Tag Archives: Hagerty Car Insurance

8 Cars That Deserved Better Engines

September 28, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

What vehicle never got the engine it deserved? That’s the question posed to our friends at Hagerty Auto Insurance. Their love of cars goes back decades, or centuries and they’ve all been wondering how much better certain cars would be if they had a different engine …

… Or a better engine, something that truly spoke to the rest of the car. Let’s see what alternate car realities they would have created.

A Standard V-8 for Every Cadillac

engine cadillac VVT — Lies! All lies! *Cadillac*

For me, it’s the fact that all Cadillac cars (cars—Escalade excluded) from the last 20 or so years lack a standard V-8 engine. GM has an excellent LS motor, and a baby Caddy with a modest 4.8-liter small-block would give buyers more reason to avoid a thirsty BMW for a slightly more thirsty Caddy.

As the Caddy becomes larger, the V-8 engine follows suit (5.3-liter CTS, 6.2-liter CT-6, etc.) with increased displacement, and forced induction for the V-series examples. The inherent torque and simplicity of a pushrod V-8 complements the minimalist architecture of GM’s new EV powertrains, and exclusively pairing those two in a luxury car brand will make Cadillac more appealing than any of its competition. — Sajeev Mehta

As under-the-radar-good (and as mod-friendly) as the ATS-V’s LF4 V-6 is, I agree. After having spent over ten thousand miles with the smaller of the Alpha-chassis Caddys, the ATS should have gotten the 455-horse LT1 from the Camaro, and the ATS-V should have gotten the LT4. — Eddy Eckart

V-8 Bronco Raptor/ Ford GT

2024 Ford Bronco Raptor climb front three quarter — *Ford*

Ford Bronco Raptor. Lack of a V-8 is … yeaaaaah. For the record, I am fully aware that you can’t easily fit that V-8 into Ford’s T-6 frame. Actually, here’s the same opinion again: This also applies to the most recent Ford GT. — Matt Tuccillo

For sure, the Ford GT shoulda had a V-8. — Larry Webster

I think I’ll also jump on the Ford GT bandwagon, as I don’t care for the reasoning of why it got the EcoBoost V-6. That car deserved a V-8 based on heritage alone. – Greg Ingold

That buttress really flies *Sajeev Mehta*

Yes, please! Kill the flying buttress, make room for a 900+ horsepower Coyote with a twin-screw supercharger. — Sajeev Mehta

V-8 Prowler

1997 Plymouth prowler rear three-quarter — *FCA*

The Plymouth Prowler comes to mind. Chrysler Corporation came up with a car that was a modern nod to the classic hot rod but forgot the one factor that people want from a hot rod: A V-8 engine. You have to actively try to miss that detail. I don’t think anyone would’ve minded seeing a 318 Magnum out of a Ram pickup in the Prowler, as long as it came with eight cylinders. — Greg Ingold

Honda Motors in a Modern Lotus

Lotus Evora GT40 front three quarter — *Lotus*

Any modern-day Lotus fits in this category. They make do with Toyota engines but the chassis deserves the character of a Honda motor. — Larry Webster

Having a Lotus with a K-Series would be excellent! Totally agree with that take. — Greg Ingold

A Straight-Six SLK

Let’s not overlook the original Mercedes SLK. This folding-roof roadster needed Mercedes’ juicy and punchy 2.8-liter straight six. That supercharged four-cylinder engine was disappointing, and the manual gearbox was even worse. — Larry Webster

SHO-inental, If Only

1989 continental signature series engine — *Sajeev Mehta*

I only thought of this car/engine combo since I yanked my 1989 Continental Signature Series out of storage. Turns out it needed new rubber, and tires from a 1989 Ford Taurus SHO are a smidge wider on the same-sized wheel. Getting a set of those and slapping a set of 1/4-inch spacers on the rear gave it a stance that I can’t stop looking at. And now, curiously, it’s getting a lot more compliments. Even the manager of a local burger joint stopped me from giving my order so he could compliment me on it.

He thought it was a Town Car, but that’s not the point. These moments get this Lincoln-restomodding fool thinking about one thing: Ford needed an automatic transmission ready for the Taurus SHO sooner, and should have slapped it all into the 1989 Continental. Such a tragedy! — Sajeev Mehta

Citroën DS

The Citroën DS was so unconventional and interesting that it’s easy to forget there was only ever an old-fashioned, underwhelming OHV four under the hood. The later SM got a Maserati V-6, but the DS was never so lucky. — Andrew Newton

The Sky Shoulda Been the Limit

2007 Saturn Sky Red Line front three-quarter — GM

GM flogged its Ecotec four-banger, and I know they made crazy power for drag racing. But I thought the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky deserved a more refined motor. — Larry Webster

They needed an LS, maybe just a small-displacement 4.8-liter, to keep Chevrolet appeased with their Corvette’s dominance. But I am sure that was discussed in some conference room at GM, and it was quickly shot down. — Sajeev Mehta

Featured image- Ford GT with Ecoboost 6 cylinder engine.

Transportation

Supercars Can Be Financed

August 13, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

Take this 2005 Porsche Carrera GT for example:

Lot 214 |Monterey Jet Center 2024 Thursday, 15 August 2024

2005 Porsche Carrera GT Lot 214 Estimate: $1,100,000 – $1,300,000 USD/ $1,509,000 CAD- $1,704,000 CAD
Illustrative Hammer: $1,100,000 USD/ $1,509,000 CAD
Illustrative Purchase Price*: $1,215,000 USD/ $1,667,000 CAD
Down Payment: $500,000 USD/ $686,100 CAD
Amount Financed: $715,000 USD/ $981,000 CAD
Monthly Payments**: $7,299 USD/ $10,015 CAD

Highlights of this supercar include:

A desirable single-owner example offered with less than 23,643 documented miles at the time of cataloging
One of just 477 produced for the U.S. market in 2005
Finished in classic Communication Colors of GT Silver exterior over Ascot Brown leather interior
Unmodified and offered with four pieces of its factory luggage set and other delivery accessories
Features servicing and maintenance by a single authorized Porsche dealer
One of the most collectible Porsche models ever produced

Chassis No. WP0CA29875L001120

Porsche seldom exits a motorsports arena without a taste of triumph. Yet, in 1991, an exception proved the rule as Porsche ventured into Formula One, supplying engines to the Footwork-Arrows team with their newly developed 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V12. This engine, essentially a combination of two TAG-Turbo V6s from Porsche’s McLaren days proved cumbersome and prone to reliability issues. Midway through the season, Footwork-Arrows terminated their contract with Porsche due to these setbacks.

Undeterred, Porsche embarked on a solitary path of refinement over the subsequent three years, nurturing the engine’s potential through advancements in technology and engineering. Eventually, they succeeded in transforming it into a robust and potent V12 powerplant. This worthwhile endeavor of internal engineering spurred Porsche to further explore Formula One’s evolving regulations, resulting in the development of a 3.5-liter V10 engine—purely as an educational pursuit. Later iterations saw this V10 engine grow to 5.5-liters and find application in Porsche’s LMP2000 sports racing prototype, codenamed Typ 9R3 and conceived for the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Despite its initial promise, the LMP2000 project met an untimely demise, leaving the formidable V10 engine temporarily abandoned until a pivotal turn of events.

Porsche’s engineers were fervently engaged in another ambitious project—the Carrera GT prototype, internally referred to as SCM (Super Car Millennium).

Housed in Huntington Beach, California, a select team of designers undertook the task of bringing SCM to life. In a nod to its showpiece stature, the decision was made to equip this extraordinary prototype with the same 5.5-liter V10 engine originally developed for the 9R3 project. So fantastic was the reaction to the prototype driven along the Champs-Élysées to the 2000 Paris Motor Show that the approval of a production version was a foregone conclusion.

Commencing in 2003, the Carrera GT swiftly became the quintessential analog supercar of its era. Embracing a back-to-basics philosophy, in stark contrast to its technologically intricate predecessor, the 959, the Carrera GT boasted a raw engineering ethos. Its naturally aspirated 5.7-liter V10, renowned for its rapid revving capability, paired seamlessly with a six-speed manual transmission nestled within a carbon fiber monocoque chassis. Eschewing electronic driving aids, the Carrera GT epitomized a driver-centric experience, delivering unrivaled auditory and performance thrills akin to those found on the racetrack. Produced for a short two years, just 644 Carrera GTs were sold through U.S. Porsche dealerships

This 2005 Carrera GT was constructed in the final year of production and was delivered new to Howard Cooper Porsche of Ann Arbor, Michigan with a purchase date noted in the service book as 22 December 2004 with 15 delivery miles/ 24 kms. Selected with XT Bucket Seats and finished in the Carrera GT’s official Communication Color of GT Silver Metallic over an Ascot Brown leather interior, this fantastic single-owner example features a clean CARFAX and, at time of cataloging, less than 24,000 miles/ 38,624 kms. GT Silver was a long-held bespoke color for the Carrera GT and certainly one of the most popular, echoing those giant-killing RS Spyders of the late 1950s and ’60s.

According to its CARFAX and ownership records, this Carrera GT features servicing while under single ownership by the consignor at Howard Cooper Porsche, later known as Germain Porsche and now Porsche Ann Arbor. One of the many benefits of a single-owner super sports car such as this is the familiarity between the official Porsche dealer and owner and the expected elevated level of trust between the two. Twenty visits to the selling dealer over the 19 years have ensured that this Carrera GT has remained in regular hands during those service visits, remaining at the ready for those special Michigan days that offer the most to both car and driver. Partial service records on file show a Major Maintenance in 2009 with a new windshield at 10,739 miles and two recorded maintenance visits in 2015 and 2017, the latter being a two-year service visit. Furthermore, it should be noted that all services have been conducted at the original selling dealer, Porsche Ann Arbor.

Offered with service records on file dating from 2007 to 2020, this single-owner Carrera GT is accompanied by an impressive number of delivery items including its original window sticker, owner’s manuals, hard top panel bags, centerlock socket, tools, and factory fitted indoor car cover. Furthermore, all Carrera GTs were delivered with a set of factory fitted luggage by Ruspa of Italy, color-coordinated to the selected interior color of the car. Over the years many of these sets have become disassociated with their cars, yet this Carrera GT retains a nearly complete set in Ascot Brown—an additional, and welcome benefit.

Created by specialist teams with a narrow focus and cloaked in secrecy, with little interference from the corner offices, the Porsche Carrera GT is an exquisite example of race-honed engineering brought to life on the road. Never before offered for sale, this single-owner Carrera GT, number 455, should make an enjoyable addition to those in search of the finest motorsport-derived super sports car of the 2000s. Just as Porsche intended. For the Silo, Jakob Greisen.

Internet bidding is not available for this lot. Please contact bid@broadarrowauctions.com for more information.

Transportation

These Fun, Affordable 21st-Century Cars Aren’t Classics…Yet

May 27, 2024 The Silo 1 Comment

Every so often, I engage in a particularly futile and depressing ritual—I shop for cars that I’ve foolishly let go. They’re cars that could have been feasible 10 years ago, but not today. I’ve been priced out of the market for virtually all of them. And while the market might be settling down at the moment, there are few signs of an out-and-out retreat to pre-pandemic pricing. Among cars from the 1970s through the early 1990s, there are precious few bargains. But go a little bit newer, where there’s even some depreciation yet to be done, and the picture gets more enticing. I’m talking cars from the 2000s to 2010s that are getting older, but still aren’t considered any kind of “classic” or “collectible” yet. Here are some highlights.

Fiat 500 Abarth

The 500 Abarth is the closest thing to a real hot hatch that Fiat has ever offered in the U.S., a market that is sadly short on real hot hatches. There were more interesting varieties of the Punto and Ritmo, but those were Euro-only cars that frankly weren’t very good compared to competition from Renault, Peugeot, VW, and Ford. As for the 500 Abarth, although it first arrived here in the early 2010s, the 160-hp pocket rocket feels more like a 1990s hot hatch. It’s crude, the ride is choppy, and a 10 year-old Fiat probably wears more like a 20 year-old VW. But it’s loud, analog-feeling, and fun. Most importantly, it’s cheap. Around $8000usd to $10,000usd/ $11,000cad to $13,700cad buys one with under 50,000 miles/ 80,467kms. That’s tons of fun per us or canadian dollar in a package that offers an old school driving experience in something that’s new enough to have most contemporary features and conveniences.

MazdaSpeed3

Back in the days of the Zoom Zoom tagline, Mazda fielded the incredibly entertaining MazdaSpeed3. Offered from 2007-13, it’s a four-door hatch with 263 hp and 280 lb. ft. of torque. It’s exactly the kind of car enthusiasts and auto journalists beg manufacturers for, but rarely head to a dealership and actually buy. Everyone who tested a Speed3 back in the day found the car fun, especially those of us who were entertained by the torque-steer. Car and Driver wasn’t, comparing driving the car to a game of tug-of-war. But, affordability and perfection don’t often go hand-in-hand, so for $10,000usd to $12,000usd/ $13,700cad tp $16,400cad at current prices you could do far worse than the powerful and practical Speed3.

C5 Corvette

If hot hatches aren’t your jam, there’s always the bargain Corvette of the moment, the 1997-2004 C5. While some variants, most notably the Z06, sailed beyond true affordability in the last several years, a base manual C5 with somewhere between 75,000 and 100,000 miles/ 120,000km and 160,934km can still be had in the $13,000usd to $15,000usd range/ $17,760cad – $20,490cad. That’s a huge bargain for what was an utterly clean sheet design, one of the few in Corvette history, and more performance than almost anything in this price point. Interiors are standard 2000s GM, but livable. And the styling, over a quarter-century after it was introduced, is aging quite nicely.

2003-08 BMW Z4

The 2003-08 Z4 is a bit like the C5 Corvette in that it wasn’t universally loved when new, but is aging well. Available in 2.5- and 3.0-liter six-cylinder forms, the Z4 was larger and more practical than its predecessor, the Z3. Its odd surface detailing and Kamm-tail also look better now than they did 20 years ago. The Z4’s list of maladies is well-known at this point—the VANOS variable valve-timing system can give trouble (it’s often the solenoids), as can the cooling system. These are pricy repairs, but with nice cars available in the $9000usd to $12,000usd/ $12,300cad to $16,400cad range, if you budget $2000usd-$3000usd/ $2,730cad-$4,100cad to sort things out, these can still be a compelling deal in semi-modern convertible German sports car.

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG CoupePalm Coast, Florida

2005-2014 Ford Mustang

2005 mustang convertible skyline beach — *Ford Motor Company*

You could argue that the 2005 Mustang was the first one to really look like a Mustang since maybe 1973. The brilliant Sid Ramnarace-designed S197 Mustang managed to look the part without being foolishly retro, a hard balance to achieve. Special editions, and certainly the Shelby versions of the S197 are not cheap, but a lightly optioned V-8 coupe or convertible is still one of the best cheap V-8 pony cars out there. Being a Mustang, there are always plenty on the market to choose from at any given time, and a decent manual transmission car can be had in the $12,000usd to $14,000usd/ $16,300cad to $19,130cad range. For the Silo, Rob Sass/Hagerty.

Featured image: Mazda/Guy Spangenberg

Transportation

This 1980s Tech Can Keep Gas Powered Cars Relevant In EV Age

May 17, 2024 The Silo 1 Comment

Read enough automotive-related articles on the internet and you will be convinced the internal-combustion engine is being hunted with a fervor typically reserved for villains in Jason Statham movies.

Okay, that conclusion may be extreme—but it holds some truth. Regulations regarding emissions and engine efficiency grow stricter with each passing year and manufacturers are faced with an impossible task: Take a centuries-old design and make it endlessly better—faster, cleaner, stronger, ad infinitum. At some point, progress will plateau, and the cost of ICE experimentation will simply outweigh the incremental gains in efficiency and power. The good news? The internal-combustion engine might have one more trick up its cylinder sleeve.

Fuel, air, and spark—the three things an engine needs to run. Air is one ingredient that it makes sense to leave alone. Fuel type is essentially decided by contemporary infrastructure. (Synthetic fuels are in the works, but we’re thinking of large-scale changes in the ICE design that would extend far beyond the top echelons of motorsport to the everyman (and woman) on the street.) That leaves spark as the low-hanging fruit in this equation. If a different type of ignition could more completely burn the fuel and air mixture, it would not only reduce emissions but also increase efficiency.

Enter plasma ignition.

This is what plasma looks like compared to the sharp spark of a traditional ignition system. Transient Plasma Systems, Inc

Traditional spark ignition is very simple.

A coil transforms the 12 volts from the car’s charging system into thousands of volts that discharge quickly to jump between the electrode and the ground strap of a spark plug. This forms a sharp but small zap that lights off the chemical chain-reaction that expands the air and fuel mixture to push the piston down and thus rotate the crankshaft. In order for the fuel-and-air mixture to be lit by this type of ignition system, it needs to be fairly close to a stoichiometric mixture; right around 14.7 to 1. That ratio—14.7 grams of air to one gram of fuel—puts a ceiling on efficiency. But here’s where things get interesting.

If we were able to lean out the mixture by adding air but still getting the same in-chamber expansion, and the corresponding force exerted on the piston, efficiency would increase dramatically. A lean mixture is much harder to ignite, though. So hard that you’d need transient plasma to make it happen in any reliable fashion. Technically, the spark on a standard spark plug does create plasma when it ionizes the gasses between the electrode and ground strap; transient plasma takes that small arc and dials it up to 11. If a spark plug is a zap in the chamber, plasma ignition is a TIG welder mounted in a cylinder head.

difference between spark ignition and plasma — Ionfire Ignition

This much more violent mode of ignition can regularly and predictably ignite extremely lean air/fuel mixtures. One of transient plasma’s most obvious advantages, besides a higher-efficiency combustion cycle, is that relatively low amounts of energy are used to perform a lot of electronic “work.” (The difference between energy and power, for those of you who enjoy recalling high school chemistry class.) The spark itself is not lighting a fire to burn the fuel; rather, a rapid-fire sequence of low-range electronic pulses generates a highly potent electric arc, which then breaks the bonds holding the oxygen molecules together and allows the electrons to shoot out, essentially attacking the hydrocarbons (fuel) and creating combustion. This means we are not waiting on a flame to consume the fuel and, in the amount of time between combustion and exhaust strokes, we get a more complete burn.

The most fascinating part? This technology is not new.

We traced the basic concept to patents from the 1980s, but technology has obviously come a long way since then. Outfits like Transient Plasma Systems, Inc. and Ionfire Ignition are reviving the concept and the reintroduction is timed quite nicely. (If you’ll forgive the pun.) TPS ignition systems have been tested and show a 20 percent increase in efficiency while also decreasing harmful emissions like NOx by 50 percent. Numbers like that aren’t a silver bullet in the ICE gun, but plasma ignition could keep our beloved internal combustion engines on the road longer than we’d expected. TPS claims it is working with manufacturers to integrate its ignition tech into production engines, but we are still a few years away from seeing the fruit of that collaboration.

The internal-combustion engine has undergone constant evolution for centuries, and at this point we’re extracting incremental gains. Plasma ignition could be one of the last significant improvements to be found in the ICE story. Here’s hoping that this ’80s tech, refined for the 21st century’s needs, makes its way onto the streets. For the Silo, Kyle Smith /Hagerty.

A Standard V-8 for Every Cadillac

V-8 Bronco Raptor/ Ford GT

V-8 Prowler

Honda Motors in a Modern Lotus

A Straight-Six SLK

SHO-inental, If Only

Citroën DS

The Sky Shoulda Been the Limit

Take this 2005 Porsche Carrera GT for example:

Highlights of this supercar include:

Chassis No. WP0CA29875L001120

Porsche’s engineers were fervently engaged in another ambitious project—the Carrera GT prototype, internally referred to as SCM (Super Car Millennium).

Fiat 500 Abarth

MazdaSpeed3

C5 Corvette

2003-08 BMW Z4

2005-2014 Ford Mustang

Read enough automotive-related articles on the internet and you will be convinced the internal-combustion engine is being hunted with a fervor typically reserved for villains in Jason Statham movies.

Enter plasma ignition.

Traditional spark ignition is very simple.

The most fascinating part? This technology is not new.

Canada's 'biggest little blogspace'