It has a mouthful of a name, but you may never drive a car as muscular as it is desperately fun. It’s the 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody, baby!
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I’m in the middle of a full week with this magical machine, and even though the weather hasn’t been ideal for my first outing in a rear wheel drive performance car that boasts almost 800 horsepower, I’ve been having one hell of a time. Not only is the most satisfying gas-guzzler I’ve ever driven, but everyone in my entire family has been fielding questions about it wherever we go. I dropped my younger sister off at her math class, and all the preteens were ogling at the window. I dropped my mom off at the Nissan dealership to pick up her Armada, and she had to let people know that, no, this isn’t actually her daughter’s car. My neighbors hear the doors unlock and wait outside to ask if that’s what they think it is. My grandpa won’t stop asking for photos. My brother asked if he can have the engine to put in his Scamp. I think this is the first time my mom has been legitimately impressed by the fact that I write about cars, whereas most of the time she’s just glad I’ve found something to do that makes me happy.
Photo: Elizabeth Blackstock
It’s definitely a vehicle that demands attention, which has taken more adjustment from me than dealing with mad wheel spin on damp roads (although I’ve quite enjoyed scaring the shit out of my sister with that whole situation). No one has ever paid attention to my Mazda 2 aside from once when it was parked at COTA and someone drew a penis on the window in dust.
And I figured that, if I’m going to be writing about this fella, I should know what you want to know before I take this sweet fella out for a long weekend drive.
I feel almost nothing looking at these pictures of the new Pagani Huayra R, the latest, most hardcore and supposedly one of the last versions of the Huayra that the Italian boutique supercar maker will build.
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Like other Huayras, this one has a 6.0-liter V12 from AMG. However, this particular iteration is naturally aspirated and develops 850 horsepower. The Huayra R weighs just 2,314 pounds and generates way more downforce than any previous Pagani. It costs 2.6 million euros before tax — nearly $3.1 million — and just 30 will be built. I’m sure their owners will love ’em.
In fairness to the Huayra R, my disinterest has nothing to do with the car itself. Track-focused hypercars that can’t legally run in any category of motorsport have never made a ton of sense to me, though they’re a cool show of unbridled performance, and the Huayra R earns points for its commitment to the naturally aspirated V12 and stylish exterior. I mean, you could put a picture of this and the Zonda R next to each other and depending on how recently I woke up or how much I’ve had to drink, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell them apart — but that’s another story.
Image: Pagani
Rather, my feelings are an inevitable consequence of Pagani’s glacial release cycle. It makes a car, and then it sells special editions of that car for 10 years, and then it makes another one. It’s only done this twice, but because that’s transpired over the course of two decades, I often find myself wondering whether Pagani is still a thing or not.
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And look, Pagani doesn’t have to change its process for anybody. There’s something refreshing about the one car approach in this age of excess, and the understanding that once said car reaches its final form, like the Huayra R, it’s time to move on. So while I’m finding it hard to care about the Huayra R itself, I also sort of do because of what it represents. It’s a sign that the next Pagani is coming. As we’ve established, that’s a rare event in the course of world history.
Image: Pagani
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What will the Huayra successor be, then? It’s codenamed C10, and it’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about it. Back in 2019, founder Horacio Pagani told Road & Track that both twin-turbo V12 and battery-electric versions would be sold, with the V12 optionally paired with either a manual or a paddle-shift transmission. At the time, Pagani said the car would arrive in 2021. You can imagine there’s at least a small chance that schedule might’ve slid in the past year.
Until that day comes, we have the Huayra R — a pretty neat track machine in its own right, but also a symbol that Pagani is right on the brink of another transformation.
There’s never been a better time to get out and go camping somewhere than right now. It’s a chance to be socially distant somewhere that isn’t your house. For some, camping means buying a trailer, motorhome or a whole school bus. What if you could slide a camper into the back of your family sedan? That’s exactly what Toppola campers did for some Saabs.
The Toppola campers were a bit like the campers that you slide into the beds of pickup trucks, but meant for cars instead.
According to Toppola’s website written by one of its founders, the camper is the brainchild of Arwo Pullola. In the early 1980s, Pullola wanted to build a car camper. In 1982 he met Matts Mollestam and Peter Malmberg. The duo bought the camper project from Pullola and created EMICO. The two would bring their strengths together to build a car-based camper. Malmberg and Mollestam sold boat accessories and built boats, respectively, so they wanted their campers to be built and feel like boats. Check out this tour of one!
The team got right to work making their ideas a reality and they even managed to get 10 campers delivered in the same year, too. In case you were wondering, Toppola does have an explanation for its name:
The word Toppola came from “Topp” – on top and “ola” is a refinement of the ending as Arwo originates from Finland.
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Eventually Saab got involved in the EMICO Toppola camper project and changes to the campers came along with it. The Toppola site says that Saab wanted the campers to look as good and have a similar fit and finish as Saab cars. The Toppola camper was changed from top to bottom with updates to materials and design. A combination stove and heater was added to make cooking and winter camping possible. Saab helped the EMICO team with brochures and marketing.
The partnership between Saab and Toppola was definitely two-way. As the Toppola site says, the EMICO team was involved in the development of the Saab 9000 to make sure that the camper could slide in without issues. Toppola-equipped Saabs even appeared at dealerships during the release of the Saab 9000.
Unfortunately, the partnership between EMICO and Saab ended because, as Malmberg says in the Toppola site, Saab and EMICO were too different in size and culture. EMICO itself also closed down. Sadly, misfortune became a norm for Toppola in the following years. Not only did Toppola have delays due to getting approvals from the German TÜV vehicle inspection but its shop suffered from a destructive fire.
But between the bad news came a new idea: Make the Toppola camper compatible for any car. The unit would be separated into two pieces. The upper unit was the main living space while the lower unit would be built to fit into specific cars. Such would make the Toppola modular. Imagine being able to shove a camper into any car. It also made the Toppola campers able to be fit on pickup trucks, too.
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The Toppola campers were pretty roomy and lightweight. Check out these specs from Do It Yourself RV:
Exterior length: 10.8′ Interior height: 6.5′ Roof height when mounted: 8.2′ Weight: 330 lbs (once the hatchback was removed from the Saab, it only added 253 lbs to the vehicle’s weight).
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Image: Toppola
They appeared to be pretty durable, too. We wrote about some Swedes that took one from Sweden to Vietnam and back!
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Unfortunately, that future didn’t happen for Toppola. While Toppola got off campers for the Saab 9000, 900, and 9-3, its greater dreams never materialized. Some were also used in Ford Scorpios and Sierras. Sweden’s recession hit Toppola hard and it closed its doors in 2006. Saab didn’t last much longer.
It’s a shame because given the meteoric RV sales of today I bet something like this would be a smashing hit. Car design has also changed quite a bit since those days, but I bet a crafty engineer could get around modern car limitations.
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H/T – Austin Little!
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The launch of the midengine Chevrolet Corvette hit another small hiccup last summer, suspending sale of the very popular High Wing option after surging demand and COVID-19 pandemic complications kneecapped suppliers. The good news is that the wing is now back in stock, and you don’t need to install it at the dealership if you missed your chance on the order form.
All current owners of 2020 and 2021 model year C8-generation Chevrolet Corvette Stingray models again have the chance to add the High Wing aero appendage to their cars. It’s also available on new vehicle orders.
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Screenshot: Chevrolet.com
The wing adds more visual volume, and a number lines, to an already busy rear end. I feel it ultimately does a lot to accentuate and complement the design language Chevrolet is going for with this generation of Corvette. At least from most angles.
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Chevrolet’s website lists the High Wing accessory at an MSRP of $995, excluding any installation fees and taxes, and “may require purchase of additional equipment and/or services.” The factory wing is designed to use the C8’s existing mounting points. The checkout process showed free shipping to a local dealership in New York State when I faked the process of ordering one.
Apparently, the wing option is available only in Black, Shadow Gray, Torch Red and Arctic White at this time, matched to those Corvette body colors.
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Screenshot: Chevrolet.com
It’s unclear if the other standard colors — Ceramic Matrix Gray, Elkhart Lake Blue, Silver Flare or Zeus Bronze — will be made available on the wing later or on special request. One would imagine Chevrolet will find a way to satisfy customers who pay the $500 to $995 charge for the special Accelerate Yellow, Rapid Blue, Sebring Orange and Red Mist paint jobs on their cars and expect a paint-matched wing from the factory.
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Update, 3:20 p.m.: A Chevy spokesperson reached out Jalopnik to elaborate that a Carbon Flash wing option of the same design is available specifically through Chevrolet dealerships as a fifth option.
Of course, during that gap when Chevy wasn’t offering a factory accessory wing for one of the sportiest and most-hyped generations of America’s sports car plenty of aftermarket clones and alternatives made themselves available, so now C8 owners can shop around. ACS Composite notably had a nearly identical clone, in the same colors now available from Chevy as well as a unique carbon fiber option, for around $1,100. However, only two paint options appear to currently be in stock on the company’s website. C7 Carbon appears to be another popular OEM replica supplier for the wing at around $950.
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Customers who missed out during the six-or-so months without the wing option were offered a 25-percent discount on all Chevrolet accessories through the automaker’s website, as noted by CorvetteBlogger, which also reported on the wing option restock. That should bring the wing accessory’s MSRP down to $746.25 before anything else is factored in, if you already have a Corvette in the garage.
