“Oh, the weather outside is…”

 

Well, actually, it depends on where you live. In some parts of the country, the winter weather is, indeed, frightful. In other sections, such has here in Phoenix, not so much.

 

Nonetheless, I’m going to belie the weather just outside my back door, which is open at the moment because it’s 68 degrees out even though it’s late December, to write about some winter weather vehicles:

 

First, Local Motors is staging another of its vehicle design competitions.

 

As you recall, Local Motors will start building its first production vehicle – the Rally Fighter – right here in Phoenix early in the New Year.

 

The Rally Fighter, and the other limited-production vehicles Local Motors plans to build in what it calls micro-factories in various areas of the country, was designed in a web-based “crowd-sourcing” competition. The idea is to create a series of vehicles for specific geographic locales. Thus the Rally Fighter is a sort of on-and-off-road desert pre-runner for the Southwest. Coming down the road will be a car designed for New England’s crowded streets and ornery weather, a car that showcases North Carolina’s stock car racing history, a car that can explore the Pacific Northwest in an environmentally friendly manner, etc.

 

The latest Local Motors design competition involves even more whimsy than usual. This competition asks for designs for a “futuristic vehicle for a fictional Alaska race: The Wrangell Mountain Extreme Challenge.”

 

Here’s the design brief: “Imagine: It’s 2013. The climate has been changing for a few years. The Wrangell Mountains in Alaska and the tundra below have been subject to record-breaking snowfall that is rapidly changing the landscape of Alaska in the winters. There is a need for an incredibly capable high-speed snow machine that can work in these extreme conditions. In order to spur innovation, a group of car buffs from the North Pole have put together the Wrangell Mountain Extreme Challenge, a 113-mile race that includes varying conditions in order to encourage builders to create new, innovative, environmentally friendly snow racers. Technology garnered from this race could then be used to create more capable rescue, transport, and research vehicles.”

 

To further ignite your imagination, Local Motors has done an amazing web video of the anticipated route: http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=18. Be sure to watch the video – and also see if you notice anything about the names of some of the course’s features.

 

Second, speaking of vehicles designed for the ice and snow, the Olympic Winter Games will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia early in 2010 and a former NASCAR racer hopes to help the U.S. four-man bobsled team claim its first gold medal since 1948 at St. Moritz, France.

 

So far this World Cup season, the U.S. men have won six of the last seven events in the Bo-Dyn sled, which takes its name from Geoff Bodine, who back in 1992 was disheartened to see the U.S. bobsled team competing with sleds produced in Europe. Bodine enlisted others from the motorsports engineering community to create a new sled.

 

The U.S. team first used Bo-Dyn sleds in the Winter Olympics in 1994 at Lillehammer, Norway. Four years later at Nagano, Japan, they missed a bronze medal by two one-hundredths of a second. In 2002 at Salt Lake City, the men won silver and bronze metals. They missed medals in 2006 at Turin, Italy.

 

A major fund-raiser for the U.S. team takes place January 8-10 at Lake Placid, New York where auto racers from NASCAR and the NHRA join bobsledders for the fifth Lucas Oil Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge.

 

Third, Hagerty’s Cars That Matter newsletter offers its thoughts on collectible cars it characterizes as “winter beaters than can turn a blizzard into a good excuse to go for a drive:”

 

• 1966-71 Jensen FF, which it calls the “first modern all-wheel-drive passenger car.” There’s a Chrysler V8 under the hood and a 4wd system that originally was created for the 1961 Formula One racing season. Only 320 of these cars were built, but CTM suggests paying less than $30,000 if you can find one.
• 1983-85 Audi Quattro, a turbocharged (inline five-cylinder) and road-going rally car, of which only 700 were sold in the U.S. CTM says to expect to pay around 13 grand.
•  1984-91 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, a full-size sport utility vehicle before anyone thought of that term. Even when fully optioned with leather and power windows and a 360-cubic-inch V8, CTM says you should be able to find one for as little as $7,000 -- and for no more than $35,000.
• 1971-85 Land Rover Series III station wagon, aka the British Jeep, which dates back to 1948 but by the ‘70s finally was equipped with synchromesh for each of its four gears. In 1979, you could even get one with Rover’s 3.5-liter, Buick-based aluminum-block V8. Suggested price range is $5,000-$20,000.
• 1989-94 Porsche 911 Carrera 4, which, believe it or not, is now a 20-year-old vehicle. But not only is it sure-footed, but it’s a real sports car you can pick up for around $30,000, CTM suggests.

-- Larry Edsall