The Best That Never Was: The Chrysler ME Four Twelve
Ahhh... but there is a difference. It was owned by Germans, not Italians. And one thing Germans dont like? Anyone, especially Americans, being better building cars than they are.
And they rarely are. But every once in a while, something amazing comes out of the "big 3." The Ford GT40 which beat Ferrari at its own game, the Chevy Corvette which is the greatest performance bargain on the planet, and in 2004 the Chrysler ME four twelve. Almost.
The stats are staggering. That would, today, be one of the fastest cars in the world even with the horsepower wars of the last few years. And the thing is, it looked damn good too, especially for its time (a little too busy not curvy enough for today, but still, pretty damn sexy car).
The idea was to build a halo-car for Chrysler. Something with a lot more halo and a lot less crap tsunami than the Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler.
See this for details: Norm's 10 Worst Cars of All Time
The plan was to build about 300 of them a year. They would be built under contract in the US (like Ford did with the modern GT and Saleen) by Metalcrafters. Most of the parts came out of the Chrysler parts bin (which was looking a lot less dated six years ago... because it is still the same..)
In 2004, prototypes were being tested; top speed appeared to be 240 mph with quarter mile times of 10.6 seconds at 136 mph. It had a patented automatic double clutch transmission with paddle shifters, basically the most advanced tech which is available today on a Ferrari.
The engine was one distinctly not Chrysler part. It came from their overlords as Mercedes, or more particularly the insane and horsepower obsessed tuning arm AMG. It was an absolute beast, with 850 bhp @ 5750 rpm, with 850 lb-ft. (1150 N-m) of torque between 2500 and 4500 rpm. This compares to 483 hp at 8500 rpm and 343 lb·ft of torque at 5250 rpm for the Ferrari F430 which was rolled out in 2004. The "twelve" the car's name is for this v12 beast, the "ME" for mid-engined, making this car a true exotic.
The kicker? The whole thing weighed 2880 pounds, which is nothing. A veyron weighs over 4,000. The only comparable car is the McLaren F1 of the 90's, which cost a million dollars and defined "supercar" until the Veyron was released.
The biggest problem with the car? It was far far better, faster, and cheaper to build than the expensive and behind schedule Mercedes McLaren SLR. A car which I have never even desired to own (though I did consider keying one in a parking lot when its owner didn't tip me after I delivered skis to the jackass - I didn't purely out of respect for a supercar, even a crappy and overpriced one which shows you are an idiot).
This thing above actually cost $500,000 - $750,000... yeah...
Supposedly there were screaming matches inside Daimler over all of this, and possibly one reason why Wolfgang Bernhard was "de-selected" from the Mercedes-head job and Dieter Zetsche (of the infamous "Dr. Z" commercials) was pulled in.
So there you have it. Chrysler built and could have made one of the greatest cars of all time. But they didn't, because it would have been better than the Germans.
When you are next working on your car, pour a bottle of engine oil for the Chrysler ME Four Twelve.
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