Cool Car Award -- Pontiac Tojan

What? You say.  Pontiac Tojan?  Never heard of that.  Well, neither had I until about a year ago, and I just had to share it with you guys.  So, here we go.
          During the late 1980's and early 1990's, Ferrari was the leader in supercars.  Think Testarossa, 308, or F40, and you get the picture.  No one except Lamborghini and Vector came even close to dethroning Ferrari.  Well, that's not quite true.  There was the Pontiac Tojan.
          The Tojan was an experimental car made by Pontiac from 1985 to 1991, and it was pretty cool.  It had a supercharged 5.7L V8 engine with 800hp, and a top speed of 206mph.  As far as we know, anywhere from 150 to 300 of these cars were built.  One was even featured in the movie Collision Course with Jay Leno and Pat Morita.  That car later sold for just $16,500.

Interesting features of the Pontiac Tojan

1.  The prototype car had a supercharged boat engine with 900hp.
2.   The most expensive Tojan ever sold was the Collision Course movie car, which sold for $65,000 in 1986, equivalent to $150,000 now.
3.  When Carfection did a video featuring the prototype a while back, they said that the suspension was too soft, and the steering was too vague.  Too bad Pontiac couldn't fix that before they put the Tojan into production.

 

CYNHO -- 1969 Abarth 2000 Scorpione Concept

The 1970s were a time of low fuel mileage and high fuel costs, but some of the best concept cars were made then.  However, the car I am featuring today is not from the '70s.  It was made in 1969 but with that distinct wedge shape that is found only in '70s concept cars like the famed Alfa Romeo Carabo.  So, a little more about the Abarth 2000 Scorpione.
          It had a very unique design, though, unlike anything else.  From the trumpet-like exhaust pipe to the thin teardrop-shaped headlight scoops to the row of flip-up headlights in the very front, you can tell this thing means business.
          It is powered by an upgraded Fiat four-cylinder engine, producing a respectable 220hp, which, along with the car's dry weight of just 1,477 pounds, would result in some serious performance.  The car has a theoretical top speed of 175mph.  Only one prototype was made, which currently resides in the Abarth Gallery near Yamanaka Lake in Japan.

Automotive History; Cisitalia

Cisitalia, in my opinion, has made some of the best looking cars out there, and some of the best performing for their time.  But I honestly didn't know much about the company before I researched for this post, so I'm learning too.  ⚠WARNING: You just might learn something if you read this post.  Read at your own risk.
          Cisitalia was founded in 1946 by soccer player and businessman Piero Dusio.  His company dominated the Voiturette racing series in the late 1940s, but after the 360 Porsche race car was developed, it proved too complicated and expensive to go through with, and that pretty much killed any more racing attempts by Cisitalia.  Below, I have put together an overview of the Cisitalia models.

1946 -- The D46, which Piero made mostly with Fiat parts (of which he had an extensive knowledge because he had actually designed the Topolino), makes its debut, and soon after the start of its racing career, dominates the Voiturette racing series, even against the most successful race cars of the day from automakers like Ferrari, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo.
1947 -- Cisitalia gets Ferdinand Porsche to help him with a new race car, the 360.  The 360 was extremely advanced for the day, with a mid-engine 12-cykinder layout, four-wheel drive that could be switched to just rear-wheel drive even while the car was in motion, a five-speed synchromesh two-gate transmission, and independent suspension for each wheel. The car would have made about 450hp at 10,500rpm, and weighed just 1,388 pounds, but unfortunately, Cisitalia didn't go through with the plan.  The car was too complicated and expensive to make, so the project was dropped.  The Cisitalia Porsche 360 never even raced.  The same year, the 202GT is unveiled at the GIMS, and is a resounding success.
1948 -- Cisitalia is practically is financial ruin.
1949 -- The 204A Spyder Sport is made in partnership with Abarth.
1950 -- The 204 Spyder Sport goes racing for the first time, with the legendary Tazio Nuvolari at the wheel.
1952 -- Cisitalia 808XF Vignale and 303DF arrive on the scene, temporarily saving Cisitalia.
1953 -- Cisitalia collaborates with Ghia on the 505DF, of which 10 were built.
1959 -- The 750GT and 750 Spyder are unveiled, based on the Abarth 750.
1960 -- The Cisitalia Abarth 850 Scorpione is unveiled.
1961 -- Cisitalia makes one last go at saving the brand with the DF85 Coupe, but ultimately fails.  Just 35 were ever made.

And that's all, folks!

 D46 race car

Porsche 360 prototype

202

204A Spyder Sport

808XF Vignale

303DF

505DF by Ghia

750

850 Abarth Scorpione

DF85 Coupe

 

Electric startup companies that are actually promising

1.   Rivian
Rivian is an automaker you have almost definitely heard of if you follow car news.  They are going to make the R1T pickup and R1S SUV, and are also working on an all-electric delivery van for Amazon.  They are also working with Ford on a new Lincoln luxury crossover, after Ford invested $500 million in them.  We will have to see what the future holds for Rivian automotive, but I think it's good.

2.  Rimac.
Rimac was the automaker that started the electric hypercar craze.  Three cheers for Rimac!  They have so far made the C_One and C_S, and have yet to start production of the C_Two this year.  They worked with Pininfarina in developing the Battista, and they are also working with both Hyundai and Kia currently, for a sports car and performance SUV, respectively.  I can't wait to see what else they will do.

3.  Neuron EV.
Neuron EV is a small startup company from California, and while they have yet to actually make any of their cars, they do look production-ready.  So far Neuron has unveiled the T/One, Torq, and Vega.  There are prototypes of each, so I think production might happen as soon as 2021.

4.  Byton
Byton is in the same category as Rivian, with numerous production-ready prototypes, it's just that they haven't actually sold anything yet.  Their prototype models are the K-Byte and M-Byte.

5.  Lucid
Lucid is among the most promising, albeit very slowly progressing car companies on this list.  Way back in 2016 they unveiled the Air concept car as a rival to the Tesla Model S, but so far nothing has come of it.  The Air has some pretty incredible claimed performance specs, though, with a supposed 0-60 time of 2.5 seconds, and a tested top speed of 235mph!  Yes, a pre-production prototype actually reached that speed.  And all this for just $70,000!  Wow.

6.  NIO
NIO made headline back in 2017 when they unveiled the EP9 electric hypercar, and made track records with it.  But since then, they haven't put anything into production.  The models that they hope to produce are the ES8, ET, and EP9.

7.  Lightyear
The Lightyear One claims to be the first ever solar-powered car, with a range of up to 400 miles, but they have yet to verify those claims, as none have been sold, or even tested by auto magazines.  So, I'll keep my eye on them.

 Rivian R1T

 Rivian R1S

 Rimac Concept One

 Rimac Concept S

 Rimac Concept Two

 Neuron EV T/One

 Neuron EV Torq

 Neuron EV Vega

 Byton K-Byte

 Byton M-Byte

 Lucid Air

 NIO ES8

 NIO ET

 NIO EP9

Lightyear One

CYNHO -- ORA R1

The ORA R1 is a car that you will definitely not be familiar with unless you live in China.  It was unveiled just last year, but still, it's a CYNHO, so here it is.
          ORA is a new sub-brand under Great Wall in China, and this is the R1 is their second car, their first being the iQ.  It is an all-electric car, and advertised as 'the cheapest electric car', starting at just $8,566.  The previous cheapest car was the Tata Nano, at $2,000e, which was also in India.  It didn't have very good reliability, though, often bursting into flames at random times, or breaking down on steep hills, so hopefully the R1 will have better reliability.  The previous cheapest electric car was the Baojun E100, also in China and India, which started at $15,000e.  Its reliability was much better than the Nano's, needless to say.  The R1's closest rivals that I can think of are the Honda E and Fiat 500e.  The R1 has just 46hp and 96 lb-ft of torque, which allows it to do 0-30mph in 5.6 seconds.  0-60 times are not specified (probably because accelerating from 0-60mph would almost take it to its top speed, which is 62mph), but I'd guess around 11 seconds, which is expected with something this cheap and lacking in power.  The R1 has a claimed range of 218 miles, and you can charge the battery in approximately 10 hours on a standard house plug.  It is going on sale this summer, in China and India only, at least so far.