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TVR may be dead, but the spirit of weirdly styled, big-engined supercars lives on.
In Texas, to be precise. This is the Bailey Blade, a supercar prototype from Texan entrepreneur Neal Bailey which, we reckon, captures much of the TVR approach to car-building. At least, that bit before the Russian chappie took over and messed it all up.
OK, the Bailey Blade might, on the face of it, be another one of those 'bash an AC Cobra around in Photoshop, pick a bunch of big numbers out the air but never actually get round to building it’ garage fantasties, but there are a couple of things here that make us mildly optimistic.
First, it looks cool. It’s not exactly a subtle, understated piece of design, but tell us you wouldn’t be impressed if one passed you on the motorway.
Second, Bailey seems determined to bring the Blade into production – albeit a very limited production. He came up with the design a couple of years back, and now has a generous investor backing the project. He’s hoping to have three prototypes on the road by this autumn, and reckons he could deliver five customer cars next year.
The Blade is expected to be powered by a Roush-sourced 5.8-litre V8 putting out around 480bhp and 450lb ft of torque, though Bailey believes an all-electric version could follow.
Easy there, Mr Bailey. Keep it simple. And best of luck.
Texas star
It’s another American old-school supercar concept… but this one might actually get built
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What do you think?
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DCalhoun commented on this article
at 01:12 pm on 01 June 2009
Is it just me or does the front look like a Viper GTS?
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Afaque commented on this article
at 03:08 pm on 01 June 2009
The front and the wheels do remind me of the Viper...
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marius2 commented on this article
at 03:53 pm on 01 June 2009
I hope this car will be put into production because from this angle it looks very cool.
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Laughinggas commented on this article
at 04:17 pm on 01 June 2009
Good lord...an American car that looks alright. Ya never know, it might even go round corners.
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lambosareforeva commented on this article
at 04:43 pm on 01 June 2009
i was gonna say it looked like a TVR. well topgear beat me to the punch.
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