Well, the Celica was basically the Japanese muscle car interpretation, I guess it would not be THAT weird results in the end…
Maybe a “what if” the Barracuda had gotten a new generation after 1974, somewhat downsized, somewhat more “sport” than muscle, a bit more modern… Just like the Mustang II and Monza were supposed to also take a bit of the market occupied by for example Celica and Capri…
Just thinking out loud now, and no, I won’t do anything like that for CW so feel free to steal the ideas.
Style, I’d say. Note that functionally similar Corvettes are all over the place, while 60’s and 70’s performance cars - mostly but not entirely muscle - dominate the right end.
Even in that otherwise disagreeable color, that Sandman is single-digit Kelvins in my book on my wall. More photos and background for anyone else who’s never heard of these before: Holden Sandman review
The most popular options are mag wheels, V8 engines, mattresses and sunroofs.
Speaking of… is color of the provided example taken into account in rankings?
Shown in Racing Red w/ Dark Black bonnet/stripes & Black vinyl roof
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Released in 1970 the special trim Arion Aquila 8C Pursuit is a mean muscle car with European technical advancements. Arion wanted to break into the American market strongly with their Aquila, and looked to forming relations with Canadian Motors: a much larger marque already well-known in the states to make it easier to gain a hold on the market.
Previously Arion hand-crafted their bodies, but leaning towards more mass-production, they advanced with techniques of clay-sculpting from Canadian Motors, allowing them to speed up production and reduce overhead costs on this project and future ones.
The Aquila 8C Pursuit comes with a 5 litre V8 with DOHC 4 valve per cylinder and mechanical fuel injection making it one of the most advanced engines of the time period, it produces 337hp enabling the car to reach a blistering 170mph and 0-60 time of 4.7s.
Arion didn’t cheap out on elsewhere over the car, maintaining their aero underbody, full disk brakes, hydraulic steering and advanced safety as well as the premium interior. The mass production was built by and for Americans, and sold in Canadian Motor dealerships under their name but branded as Arion.
You’re right. The LS50 has the presence of a great white shark in a lake full of minnows.
Also, I tried out a few other ideas (most of them being front-engined, rear-drive coupes from the '90s) before settling on a mid-engined '80s supercar, with all its attendant pros and cons. Certainly it’s a lot less practical and reliable, as well as being more expensive to buy, run, and service, but its performance stats (186mph top speed, 0-60 in 4.2 seconds, 1.08g on a 200m skidpad, and a 60-0 mph braking distance of 33.3m) would have put it in the top flight back in the day, thanks to its 5-liter, all-alloy, quad-cam, 48-valve V12 developing a heady 430 horsepower and 358 lb-ft of torque. Besides, such exotic machinery is far rarer in the Heartland than it is on the West or East Coast.
That specific car was built on the longitudinally-engined platform of the contemporary Maserati Coupe/4200GT and shared its F136 V8 - the actual production car had a transversely-mounted I4 or V6 driving either the front wheels, or all four in Q4 trim.
An oversight by me. The person who submitted the car listed a model year range of 2002-2010, I thought it sounded right, and put it in.
That said, the 2008 Brera S is an approved tuner version of the (already very cool in Sam’s eyes) regular Brera, and will stay on the wall in its original position with a year adjustment.
