Autoblog

Click on the image to enlarge and view another angle of the Rossi 66

There is a trend in the works that takes a modern Corvette chassis, jettisons the stock fiberglass bodywork and adds a new shell that mimics the look of an older, classic 'Vette. We have seen Classic Reflection Coachworks' take on the '62 'vert with C5 underpinnings, and now a company by the name of Blue Fusion has tackled the iconic split window. One problem: their press release continually refers to the 1966 split window, which doesn't exist as the only year the two-piece rear glass was produced was '63. But, let's not let silly little things like facts get in the way. The resultant Rossi 66 cribs the workings of a modern C6 Corvette and adds a unique Sting Ray look.

Blue Fusion plans to debut its Rossi 66 at the upcoming SEMA event in November, assuming that the company is able to find the funding it needs to actually produce its first car. So far, all we have to look at are the renderings below, though we can clearly see that the '66 '63 body looks much better grafted onto a modern platform than the '62 does. We'll see if it makes an appearance in Sin City later this year.


[Source: Blue Fusion via Jalopnik]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Scorpion

We've already alerted you to the existence of Ronn Motor Company's new supercar, the Scorpion. Aside from its exotic looks, the Scorpion makes headlines for its innovative engine: a mid-mounted twin-turbo 3.5L VTEC V6 from Acura that's augmented by a hydrogen fuel injection fuel system. Ronn developed a system that's somehow able to fracture water molecules from a small onboard water tank and then insert the resulting hydrogen into the air intake manifold where it's blended with the car's gasoline at a ratio of 30-40%. We suspect black magic is involved, but they claim science. Since adding hydrogen means less gas is used, Ronn claims the Scorpion can achieve 40 mpg. Plus, there's no need to fill up at a hydrogen refueling station since the car makes it own on board. These bold claims will see the light of day in early November when the Scorpion makes its first public appearance at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. We'll be on hand to ask questions and hopefully smash some water molecules ourselves.


[Source: SEMA]

Click above for a high-res image of the RMR Hyundai Genesis coupe.

Hyundai is planning a big showing at this year's SEMA show, dispatching with orange Elantras and be-winged Accents in favor of highlighting the automaker's first foray into rear-wheel-drive performance. Six concepts are planned – three Genesis sedans and three Genesis coupes – with both vehicles getting the attention of the country's top aftermarket specialists.

Hyundai will be releasing teasers of the three Genesis coupe projects in the coming weeks, but the first is proof that the aftermarket is taking Hyundai's new turbocharged 2.0-liter coupe seriously. Rhys Millen Racing has rendered up its own interpretation of what the Genesis coupe is capable of, with an eye on the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Formula D drift series and Redline time attack.

The RMR coupe will benefit from a prototype wide body kit and turbo setup, built in house by Rhys and his team, sending power to the rear wheels through an HKS heavy-duty sequential gearbox. Suspension duties are handled by a set of K&W coilovers, along with Enkei racing wheels and Bridgestone RE-01 tires. Brembo brakes are mounted fore and aft, and inside a Sparco steering wheel and seats join an carbon fiber dash and an eight-point roll cage.

According to Hyundai's PR man, Miles Johnson, Millen is making regular calls to Hyundai engineers to extract every last bit of performance from the coupe, and expect more details on final output and the other two coupes throughout the summer.

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Dodge Challenger SRT-8.

Mopar can't let Speedfactory have all the fun supercharging the Dodge Challenger SRT-8, so when the SEMA show rolls around this November, the in-house tuners of all things pentastar will unveil a blown Challenger of their own.

The Mopar-modified SRT-8 will be fitted with all the show-going kit you'd expect at the world's largest aftermarket expo, including a cold-air intake, high-flow cat-back exhaust and a variety of wheel designs and sizes. The details of the blower are still unknown, but with Speedfactory boosting the 6.1-liter HEMI V8 from 425 to 630 hp with its Stage 2 mods, we'd suspect similar figures from the Mopar kit.


[Source: InsideLine]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2010 Chevy Camaro

We are giving you the heads up now. Expect to see a fair share of Camaros when November rolls around and the automotive community turns its attention to Las Vegas for the annual SEMA Show. The 2010 Camaro was just named the Official Vehicle of the show, and we're guessing that General Motors will be using the opportunity to make it the most popular car in Vegas. The automaker is currently accepting proposals for project vehicles, and we're betting that everyone is scrambling to get their hands on a 2010 Camaro. With its LS-based V8 and retrotastic design, it won't take long for a plethora of aftermarket parts to become available. The real question left to answer is when will GM debut the production version of the Camaro? It clearly has to happen at or before the SEMA Show in November. Our bet is that the Camaro's debut will take place the week before the Woodward Dream Cruise in August.

[Source: SEMA via AutoWeek]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Hot Wheels Honda Racer

Last November at the 2007 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Hot Wheels unveiled a troop of concepts to celebrate its 40th anniversary. These new Hot Wheels cars were not designed by everyone's favorite 1:64 scale model toy maker, but rather were all new designs penned by designers from Lotus, Chevy, Ford, Mitsubishi, Dodge and Honda. The Lotus Concept, Mitsubishi Double Shotz, Dodge XP-07, Gangster Grin from Ford, Chevroletor (GM), and Honda Racer, along with Hot Wheels' own HW-40, are going on tour around the United States in August, so keep an eye out.

The first of these concepts to actually become a toy will be the Honda Racer, the design of which is inspired by the 'H' in Honda's corporate logo. There's room for a driver and navigator in the side-by-side shape of the concept that features a paint scheme inspired by Honda's participation in F1 back in the day. A fictitious Honda V10 VTEC that displaces a theoretical 2.0L per cylinder (that's a 20-liter engine for those keeping score at home) powers the red-and-white racer. The Honda Racer's design, Guillermo Gonzalez, says rather than bean counters and engineers imposing restraints on his creativity, the only parameters when designing his Hot Wheels car were that it had to fit in the trademark orange track and be able to do a loop. With a 20L V10 and the assistance of good old gravity, we're sure a loop is well within its means. You'll be able to buy the Honda Racer next month when it begins arriving on store shelves in May. Until then, check out the high-res shots Honda released of the Honda Racer in our gallery below.


[Source: Honda]

Click image for hi-res gallery of the GTX1

Gennadi Dedign Group has announced that the end draws nigh for the company's limited-run Ford GT roadster conversion, the GTX1. Over two years of production, the plan was to make 600 total cars available. 100 would be SEMA Edition replicas of the Valencia Orange show car shown above and in the attached gallery. The other 500 would be regular customer cars. According to Gennadi, only 100 cars or so have been ordered and completed, and whatever the number stands at when orders are officially ended on August 31, 2008 will be the final production run. The SEMA editions, in addition to the roof conversion, also received a host of additional upgrades including racing seats, adjustable shocks, Wilwood brakes, a power boost to 700 horses, a hidden rear bumper, and other some interior tweaks, too. Incidentally, we recently saw one of the finished customer cars (it sported the Tungsten paint job) in Greenwich, CT not long ago. With the roof in place, it can easily be mistaken for a "garden variety" GT -- which we would have done if not for the GTX1 labeling aft of the front wheel. Little did we know that it was one of a much smaller group than Gennadi probably anticipated building. If you've got a Ford GT and a hankering for an arier experience, you've got until August to let Gennadi have its way with it.

[Source: Gennadi Design Group]

Vehicular lighting is a crapshoot. Some vehicles offer a great swath of even coverage from their headlamps, while others make you feel like you're squinting through welding goggles at night. I went through the trouble to retrofit one of my cars with Cibié lamps running overwattage H4 bulbs. That effort required a couple hundred dollars of parts, a good amount of labor to wire up relays and triggers, and not everyone is willing to expend such time and money, even if it means you won't overdrive your lights so easily. Sweden's Visualeyes has trotted out the Rayzer, an auxiliary lighting system that mounts from the inside and projects a beam through the windshield. We're taking the product's SEMA appearance as an indication of legality in the US. From the amount of end-user modifications we see on a daily basis, nobody's enforcing the rules on lights, anyway. The system has been patented and was developed by former race car driver Lars Svelander after a close call with a deer.

The line-of-sight position is purported to be more effective and has the benefit of leaving the outward appearance unmarred. We'd be worried about throwing light spill onto the hood, or too close to the front of the car, for that matter. Too much light in the wrong place is a detriment to night vision, but putting more lumens down the road could improve your chances of not overdoing it. The Rayzer uses a pair of HID bulbs and is wired into the car's lighting system to illuminate when the high beams are in use. There's also a fail-safe circuit that will shut the Rayzer off if oncoming vehicles are detected – a good thing when you're blasting light through your windshield. No price has been announced, but trading the hours of cutting, crimping, and snaking wires for the ease of a 15-minute installation by a non professional sounds good to us, especially if it works as well as the pictures make it appear.

Thanks for the tip, Andreas!

[Source: Visualeyes]

click above image for more pics of the Concept 'Cuda

It appears that whoever took the trouble to have Metalcrafters build the one-off Concept 'Cuda got tired of it pretty quickly. Just a month after the 'Cuda made its first appearance at the SEMA show, Barrett-Jackson has announced that the car will be offered to the highest bidder come January. The winner will essentially be getting a modified Dodge Charger chassis with custom 2-door carbon fiber bodywork covered in Lamborghini Pearl Orange paint, a functional shaker hood feeding air to a 6.1-liter Hemi V8 and 22-inch Zenetti wheels wrapped with Pirelli P Zero tires. Before potential buyers plunk down hundreds of thousands of dollars for the car, they might want to see if Metalcrafters would build a second, and if so, how much it would cost.

[Source: Barrett-Jackson via Motortrend]

Now here's something worth giving thanks over. The podcast makes its return in time for you to load it on your iPod for the drive over the river and through the woods. We've been away at shows, so of course we do some recapping of whatever highlights struck our fancy at Tokyo, SEMA, and LA. We start Autoblog Podcast episode #81 by discussing pickups, though. New spy shots of the 2009 F150 have surfaced and that pushes us into a wider ranging discussion about pickemups. From there, we try to send GM the message that messing with the nose of the Solstice is a bad idea, and the very last car they should be worrying about, anyway. No current Pontiac discussion would be complete without mention of the G8, so we make sure to pontificate about that for a while, too. John, Damon, and Alex take a little time out to gloat over discuss what's currently in the Autoblog Garage, touch on the fact that the Scirocco's not coming stateside, and partake in a scorching GM vs. Honda/Toyota green car debate. It's all over in 52 minutes, thanks for waiting so long, we'll do it again soon!

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