And they range from vicious to downright rude… and I like every one of them.  Each of these is about doing something very well… and leaving everything else aside.

Prodrive P2#10.  ProDrive P2. Don’t get your hopes up.  You can’t buy one.  Prodrive runs the “factory” racing efforts for Subaru’s World Rally Team, Aston Martin, and Ford’s Australian Supercar Series.  For this little gem, they took a slightly detuned Subaru rally engine, and made a newer, lighter, less compromised car that the Imprezza Rally car.  The P2 is said to be production ready, but only serves as a technology catalog.  0-62mph in about 4 seconds. It is reasonably handsome, all wheel drive, and smarter than most drivers.  if you are feeling like you need some greens after reading this, look up the NARO and the ENV fuel cell motorcycle on their site.  BTW, this car was fast enough on the skidpad to make Jeremy Clarkson from TopGear get carsick… gotta love a car that can make the tester barf.

Bowler Nemesis#9.  Bowler Nemesis. I am a 4×4 guy… so here is a full on race 4×4 that you CAN buy.  Kinda.  All it takes is cash… lots of cash… Ok, for a race truck, it’s dirt cheap.  Performance is astounding.  Depending on configuration, these things can do 0-60 in under 5 seconds. Not as fast as the P2, but several times the ground clearance, and can carry almost 100 gallons of fuel.  These are designed to run Dakar, and may go far enough between services to need that kind of range.  Please note, that while it looks like a modified Land Rover… it shares almost nothing with it… a couple of engine components.  Even those are modified.  BTW, on the website there is a very cool little paper car that you can print and fold up for free.

Mallett Sky#8.  Mallett Sky. Ok, so maybe you’ve heard of the Saturn Sky, but the Mallett is the fire-breathing, dragon-snorting, evil kinda twin.  Take an average Saturn Sky, and stuff a 400hp Chevy LS2 into it.  Pretty and nasty…  But, with all GM parts, and a 2 year, 24,000 mile warranty.  That’s just wrong.  0-60 is in the 4.2 second range. That’s quicker than a Vette.  And the 0-100mph time is less than half of the stocker.  And it looks like it has attitude, too.  For just north of $50k, it should… but it is a bargain.  And it will bite like a mean dog with a rash if you don’t give it respect.  If you prefer the Pontiac Solstice… they do that too… as well as some other GM vehicles that need a little more nasty.

Tatra#7.  Tatra. And now for something completely different.  I’ll let the photo be worth 1000 words.  Let’s get a few things out of the way.  The stockers are just boring trucks.  They cart junk all over eastern Europe.  But, when the guys that run Dakar decide they need help… these are the “support” vehicles of choice, along with similar offerings from a handful of other European truck companies.  You see, competitors are the only ones allowed on the course, so the heavy trucks are IN THE RACE.  The guys that fix the race cars, race trucks… And they want to win, too.  So, what do you think of a double cab truck with 5 occupants getting air at 100mph in the desert?  Personally… I like it.  BTW, the Dakar is coming up from January 5th-20th.  There will be video of these guys doing crazy things.  What always amazes me though, is that if one of these things is stuck, the others will pull it out.  They want to win, but they know that it could be them getting stuck next…  0-60, I have no idea. Truthfully, I’d worry more about the braking distance… in the sand… from 100mph.

TVR Sagaris#6.  TVR Sagaris. Racers often say that too much power is almost enough.  This car has too much power… it doesn’t weigh enough, either.  0-60 is in 3.7 seconds. Purely nasty.  Look at it.  it looks like somebody took a Cobra Daytona Coupe and gave it an attitude.  (I just uttered heresy…)  It is street legal… but it was designed to race.  It snorts, and it breaks traction.  It burbles…  It coos like a baby… dragon.  I used to know a guy with an old TVR Tasmin, and it was a wonderful car when it ran.  He hated it for the 80 % of the time it just wouldn’t run, and was indifferent the 15% of the time when it ran poorly.  But, that other 5%…  I can’t describe what it was like to drive in a family friendly format.  And that car was a crude shopping cart with a wobbly wheel compared to this thing.  And the British have figured out how to build cars that run well more than 5% of the time now.  TVR doesn’t do cheap or mainstream… or steering wheel on the left.

Caterham 7#5.  Caterham 7 C SR Superlight. 50 years ago, Colin Chapman designed an icon.  It was the Lotus 7.  It was SO different that people didn’t know what to make of it.  And 50 years later, copies are made all over the world by all sorts of companies.  Caterham is making the “official” knock-off” of the Seven, and they have evolved this machine into something sinister.  I drove a 160hp version back in the later 1980s, and it was a ball.  I ran a few laps on an autocross course, hitting about 70mph.  Had I not been wearing a full face helmet, I think my ears would have bled.  The stand-up windshield was NOT designed to reduce buffeting.  But, who cares!This thing was like a go-cart loaded with nitro.  And the version I’m pinging here has another 100hp.  And weighs less.  And has a more advanced suspension.  0-60 in 3.1 seconds. Pulling away from a traffic light can be like getting launched off of a carrier in a fighter plane.  To hold the steering wheel you need velcro gloves.

Unimog#4.  Unimog. Redefining ugly and spartan.  Seriously.  These are business 4x4s.  They plow snow, plow fields, drag stuff, fight fires, evacuate people from disasters and move the military.  They can be bulletproof… or they can be outfitted with optional three point hitches… like a tractor.  The axles weight more than a small car.  0-50 is measured with a sun-dial. To get in… learn to jump.  They actually have a step incorporated into the front wheel…  I like ugly trucks.

Morgan Roadster#3.  Morgan Roadster. If you don’t love the looks, you hate the looks.  Keep in mind that this is a brand new car.  You can go to the Morgan dealer near you and order one.  They’ll deliver when they are good and ready.  It isn’t that they don’t want your business, it’s that they are crafted, and there is a LONG line of buyers.  I used to know a guy that had a Morgan +8.  It had been passed down from his father.  My friend’s son asked if he could drive it to Prom…  Not just a “no”, but “I can make another one of you… that car is not replaceable.”

It might look like a car Grampa would own, but 0-62mph comes in 4.9 seconds.  What about (according to some British standard) 19mpg around town?  What about 28mpg combined city/hwy?  Not just a classic look, but great performance and reasonable fuel mileage.  And, if you really want to be green, many older ones are running around powered by propane.  Back in the 1980s they couldn’t get an emissions certification for the engine, but found a loophole.  So, the factory built American spec V-8 cars with propane power.  Less emissions than a Prius (remember, the electric drive of a Prius still has to be generated… and then there is that pesky gas engine).

Scorpion#2.  Scorpion 4×4. I have said that I loved ugly.  This is ugly on a new level.  Ugly has a purpose… Ok, sometimes ugly has a purpose.  Obviously the purpose here is to crawl and climb.  In 1997 when Heath Biggs designed this thing, he broke so many rules that it wasn’t funny.  The suspension is a revolution.  The look is military meets mean.  One of these competed in the first Top Truck Challenge and dominated.  It does almost everything well.  I’m sure it will do 60mph, but who cares how fast it gets there. If I had to guess, I’d say around 10 seconds.  it does have a healthy V8 powering it, but it weighs as much as any two of the rockets here.

The website is WAY out of date.  I’m guessing that you can’t buy one anymore.  However, the Scorpion literally cleared the way for dozens of builders to make buggies for customers.  These things are amazing in their capabilities.  But, I have a thing for the innovators, and this is an innovative vehicle.

Ariel Atom#1.  Ariel Atom. Take the Caterham 7 above, and strip away all of the luxurious stuff… like body panels and an interior.  This car is pure art.  The space frame is right there for all to see.  For a hard-core guy like me, this is better than any bodywork.  I can’t imagine a body that could cover this that could make it prettier.  But, it is more than art.  It is wickedly quick.  0-60 can be as quick as 2.9 seconds. Not a typo.  Guys in Vipers will wonder just what happened.  And they are street legal.  There are at least two of these things here in Atlanta.  There are a couple of guys that are tossing on a full face helmet and driving to work.  (Ladies, I’m not being condescending here… you are smarter than we are… and so I expect better behavior out of you… during the week).

In all seriousness, the performance of these cars is astounding.  And the cost (considering the performance) is cheap.  This is Ferrari Enzo performance for Corvette money… ok, expensive Corvette money.  You could get a sportbike and go a little quicker… but this is WAY cooler.

So, there is my own little list.  It obviously isn’t complete… and never will be.  Some people might know all of these varied vehicles, but most will have never heard of any of them.  I hope you enjoyed, learned a little, and maybe were inspired to get a toy.

If you are car people, and want to find a new place to call home… or need to have new people call your place home, give me a shout.  I can help.  I have an extensive network of agents all over the country to refer you to if you aren’t in the Atlanta area.