Cory Turner Talks Cars

(Watch For It)

Owing a Cadillac was the life goal of many people and the brand was no stranger to luxury sports cars.  There was the 1937 Cadillac 16 custom phaeton, the deville the coupe deville, the list goes on and on.  Being the Cadillac of cars, meant only those with the deep pockets could afford your product.  This meant older more established buyers who over time were aging out.  Cadillac wanted to attract younger buyers, and they felt that younger buyers wanted something sporty, something like a corvette, but with a more refined owner experience.  And so the Cadillac XLR was born and brought to the upscale market in 2003.  To push the luxury mindset they had Bulgari, an Italian luxury brand known for jewelery, watches and other accessories, design the gauges and they key fob.  Neuman Marcus offered a special edition XLR for its 2003 Christmas catalog.  Anyone who purchased the $85,000, limited editions XLR from their catalogue also got a limited edition, $3000 Bulgari wrist watch that matched the car’s design.

(A List of Firsts)

Cadillac insisted on pushing the luxury aspect of the XLR with many technologies that were coming to market with competitors from Europe.   Choosing the right model meant having a heated steering wheel, wood and aluminum trim, power trunk, magnetic ride control, heated and cooled seats, radar based adaptive cruise control and retractable hardtop. The retractable hard top, heated and cooled seats and ACC (adaptive cruise control) were a first for Cadillac.

(Something Special)

The XLR shared The same architecture with the C6 corvette, but it didn’t share GM’s 6.2 L V8.  Instead the XLR came with the Northstar 4.6L V8 rated at 320 horse power and 310 pound feet of torque. In 2006 something special came knocking with the XLR V.  The V series is Cadillacs line of high performance models. The XLR V got the 4.4 L supercharged V8 that produced 443 HP and 413 pound feet of torque.  This gave it a 0 to 60 time of 4.6 seconds.  It’s top speed was electricity limited to 155 miles per hour. The XLR had a starting price of $97,485 when it debuted and finished its run with a starting price of $104,215.

(Home On The Lot)

Cadillac had projected moving 5000 to 7000 XLR’s a year. Sadly their best year only saw 3730 units sold.  2009 was the final year of production and only 787 cars were sold, bringing the total number of XLR’s sold to 15,460. Sadly it took two full years to move the remaining units, with 188 units selling in 2010 and the final 12 units finally moving off the lot in 2011, two full years after production ended.

The Countach is the stuff of legend.  Kicking off the super car era with its edgy styling the Countach had performance numbers to match, or did it?  In 1986 a road test for the fast lane magazine reported the Countach breaking the 200 mile per hour mark by posting a top speed of an incredible 201.9 miles per hour… that’s in 1986.   The question isn’t that it hit the 201.9 mark just how, and was it a really a production model, well no.  In an all out effort to beat Ferrari Lamborghini may have used some tricks of the trade to help the Countach with its top speed records including rigged air box, In take spacers and in some runs doctored tires, removed mirrors, removed wipers, hallowed out suspension joints and other tricks of the trade. The more realistic top speed for the 1986 Countach was 181.6 miles per hour which is still super car royalty .

Super cars are all about weight to power ratio so any chance to reduce the cars weight must be explored.  Marcello Gandini took exterior styling cues for the Countach from 1967 Marzal concept car and the 1968 Alfa Romeo Karabo concept.  The two concept cars used a safety glass that had been recently developed by a company in Belgian.  The glass was super light weight , in fact it was such a difference in weight that Porchse had begun using it on their 911 race cars and RS homologation specials in Group 4.  The Countach took advantage of the super light weight glass using it through out.  It wasn’t cheap back then, but it is even more expensive now.  If you need a new windshield for your Countach, even a replica can set you back around $8000.

The Countach’s styling was cutting edge, mean, aggressive, obviously chiseled from hours spent testing a sophisticated wind tunnel, right? No. Lamborghini, like many exotic car makers, were always a little short in the cash department.  The result is creative engineering and problem solving. Not having the resources to put the Countach through proper wind tunnel testing, engineers glued regular feelers made out of fabric all over the car.  Out on the road they took extensive pictures of it racing along and made bodywork adjustments based on the directions reactions of the feelers.  This low budget wind tunnel testing is why the Countach, al though looking like the sleekest of fighter jets had a drag coefficient of .42.  The fist Lamborghini to really use wind tunnel testing was the Diablo and that was due to the resources of Chrysler, the owner during the Diablos development.

Ferruccio Lamborghini was not interested in race cars, he felt that was so very Ferrari and to be honest too expensive.  As a result there was no factory backed racing program from Lamborghini .  The problem Ferruccio had was his very talented team for the most part came from motorsports and had a passion for high performance sports cars.  When the LP500 concept car made its debut at the Geneva auto show it was a hit, but Lamborghini was having financial problems and the world was facing a pending oil crisis.  Due to pressure from his team Ferruccio made a bet with Bob Wallace, not only his test driver but also his automotive engineer, that if Bob could drive the prototype on an very long road trip, and the car could make it all they back, they would put it into production.  Needless to say Bob accepted the challenge, the car made the entire trip and just two short years later the LP400 the legendary Countach hit the production line.

The iconic Countach wing was added in the parking lot.  The giant wing is legendary but not for all the right reasons.  Its huge, blocks rearward visibility and looks amazing, but the rear wing of the Countach is completely cosmetic.  As a mater of fact, if the wing wasn’t purposefully zeroed out, if it produced any level of downforce the Countach would be uncontrollable at high speeds.  The reason is the

Things you don’t know about the Porsche Cayman GT4 RS.

Porsche fans have calling for the brand to take the engine from the 911 GT3 and put it into the Cayman.  Porsche had danced around the concept for a while, giving us the Cayman, then the Cayman S followed by the Cayman R and then the performance focused GT4 but now, Porsche has decided to give the purists what they have been yearning for and that is the Cayman GT4RS.  They have taken the naturally aspirated 4 liter flat 6 from the legendary 911 GT3 and with some clever engineering made it a home in the Cayman resulting in 493 HP.  This is way up from the regular Cayman’s 414 HP.  Torque is up to 331 lb ft from the regulars 317 lb ft.  Now Porsche wasn’t about to steal the 911 GT3’s thunder so the Cayman may share the same powertrain but the 911 GT3 has 502 HP and 346 lb ft torque.

If a car redlines at 6, 7 or 7500 rpm’s that’s impressive. One of the bragging points of the 911 GT3 is it’s 9000 rpm redline which the GT4RS now shares.

One would think spending $145,000 on a Porsche Cayman one would get aluminum, perhaps metal or at least plastic logo badging on the car: but that just isn’t so on the Cayman GT4RS. Instead you get decals.  Both the GT4RS badge on the back and the Porsche logo on the front are decals. Porsche wasn’t taking the cheap way out, instead this decision was to save weight, because when it comes to a sports car every ounce counts.

The Cayman comes with a highly modified Aero package. Where the normal Cayman comes with a window just behind each door. Not so on the GT4RS, instead you get an air intake that feeds more air to the larger engine. You also get Porsche’s new swan neck wing.  Porsche found that having the mounts attack over the top; resembling a swan neck, great down force could created with less air disturbance.  Combined with the other ground effects package, optimized underbody, new adjustable front diffuser, lip diffuser; rear diffuser you get 25% more down force than a regular Cayman.

The final thing you don’t know… is we really want you to like this video and subscribe to channel. Thank you for helping us grow.

Let’s talk about cars tomorrow.

#porsche #porschecayman #caymangt4rs #porsche911gt3

C8 Corvette Things You Don’t Know.

Here are some facts about the C8 Corvette you may not know. 

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#corvette #c8 #c8corvette #chevrolet #thingsyoudontknow #chevycorvette

Kills me to say it, but here is why I hate the new Lamborghini Countach.  You know how much I love the original Countach. 

Sorry for the audio issues.  I kept hitting the table.  I didn’t get the audio arm setup.  I made the decision to do the video so I did it in a hurry before I changed my mind. 

#lamborghini 
#lamborghinicountach

The Dodge Viper RT/10 first generation.  We take a story form look at the history and development of the Chrysler Corporations attack on the dominance of Ford and Chevrolet with the Lamborghini tuned Chrysler LA engine.  The V10 monster produced 400 HP and 465 lbf ft and had a top speed of 165 miles per hour without a traction control system, anti lock brakes or even an airbag.

This is my first Midnight Drives Stories here in the channel. If you like it and want to hear more please like and subscribe.  It helps us make more.

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Was it just for looks or did the Lamborghini Countach’s trademark “Lambo Doors” serve an purpose?

The Lamborghini Countach and its Lambo doors are iconic representations of what a super car is.  The exotic, Italian wedge design captivated audiences and fueled the dreams of teenage boys around the world when it appeared at the Geneva Motor Show on March 11th 1971.

It was meant to replace what is arguably the most beautiful car design in history, the Lamborghini Muira, and where the Muira was a design of elegance, the Countach charged on to the scene with in your face, design force.

The Countach had a cut off rear end, a square nose, pop up headlights, flat glass, brutally strong angles and of course, the undeniable awesome, scissors doors.  It was a car that astonished those that saw it for the first time.  Even its name is a term used to express wonder and astonishment.

Amazingly the design had a run from 1974 until 1990 and although it found itself cladded with difference body panels and a towering wing that made looking out the postage stamp size back window impossible, it showed the Italian Wedge was a force in the exotic car world.

Marcelo Gandini of Bertone’s design studio created an industry defining look and a set of industry defining doors.  But was it all about a look that had posters flying off store shelves?

Well, the answer is no.  The iconic Lambo Doors were actually a engineering design necessity.  Well, that is if you ever wanted to park your car and get out.

You see the Countach employed a tubular space frame that made the car   Door sills extremely wide, which required very side doors.  And it doesn’t end there, the Countach may only be 42.13 inch tall, but it is a staggering 74.28 inches wide.  That makes car over six feet wide.  With parking spots getting as narrow as, in some cases less than eight feet depeding on the town and country you were in, there wasn’t room to open a big long door.  So something had to be done, and the fix was what we know lovingly refer to as Lambo Doors, but practically know as scissor doors.

Now the scissor doors and the extremely wide door sill actually served an unintended purpose, but would have made the car almost impossible to use in normal driving if it didn’t have.  That is a place to sit while backing the car up.  You see, the back window of a Countach, if you can call it a window is so small and so narrow, you can’t see anything behind you.  A rear view mirror is only installed to meet government regulations.  So when you find yourself trying to back out of the parking space, you either guess that the coast was clear, which was an expensive gamble, or you opened your scissor doors, lifter yourself out of your seat, set down on that wide door sill and turned your body to look back.  Carefully working the clutch and the gas and steering wheel you could back up with enough visibly to keep from crashing into something. With regular doors, this would not have been possible.  Imagine backing up with regular doors like that, definitely not a good idea.

The Lamborghini Countach was the dream exotic for most teenage boys of the 70’s and 80’s. It represented excess and power and extreme styling while quietly keeping one of its most exotic features, scissor doors from being seen as just an engineering requirement.

#lamborghini #countach #lamborghinicountach #scissordoors #lambodoors #supercars

We look at the 2021 Ford Ranger Tremor Off Road Monster #ford #fordranger #fordrangertremor

The million dollar Ford Bronco.

Welcome to Cory Turner Talks Cars

The automotive world has been anxiously awaiting the return of the legendary Bronco.  Ford has been teasing us for years but here we are in 2021 realizing it isn’t just hype, the Bronco is here.  

Infact I passed two Bronco Sports just today.

Ok I have seen the four door version but what about the big money 2 door For Bronco?  Well it turns out to be a hype machine.  And a big money machine,

Vin Number 001 is not only off the production line but over the weekend the Bronco that screams I’m back hit the auction block at Barrett-Jackson and fetched an amazing, are you ready, 1.075 million dollars.  All the proceeds are benefiting the National Forest Foundation and Outward Bound.

Can’t wait to see these bad boys on the road.

I spy a 2022 Ford Maverick. Ford’s compact truck to fit the space below the Ford Ranger Market.

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