The Shelby Cobra had a pretty smart idea behind it. Take a regular roadster, like the AC Ace, and drop a huge engine in it. But what if you had the opposite situation? What if you basically just had a huge engine, and wanted to build a better car around it?
That’s the aim for Bob Lutz and Henrik Fisker with the VLF Force 1, and they want to make money doing it.
We spoke with auto industry legend Bob Lutz at the Detroit Auto Show, and believe it or not, this car actually seems like a significant departure for him. “Grrrrrr, just shove a big engine in it, harumph, grrrr, harumph,” seems to be his normal modus operandi, but in the case of the Force 1, the car already began with the 8.4-liter V10 from the Dodge Viper. The big engine existed already.
Instead, VLF decided to focus on the bits it could improve from the Viper. It made the car slightly lighter, by replacing all the body panels with new ones made out of carbon fiber. The suspension was re-tooled, to make the car softer and easier to drive, crucial when your product is very expensive, and thus likely to be bought by older and more bodily decrepit customers.
Numbers, then? It packs 745 horsepower, plus a claimed zero to 60 mph time around three seconds and a top speed of 218 mph.
And, of course, champagne bottle holders were fitted, because how else are you supposed to swig while you’re driving? With the bottle in between your knees, like some sort of peasant?
Hell no.
Peasants need not apply.
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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