Check out the Saleen S7. Click on Automobiles - S7 - S7 Photos.
Even if I had so much money that I COULD blow $395,000 on a car, I think I could find something better looking than this. Way too many cut lines in the body (see the pic with all the various openings, uh, open). Confusing array of vent openings in the body. Slap-dash interior. Looks too much like the $85,000 Acura NSX for its own good.
On the whole, I’d rather have a Ferrari (or two) or perhaps the Volkswagen W12. If you’re going to rip off a classic supercar design, make it a good one.
I think this car is sweet as hell. The cut lines, large wheel wells, low stance. These all help give the car an ultra-aggressive look that catches anyone’s eye (which is almost the entire point of a car like this). And while a new Ferrari may have a better nameplate and more luxurious accomodations, even they can’t compete with the exclusivity of this car at this point.
That is Saleen’s top car, who is an aftermarket company for Mustangs. They typically take a stock Mustang and then add all sorts of goodies onto it. Every Saleen is also numbered and of limited production so the value tends to be a little higher.
The S7 is not a production car, so it’s not quite like a Ferarri. It is also used in the LeMans racing series, GTS class I believe.
If you bought one, even as an investment, you would never lose money.
I could go for a few less lines/fins on the body work. I don’t think they are necessary for airflow, but they are someone’s attempts to please the eye.
I think some of you fail to understand that this car will be bought by billionaires who really don’t fret much over price when they are buying to have something other billionaires don’t have.
Imagine living in a world where Ferrari’s don’t get noticed.
I’ve driven a Saleen Mustang, so I was looking foward to the S7 & was really disappointed when I first saw an article on it a few weeks ago. Unless the pictures are totally deceptive;the styling is derivitive crap(altho’ I’d still love the chance to drive one!) & I have the feeling this will sell mainly to guys with pee-pees so small they need the exclusivity factor to compensate.
Heh. There are few automobiles for which this often used statement really applies. If the Saleen S7 is one of them, well, we’ll have to wait and see!
$400,000 buys a lot of supercars, but the reality of the matter is that the gap between “entry level top brand sportscar” and “flat out supercar” is getting smaller. Back in the 80’s, a souped up VW Golf GTI could keep up with a base Ferrari 308. These days, the cheapest Ferrari will almost keep up with an F40. Plus, the “entry level” ones are lighter and handle better.
I’d pick a Ferrari 360 Modena over a supercar anyday, and spend the remaining money on something else. Like a fully restored Miura, or something.
Don’t even get me started on spending $300,000 on a flippin’ Volkswagen. Do these people still remember what Volk means?
If I had more dollars than sense… http://www.supercars.net/cars/1997@$McLaren@$F1.html]this would be my choice. I read that during a test phase, the driver was going over 200 mph when he flipped the car seven times. When the car landed (right side up), he opened the door, got out, and walked away. Engineers then started the car and drove it back to the pad.
Looks like the Batmobile . . . a bit ridiculous for regular street driving. And what’s the clearance on that thing – an inch? It would never survive a less-than-perfectly-flat road, pebbels, roadkill, precipitation . . .
I say “waste-of-cash penis substitute” car. Bleah.
It’s an amazingly ugly car. No matter how fast it is, it’s still going to be one of the dumbest-looking cars on the road. $400,000 would buy you any one of a dozen beautiful supercars that look a lot nicer than the Saleen.
And I’m a little nervous about the vehicle when all the positive comments on the Web site are comments by… Steve Saleen. What, nobody’s ever reviewed the vehicle in a test drive?
$400,000?.. Only two valves per cylinder?.. 7 liters and only 550 HP?.. No overhead camshaft?.. No 4-wheel drive?.. No 4-wheel steering?.. -you can sure tell this car ain’t Japanese. If you wanted to go fast, you could put a built 454 engine into a Chevy Corvette and add some ground effects for less than $100,000 and probably keep up with this thing 95% of the time.
I don’t know if they are still being made but if your looking to toss several hundred thousand at a car I suggest you check out the Vector M12. It looks better (IMO) than the Saleen and it outperforms the Saleen as well.
Is the Saleen worth $395,000? Almost certainly not but if I was as rich as Bill Gates I’d probably have one of every supercar ever made just for the hell of it. It’s not as if I’d go broke buying them with $50 billion to waste in 40 or so years.
It’s sort of already been done. The cost is back up to $400,000 but this Callaway Corvette I think is (was) the fastest street legal machine to ever drive. At 250+ mph (880 bhp) it’d blow the doors off the Saleen for about the same price. I did however hear that after they broke 250 mph in the Corvette the transmission was fairly well shot but I don’t know if that’s true or not.
Of course, if you want a truly unique supercar that you can be almost certain no one else on your whole bloack will have then you might get a Bugatti 16/4 Veyron. At $800,000 it ain’t cheap but hey…if you can toss $400K at a car why not $800K? This car is also fast as hell getting you past that 250mph mark if you can find anywhere straight enough and flat enough to do it.
At any rate, I had a wonderful opportunity to see Dave Cammack’s collection of 3 Tucker’s he’s owned for quite some time #1001, #1022, #1026.) Two of them were used in the movie. If you shoot me an e-mail, I’ll send you a .ppt file of the pics I took.
Spritle, who must now check to see if he still has the file!
