I really didn't expect you to come to this part of the site, but since you did, I guess I'll tell you a little more about myself. I'm now 30 years old, and I have moved from my hometown of New Orleans, LA and I now reside in Austin, TX. I currently hold a Masters degree in Quality Management, and I have a great job in my field. Austin is a beautiful city, with great people, great weather, great music, and great food, all of which were prerequisites when I moved from New Orleans. Anyway, although my main passion is cars, I also like to build computers, and when I'm not subjecting my Mustang to my shadetree mechanic skills, I'm scouring the web in search of interesting case mods. Anyway, I'm a huge fan of cars made in the '80s. Many people view this decade as one of the worst for performance cars, but I have a different opinion. The '80s, to me, brought about the resurgence of the muscle car era, and is a large reason why, at this very moment, you can walk into a dealership and buy a 390hp Cobra, 405hp Z06, or a used 320hp Camaro/Firebird. When I was younger, the cars of my imagination were the SVO Mustang, Buick GN/Monte SS, Mazda RX7, Starion/Conquest, 300ZX, MA70 Supras (whose styling isn't far removed from the Mustang), 5.0 Mustangs/Camaros/Firebirds, and omnipresent Corvette. I also prefer the angular styling of these vehicles, which are quite unlike the rounded "there are no right angles found in nature" design aesthetic of the '90s. However, I personally think that the angular movement is experiencing a bit of a revival. The 2005 Mustang and F-150 have very sharp, defined creases and angles, and the Cadillac CTS and Nissan 350Z also exhibit this stylistic trademark. Anyway, I really don't mean to stand on a soapbox here, so I'll cut this rambling soliloquy short, so that you may waste your time more productively.
Every now and then (mostly then), someone will ask me what my ultimate dream car is, as if a Mustang is not sufficient transportation once you start raking in the kilobucks. So, I started thinking what I plan to buy once my Alpaca farm pays off, or when those Nigerian gentlemen finally send me my 20% of $40 million that they keep emailing me about. Well, if there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm a huge fan of custom-made stuff, and I always rather some one-off piece over something manufactured on an assembly line. Mostly, when people think custom-made, they think expensive. However, I'm not talking about some multimillion-dollar engineering marvel. There's nothing like seeing someone at a car show with his own garage-fabricated accessory brackets or a homemade intake manifold that causes shortness of breath because it's sucking all the air out of the atmosphere. Well, to get back to the question, there has always been one vehicle that I consider to be above all others in concept, design, and execution, and I'm sure you won't see it in the latest music video or outside your team's locker room. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you:
The Sniper. This vehicle was hand-fabricated by Troy Trepanier of Rad Rides by Troy. For those of you who don't know, Troy Trepanier is a custom builder of antique cars. I've seen some of his other creations (for those of you familiar with Chicayne, I have pics from the World of Wheels car show, if I can ever find them), but none of them stand out like this one. Don't get me wrong, Orange Peel and FastForward Fastback are fantastic cars, but nothing compares to the Sniper as far as I'm concerned. It's one thing to take a vehicle with classic styling and turn it into an envy-inspiring trophy magnet, but it's something totally different to take an obscure, anonymous vehicle and sculpt it into something desirable. Let's take a look at what's under this car:
Seriously. Look at this thing. Nobody wanted it even in 1954. Only a true visionary could look at this thing and see hot rod potential. This is a 1954 Plymouth Belvedere (the Sniper is built on a 1954 Savoy, but, other than some trim pieces, they're basically the same car). Most rodders who look to the '50's for inspiration usually choose the Bel-Air, huge-finned Cadillacs, or fat-fendered Mercs. This thing, however, has pretty much been relegated to the dustbin of history.
This is a 1954 Plymouth Savoy. Homely doesn't begin to describe it. Now let's check out a bit of what it took to transform this A-to-B family hauler to the work of art that it is today.
The Sniper is built on a modified Viper chassis. Yes that's a Viper V-10 engine backed by a T56 6-Speed. The frame was modified and stretched to fit the Savoy body. I wonder how fast it would be if you could put one chair on that thing and drive it like that.
Gratuitous suspension close-up. Check out those beefy A-Arms, coil-overs and large-by-huge vented brakes.
Here is the Viper-V10 in all it's glory, replete with polished, powdercoated, and custom everything.
The design philosophy here is that the bow of the hood and angle of the engine are meant to evoke a jewel in a setting. I'm not making this up.
The design philosophy here is that the bow of the hood and angle of the engine are meant to evoke a jewel in a setting. I'm not making this up.
Another shot of the engine and chassis.
Hand-fabricated and stitched interior. The dash and console were both custom-made.
A shot of the trunk. I'm sure that the huge amp kicks out some serious tunes.
The rear of the car (in case you were wondering).
This is one of the concept drawings. One of the reasons that I like this car so much is the amount of metalwork that went into it. Most people who design around musclecar-era cars usually stick with the factory lines because they're so classic. This car was stretched and reworked to fit on the frame, and that custom top was fabricated by Troy and his crew. (I thought it resembled a stretched 96-98 Mustang top, but it's all original). Mere pictures cannot describe:
Strangely enough, a couple of years after this car was designed, a certain car company by the name of Ford introduced this:
This is the Ford 49. You do have to admit that the resemblance is a bit striking. The styling was inspired by Ford's new retro-futuristic design philosophy. (think the new Mustang). I don't think it will see production, being that this was a 2001/2002 concept car. Some of the design cues made it to the Thunderbird, and may end up in future vehicles.
Here is the side and rear profile. I think the rear is a bit big, but the car still has a nice look.
I do know that if it had been produced, it probably wouldn't have included this panorama roof.
Can't complain about the engine. I sometimes wonder where they got the whole "jewel-in-a-setting-on-a-pedestal" idea from, though.
This is the steering wheel console, complete with analog clock-type speedo in the background.
Anyway, the irony is not lost on me that if I have Troy build me a Sniper, then it would no longer be original since there would be two of them (though I'm sure I could find some way to manage to live with that). So, Troy, if you're reading this, I've always liked the aluminum grille of the Falcon, or perhaps a Fairlane Skyliner with the retractable hardtop. Anybody want to buy some Alpacas?