Monday, June 6, 2011

Viper V10-Powered Chrysler PT 10 Cruiser Pickup Truck for Sale on eBay


Whether you love it or loathe it, Chrysler’s PT Cruiser was a running success for the Detroit automaker and over its ten-year lifespan, we saw countless projects cars and tunes based on the retro-styled compact model. However, ask any true Mopar fan what the ultimate modification is for any Chrysler Group model, and you’ll most likely get the answer an engine swap with the Dodge Viper’s ferocious V10 powerplant.

Here at Carscoop, we’ve shown you plenty of Viper-powered cars ranging from a Chrysler 300 and a Dodge Challenger to a Saab 9-3 and a Jeep Wrangler. Now it’s time to add the Chrysler PT Cruiser to our list of venomous engine swaps with this eBay find.

The PT/10 Cruiser Pickup Truck is said to have been built in 2000. It is based on a custom chassis with power coming from the Viper’s V10 engine churning out 500 ponies. Other goods sourced from the Dodge sports car include the 6-speed transmission, rear suspension, steering rack and seats.

Read more »

Gumball Racer Turns Lamborghini Murcielago into an Amphicar…


When you are driving in remote areas in foreign countries, you never know what the road ahead is going to throw at you. In the case of Jon Olsson, a Swedish skier with a knack for superfast and exotic vehicles, what lied ahead at a border crossing between Greece and Turkey during the Gumball 3000 was more like a riverbed than a road…

Despite the fact that Olsson’s Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce (or SV for short) wasn’t exactly designed for these kind of road conditions, the Swede accepted the challenge and successfully passed the water crossing without any problems.

Read more »

Nissan GT-R-Powered Dacia Duster Racer Filmed Testing at Magny-Cours


The Renault Group is upping the ante for Dacia with its decision to enter the Romanian brand’s Duster crossover in the famous Pikes Peak international hill climb that will take place this year on June 26 in Colorado, USA. The purpose built racecar was spotted over the weekend testing at the Magny-Cours motor racing circuit located in France. Read more »

Load Fail: Crashed Ferrari 355 Challenge Breaks free from Chains


Today’s video find takes us to Saint Gouéno in Bretagne, northwestern France, for an incident involving a Ferrari F355 Challenge racecar, which had crashed during a hill climb that took place in the area this past weekend.

We do not know how the race-spec Italian supercar ended up on its rooftop, but the film shows us what when on after that when a service truck arrived to pickup (literally) the Ferrari. As you can see in the video after the break, all goes well until the red F355 Challenge begins its ascent on the truck’s flatbed when all of a sudden it appears that the chain pulling the vehicle breaks and, well, it is not hard to imagine what happened next...

Read more »

‘Tis Official: Mazda to Stop Building the North American Mazda6 in the USA, Successor will Come from Japan


For better or for worse, depending on which side of the line you are standing on, Mazda has confirmed rumors that it will stop building the Mazda6 at the AutoAlliance International (AAI) plant in Michigan, which it runs jointly with Ford, after the mid-size sedan's current cycle ends.

The company said the Mazda6's replacement for the North American market will be produced at its Hofu Plant in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan, adding that the decision was driven by the firm’s “ongoing efforts to increase global manufacturing efficiencies”.

Read more »

Investigators Uncover Multi-Million Pound Tax Scam in India; European Exotics, Foreign Diplomats and Bollywood Actors Involved


In what sounds more like the plot of a The Fast and the Furious movie than real life, investigators at India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence office (a.k.a. India’s IRS) have uncovered a massive exotic car smuggling operation in the nation’s capital of New Dehli. It all has to do with India’s notorious 100% import tax on new luxury vehicles.

It began with one New Dehli luxury car dealer, Sumit Walia, importing brand new luxury cars on forged invoices. These invoices listed the cars as second-hand, which saved Walia – and his customers – some 40% on import tax. Some of the cars – which included Porsches, Bentleys and Aston Martins – were found to have been stolen from the streets of Britain, France, Singapore and Japan.

Read more »

Real Life Cars 2 Characters Dock at London’s Motorexpo


The imposing fleet of 50 Jaguar E-Type models isn’t the only attraction to arrive today at London’s Canary Wharf for the free-to-visit Motorexpo as Disney and its Pixar studio sent two real life characters from the upcoming Cars 2 movie, which is set to hit UK theaters in 3D on July 22. The full-size film-star cars are the Lightning McQueen racer and the Finn McMissile Aston Martin, voiced in the movie by actors Owen Wilson and Michael Caine respectively. Read more »