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{{trope}}
[[File:ecto-1_11 1.jpg|link=Ghostbusters|frame|<small>Only the best for the experienced ghost hunter.</small> ]]
 
{{quote|''"It's the car, right? Chicks love the car."''|'''[[Batman]]''', '''''[[Batman Forever]]'''''}}
 
Heroes need to be able to get to where the action is. And when they have to get from point "A" to point "B", no ordinary vehicle will do. The Hero's ride has to be just as unique and awesome as he/she is, namely, a [['''Cool Car]]'''.
 
[[Shaped Like Itself|It looks cool]], it goes fast, it might be modified to go even faster, it may even be bulletproof and contain [[Weaponized Car|an assortment of weapons and gadgets]]. A ''really'' [['''Cool Car]]''' can ''[[Flying Car|Fly]]''.
 
Most Cool Cars, even ones that have no inherent super abilities, will be curiously immune to breakdown, physical damage or a realistic fuel range. No matter what manner in which the hero drives, as long as he's determined to stay on the straight and narrow and fight for the forces of good, his car shows an [[Empathic Weapon]]'s ability to never get scratched, dented or even dirty. It may also be able to outperform similar or even superior vehicles simply by virtue of having the hero behind the wheel. Driving one also seems to ensure you'll have [[Rock Star Parking]] privileges. If you're ''really'' lucky, you'll have a [[Cool Garage]] to park it in.
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When a car ''literally'' becomes a character, see [[Sentient Vehicle]]. For a living creature that serves as both a vehicle and a character, see [[Sapient Steed]].
 
Contrast [[The Alleged Car]] -- but—but ''compare'' [[What a Piece of Junk!]].
 
See [[Improbably Cool Car]] for cars that are just ''too'' cool for the setting or the characters.
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** Not [[Truth in Television]]. A racer would have stripped his car of everything but the bare essentials to lose weight. Not even rear seats are spared. Not to mention turning off the radio and AC for that little bit of extra power. A giant ICE<ref>In-Car Entertainment, not [[Neuromancer|Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics]] or [[American Law Enforcement|Immigration and Customs Enforcement]]</ref> system? Unnecessary weight and power drain.
** Indeed. Anyone who races seriously (either street-legal or not) would remove as much weight as possible, and of course would not add more (ICE, neon, screens). The swapped engines are [[Truth in Television]], but fitting a modern engine to a muscle car would be, at the very least, a MAJOR effort, in both time and money. [[Rule of Cool]] applies liberally in these films.
* Herbie the Volkswagen Beetle from ''[[The Love Bug]]'' and its sequels. Even though the Última Edición version, with its marginal 50-70 &nbsp;hp, is ''the most powerful version ever made'' (a stock 1963 model- Herbie's [[Canon]] age- had 40 &nbsp;hp), it still manages to be as powerful as a stock car.
** Notice, however, that thanks to the Beetle's extremely light weight (~750 &nbsp;kg / 1650 &nbsp;lb) it ''is'' possible to turn an ordinary Beetle into something as fast as a stock car without having to use a huge engine.
** Rally-racing Beetles have usually 100-120 &nbsp;hp engines, rarely 150 &nbsp;hp, and they are stripped down to about 650 &nbsp;kg. They outrun Vipers in the twisties. And out-accelerate them in straight lines.
** Reportedly, the version of Herbie used in the track racing scenes was stripped down and outfitted with a Porsche 911's flat-6.
* Pick a [[James Bond (film)|Bond]] film, any Bond film.
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* The DeLorean in the ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]]'' film trilogy. The version in ''[[Back to The Future The Animated Series]]'' had even more gadgets attached.
{{quote|'''Doc Brown''': The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some ''style?''}}
** The real-life DeLorean is probably the coolest car ever made, at least in terms of aesthetics. Its gull-wing doors required far less room to open than regular ones, for example. Beyond that, however, it was a perfect example of [[The Alleged Car]]. It was horribly unreliable -- theunreliable—the "stainless" steel body suffered from staining, the windows would occasionally fall out when the gull-wing doors were opened, and despite the perception that it's fast, ''Road & Track'' clocked its 0-60 &nbsp;mph speed at ''10.5 seconds'' -- slow—slow even back then. These problems were obviously exaggerated in the movie, especially in that it always fails at the most inconvenient moments, but they are mostly [[Truth in Television]].
*** And the Lamborghini Countach? A DeLorean on steroids.
** If you think the time machine was cool, you might not want to know [http://www.bttf3delorean.com/Where_are_they.html what happened] to most of the cars after production ended; most of them have sat in warehouses, some even being disassembled for spares to be used on replicas ([[Fridge Logic|Why not just restore the cars and use them?!]]) The pictures are absolutely [[Tear Jerker|heartbreaking]]...until you learn the story of [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|the last one]].
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** Although it's not technically a car, {{spoiler|the train}} from the end of the third movie probably counts.
* The Ecto-1 from ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' and its [[The Real Ghostbusters|related]] [[Extreme Ghostbusters|material]]. It may be a bit of a subversion, as the model of car used was shown to be old and junky (and generally used as a hearse, i.e., to transport dead bodies for burial), yet it is still considered a cool car due to its visually striking appearance.
** On the other hand, the Ghostbuggy is the preferred mode of transport for the other guys, ''[[Filmation's Ghostbusters|Filmations Ghostbusters]]''--is—is an uncool, beat-up old jalopy. At least until it decides to transform into an airplane, speedboat, snowmobile... "[[Doctor Who|Did I mention it]] ''[[Doctor Who|also]]'' [[Doctor Who|travels in time?]]"
* "The Last of the V-8 Interceptors" in the first two ''[[Mad Max]]'' films.
** That car is a 1973 Ford XB Falcon, just for anybody wondering.
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** [[Memetic Mutation|And he built them IN A CAVE! With a BOX OF SCRAPS!]]
* Subverted in 2008's ''[[Get Smart (film)|Get Smart]]''. The Tiger Sunbeam he drove in the first few seasons was part of a [[Cold War]] museum display, and after his [[Prison Break]] Smart takes it to try to catch the bad guys. Unfortunately, though, it runs out of gas shortly thereafter, leaving him needing to find other transportation (other cars from the series, an Opel GT and Volkswagon Kharmann Ghia, also appear in the movie).
* Frank Martin of ''[[The Transporter]]'' has used a few these, including a one-off manual BMW E38 750i--or750i—or 735i; depends on the interpretation of Tarconi's accent--(the first film), an Audi A8 L, a Lamborghini Murcielago (both in the second) and a W12-powered Audi A8 (the third movie).
* Xander Cage's car in ''[[XXX]]'' is cool squared. Not only is it a '67 Pontiac GTO, it's also stuffed with enough weaponry and gadgetry for more than half a dozen [[James Bond]] movies.
* ''The Wraith''. An unnaturally cool car.
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'''Cash:''' That is an RV from Hell. Care to join me? }}
* ''[[Undercover Brother]]''. The title character's Cadillac Coupe de Ville, with built-in tape launcher and slick sprayer.
* The so called "Durango 65" from [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'', actually an [http://www.carmk.net/media/2010/10/20101023084353271.jpg M-505 Adams Brothers Probe 16] - a super limited edition (only 3 were ever built) supercar built in England in 1969. The car was specifically chosen by Kubrick based on how cool and futuristic it was. It's main party piece was the fact that it was so low (only 86 &nbsp;cm or 34 inches in height) that it couldn't use normal doors, instead driver and passenger ingressed via an electric sliding glass roof.
* [[Elvira, Mistress of the Dark|Elvira]]'s Macabremobile.
* The Deathmobile in ''National Lampoon's [[Animal House]]''.
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* The Great Red Shark and The Great White Whale from ''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]''. The Great Red Shark is arguably the fourth biggest character (behind Raoul Duke, Dr. Gonzo, and Drugs).
* [[Stephen King]] has written not one but '''two''' novels about haunted Cool Cars - ''Christine'' and ''[[From a Buick 8]]''.
* The Deliverator from ''[[Snow Crash]]''. Probably the only [[Cool Car]] with its own pizza warmer.
** Ng, a weapons dealer who plays a central role in the book's plot, also has a "wheelchair" which he converted from a German airport firetruck and outfitted with all sorts of goodies, such as a spy helicopter, guided missiles, and cybernetic attack dogs.
{{quote|'''Ng:''' I tried prostheses for a while--some of them are very good. But nothing is as good as a motorized wheel chair. And then I got to thinking, why do motorized wheelchairs always have to be tiny pathetic things that strain to go up a little teeny ramp?}}
* [[The Dresden Files|Harry Dresden]]'s Blue Beetle [[The Alleged Car|barely qualifies as a car]] (except maybe for other [[Walking Techbane|wizards]]), but Thomas' Hummer is cool.
** And [[wikipedia:Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith|Lara's loaner]] is the stuff of legends.
** Grevaine's ride ain't half bad--itbad—it's a classic Cadillac with a suped-up sound system used to power the living dead.
* In ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant]]'' the title character starts off driving a classic Bentley, but when it gets wrecked is forced to temporarily replace it with a hideous [[The Alleged Car|yellow hatchback]].
** The third book reveals that Skulduggery has uncool cars stashed all over the place. This suggests that he is either very fond of his car (and doesn't want to drive it into situations he knows will be dangerous) or it gets damaged a lot.
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* Subverted in [[Charles Stross]]'s ''[[The Laundry Series|The Jennifer Morgue]]'': Bob's company Smart Car is suited for city cruising. It is emphatically ''un''suited for driving on the Autobahn, where every passing Mercedes and Porsche sets it rocking in the turbulence. It is ''further'' unsuited for the offroad driving that he has to do, where the suspension manages to make him nauseous. {{spoiler|That is, until Pinky and Brains manage to make a couple of [[James Bond|Q-style]] upgrades to it, which boosts the coolness rating waaay up. And then it's finally subverted ''again'' at the end when the engine locks up and demands to be returned to the factory for maintenance.}}
* [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] drives a Daimler that he has named "Mrs. Murdle," after a character from Charles Dickens. He likes to drive it fast, too, but is fortunately very good at it.
* The standard [[Cool Car]] in [[Kim Newman]]'s ''[[Diogenes Club]]'' stories is the Rolls Royce ShadowShark, only six of which were ever made. [[The Cowl|Dr Shade]] has one. [[Big Bad|Derek Leech]] has one. [[The Hero|Richard Jeperson]] has ''three''.
{{quote|'''Leech''': Mine plays the theme from ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'' when I press the horn.<br />
'''Jeperson''': Mine, I'm delighted to say, doesn't. }}
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** One of the first things to go into the script, which had the working title of "Ford Cortina".
** Later, in ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'', Gene Hunt has a bright red Audi. "Fire up the Quattro!"
*** The actual car is a 1983 Quattro (in 1981, the Quattro wasn't available in a native British format). Phillip Glenister admitted in an interview that the producers knew it, but [[They Just Didn't Care]], because...well, it was a [[Cool Car]].
** Sam Tyler's [[Cultural Translation|Chevelle SS]] in [[Life On Mars|the American version]].
* Steve Urkel's BMW Isetta, from ''[[Family Matters]]'', ''isn't'' cool. In fact, it's so [[The Alleged Car|terrible and antiquated]] that it may punch through the bottom, wrap around to the top and become cool. Or maybe not. ''He'' thinks it's cool, anyway, but he's an [[Extroverted Nerd]].
** ''May'' be so uncool it's cool? You've never seen the action around one at a car show!
* Gladys Crabtree (aka "Mother") from ''[[My Mother the Car]]'' is likewise ''not'' a Cool Car.
* Accidental subversion: as part of a [[Product Placement]] deal, Hiro and Ando treat the Nissan Versa as though it were a cool car in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' -- when—when unfortunately, it's just a mundane family compact. And being from Japan, they wouldn't even know it as a "Versa" -- in—in Japan and Latin America, they call it "Tiida" (that last bit can be explained away by the fact that they read it in the ad for an American comic book. And it's a rental car bought in America).
* Used somewhat inexplicably in ''[[Torchwood]]'', given that the titular organisation is meant to be a secret, making the decision to drive around in a very distinctive and eye-catching vehicle with the name stenciled onto it a rather strange idea.
* The 1967 Chevy Impala, [[Fan Nickname|known by fans as the "Metallicar"]], driven by the Winchesters on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', which, some have argued, has achieved co-protagonist status, along with Sam and Dean.
** Some fans believe it to be sentient, as seen in [http://community.livejournal.com/the_dean_show/18319.html this webcomic], which is quite popular in the fandom.
* The old Krofft series ''Wonderbug'' combined the titular [[Cool Car]] with a [[Secret Identity]] as an old junker of a dune buggy called "Schlep Car". The buggy's secret identity was so junky that even the letters on its license plate were crooked, while its superpowered form was sentient, had an actual face (made by its headlights and bumper), and could ''fly''.
** Why Wonderbug would ever switch back to that old wreck was beyond me, even as a child of the '70s/'80s. There was an episode I vaguely remember, where Schlepcar got stuck on railroad tracks because ''he didn't have the power to drive over them''. Um, how about hitting the magic horn, Barry?
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'' the Third Doctor spent much of his time on Earth driving around in 'Bessie', an antiquated canary-yellow roadster which on first glance would look the furthest thing from 'cool' you could think of. It's quickly revealed, however, that the Doctor's constant tinkering and playing around have made it a super-powered car that anyone would kill to drive.
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** Yeah, it's too bad he had to {{spoiler|blow it up.}}
** It came back in early season 5 with Fiona behind the wheel, serving as Michael's getaway vehicle. Seeing the charger run again really meleted this troper's heart and the fact that Michael refers to it as his friend.
* Pretty much every car seen in ''[[Mad Men]]''. After Betty {{spoiler|inherits her late father's 1961 Lincoln Continental}} it's noted in-series that that ''is'' a [[Cool Car]] for a thirtysomething housewife and mother even in its day, it's not just the [[Gorgeous Period Dress|Gorgeous Period Chrome]].
* The Batmobile in the campy 1960s ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' series was the coolest thing on the show.
** It was reworked by George Barris for the show from a concept car made by Lincoln for the 1957 auto show circuit. [http://www.bat-mania.co.uk/main/vehicles/images/lincoln_futura.jpg In its' original mint green with chrome trim], it's even cooler.
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** [[Gekisou Sentai Carranger|Pegasus Thunder]], a 4th-generation Chevrolet Camaro with flight ability. Better known to Americans as [[Power Rangers Turbo|Lightning Cruiser]]. The Ranger Vehicles/Turbo Zords also qualify, particularly as the Turbo Zords since those can sizeshift.
* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'': The Radbug. A modified Volkswagen Beetle with flight capability and super speed capability while airborne. Technically came from ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger]]'', but it was used more often in American footage.
* Jersey detective Jim Bergerac's 'maverick' personality was expressed by driving a Burgundy 1947 Triumph Roadster. The producers thought it looked cool but, as many a critic and viewer noted, it was a car supremely unsuited to Jersey's narrow, winding roads and 40mph40&nbsp;mph speed limits.
* ''[[The Mentalist]]'''s Patrick Jane drives a classic French car - a metallic grey Citroen DS.
* ''[[Mike and Molly]]'' has Mike buying a 1957 Chevy Bel Air. It turns in [[The Alleged Car|a lemon]] [[Informed Flaw|through dialogue alone]], and is sold back to the previous owner.
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* The entire point of the ''[[Need for Speed]]'' games after ''Underground'' is about building and racing in ''Fast And Furious''-style tuned cars. ''Underground'' only featured import tuner cars, but ''Underground 2'' also featured a couple of European and American sports cars. ''Most Wanted'' and ''Carbon'' finally upped the ante by letting you tune exotic cars. ''Just imagine driving a Lamborghini Gallardo with vinyls, custom paint job and whatnot!''
** Previously, it focused on exotic cars only...which isn't half bad either.
** The colloquial [[Cool Car]] from ''Most Wanted'' and ''Carbon'' is an FIA [[GT 2]]-spec BMW M3 GTR. In ''Most Wanted'', half the reason for the story is to get the car (the other half is revenge) but it's unmodifiable. In ''Carbon'', it's your starting car, but shortly gets trashed. However, completing an arbitrary set of objectives allows you to buy the street version of the M3 GTR, and then modify it to your liking.
* ''[[Racing Lagoon]]'', Squaresoft's old [[PS 1]]'s "''High Speed Driving RPG''" game features night racing storyline with customizable cars. Equipping the body modifier parts into a regular city car will turn it into either a custom GT racer, an old-looking car, a gigantic Dragster or even an exotic Le Mans racing car. Not to mention the [[Artifact of Doom|Tune-Up Of Doom]] machines that are seriously cool.
* The Mako from ''[[Mass Effect]]''. Technically it's a tank, but even without the guns it would be one heck of a ride.
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** The Porsche family (Dr. Ferdinand Porsche and his son Dr. Ferry Porsche) founded both companies and are responsible for Beetle and the 911. In addition, they both use air-cooled flat engines and have shared technology for years, and will soon merge. It would be surprising only if the VW couldn't fit a Porsche engine.
** This particular stunt is used succssfully by the protagonist robber in one of the Parker novels by Richard Stark (i.e. Donald Westlake).
** The Porsche is the 2.0-litre engined 911 (1964-1969) and the engine can provide in stock form from 110-130 &nbsp;hp in milder versions to 180-190 &nbsp;hp in the European non-catalyzed 911S. And a 7000 rpm redline. Good luck.
* Speaking of Ferdinand Porsche's brainchilds, the humble VW Beetle aka Type 1, [[The Love Bug|Herbie's]] [[Real Life]] counterpart, might have been the sub-zero on the scale of coolness. Most upgradable, tunable and modifiable car in human history, it went from a 1938 puny, below 1-liter engine ''[[Weak but Skilled|which was still specifically designed to run for all day at 100 kph]]'', not freeze because it was air-cooled and not overheat while pushing a [[wikipedia:Kubelwagen|four-man small Jeep]] in the North African Campaign at 80 kph... to modern drag-racing monsters running 1000hp1000&nbsp;hp from 2.3 liters and rally-racing Beetles which out-accelerate Vipers. And most mechanical parts like gearbox or brakes are so overbuilt and over-engineered they do not need further upgrades to support engine power. And it stayed in series production [[Badass Grandpa|for 65 years]]. This Troper owns a 1966 one and is very proud of it.
* The [[wikipedia:File:Ford Nucleon.jpg|Ford Nucleon]] [[Awesome but Impractical]] turned [[Up to Eleven]], and dosed with a lovely [[I Love Nuclear Power|green glow.]]
* The [[wikipedia:Citroen DS|Citroen DS]] was a car so revolutionary that Citroen was worried that its future models wouldn't live up to its coolness (they were right). It had, in 1955, power steering, aerodynamic cornering headlamps, front-wheel drive, crumple zones, collapsable steering columns, disc brakes, and a hydropneumatic, self-leveling suspension that gave it an unbelievably smooth ride (and wound up saving Charles de Gaulle's life from an assassination attempt in 1962 -- the1962—the car had suffered two flat tires from bullets but was still able to escape at high speed thanks to this unique suspension system) -- all features that would take decades to show up on other cars. Plus, its aerodynamic outer body design was so slinky and smooth that it would inspire [[Perverse Sexual Lust]] out of almost ''anyone'' (it is, after all, [[Everyone Looks Sexier If French|a French car]]). It would later be ranked as the third most influential car of the 20th century (behind only the Ford Model T and the Mini), and it is still, in some aspects, a car way ahead of its time.
* The [[wikipedia:Saab 900|Classic Saab 900]] was the Nordic counterpart of the Swiss Army Knife. Might have looked [[Boring but Practical]] in the age of [[wikipedia:Testarossa|flashy Ferraris]] and [[wikipedia:Lancia Delta#First generation|turbocharged Lancias]], but its quirky design, turbocharged engines, well-thought suspension, superior ergonomics, very efficient HVAC and long life even in the Scandinavian climate provided an everyday supercar for whomever was brave enough to live with it. Not incidentally it become [[James Bond]]'s personal car in [[The Eighties]].
* The Lunar Rover/Moon Buggy. Makes one kinda miss NASA's old [[Scavenger World]] aesthetic.
* Two words: Bugatti Veyron. Three words: [http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/mansory-bugatti-veyron-vincero Mansory Bugatti Veyron]. Four words: [http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/bugatti-veyron-bleu-centenaire-1/ Bugatti Veyron Bleu Centenaire]. Four words and a number: [http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/04/bugatti-veyron-16-4-super-sport-sets-land-speed-record-at-267-81/ Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport]
** One more number: 1,050 horsepower. (Bugatti lists the engine power as 1,001 &nbsp;bhp, presumably because that number is easier to remember.)
*** Not quite so. The request had been to generate "over 1000 bhp" [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|regardless of the measurement system used]]. 1001 PS (metric hp) means 987 &nbsp;bhp, while 1001 &nbsp;bhp means 1015 PS. To be true to their word, the manufacturers made each engine to generate between 1020 and 1050 &nbsp;bhp, so it's still "over 1000".
*** And just to make things clear, the Super Sport is currently the fastest Production car in the world, it was apparently purposely designed to reclaim its title as fastest production car in the world from the [[Top Gear|Big-Fast-Shelby-American-Car-Thingy]] which was the title holder of the time at 256mph256&nbsp;mph. The Bugatti team were expecting it to go at least 258mph258&nbsp;mph, but as the onboard-speedometer showed (which read in Kilometers) it ran at 414kph (which was the target speed) ''[[Serial Escalation|and kept climbing]]''. 2 Runs later and after getting an Average speed it could went at 431.81kph which -translated into miles- is roughly 267mph267&nbsp;mph beating the old record by a ''mile'' ([[Don't Explain the Joke|or to be precise, 11]]).. And to think it still has all the luxuries of a normal Veyron makes it even more amazing.
*** The coolest number associated with the Veyron is 120. That's how many '''''feet''''' it needs to accelerate from zero to 60 &nbsp;mph.
* [[wikipedia:McLaren F1|The Mclaren F1 ]], it may not hold the title of fastest production car anymore, but who cares? its still one of the prettiest, and coolest cars ever to exist (plus the driver seat is in the middle, with a passenger seat on either side, that's one more person you can carry in it when compared to other sports/super cars)
** Actually, it still holds the title of fastest naturally aspirated car, as the Bugatti Veyron, Konigsegg CCR and SCC Ultimate Aero TT exploit forced induction (turbochargers and superchargers) to reach their top speeds.
** How cool is the F1? The engine bay is lined with ''gold''. This is not some vanity feature, though. The F1's carbon fibre body panels and monocoque required signifigant heat insulation. No common material was really up to snuff, so Gordon Murray used gold for it's superior heat reflection capabilities. In other words, the bling literally keeps it cool.
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** Let's be more specific... How about the [http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/pic/3506/Dome-S102-Judd_3.html Dome S102], [http://images.forum-auto.com/mesimages/394421/1992MagnyCoursev23.jpg Peugeot 905 'Supercopter'] (never raced sadly), [http://www.dyna.co.za/cars/Audi-R8C.jpg Audi R8C] (only raced once, sadly).
** The 1971 [http://robson.m3rlin.org/cars/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/porsche-917-1971-test-kauhsen-siffert-5.jpg Porsche 917 LH, in Martini colours]. To quote from the Autosport.com message board; "I asked a teenage Lewis Hamilton fan when this car was from. He said, 'dunno, nineties?'"
** Special mention to the McLaren MP4/4 driven by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost for the 1988 Formula 1 season. The car was one of the last of the "[[In-Series Nickname|turbo monsters]]" with a 1.5 litre 1200hp1200&nbsp;hp twin-turbo Honda V6 engine. In the hands of Senna and Prost it became the most dominant Formula 1 car ever made winning 15 out of 16 races it competed in (10 of which were 1-2 finishes) as well as 15 pole positions and 10 fastest laps.
** [[wikipedia:Mazda 787B|The 1990 Mazda 787B]], listed because it's the only japanese car to have won Le Mans, as well as without a piston engine, which produced it's ''limited'' max power at ''9000 RPM'' (in an endurance racer!), the true maximum power beeing 930 &nbsp;hp at '''10500'' RPM(!). [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_kEeRaS3UM&feature=related The noisiest le mans racer ever ?]. But the best is that by the end of the le mans win, mazda engineers (after telling the driver to ignore the limiter in some parts) dismounted the engine and found that it could still do ''another'' 24 race. The rotary engine was banned afterwards.
** In any list of cool race cars, there are always 2 cars that are bound to compete for the top slots. The Ferrari 250 GTO and its rival, the Ford GT40. The former is so iconic and nowadays, so rare that when it appeared on Top Gear, it could not be driven simply because the BBC could not afford to pay the insurance for it.
* The older electric cars could be heart-stoppingly ugly, but some of the newer ones are certainly cool looking at least - the Aptera 2 Series, which looks like it was made for George Jetson, and the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car that managed to impress '''[[Top Gear|Jeremy Clarkson]]''' (a man who is usually rather disdainful of electric cars).
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** Speaking of old electric cars, [[Nikola Tesla]] once modified a 1931 Pierce-Arrow with an all electric engine, which drew power from ''the air'', letting his Pierce-Arrow hit speeds up near 90 miles per hour. ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|In the 1930's!]]''
* Many official cars used by heads of state fit into this category. The limousine currently used by the President of the United States (often called "Cadillac One" or "The Beast") is a monster, fitted with 5-inch thick armor plating that could take anything short of a direct hit by an anti-tank round, yet can accelerate and move faster than most commercially-available vehicles. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo5zH0Il8B0 Has difficulty with driveways, though.]
* [[Lethal Joke Character|The Caterham Super Seven.]] descendant of the old Lotus Seven. Yes it looks like a cross between a go-kart and a 1930s racer, and yes, its 250-hp 2-liter engine may appear to be a joke by virtue of it being from a Ford Mondeo. Now that you're done laughing, take into account the fact that it is so friggin' light (506 &nbsp;kg, or 1,116 pounds) that it has a power-to-weight ratio greater than the Bugatti Veyron. Let's reinterate: its power-to-weight ratio is better than the ''Bugatti Veyron'', the fastest production car in existence ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tN6_xUL8j4 it actually got around the Top Gear test track a second quicker than the Veyron did]). It's also a fraction of tthe cost and is a hell of a lot more fun to drive.
* Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima's [http://rundeautochat.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/01-hill-climb-suzuki-sx4-sport.jpg Pikes' Peak Suzuki Escudo]. Holder of the record time up the mountain. [[Cool Old Guy]] + Cool Car = Win.
* The [[Boring but Practical|agricultural-looking]] humble Land Rover Defender. It literally started its life as an [[Torches and Pitchforks|agricultural implement which could also burn banana oil]] in 1948, far from the glamorous military career of the American Jeep. Extreme construction simplicity combined with aluminium-alloy bodywork immune to corrosion made it able to outlive modern Jeeps, SUVs and other 4x4 animals [[Badass Grandpa|by decades]], and has remianed unchanged in that time (excluding a few engine upgrades). It has become the hallmark of African safaris, the all-enduring donkey able to carry what it breaks the camel's back and a bit more. And the British military still clings to it above all the Humvees in the world.
** [http://www.lr-mad.co.uk/pics/lrpvx2.jpg the Land rover Perentie LRPV], part of the 'Perentie' 6x6 series of land rovers developed by and for the australian army and SASR, its essentialy a defender put on steroids to cope with the australian conditions, features include 2 machine gun mounts (one on a cupola the other on the passgengers seat), 6x6 drive, a fuel capacity of 365 litres (giving it a range of about 1600 &nbsp;km between drinks), an integrated cab and body structure with stowing facilities for equipment and rations as well as a low profile over the crew area. and a mounting rack so it can ''carry its own motorcycle'' for scouting purposes. [http://www.allisons.org/ll/4/LandRover/Perentie/LRPV01.jpg as demonstrated here]
*** It should be noted, however, that both the LRPV and standard 4x4 110s used by the Australian Army do away with the [[The Alleged Car|notoriously unreliable]] stock engine and install an Isuzu Diesel.
* The American counterpart of the Ferrari... errr... [[wikipedia:Studebaker Avanti|the Studebaker Avanti]] was a car so cool that it [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|outlived by decades the company who designed it]], simply because it was too cool to drop. Although designed by the early 1960s, it was far beyond what the [[Boring but Practical|traditional American car]] was supposed to be: aerodynamic fiberglass body, modern disc brakes, modern suspension, powerful V8 engines, a design straight from [[Buck Rogers]] strips. Just after the Studebaker closure of 1964, all it took were a few enthusiastic people and leftover parts to keep production running up to [[The Eighties]], when another company took over, [[It Got Worse|got bankrupt itself]], let another one to take over... even when the last owner [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|got imprisoned for fraud]] the brand still [[Made of Iron|didn't give up]]. As of 2005, they were still in production.
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* The Ford GT-90 concept car. Too bad it was never produced.
** To go into detail, this car used two engines fused together, raising the horsepower to 720 and the top speed to around the Veyron... Along with the exaust being so darn hot that it required ceramic inulation like that of the space shuttle to keep the car from melting.
* Almost everything Lamborghini has ever made can qualify as a [[Cool Car]]. Some of the most famous names of cars from this company are the [[Badass Grandpa|Miura]], [[Memetic Badass|Countach]], Jalpa, [[Super Speed|Diablo]], [[Badass|Murcielago]] and as of late, the [[TV Tropes Made of Win Archive|Aventador]]. Special Mention goes to the [[TV Tropes Made of Win Archive|Reventon]], just [[wikipedia:Lamborghini Revent%C3%B3nReventón|looking at it]] is explanation enough.
** The 1995 version of the Lamborghini Diablo SE30, it has most of the accesories removed in exchange for more horsepower and a high enough top speed to rival NASCAR, only 150 were ever made and Jamiroqaui frontman Jay Kay owned one of them, he wanted it shipped overseas so it could appear in the video for ''Cosmic Girl'', too bad for him the car's handler couldn't resist taking the Diablo on a joyride and smashing it up beyond repair.
** On the subject of Lambo's, the Countach would count since it was the first Lamborghini to use their infamous swing up doors. (Fact: They were used because normal doors just would not work with the design, a classic case of [[Awesome Yet Practical]].)
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* The 2010 Onyx Ranger Rover, only 300 were ever made and GI Motors gave one of them as a free gift to none other then [[Lindsay Lohan]].
* The Overfinch Holland & Holland Range Rover. A collaboration between Land Rover tuner Overfinch and custom gun make Holland & Holland. In addition to all the usual luxury refinements, the car has the best optional extra ever fitted to any car in the whole of human history - a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krqxEm1BlhM#t=6m56s self replenishing drinks cabinet filled with Vokda, Whisky and Champagne that Overfinch will top up free off charge for the first year you own the car].
* [[wikipedia:Buick GNX#Grand National.2C T-Type and GNX|Buick GNX and it's siblings]]. Not only because it could out-accelerate the magnificent Ferrari 288GTO to 60mph60&nbsp;mph, but because [[A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing|it was a wolf in sheep's skin]], so ugly and dated that few people would believe what sort of punch could it pack back then.
* [http://www.carlustblog.com/2011/05/its-a-duesey.html Duesenbergs]. They were some of the biggest, fastest, and most luxurious American cars ever made and were highly regarded by even the car makers in Europe. The most famous were the [[wikipedia:Duesenberg#Birth of a legend: Duesenberg J .281928.E2.80.931937.29|Model Js.]]
** The supercharged "SJ" introduced in 1932 could do 0-60 in 8.5 seconds, hit 104 MPH in second gear, and top out at between 135-140. If that somehow does not impress you, keep in mind that a Duesenberg Model J typically weighed around 5,000 pounds and had the drag coefficient of a barn door--anddoor—and that in 1932, most production cars couldn't do 60 MPH, period. As the saying went, the only car that could pass a Duesenberg was another Duesenberg--andDuesenberg—and only with the lead driver's consent!
* Any car that has the title of a famous racer or driver such as the Lamborghini Gallardo 550-2 Valvetino Balboni or the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss.
* The Pontiac Banshee concept car. It was a two-seat sports car that rivaled even the Corvette in coolness in the early-mid sixties. Too bad it was shot down before production.
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