RideLust

Sometimes a weekend comes together in a fashion that just makes you smile. Here in New York I have a select group of buddies that I’ve been driving with for years. We have a set routine of waking up at the crack of dawn, meeting up at a rendezvous point, going for a nice spirited drive through the hills of upstate NY and CT and then hitting someplace that serves heart exploding meals for breakfast. As I hadn’t seen my friends in awhile I thought it may be a good idea to get together. The emails went out and we ended up setting a meeting place for 7am Saturday morning. There were only seven cars but together we made up a nice eclectic group of road going hardware.

Our fleet consisted of a wicked Audi R8, a Maserati Gran Turismo, a 1969 Dodge Daytona, 1975 Hurst Oldsmobile, a stunning blue Ford GT and two mid-60’s Cobra replicas. Not too shabby right? With such a great selection of automobiles questions from bystanders would ensue whenever we stopped. On one hand you had the German Audi R8, a technological masterpiece of power, performance and build quality. It’s a super car in every sense of the word and probably the only one that you could truly drive everyday, year round. From the Italian side of the spectrum, we had the Maserati Gran Turismo. This is a car that optimizes what a true GT car should be. The long low-slung hood line, the amazing exhaust note and an interior that lavishes you in pure comfort makes you want to take this out and just keep driving… like to Canada.

Now we come to the good old United States of America. I had out our 1969 Dodge Daytona, this is a car that was built by Dodge to race in NASCAR. There was however one inherent problem with the Daytona’s on the big banked ovals… they were simply too fast and thus were outlawed after only one year of racing. Our car has been updated with nice big brakes, stout big block stroker engine and some nice touches like A/C and cruise control. The two foot nose cone and 4-foot rear wing don’t hurt either.

I have to say that of all the cars here (except my Daytona) the Ford GT is my favorite. It has an engine out of an F150 pick-up truck, styling that was developed back in the 1960’s and performance numbers that solidify it as a pure super car. I love this thing and if I had the means, I would buy one… immediately.

Here is something that is a bit of a stand alone. You see in 1975 America as a whole didn’t really produce anything that could be considered fast, however the car you see here simply blows that theory out of the water. This is a 1975 Oldsmobile Cutlass Hurst (notice anything special here) with a tweaked 455 big block. It makes 550 hp, has fully updated suspension and brakes and when the go pedal is pushed to the floor the exhaust note will blow the tiles off your bathroom wall. Obviously it’s not stock, but in the end, who cares?

Now for the twins, a pair of Shelby Cobra replica’s that simply look amazing. They weigh just north of 2000 lbs., are lightening quick and both contain 5-speeds for nice everyday cruising. The Cobra’s, like the Ford GT and Daytona are icon’s of American speed. They were originally built for the sole purpose of going fast and winning races and now today, with replica’s like these, their legacy lives on.

Photo’s By Andre Betz and yours truly.