What has twenty-four cylinders, weighs 32,000 pounds and was outlandish enough to command US$12 million in a country where moneys no object for many of its residents?If you think the answer is this Thor24 crew cab semi built by stunt pilot and boat racer Mike Harrah, youd be absolutely right.Over the span of seven years and about US$7 million, Harrah constructed one of the most extreme vehicles let alone truck tractors ever to ply the face of this earth. The power developed by 1,704 cubic inches of displacement comes from a brace of two 12-cylinder Detroit diesel engines, arranged neatly like ducks in a row.There are a dozen 871 superchargers arranged above the blocks to push the beast to create a blistering 3,974 horsepower. It also packs a nitrous boost, allowing the 32,000-pound truck to crest 200 km/h. A quartet of 12-foot drag chutes help to reel in all that speed.Harrahs vision began with a Peterbilt 359 crew cab semi, a truck stretched to 44 feet in length to accommodate his plans. Once the frame was completed, most parts on the bottom side were replaced with chrome-plated or polished aluminum bits. From a visual standpoint, its a good wager there is nothing else in the world like Thor24. As if to put the exclamation point home, flames adorn Thors flanks because of course they do.A bidder at the Global Auto Salon auction, hosted by Worldwide Auctioneers in Riyadh this past weekend, paid a reported US$12 million for this 44-foot-long brute. Keeping in spirit with other custom big rigs, an auxiliary power unit is onboard. The unit is what else? a Hawker jet engine. Your author was on the ground at the Riyadh show, where Bugattis were as common as Corollas. In that context, perhaps Thor24 doesnt seem so outrageous after all. But make no mistake back here in a world that loosely approximates reality, Thor24 is a wonderfully brutish machine that has more road presence than a fleet of Jensen Interceptors.Well have more car stories from Saudi Arabia in the days ahead, including the tale of a man who bought a brace of heavily-patinad 57 Chevys and plans to take them on a 1,600-km road trip. Until then, enjoy these snaps of what is surely the wildest semi in
Origin: 4,000-hp Thor24 custom truck hammers for US$12 million in Saudi Arabia
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Custom Dodge Challenger gets stolen, wrecked in police chase, still makes it to SEMA
A Dodge Challenger show car with 1,000 horsepower was stolen just before this years SEMA convention and crashed but still managed to make it to the show floor on time.The car was built by Quintin Brothers Auto and Performance in Vermont, who sent it to Las Vegas where the SEMA parts convention is held. The Challenger was reported stolen on October 30, when it was swiped from the overflow parking lot of the Main Street Station Casino.According to local news, Nevada Highway Patrol was at some point dispatched to the parking structure of the Rio Hotel and Casino, where they found the stolen vehicle. In an attempt to stop the thief from leaving, an officer parked in front of the car, but before he could leave his vehicle, the Challenger rammed into the side of his cruiser and proceeded to escape the parking complex.The vehicle was later abandoned at The Boulevard Mall and then given back to its owners to display at the show. We were in shock, we couldnt imagine that anything like this could ever happen, shop co-owner Cole Quintin said. It looks like they were living in the thing, but they only had it for about 11 hours.The front end was smashed in the hit-and-run police chase, making it look more like a drift missile than a straight-line star. Were sure that with 1,000 horsepower it would burn up the rear tires either way. Props to the builders on still showing the car, even though everyone wouldve completely understood if theyd decided not to. The 2020 Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, unveiled at the 2019 SEMA Show, delivers sportsman racers a new, turnkey package loaded with suspension and chassis upgrades and is certified for NHRA and NMCA competition. Production is limited to 50 serialized units. Mopar Speaking of Challengers, Mopar itself had a little debut at SEMA heralding the return of the Drag Pak after a five-year hiatus. The fourth generation of the special edition makes more power than the previous version, according to Mopar, and the previous version made 1,200 horsepower and ran mid-7-second quarter-miles, so hold onto your socks for the official numbers.That massive output comes courtesy of a supercharged 5.8-litre V8 coupled to a manually shifted three-speed automatic transmission. Mopar will build 50 of the
Origin: Custom Dodge Challenger gets stolen, wrecked in police chase, still makes it to SEMA
Toyota teases retro-inspired custom Supra 3000GT for SEMA
Toyotas concept car reveal scheduled for SEMA 2019 is a coupe that pays tribute to the A80 Supra 3000GT concept of the 1990s.Starting with a 2020 GT Supra, TRD (Toyota Racing Development) takes the already-wild-looking vehicle and adds a few more touches to make it the Supra most of us think about when the name is uttered.The hood has those four familiar cutouts, while the big wing makes a return to the rear. Wide fender flares round out the body, as well as the changes.Toyota released an almost-six-minute video detailing what made the original 3000GT of 1994 stand out, and we can see the automaker wants the 2020 Supra to stand out in the same way as a real racing machine. Stylized flashes of the vehicle in production show a lot of the details, including mapping out the awesome hood grilles and the rear spoiler.As for the engine, we can assume TRD wont leave that alone. The straight-six makes 335 horsepower from three turbocharged litres, and we know theres room for more, as the same engine makes 382 horsepower between the fenders of its German cousin. Well have to wait until the vehicle is unveiled for true figures, though.In Japan, upgrade parts like the ones that will be fit to the 3000GT are already available. We hope that with the unveiling of the concept at the aftermarket showcase show, wide-body kits and wings will be available for North Americans to buy straight from the
Origin: Toyota teases retro-inspired custom Supra 3000GT for SEMA
News Roundup: Europe’s thing for classic American cars, a new affordable electric SUV, and Patrick Dempsey’s custom Mustang
Muscle cars at the Classic Remise Berlin. Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.Here’s what you missed while you were away.Europeans are buying tens of thousands of American classics every yearThanks to a certain orange loudmouth, America does not have the best reputation overseas in Europe and the U.K. right now, but according to a Hagerty report, Europeans can’t get enough of their classic cars. Data gathered from shipping companies indicates around 30,000 classic cars are shipped from America to Europe each year, with muscle cars and Corvettes being the most commonly imported. One shipper believes it’s the quality of cars from rust-averse U.S. climates as well as the variety to choose from that has been enticing overseas buyers, even if they’re shopping for vintage European vehicles. Fisker released a photo of its upcoming electric SUVEV company Fisker pulled back a part of the sheets covering its forthcoming US$40,000 electric SUV this week. CEO Henrik Fisker posted a partial sidelong shot to Facebook, highlighting the D-pillar and the LED turn signal embedded therein, saying the lamp “will provide extra safety when you change lanes.” The company is allegedly “moving fast” to develop the Tesla Model Y competitor, and currently shopping around for a manufacturing plant.Supposedly ‘abandoned’ Plymouth GTX put up for sale despite owner’s objectionsEarlier this week, Hagerty reported a 1969 Plymouth GTX that had been forgotten in a Michigan storage facility with fees accumulating was going up for auction, despite the fact that its owner had come forward to legally claim it. Initially, the person wasn’t able to prove ownership to the authorities and the auction was allowed to continue. Since then, however – and just in the knick of time really – his ownership was proven, a legal motion filed and the sale of the rare GTX stopped. Watch our editors try to justify the 797-horsepower 2019 Hellcat Redeye 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye Nick Tragianis / Driving Adding another 80 horses to an already 717-horsepower engine is like putting Nutella on top on an Oreo: entirely unnecessary and probably quite dangerous, but, hey, since it’s just sitting there, you might as well eat it. As Driving’s Clayton Seams and Nick Tragianis note in their joint review, the Hellcat Redeye may be a bit of a “stupid car” with way too much power for most situations, but for the kind of person who lives life by the quarter-mile and appreciates machinery with real personality (even the obnoxious kind), there’s nothing quite like it. You can buy Patrick Dempsey’s 1965 Mustang fastbackHow much do you love Grey’s Anatomy? Even if your answer to that is negative fifty, you may still appreciate this custom Mustang build commissioned by actor Patrick Dempsey, who played Dr. Derek Shepherd, a.k.a. McDreamy, on the popular medical drama. A little over a decade ago, Dempsey hired Panoz Custom Sports Cars in Georgia to inject some modern style (to the tune of US$300,000) into this 1965 Mustang fastback, using a 2004 SN95 Cobra SVT as a donor. The result is a black-on-black 420-horsepower custom build with a six-speed manual transmission. And you can own it. Dempsey’s former baby is up for sale at a garage in Utah. Canadians can’t get enough of these seven aging vehiclesIf it ain’t broke, don’t update it. We went through some figures from manufacturers and other online sources to put together a list of seven aging cars Canadians can’t seem to quit. There’s the Dodge Grand Caravan that hasn’t been significantly updated since 2011 but remains the best-selling minivan in the country. Or the Toyota Tundra, which was last majorly overhauled in 2007 but had its best year for Canadian sales in 2018. Or the most ancient on the list, the Nissan Frontier, which has been playing the same song for 15 years, and we’re still giving it a standing ovation!Too many crossovers could kill the market, report saysIt’s called “market saturation,” and according to a new report, that’s where we’re headed if automakers don’t make a course-correction away from the concentrated production of SUVs and crossovers. The “Car Wars” report produced by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch suggests that the market could experience a 30-per-cent decline in auto sales by 2022. It’s projected that SUVs, crossovers and light trucks will make up 70 per cent of the 246 new or significantly updated models expected to arrive between 2020 and 2023.
Origin: News Roundup: Europe’s thing for classic American cars, a new affordable electric SUV, and Patrick Dempsey’s custom Mustang
Porsche’s augmented-reality app lets you put a custom 911 in your living room
Ever wondered what a brand-new customized Porsche 911 Carrera S in racing yellow would look like in your living room? Of course you have. We all have. What about in your bedroom? Now, Porsche is giving daydreamers the chance to glimpse what their ideal car would look like in their home without having to fork out over $100,000 for the car and $120,000 for the renovations to the new kitchen/garage. The Porsche AR Visualizer app uses augmented reality to add another dimension to its existing online vehicle customization tool by setting your custom car in your home and allowing you to see under its skin in X-ray mode. With our new app, the configuration of a Porsche will be even more of a digital experience, said Oliver Hoffmann, Director Marketing Communications at Porsche, in a press release. Now, before making the purchase decision, everyone can virtually park their dream Porsche in their own driveway, marvel at it in their own living room, or show a photo-realistic version to their friends. First users build their dream car – selecting colour, wheel style and more – in Porsche’s online configurator, and then upload it to the AR app using a code. Once their custom build is in, they can see a “photorealistic representation” of it in basically any location. And the Internet being what it is, we can’t see people limiting that to the driveway. The X-ray mode provides a look at some of the technical specifications, and there’s even a driving mode that lets users cruise the vehicle around the environment, lower the spoiler or make some noise with the engine. The app currently supports new models of Porsche 911 Carrera S, Carrera 4S and the Mission E concept, but Porsche plans to introduce the rest of its models by the end of the year.
Origin: Porsche’s augmented-reality app lets you put a custom 911 in your living room
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