Your money, Your choice ?

He could save himself some money and buy a Dodge Hellcat or Demon which have more horsepower than the prototype you're being asked to check out but I guess money isn't a concern for him. What he does for business may not carry over to what he does for pleasure. Your perception of what it will take to power that vehicle is a little exaggerated to get your point across. With modern technology, it may not take that much more fuel to produce the HP that it once did. For example, I drive a Prius most days which gets about 45MPG but I sometimes drive my 69 Mustang which on a good day might make 10MPG. I figure between the 2 will equal the pollution of a normal car.

qnbui wrote:

He could save himself some money and buy a Dodge Hellcat or Demon which have more horsepower than the prototype you're being asked to check out but I guess money isn't a concern for him. What he does for business may not carry over to what he does for pleasure. Your perception of what it will take to power that vehicle is a little exaggerated to get your point across. With modern technology, it may not take that much more fuel to produce the HP that it once did. For example, I drive a Prius most days which gets about 45MPG but I sometimes drive my 69 Mustang which on a good day might make 10MPG. I figure between the 2 will equal the pollution of a normal car.

In normal trim, not sport or race mode, the car will do an estimated 15mpg. There are much faster cars around, my own one in storage pushes 1,008bhp  at the wheels, but that is not why he is buying the prototype. It is hard to estimate the final cost but I doubt there will be much change from $3m US of which only around 1/3rd of that will go on the base purchase. It will have to be de-badged, renamed and registered with all the various paperwork that goes with it, basically the same as a kit car, plus all the inevitable taxes, shipping etc etc. Once it gets here I will have a lot to do to get it roadworthy and as suitable as possible for the conditions here which will include a liquid Nitrogen cooling system, air-con, re-map, gearbox and running gear ratios etc and a good supply of the various fluids and fuel additives that are not available here. So I guess about a year to complete all.
As for the Prius they are not particularly efficient in terms of pollution which is pretty much a marketing myth once everything is taken into account re the materials used to build it, the production techniques and lifespan.

Compare your car story to all the garbage floating in the rivers and shores around SEAsia - the car will be a lot cleaner

stevenjb2020 wrote:

Compare your car story to all the garbage floating in the rivers and shores around SEAsia - the car will be a lot cleaner

True unfortunately. The rivers here around HCM are disgusting. Does make me wonder however how much good $3mUS could do if spent cleaning them up. Still,  . . . .probably be pointless in the long term as they would just fill up again I guess.
If my client was going to use the car elsewhere with decent roads I would maybe feel differently. But to bring it here is hard to get my head around. Most of my restorations for clients are based on a 1/3rd principle as investments  if bought correctly. 1/3rd buys the car, 1/3rd restores it and the remaining 1/3rd is profit. I have personally owned and run for free all sorts from Lambo's to Ferraris to Shelby's etc etc. I use them for a while until I get bored and then sell on for a profit, effectively allowing me to drive them for free. But this particular car will never make a profit neither will the client be able to really drive it. At best after a year will show a loss of at least $1+mUS.

I have tried for decades to figure out why people do the things they do - haven't had too much success with that. The best I have come up with is that people do what they do because it feels 'right' at the moment.