Apparently Jay Leno will show up for the opening of an envelope as long as there are microphones and photographers nearby. The host of The Tonight Show attends every car event on Earth and every executive from every manufacturer can't wait to have their pictures taken with him. Where does he find time for this?
[2A]Thumb Back to the Car Pose: 2001 Brickyard 400
[2B]Mid-Joke Arm Sweep: Christie's Auction 2003
[2C]More Macho Than a Race Car Driver Arm Fold: 2002 Daytona 500 with Tony Stewart
[2D]Put Down That Finger or I'll Kill You Reaction Shot: 2003 L.A. Auto Show with an executive from Maybach
[2E]Mid-Joke Hair Tug: 2003 L.A. Auto with GM's Bob Lutz
[2F]"I'll Put My Arm on Anybody's Shoulder": 2003 Design Forum with Ford's J Mays
[2G]"Mine's This Big": Dodge Viper GT-S production line
[2H]Lame, When-in-Doubt-Stick-up-the-Thumb Pose: 1999 Indianapolis 500
[2I]Being Handed the Keys Clich Pose: What? A new Harley-Davidson F-150! For me?
[2J]Almost a Car Craft Cover Pose: With his 572ci big-block-powered '55 Roadmaster at his shop in 2004
Right Avalanche, Wrong Truck[Photos 116-0704.SCUP 9 on disc]This month's entry in the Australian file comes yet again from GM's Holden division, where everything except the break room espresso machine seems to be powered by an LS1. It's the new Avalanche XUV tuned by the in-house Holden Special Vehicles shop.
A car-based four-door pickup (that car is the Holden Commodore whose DNA flows through to the Pontiac GTO) that's unrelated to the truck-based Avalanche sold in the U.S., the Oz Avalanche is equipped with all-wheel drive and a 270-kilowatt (362hp) version of the 5.7L LS1 V-8. OK, thanks for the GTO. Now send us this.
Fine Lookin' Elfin[Photos 116-0704.SCUP 10 on disc]Further proof that Australia is doing too good a job building wicked cars were the Elfin MS8 Clubman and MS8 Streamliner displayed by GM's Holden division at the '04 Melbourne International Motor Show in late February. These are tiny cars with LS1 V-8s under their hoods-they've got to be quick.
Elfin Sports Cars (www.elfin.com.au) has been building vehicles in Oz for more than 40 years with the core of the business being Lotus 7 clones of one sort or another. The MS8 family was designed by Holden and Elfin as a successor to the MS7, which used a small-block Chevy and won the '75 and '76 Australian Tourist Trophy Sports Car Championships.
The MS8s are tiny cars with 90-inch wheelbases weighing between 1,929 and 2,094 pounds. And with the LS1s making at least 325 hp, the power-to-weight ratio on these rascals is insane. So insane, in fact, that stirring their six-speed Tremec transmissions furiously, they'll rip from 0 to 60 mph in, says Holden, about 3.3 seconds.
Built to order, the MS8s start at about $85,000 Australian. (At the exchange rates as this was written, that's just shy of $66,000 American.) Not cheap, but not outrageous in the context of other hyper-performance cars. Of course, if you can figure out how to license one of these things for use in America, you'll be the first.
This One Is OptionalTwo Tons of Two Tone[Photos 116-0704.SCUP 11 on disc]The Mercury Grand Marquis is now being offered in a special "Two-Tone Edition" with "Spruce Green" and "Gold Ash" paint. Buy one and you'll be the envy of everyone going in for the early-bird special at Red Lobster.
Race Car Of The MonthBud Moore '67 Mercury Cougar Trans Am Racer[Photos 116-0704.SCUP 12 on disc]Everyone remembers the epic '68 season Mark Donohue had in Trans Am with his Camaro. And the battle of Chevy vs. Ford was truly and legendarily brutal during both 1969 and 1970. But the '67 season has somehow been forgotten. It was also a great year, and one of the teams that made it so was Bud Moore's pride of Mercury Cougars.