Dream Car? LM Rally Fighter!

I got around to talking cars recently, and like all guys, we got on the subject of what would be in our dream stable.  My pick for all around bad-assery?  The Rally Fighter built by Local Motors.  Not a lot of people have heard of them.  Check out this spot from Top Gear (US) and skip to 2:15 if you don't care about the intro.

The Rally Fighter is rather unique being designed by 'crowd-sourcing'.  Basically a bunch of people voting up what components would be best suited to build the vehicle for its intended use.  It's a Frankenstein-build of various manufacturers components.  If you purchase the vehicle, you are highly encouraged to take part in the build (part of purchase price) so that you gain some knowledge of its workings, handling characteristics, and how to repair some things.  It also gets you more personally invested in the vehicle which I think is great.  Buy a car, get a week-long vacation for 2 to build it.

Without boring you on the specs, it's a rear wheel drive automatic 6.2l V8, doing 430hp@5,900rpm and 424lbft@4,600rpm, and she's a mean bitch.  Full specs here.  To compare, that output is very close to a 2012 Ford SVT Raptor.

The video above talks a little more about the collaboration that goes into the design of the vehicle with CEO Jay Rogers.  I have a lot of respect for Local Motors.  They're what I consider the 'good guys'.  They're American, they stand by the products, and they aren't in it for a quick buck.

Recently DARPA issued a competition to design a vehicle a new vehicle and Local Motors had a finalized design in record time, which won the competition.  The new design was called the 'Flypmode' and earned them praise from the White House.  The final design is simple to produce, cheap to maintain and repair, and mission adaptable as needs change.  I'll end this post with a video discussing that work for those interested.