Rest in peace the muscle car? The Capitol insurrection’s got nothing on this. Amend the constitution! You can pry my V8 from my cold, dead hands.
Erm, no. Outside of California’s stringent tailpipe laws America is still potty for these things. Sales are steadfast and there’s a huge generation-spanning community. The reaction to our Challenger was universally jingoistic. Unprompted, they reel off the tale of the cop from Detroit. And because Americans are born able to discern model years and memorise engine codenames, anyone who stopped for a chat knew the Mustang we brought along to crash the Challenger’s funeral party was a bit special. Think of it like an M3 CS – sharpened, honed, dipped in choice options.
Black Ghost versus Dark Horse. The most malevolent-sounding face-off in all car history? Well, strictly this isn’t a fair match. The Dodge is so old it’s being carved into the face of Mount Rushmore, while Ford’s latest, greatest Mustang is $40,000 (£32k) cheaper and 300bhp worse off. And we’re in the state of California, where the coffee is skinny, decaf and served in a recycled cup. Where every second car is that blobby computer mouse on wheels you know as the Tesla Model Y – 1,307bhp of heavy metal shouldn’t play well here.
But look where we are: downtown San Francisco. Thanks to an iconic car chase set on these very streets that was riddled with continuity errors, jammed with heroic stunts and unsullied by music, this idiosyncratically hilly city put Ford vs Dodge (OK, it was a Charger back then) on the automotive map. The only hostility we incur all day is a parking fine. Ironically, we made the hotel valet parking attendant’s week.
Denne historien er fra Annual Issue 2024-utgaven av BBC TopGear India.
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Denne historien er fra Annual Issue 2024-utgaven av BBC TopGear India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
THE PERFECT RECIPE FOR KARI FT. EUROGRIP
What happens when you do track days in the name of pushing the limits of a tyre
ROOKIE BLUES
Acosta Urged for Patience as KTM Chases Ducati
THE VALUE OF TIME
Christoph Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen
DJI Osmo Action 4
Being an automotive journalist, our job entails us to ride motorcycles of all kinds and not to forget, the life behind driving some exotic set of wheels as well.
WAR WORDS WORLDS
Indians might not have played a deciding role in the previous world wars but now, our participation is much more evident
XTREME MACHINE
Maserati's racing history is a patchwork of epic highs and long absences, so can the MCXtrema - a track only version of its latest supercar-bring back the glory days?
WET AND WILD
No doors, no roof, no boot, but at least there's a windscreen... Paul Horrell pulls on his waterproof trousers and takes the Nomad 2 for a spin
STREAM W0RKS
This is an MG. Yes, really. Turns out it's got form in streamliners too...just ask Stirling Moss
A map and a compass.
Dacia got a foothold in the UK with cheapness, now it wants toughness on its CV. Can the new Duster handle Morocco's heat and locate a Dakar team in the desert - no GPS allowed?
A RECKLESS DEVELOPMENT?
Farewell, V10, this is the new Lamborghini Temerario, a 907bhp V8 hybrid. A worthy Huracán successor, or a misstep from the Italian firm?