Jay Leno on "Rides"

[lieu910]

Anyone catch this episode with Leno where he puts a modified Corvette chassis under a Toranodo?

What a piece of work and I have to agree with Jay on the beauty of that design. Very clean and it has held up well.

Must be nice to be able to get GM to build a prototype motor specially for you also.

I'd much rather have that Toronado than that new Bentley GT.

 

[Vector]

I was in a doctors office, so the magazines were old - go figure.
Anyway, there was an issue of Popular Mechanics from early 2004 and the Leno's Garage section was about his 1955 Buick Road Master.
He put in a 572 cubic inch roller motor pumping well over 600 hp and 600 ft. lbs.
He put in a C4 and C5 Corvette front and rear suspension; to accommodate for the extra weight he had custom springs made and installed; he put on 17 inch wheels but painted them to look like stock 1955 15 inch wheels.
Leno wrote that he could keep up with Porsche's on the windy canyon roads of southern California in his Road Master.

 

[kenny]

The Toronado was cool, but I think the 1,000hp figure was a little high.

The intercooler wasn't the best idea, either.

 

[bruce]

Originally posted by lieu910
Anyone catch this episode with Leno where he puts a modified Corvette chassis under a Toranodo?
What a piece of work and I have to agree with Jay on the beauty of that design. Very clean and it has held up well.

Must be nice to be able to get GM to build a prototype motor specially for you also.
I'd much rather have that Toronado than that new Bentley GT.

Yep.
What a sweet deal.

 

[RBE17]

I saw it last night. I'm not crazy about the body style, but the concept behind the project was awesome. Twin turbo, 427 w/ 15 degree heads...oh yeah!!! That would put a smile on anyone's face. The pure amount of fabrication that went into that car was incredible. I thought it odd they used a water/air IC, but they made custom tanks to fit in the front fenders and the antenna had to run through one of them. I would love to build cars like that for a living.

Later,


Steve.

 

[turbofish38]

I saw the show too.
Yep,It looks like Jay is now a spokesman for GM Performance Parts. I've been getting some stuff from them and Jay is all over the place. Sounds like a cool deal for GM and Jay. He gets the parts in trade for some good press.

The only thing that pissed me off about the Toro was how they show Jay mixing it up with the brass and he is yammering on about the clean design and the merits of FWD and how it was so state of the art back in 66 and how he hates the idiots putting 22"-24" tires on classic cars. You would think it was a restored car the way the tape was edited. Than you see him doing a burnout in the thing, RWD turbo'd LS7 18" wheels and everything else he was just bad mouthing.

I have to admit that I like Jays approach to car crafting. Keep it stock looking on the outside and stuff as much power as you can under the hood. BTW what you didn't see on the show was the car barely ran when it was on display at the SEMA show. GM put the car on their chassis dyno and dialed in the PCM for Jay and they did get at least 1K HP out of it.

 

[RBE17]

The car "appeared" stock w/ those ugly a$$ rims and tires on there. I guess it was "tastefully" done because they weren't gaudy dubs or anything. I was wondering if it even ran at the SEMA show. I figured it didn't run for that photo shoot they were having for it. I also figured the 1000 hp wouldn't be too much of a stretch. Overall, pretty cool car. I'm sure you could clean house racing it.

Later,


Steve.

 

[Little6pack]

I absolutly went wild when I saw this RIDES Show. 1st one I have enjoyed in awhile.

 

[MeanBuicks]

I was lucky enough to have seen this Olds at SEMA in November. I had to go back and look at it 3 or 4 times too! It was so well done, you have no idea how much actually went into the car without seeing that TV program. SWEET!!

It's ironic though how that Toronado (1966 Car of the Year) appeared in GM's display as one of the star cars in the same year it became an orphan by the official axing of Oldsmobile division.

I also got to see Jay's '55 Buick last year at SEMA.

 

[UNGN]

Originally posted by turbofish38
I saw the show too.
The only thing that pissed me off about the Toro was how they show Jay mixing it up with the brass and he is yammering on about the clean design and the merits of FWD and how it was so state of the art back in 66 and how he hates the idiots putting 22"-24" tires on classic cars. You would think it was a restored car the way the tape was edited. Than you see him doing a burnout in the thing, RWD turbo'd LS7 18" wheels and everything else he was just bad mouthing.

Yeah, it would have been REALLY cool if he kept the FWD and Ran a driveshaft back to the corvette rear for AWD. Too bad GM has nothing in its inventory that will handle 300 HP in this configuration, let alone 1000.

 

[tracy]

Originally posted by MeanBuicks
I was lucky enough to have seen this Olds at SEMA in November. I had to go back and look at it 3 or 4 times too! It was so well done, you have no idea how much actually went into the car without seeing that TV program. SWEET!!

It's ironic though how that Toronado (1966 Car of the Year) appeared in GM's display as one of the star cars in the same year it became an orphan by the official axing of Oldsmobile division.

I also got to see Jay's '55 Buick last year at SEMA.

I hated to see Olds go also. I think it all started going south after the G-body went away.

GM really dissapoints me. They homoginize everything, they bring out a car that does not meet expectations, tweak for several model years and finally get it right - then they kill it. I could go on and on.

There is really nothing for me to be excited about as a GM fan.

 

[victa1]

.....

 

[vicious6]

Originally posted by tracy
I hated to see Olds go also. I think it all started going south after the G-body went away.

GM really dissapoints me. They homoginize everything, they bring out a car that does not meet expectations, tweak for several model years and finally get it right - then they kill it. I could go on and on.

There is really nothing for me to be excited about as a GM fan.

I would really have to concur with that. GM makes some nice vehicles and all, but first they kill the G-Body, then the F-Body, then Olds and now they killed the only really cool family car they had left...the Regal GS. They have nothing that excites me other than the C6. They are really gonna have to do something quick. But on the bright side, we have everything they have made in the past on back to the 55 Chevy. Just does not seem like much of a future from here on out.

 

[UNGN]

Originally posted by vicious6
I would really have to concur with that. GM makes some nice vehicles and all, but first they kill the G-Body, then the F-Body, then Olds and now they killed the only really cool family car they had left...the Regal GS. They have nothing that excites me other than the C6. They are really gonna have to do something quick. But on the bright side, we have everything they have made in the past on back to the 55 Chevy. Just does not seem like much of a future from here on out.

They killed the Regal GS, but are coming out with a frontwheel drive LS1 next year so there may be hope if you like FWD performance sedans. I don't, so i'm still looking elsewhere for now. They could do so much with their STS/CTS platform, but instead make a $30K Grand Am replacement (G6).

Sometimes, you wonder if its a company full of "yes men" worried more about their carreers than about making good cars people want to buy.

 

[tracy]

Originally posted by UNGN
They killed the Regal GS, but are coming out with a frontwheel drive LS1 next year so there may be hope if you like FWD performance sedans. I don't, so i'm still looking elsewhere for now. They could do so much with their STS/CTS platform, but instead make a $30K Grand Am replacement (G6).

Sometimes, you wonder if its a company full of "yes men" worried more about their carreers than about making good cars people want to buy.

A big no thanks to GM for a front drive LS1. I'll go something from Chrylser first that has RWD and a hemi.

I'm glad GM has a history at least of great vehicles to choose from.

In an era of electronic traction control and superior tire technology I do not see any clear advantages to front wheel drive - particularly in any performance applications.

Oh well, I'm glad there are some exciting alternatives to choose from