Raleigh C&C 7/3/10, Why I Love Italian Cars

Normally, after the first Saturday of every month I like to make a post summing up Raleigh's Cars & Coffee exotic meet. The turnout this month was a little thin numbers-wise, but there were still some fascinating things to be seen.  For instance, have you ever seen one of these with your own eyes?

If you've got a big "body kitted Miata?" question mark above your head, I'll help you out: It's a Qvale Mangusta.  If you're still confused, that's understandable: a grand total of 272 Mangustas were produced between 2000-2002, with about 95% imported to the US.  It was originally to be the car that restarted the famed DeTomaso brand in the US, but when Alejandro DeTomaso and his US importer Bruce Qvale parted ways, Qvale took over the production and sales of the car, rebranding it a Qvale.

I seem to remember seeing one of these at an auto show back in the early '00's when they were new, but I can't really remember.  I've certainly never seen one on the road.  They had a Marcello Gandini - designed composite body mounted over a rigid box steel frame.  It's an unusual looking car for sure, but the proportions and some of the details are quite delicious.  The powertrain is borrowed basically directly from the SVT Mustang Cobra, with a 4.6L all-aluminum 32v quad-cam V8 sending 320bhp through a Tremec T45 5-speed manual to the rear wheels.

The keen-eyed will notice that's not all Qvale took from the Mustang parts bin.  Check out that center console, steering wheel, and gauges - hey, you've got to get parts for your limited-production sports car somewhere. The Mangusta used an interesting roof called "Rototop" which is basically a removable targa panel and a rotating rear bulkhead, meaning it can be closed, targa-roofed, or fully open.

It wasn't a flaming sales success in the market, what with a new name, strange styling, and a high ($69k in 2000) price tag, but looking back it's surprising more people didn't jump on these.  Still, what a rare and unique car to see - it almost makes the next car seems a bit mainstream and pedestrian.

Orrrr... not.  How about two Countaches parked next to each other?  Something else I've never seen before.  The yellow one on the left is an earlier model, the silver one on the right is a later 25th AE four-valver with fuel injection.  These cars are so unbelievably low to the ground; it's hard to see how humans actually fit in them.

This silver one is owned by the same gentleman who brought the LM002 American out to the last C&C I attended in May.  He's not a short fellow, so I sort of wonder where he hides his legs while he drives it, but my jealous could pierce through it's scissor doors nonetheless.

The fuel-injected Countach engine is a mess of wires, lines, manifolds, and tubes - maybe not quite Jaguar XJ-S V12 bad, but certainly close.  You couldn't pay me to work on one of these things.  Just kidding; I'd work on one for free if I could take it for a spin around the block.  Any Countach owners need an oil change?

As far as I can tell, these are actually two out of three Countaches that reside in the North Raleigh/Cary area - I've personally seen a black one with some bronze phone-dial alloys roaring around town a few times.  This yellow one looks a little rougher, but it's still a shocking shape in the daylight.

Digging the open air filters... I'd be willing to bet this car sounds hilarious at wide-open throttle!

And on the other end of the tastefulness scale, we have this "HellaFlush" IS350.  Let's see here.  Huge front splitter and canards: check.  Ground-scraping body kit: check.  Low-offset wheels and slammed suspension, with "LO OFFSET" vanity plate to match: check.  Roll cage, racing seats, 4-point harnesses in front: check.  Baby seat in back, leather, wood trim: check.  Does a "HellaFlush" V6 automatic Lexus make sense to anyone?

Now this is how you do up your import four-door sedan.  E92 M3 V8 4-door, huge BBS RG-R's, proper "fitment and stance" as opposed to "as low and wide as humanly possible without scraping the fenders."

Of course, if you wanted a track car, why didn't you just start with a track car?  Oh: Lexus owners can't afford a GT3, since they paid so much money for their V6 Automatic Toyota 4-door.

Enough negativity.  Gaze upon the E30 M3's glory, and know that all is right with the world.

And our winner for "most obvious vanity plate of the month" goes to... this guy!  As opposed to "best vanity plate", which goes to this guy:

And really, I feel like a license plate that reads "8008135" is the best place to end this post.