the wheel and somehow the Italian car was much more reliable than the fancy-pants German). But by 1984 competition was just too stiff for the mid-engined 037. Lancia had to make a move. And boy, did they.

The Delta S4 is the rally car Vincent van Gogh would have driven. Mid-engined, all-wheel-drive, extra-light, all that stuff. But what sets the S4 apart and always makes us smile is its compound charging. In order to fight off the nasty effects of turbo lag on twisty, hairpin dirt courses, the Delta S4's 1759 cc engine was both supercharged and turbocharged. Developed with Fiat's tuning shop Abarth, this lag-free set up screamed out at least 550 hp from a 1.8-liter four banger. And, like all these cars, the actual output come race day was most likely higher, if not much higher.

Lack of displacement did affect torque output, and that meant that the Delta S4 could "only" accelerate from a standstill to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds. On gravel. We're laughing just typing. Point being, this was the first compound charged engine ever raced, and the S4 was one of the most advanced cars ever built. Lancia and the Delta S4 finished 1-2 in the 1985 RAC Rally. The 1986 campaign looked to be much more of the same, but then Henri Toivonen tragically crashed his Delta S4 and the gas tanks blew, killing him and effectively ending Group B forever. Still, what a brilliant maniac of a vehicle it was.

Peugeot 205 TI6

How can you not love a car nicknamed L'enfant terrible? Right, in good faith, you can't. Like the other cars mentioned, Peugeot's Group B entry followed the winning formula. Or in this case developed the winning formula. Mid-engine, lightweight composite body, AWD, a space-frame chassis and turbo power out both the ying yang and wazoo. And, even in the face of more powerful competition, the 205 T16 constantly won races.

Unlike the R200 and Delta S4, the 205 T16 was based upon the econobox 205. Only they tossed the engine in the trunk (er, backseat) and swapped out every component. Visually it maintained the hatchback aesthetic first laid down by Giugiaro's Golf. As a result, fans loved the 205 because it looked as if the scrappy little grocery-getting David was stoning all the tweaked out Goliaths dead. During the 1986 season, with competitors' offerings turned up past 11, Peugeot's little pugilist punched above its weight and beat them all. The 205 T16 then went on to dominate Pike's Peak and win Paris-Dakar. If we were to be honest with ourselves, we would admit that the Peugeot 205 T16 is probably the greatest car raced last century. Too bad it's so funny looking.

A Note About Our Selection Process:
Davey G points out that like in Can Am, there are no bad Group B cars. Yes, we did leave off the Renault R5, the Manta 400 and the Rover 6R4. And we did so purposely, because the four cars you will be voting on in a moment stood so much taller than the rest of the admittedly awesome competition.

The elephant in the room is Porsche's legendary 959. We made the decision not to include it in this week's nomination for a number of reasons. One is that people (i.e. you) tend to love the 959 so much as to skew the results. It would be like trying to convince certain people quarter-mile time is not the ultimate performance measure. We'd be talking to a wall.

The other main reason is Porsche's dirty little secret: the 959 couldn't compete. Not in the rallies at any rate. Other manufacturers had too many years' head start. Remember, the 959 ran in the 1985 Paris-Dakar (actually, it also ran in 1984 with a few 911s pumped up to 959 spec) and again in 1986. But Porsche wisely didn't bother with Group B competition and the race was off for 1987, which only added to the 959's legend. Will the 959 make it into the Fantasy Garage? Pope. Shit. Woods. Also, had the 1987 season happened, Ferrari may have entered the 288 GTO. Chew on that for a while.

One more thing before you vote. We decided to go heavy with the videos this week because in the words of Han Solo, these cars, "may not be much too look at, but [they] got it where it counts." Thanks for reading. – Jonny Lieberman

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

[The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage appears every Tuesday. Readers vote the cars in or out. The idea is that we'll have 50 cars in our Fantasy Garage, the world's greatest mechanic and endless wads of cash. Would you like to nominate a car for the Fantasy Garage? Write tips@jalopnik.com with the subject line "Fantasy."]

The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, So Far:
RUF RT12 | Maserati Quattroporte Executive GT | 1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage | Honda 1300 Coupe 9 | 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe | Ferrari 288 GTO | Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 | 1970 Buick GSX 455 | First Generation BMW M Coupe | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 | Ford GT | Citroen SM | Porsche 928 | Jensen FF | DeTomaso Vallelunga

Related:
Crowning the King of 1970: Buick GSX vs Chevy Chevelle SS. vs Olds 442 vs Pontiac GTO Judge; Oh, Group B, How We Miss You; The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage [Internal]

Oh man, this one hurts. As you may know we are at the age and pathetic financial situation where a man begins to look around for his project car. As you may also know, Jalopnik hearts shooting breaks brakes, especially British ones. This very good looking example of how screwed up the British auto industry was of Jensen-Healey's Lotus engined darling is right here in Southern California and just dying for a new owner (the current owner, at 6'6", is too tall to fit). So what if the engine needs to have its timing belt replaced every 18,000 miles (no, really — look it up) and the asking price is just a small percentage of what it will cost to keep this beauty on the road? I don't care. Do you care? As fate would have it we saw a stunning white convertible Jensen GT just today in Glendora (don't ask). After chasing the car for 15 miles, we realized how much better she would look as a two-door wagon. If there are any über-rich Jalopnik angels out there, now is your chance to shine! Also, don't look at the rear bumper. – Jonny Lieberman

1976 Other Makes Jensen GT [eBay Motors]

Related:
Nanjing, Revival Firm Plotting Austin-Healey Return; The Topping Of All Is The Most Precious Metal In The World: Stutz Diplomatica! [Internal]

[Note: The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage will be back to its normal Tuesday schedule next week. — ed.] When I took over the Jalopnik Fantasy Garage from Farago, my initial thought was... 1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Oscar India. Shoot me. However, my second thought was the Jensen FF. Many of us are old enough to remember the shockwaves shot through the automotive world when Porsche's 959 bowed in 1986. It was like an alien had arrived and brought along all of the home planet's best technology. The FF was just as incredible in terms of technological innovation, only it added serious luxury to the mix and showed up earlier. Two-decades earlier. Powered by a Mopar big block, the Jensen FF was the first production car to offer all-wheel drive, antilock brakes and traction control. More over, the beautiful body was designed by Touring Superleggera and built by Vignale, while the entire car was assembled by hand in Britain. American power, Italian hot looks and British everything else coupled with stupefying technical innovation. I know I don't need to go on, but I will.

Introduced to the world in 1966, the FF is related to the Jensen Interceptor (produced 1966-1976). So close most people can't tell them apart. The FF cost 30 percent more than its already expensive sibling, which is one of the reasons the FF was a never a sales success, despite the press making sweet love to it (Car named it "Car of the Year" in 1967).

To make room for the extra mechanicals the FF is about half a foot longer than the Interceptor. The easiest way to distinguish the two British GTs is the diagonal vent on the front wing (the Interceptor has but one, the FF two). Note also differences like indicator lights, the front end, bumpers and what not, but just look for the double vents.

FF stands for "Ferguson Formula." Clearly not an exciting moniker, but a very important one. At age 24 Harry Ferguson (b. 1884) built and flew his own V8-powered monoplane, becoming the first man in Ireland to make a powered flight. During World War I he became involved with tractors on behalf of the Irish Government and in the 1930s convinced Henry Ford senior to build a tractor known as the Ford Ferguson. He also lost $1 million on a coin flip. Most important, though, he saw the promise of AWD for both track and street.

Harry began collaborating with racing drivers Freddie Dixon and Tony Rolt on a series of AWD prototypes. They wanted to produce both a racecar and hoped a manufacturer would become interested in a production vehicle. Then in 1960, just as his AWD F1 car (the P99) was set to debut, Ferguson dropped dead. In 1961 Sterling Moss piloted Ferguson's P99 to a win at the Oulton Park Gold Cup Race. Luckily, before Ferguson passed, he had worked out a verbal agreement with Jensen concerning his AWD formula. In 1964 Jensen Automobiles and Harry Ferguson Research finally inked a deal. The FF was going to see the light of day.

Around that time, Jensen was preparing a successor to the aesthetically challenged but nonetheless potent CV8. Luckily for pistonheads the world round, the Jensen brothers lost an internal battle to other management within the company. Unlike previous Jensens, the new car wouldn't be styled in-house, and wouldn't be made from fiberglass. No, the new cars were to have bodies crafted from Italian steel. The two-wheel drive vehicles would revive the famous appellation Interceptor, while the AWD Jensens would simply be called FF.

Because of the FF's two-ton curb weight, straight line performance wasn't staggering — 325 horsepower caused 60 mph to show up in 8 seconds, which wasn't bad for its day. Top speed was north of 140 mph. The handling, however, was staggering. Unlike in the front-heavy Interceptor, the big American heart was shoved back against the firewall to make room for all the AWD bits. This had the effect of giving the FF near 50/50 weight distribution. Via a viscous-coupling limited slip differential, torque was routed 37/63 front to rear. Journalists of the time raved about the traction and grip the FF produced, especially in the rain and snow. After driving it up a snowy Swiss ski slope Autocar described the über-GT as "the safest car in the world."

That was a bit of a stretch, considering that the mechanical Dunlop Maxaret ABS system (developed for airplanes) only pulsed the brakes three times a second compared to 20 times per second in modern systems. As a result, the traction control (which, like on many modern cars, was a function of ABS) wasn't so hot either. Still, at a time when most cars had four-wheel drums, the FF was quite a feat. Just as nifty, the four-way adjustable shocks could be controlled via a rocker switch inside the cabin. And what a glorious cabin! Rich, cosseting leather was everywhere wood wasn't, and, well, just have a look at the back seat.

The world's first AWD road car did have one major design flaw. It only came as a right-hand driver. Due to the messy nature of mashing Ferguson's "Teramala" transmission into Chrysler's TorqueFlite, the engine was mounted off-center and the shaft driving the front wheels intruded into the passenger area. Thus, it was impossible to build the FF in left-hand drive. Tragically, America was Jensen's biggest market. Couple that with the as-much-as-a-house price (more than one house in some cases) and demand wasn't exactly heavy. Out of the 320 FFs built, only one was sold in the States.

Despite the small production run, the FF is a hugely influential machine. Years later Audi bought an FF to study while researching AWD for their upcoming Quattro. All modern AWD cars use a variation of Ferguson's Formula transmission. Not surprisingly, the FF attracted a host of famous owners including an MI6 agent, an RAF pilot on which the character of the Forger in "The Great Escape" was based and a bunch of rock drummers. Good ones, too. Mitch Mitchell from the Jimi Hendrix Experience had one (and supposedly Jimi drove it just before he died), the great John Bonham had two and Ginger Baker of Cream had three, putting the FF into Citroen SM territory in terms of hot-shit owners. Nearly. Point is, If you had the means you too could have what was at the time, the car.

But there was almost another...

GKN FFF 100 Jensen Rendering

By the time the Mk III Interceptor and FF rolled around in 1971, Jensen had seen the proverbial writing on the depressing wall of financial reality. In fact, so banged up was Jensen that only 15 Mk III FFs were produced, and they were built on leftover Mk II frames. Still, despite the current car's troubles (can't be sold in America, worse than British reliability, huge price), Jensen knew the value of AWD in a high-performance car. In 1972 the company revealed the prototype FFF 100 (In truth, British motoring conglomerate GKN was behind the project). Built off an FF chassis, the FFF 100 featured a British-tuned, 7.2-liter (426 cc) Hemi producing 600 horsepower and banging out 560 lb-ft of torque. Instead of a rust-ready steel body of Italian descent, the FFF 100 was made from fiberglass and the whole car weighed just 3,388 pounds. That's more than 100 pounds lighter and 120 hp more powerful than a 997 Turbo. And it was styled by William Towns, the man who penned the Aston Martin V8.

GKN FFF 100 Jensen Prototype In Action

As you may well imagine, the performance was utterly devastating. 0-100-0 mph took just 12.2 seconds, well faster than Shelby's world-beating Cobra. And that was in the wet! On a dry surface, the FFF 100 could hit 100 mph and stop again in 11.5 seconds, which is mad today and ragingly psychotic for a car built before Nixon resigned. Before the project was abandoned, GKN was working on fuel injection for the engine as well as sharpening up the brakes.

While it never got a chance at life and legendary lore like the 959, the FFF 100 and really the FF paved the way for the fast, streetable AWD hoonage we very much enjoy on a daily basis. For that alone, the mighty Jensen belongs in our Fantasy Garage. And if you don't think so, you had better have a damn good reason. – Jonny Lieberman

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The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, So Far:
RUF RT12 | Maserati Quattroporte Executive GT | 1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage | Honda 1300 Coupe 9 | 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe | Ferrari 288 GTO | Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 | 1970 Buick GSX 455 | First Generation BMW M Coupe | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 | Ford GT | Citroen SM | Porsche 928

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Four Motors, No Waiting: A 640hp Electric Mini; Jalopnik Fantasy Garage [Internal]

Oh yeah! By now you have met our friend Jonee and his nice collection of miniature cars. Well, as with most people that will listen, we have sang the praises of our favorite ever Honda to him. And, as Jonee routinely patrols the interwebs of Japan, he found this gorgeous baby blue 1300 Coupe 9. I mean, just check out that racing stripe! Sadly, just because he patrols Japanese classifieds, doesn't mean he can read them. So, we don't have much more info about this car. Two nice engine and interior shots after the jump. – Jonny Lieberman

Since Jonee's Japanese is as good as our Japanes, he wasn't sure if this car was a Coupe 9 (116 hp) or its lesser sibling, the Coupe 7 (100 hp). See those four tiny carburetors? This is definitely a Coupe 9, as Coupe 7s only had one carb. More air/fuel equals more power!

Also, a four-point harness is a pretty good indication that this beauty is the awesome Coupe 9. Man, is 200,000 a lot of Yen?

Honda 1300 Coupe 9 For Sale [Yahoo! Japan]

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Craig's List Find: 1971 Citroen Safari Wagon; Jalopnik Fantasy Garage: Honda 1300 Coupe 9 [Internal]

The real reason we go to classic car shows is the odd chance of running across something like this. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Tempo Matador. To our knowledge, it is the only air-cooled, mid-engined, front-wheel-drive pickup truck with suicide doors ever created. Produced in extremely low numbers between 1949-1951 as both a precursor and competitor to the Volkswagen Type II, this particularly cherry example is one of five known to exist in the world. As great as the actual truck is, the essentially perfect restoration is even better. Killer features include a backward Type I engine below and behind the driver's butt, a rear window flourish that looks like the hood from a Bug and several cases of Weizen bottles from a brewery in Reisbach. You owe it to yourself to click through the gallery. Also, jump for some YouTube action. – Jonny LIeberman

Das virtuelle Tempo Museum; VW Classic 2007: 1950 Tempo Matador [External]

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A New Old Bus: Volkswagen Updates a 1964 Microbus with Gadgets [Internal]