RideLust

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The good thing about customizing a car is that you can build what you want, based on your own tastes. Take Pro Touring cars, for example: purists would cry “blasphemy” at modernizing a classic muscle car, while most of us would think, “cool, I wonder how it handles”. There are a lot of trends I just don’t get, but atop the list is huge rims and ridiculous lifts on cars. Why would you want to make something look like a kid’s toy and handle like a UPS delivery truck?

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned with absolute certainty in my life it’s this: when something sounds too good to be true, it is. That waterfront mansion selling for pennies on the dollar is built on a toxic waste dump, that diamond you got at an unbelievable price isn’t real and that laptop you just scored on eBay will show up as a bunch of old magazines stuffed in a new MacBook Pro box. Genuine bargains are rare, and usually come at someone else’s expense.

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1970 Cougar Convertible. Gone, but not forgotten.

Mercury may be no more, but the marque will always live on in the hearts and minds of the Mercury faithful. The brand hasn’t produced anything of interest to enthusiasts in years, at least since the Marauder was canned in 2004 after its two-year run.

That hasn’t always been the case, and Mercury built a loyal following through the years by offering fast cars with a bit more luxury and style than their Ford cousins. Below are seven examples of very lustworthy Mercs, cars we’d be proud to have in our own garages if space and bank accounts allowed. There’s something for everyone here, whether you like going slow and terrorizing the neighborhood, kicking ass in the quarter mile or collecting cars that will appreciate in value in the coming years.

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Jay Leno's Ford Shogun

The late 1980s were not a particularly good time to be a hoon. Options for really fun cars were few and far between, and it had been years since anyone tried the old Carroll Shelby trick of stuffing a big motor into a small car. Enter Chuck Beck, who would later go on to build world-class replicas of the Porsche 550 Spyder. Partnering with Rick Titus to create Special Editions, Beck got the idea to stuff a then-new Taurus SHO V6 into a Ford Festiva body. Keeping it front wheel drive would create a nose-heavy, understeering pig, so Beck and Titus borrowed a page from the Renault R5 Turbo school of design. Their creation would lose its back seat to make room for the motor, and an American mid-engined, rear drive hoonmobile was born.

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Want to own a piece of racing history? How about a 1971 AMC Javelin, built by Roger Penske and driven by Mark Donohue? Up for grabs at the Canepa Collection, this car is said to be the last car driven by Mark Donohue before his retirement from Trans Am racing, and is the only car built by Roger Penske Racing in 1971. Originally constructed for the 1970 Trans Am season, car number 6 was rebodied in 1971 to feature wider fenders and a revised rear deck.

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Porsche TranSport concept.

Here’s something you don’t see every day: a pickup truck concept vehicle based on a Porsche platform. I’ve got not one, but two Porsche pick-em-up design studies for your Monday amusement or horror. Your choice.

Porsche TranSport concept.

Matt Farah from The Smoking Tire hooked up with the guys from Cars For A Grand to go big pimpin’ in a drop top 1973 Cadillac Eldorado. It’s got a 454 V8 good for a solid 8 miles per gallon, but the power goes to the wrong wheels unless you’re driving in reverse. Still, it’s hard to beat a ragtop land yacht on a perfect California beach day, and the video clearly demonstrates that sometimes RideLust isn’t about going fast. Sometimes it’s just about going in style.

The guys at Carscoop found this immaculate 1988 BMW M3 for sale on eBizautos. From the pics, it may be the cleanest example remaining that wasn’t shipped off to a temperature and humidity controlled museum. It looks to be silver with a red interior, and it’s only got about 47,000 miles on the clock. It’s a great buy at $15,000, and still a decent investment at $20,000. The problem? The seller has it listed at $32,500, which goes beyond “wildly optimistic”. If anyone’s interested, I’d be willing to sell my 2004 BMW K1200RS for only $17,500.

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A while back I picked the uncoolest cars of all time, and I named the Renault R5 (dubbed the “Le Car” in the U.S.) as one of them. A surprising number of people wrote to complain that I’d clearly never heard of the R5 Turbo, but nothing could be further from the truth. I know all about the R5 Turbo and Turbo II, which is why I’m salivating at this recent eBay posting. If I had the cash and the garage space, I’d be bidding like a madman on this car.

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A friend of mine, perhaps the fastest guy I’ve ever known, had a jones for Volvo Turbo Wagons. At an SCCA race in the late ‘90s, he wound up pitting next to none other than Paul Newman. Newman, it turns out, also had a thing for Volvo Turbo Wagons.

I never understood the appeal. Sure, my friends Turbo Wagon went like hell, but it had all the feedback and response of a La-Z-Boy recliner. It led me to conclude that Volvo wagons are like garlic ice cream: you only need to try them once to know if they’re for you or not. Seattle rapper Grynch penned this love song to his ’86 240 DL Wagon. I get the passion, just not the object it’s directed at.

Source: Better Than the Chevy Volt Dance: A Rap About a Volvo 240 Wagon