Spike, the trash-talking Cockney vampire from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was one of the major reasons to watch the show.In addition to the coolest coat ever, he was the very epitome of reckless revelment in the resplendence of life.
And, he drove a bitchin' car.
Even though I've discussed most of the major inspirations for my hypothetical Gingermobile (the General Lee and James Bond's cars, for example) I thought that the car Spike rolled up to Sunnydale with in Season 2 was worthy of a mention:
Obviously, Spike's car had flame-paintwork, blacked out windows and a big dent in the front, where he'd repeatedly run over the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign.Spike's 1960 DeSoto Adventurer matched the luxury and class of James Bond's Bentley and Simon Templar's Hirondel. However, his particular model was also run-down, rough-and-ready and battle-scarred, making it a good match for the General Lee. It was the best of both worlds - a luxury car that you could climb in through the windows.
Performance wise, the hi-output V8 and heavy-duty suspension of the DeSoto Adventurer made this two-door hardtop a pretty impressive vehicle when it hit the blacktop. It came with a 350 horsepower engine with optional fuel injection as early as 1958. That's pretty impressive, considering my '85 Firebird still sucked gas through Holley carburetors.
As far as a realistic Gingermobile goes, the Adventurer suffers from being extremely rare and extremely valuable. This rules it out. Why? Because as I've considered the requirements of my potential steed, I've added another 'must have' to the list.
- Fast
- Big
- Luxurious
- Tough
- 'Rough and Ready'
- Two-door with a big boot
- You can climb in and out of the windows
- Overall purchase/modification price is less than $10,000
Well, part of the appeal of the Gingermobile is that it would have to be real. This magnificent chariot might only be hypothetical, but one day, I still intend to get own it.
Like with Adventure Eddy's Pontiac Trans Am, the Gingermobile has to be the sort of vehicle that somebody of my modest means could actually get their mitts on - without immediately being tempted to sell it to pay off my wife's student loans.
Obviously, if I had an unlimated budget I could afford a Ferrari or Aston Martin, or any type of dream car - but that's pie-in-the-sky stuff. I want a car I could really see myself owning in a year or two. Therefore, the price has got to be right.
The good news? That still leaves the door open for a wide range of cars. Even a '69 Dodge Charger, like the General Lee, is still on the cards. Banged-up Chargers regularly go for $6,000-7,000 on eBay.
All these stringent demands are thinning the list of options, but making the goal of finding my perfect Gingermobile all that more tangible.
2 comments:
My friend has a DeSoto (her blog is Betty Boogies Oddventure on my blog roll) and loves it. She's a stay at home mom of of four and bout it to avoid a mini van.
Hey thanks for checking out my post about the Desoto. It's a bit worse than a damp smell. We get a lot of rain here so the real problem is that with so much water getting into the car it's impossible to keep the windows from being foggy, I mean realy foggy, bring a squeegee and stop once in a while to squeegie the windows. I read your previous post about the Stickshift vs automatic. I generally prefer driving a stickshift but the push-button automatic on the Desoto has enough of the coolness factor to make up for it. :-) I found the Desoto on Craigslist and first fell in love with the dash, then the rest. Best of luck finding the perfect Gingermobile!
Post a Comment