I wasn’t aware of those! I just assumed someone had cut part of the roof off a bus. I guess I rushed to judgement.
That example would be worth about a gazillion dollars. My uncle had one he swapped a 70s-era 911 engine into…
And then there’s the T3 version. I spotted this down in San Luis Obispo last month, a Syncro model. The owner made other modifications but I don’t remember — I think he said this one is a TDI conversions and it hauls ass!
And it hauls a lot of assess too. 
On the track, it was incredible. The light weight and the agility afforded by the short, mid-engined chassis was awe inspiring. The steering wheel made you feel like your hands were directly connected to the pavement. Learning the ability to tighten your line simply by slightly lifting your right foot was a driving seminar in itself. Getting destroyed on the straightway by every idiot in a Corvette was disheartening, but after they dropped anchor for the first turn, I’d get my payback.
On the street was a little different story, and it’s worth knowing that I daily-drove mine for five years, so I think I’m being fair. The motor made all its power somewhere north of 6,000 rpm. Below that, it felt like driving a low-end Toyota with funny bodywork and good steering. It was really hard, and probably really irresponsible to drive it on the street in a way that kept it in the powerband. Passing cars on the freeway was an exercise in downshifting 2 or 3 gears. And then blowing past them making an enormous racket because the engine finally woke up.
A couple friends had S1 Elises that had been questionably imported. They had the Rover engine which made less power, but more low end torque. Combine that torque with the fact that the S1 cars were a couple hundred pounds lighter, and you’d find it a much more fun real-world driving experience.
The pickup version wasn’t very common in the US, as they stopped selling them here in 1964 due to the “chicken tax”. So the one you saw was either a very old one, or someone imported it from another country.
I saw one of those in Santa Cruz a few years ago.
Yes, that was it except for the coloring. Thanks!
There’s one out on BaT right now:
Yesterday I heard, then saw, a 1970-ish Dodge Dart Swinger. It looked like it was set up for racing and it was very loud. Sorry for the blurry photos.
The blurriness makes it easier to hear it!
I assume that hood scoop was not stock.
Saw a couple of new Mokes the other day. Turned around & went in, turns out they’re a dealer & they’re now e-cruisers, limited to 30mph & no airbags so good to get from home to the beach. He said they got 14 last week & he only has 2 left.
Oh yeah, they also had an older, short-bodied bright orange Bronco & two Ferraris inside the open bays (which I didn’t even notice for a while)
I think it was stock for the 5.7 liter hemi engine.
Head’s up for any dopers in the Santa Cruz vicinity: Woodies On The Wharf is back this Saturday 6/25 after a 2 year hiatus.
Designed using a wind tunnel, that scoop was made by Chrysler for the 1969 440 6-barrel Road Runner and Super Bee. It’s a popular aftermarket hood for old Mopars.
On my drive home from PT this morning I saw a Bentley Continental GT S (I think that’s the model) in matte black. I don’t think that’s offered by the factory so it was either a custom paint job or a wrap. It looked pretty cool.
Yesterday I saw a Ford Maverick pickup - I suspect that I have seen them before but this may be the first one I recognized. Back to a reasonable sized small pick up.
Two days ago, I spotted a Beetle based dune buggy struggling to get to 40 mph. It had what appeared to be a singlepiece molded fiberglass body in rough shape. It was sitting kind of high and the front end steering and suspension stuff was easy to see and looked really spindly. The engine was completely exposed in the back.
Other than ultra-rare (under 100) Super Stock Darts in 1968, Hemi (426 CI/7 L) wasn’t offered. Further, these were Race Hemis, different from the run-of-the-mill Street Hemi you’d get on a Road Runner or Charger and the SS Darts were intended for track use. There were a lot of quirky weight saving measures like no back seat and strap- operated windows. Original big block gen-4 Darts of any kind were quite uncommon.
Thanks @Capn_Carl. I’m a bit young for these, but I don’t remember ever seeing a hemi Dart Swinger without one
They seemed rather common to me but I grew up in a neighborhood filled with drag racers.