Men's Journal

Stile Bertone Mantide Photo credit: Photos by Igor Panitz

by Ezra Dyer

Stile Bertone Mantide: The Reimagined Supercar

The $107,000 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is one of the fastest production cars ever built, but only the geekiest gearhead could differentiate it from the same bottom-rung ’Vette that any average Joe can rent from Hertz. Put simply, it’s too pedestrian-looking for its epic performance. What to do? Italian design firm Stile Bertone decided to reconcile the ZR1’s aesthetics with its abilities by giving it a complete re-skin. Meet the $2 million Stile Bertone Mantide, of which five will be made. It will not be available from Hertz.

“There’s a lot of snobbery toward the ZR1 in Europe,” says Stile Bertone design director Jason Castriota, the man behind the Mantide’s angular face-lift. “I liked the idea of putting an Italian suit on this American icon.”

He did more than just treat the Corvette’s underpinnings like a department store mannequin. Every detail of the Mantide’s convoluted carbon-fiber body was rigorously tested in a wind tunnel to evaluate its effect on aerodynamics. It took days to shape and hone sections, such as the flying buttresses on the car’s flanks, so that they aided performance. By the end of the 13-month design and production process, every vent and strake served a purpose. The result is 25 percent less drag and 30 percent more downforce than the Corvette ZR1, along with a massive 200-pound reduction in weight.

“That gives the car honesty,” says Castriota. “F1 cars have a beauty that comes from their functionality, and that’s what we were going for here. The Mantide looks different, but there’s a reason why.”

Spyker D8 Peking-to-Paris: The Overkill SUV

The Spyker D8 Peking-to-Paris supposedly commemorates the Dutch company’s 1907 running of the epic Peking to Paris race, but really it’s a testament to automotive excess. A V-8 engine with more than 500 horsepower, acres of buttery-soft leather and turned aluminum inside, and a slammed sport-ute profile manage to make even a Bentley look downright plebeian. price n/a; spykercars.com

Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Stirling Moss: A Topless Exotic

There’s no roof or windshield for a reason — the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Stirling Moss (our cover model) pays homage to Stirling Moss, the famed F1 driver who spent his career racing cars without either. Just 75 will be made, and they’re available only to European owners of earlier SLR incarnations. They’ll want helmets. $1,050,000; mbusa.com

2009 Gullwing-America Panamericana 300SL: The Retro Repo

Resto-rods — vintage cars updated with modern mechanicals — are usually built on original ’60s muscle cars. But while the 2009 Gullwing-America Panamericana 300SL finds inspiration in the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing of the early 1950s, it’s built from scratch, since hacking up an original would be like doodling on da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The resulting 408-horsepower creation adds SoCal street-rod flair to the Teutonic classic. $280,000; gullwing-america.com

Carbon Motors E7: The Cop Car of the (Near) Future

Despite its ubiquity, the Crown Vic is a flawed police vehicle that must be jury-rigged to do what an
officer needs. that’s why carbon motors designed the purpose-built E7. here’s what makes it special:

-Power comes from a 3.0-liter, 300-horsepower diesel, which Carbon says will make the E7 about as fast as a Hemi Charger, yet still get nearly 30 mpg.

-In a collision, a cop’s laptop immediately becomes a cranium-cracking projectile. That’s why the E7’s touchscreen computer is built into the console.

-Roof lights and grill-protecting push bars are integrated into the body for better aerodynamics, as well as to give the E7 that intimidating Judge Dredd look.

-Front seats are designed to accommodate a cop’s Batman-style gear belt, and also have air-conditioning fans in the headrests.

-Rear clamshell doors and safety belts that buckle on the outside edge of the seat make it easier for the fuzz to secure perps. The backseat can be hosed off.

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To see actor Joel McHale’s favorite cars, click here.

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Mac Motorcycles Spud: The Blighty Runabout

In the impossibly British town of Upton-upon-Severn is built the Mac Motorcycles Spud. Admirably efficient design, all arcs and open spaces, combines with sharp handling and a manageable 34-horsepower engine in a bike intended for, as the company says, “mooching about the streets, feet forward, grin on your face.” $10,000; mac-motorcycles.com

Bullet Falcon: The Revisionist Bike

Sorry, you can’t have the Bullet Falcon — it belongs to My Name Is Earl star Jason Lee. But Falcon co-founder Ian Barry will build nine more philosophically similar bikes. Mash-ups of vintage and newly machined parts, they reimagine motorcycle history not as it was, but as it might have been. from $50,000; falconmotorcycles.com

Mission Motors Mission One: An Electric Ride

Styled by industrial design Chosen One Yves Behar, the Mission Motors Mission One elevates the rapidly proliferating electric bike to high art. Sans gas tank or exhaust pipe, the bike gets a defining style element in the delta-shaped indentation in the side of the glass-smooth bodywork, which lets the rider tuck his legs out of the slipstream. It can hit 150 mph and travel 150 miles on a single charge. $68,995; ridemission.com

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This article originally appeared in the September 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.

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