Beau chose the Rinspeed 969 for Jason Torchinsky because Jason is a VW Beetle connoisseur. And let’s be honest, the Rinspeed is just a Beetle except with more strakes, pop-up headlights, a hilariously-1980s interior, and a much more powerful turbocharged flat-six motor. These may seem like big differences, but the car does still feel rather Beetle-y to drive, per Jason. I agree.
The car Beau chose for me was the Shelby Series 1, and not just any of the 250 Series 1s ever built: This is a supercharged 450 horsepower version. One of roughly 50 ever produced. The motor is a blown version of the 4.0-liter V8 found in the Oldsmobile Aurora, the sibling of the $1 Oldsmobile Alero that has been ruining my life for almost five years now. Beau figured this vehicle would wash the foul taste of rusty brake fluid and GM-spec Dexcool engine coolant out of my mouth, and allow me to appreciate one of the best examples of Oldsmobile engineering. Beau himself drove his company’s creation, the GTR1. It’s a Ford GT with significant changes to the bodywork, engine, suspension, and other chassis components. The thing puts out 1,069 horsepower through a six-speed manual, and the noise it produces is absolutely incredible. In fact, I could barely hear the beautiful sound from my supercharged Aurora V8, even though the GTR1 was 50 yards in front of me; it’s that loud. Watch the video above to see the three Autopian founders drive priceless cars around Monterey. I felt all the Porsche guys spasm when this was published.
