Bob Carnes had one clear - cut goal when designing the Bocar XP serial publication : to create the fastest and safe sports car in the humans – with a couple of proviso . His car had to be fully operable on average roads as well as the racecourse , and price within the orbit of ordinary people .
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More than most Fifties couturier who judge to turn their personal dream into realness – Woodill , Kurtis , Cunningham – Carnes hail amazingly unaired to delivering precisely what he ’d promised . Created in Denver , the Bocar – from British shilling CARnes – followed an evolutionary trail from the experimental X-1 through a series of limited - production two - seaters .
Starting in his own garage , Carnes turned out a exclusive X-1 in 1958 , building upon modding experience that ranged from a Glockler Porsche to a Cadillac - powered Jaguar . Several X-2 and X-3 examples were followed by about five XP-4s . other model rode a 90 - in wheelbase , put on Jaguar wire wheels , and were break by Girling metal drum brakes .
yield of another batch of five , called XP-5 and on the same wheelbase , began in mid-1959 . A crank - reinforce polyester dead body surrounded the welded moly - tube space anatomy . Up front was a beefed - up Volkswagen rear suspension . ability customarily came from a 283 - Criminal Investigation Command Corvette V-8 , whip out 290 horses at 6200 rev .
" Fierce acceleration – docile obedience , " promise XP-5 ads in 1959 . Offering like capability for " racing , hillclimber and grocery getter , " the Bocar stood only 34 inches tall , with a four - inch windshield . A variety of options could be say : radio , heater , hardtop , seven suspension setup – plus choices in wheels and tires . Carburetion or fuel injection could be stipulate for the Corvette ( or Pontiac ) engine . Although prices for finished car were advertised as scummy as $ 3,800 the typical price was about $ 8,700 ! Carnes also sold bodies and frame severally .
Road tests confirm the Bocar ’s operation , including acceleration time that would specify for near - supercar ranking even today . A gamey might - to - weight ratio was a big part of the secret : about six pounding per horsepower , in a car that weighed just 1,650 Syrian pound . Motor Trenddescribed its XP-5 as " a 160 - mph sportscar " that was nevertheless " a route simple machine . " Their examination railroad car blast to 60 mph in a startling six secondment matted , and hit an even hundred in the quarter - Swedish mile . " At 100 miles per hour , philander the accelerator pedal was neck - snapping . "
roughly 15 Bocars had been built when Carnes turned to an XP-6 , on a prospicient 104 - column inch wheelbase and power by a supercharged Corvette railway locomotive that produced close to 400 horsepower . sportsman Cars Illustratedreported that an XP-6 " hurls itself forwards with an effortless violence at any speed and in any gear " and was " astoundingly agile . " Before wither out of sportswoman car production in the other Sixties , Carnes also turn out a strictly road - racing model called the Stiletto .
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