Remember what it was like when, as a kid, armed with a pen and a spiral notebook, you designed the perfect car. What did it look like? Was it low-slung with sleek lines and a pointed nose? Did it have huge, meaty tires in the back and a stonking supercharger up front for maxxx power? Were your designs two-dimensional silhouettes of pickup trucks and NASCAR cars like mine, or did you figure out how to draw in three dimensions? Believe me, you never saw such perfect air dams, roof spoilers, and dual exhausts on an old Silverado like I could draw. In my pre-pubescent mind, I was the next Luigi Segre.
Well, suppose you decide that the pen-and-paper design you always kept in the drawer looked better than anything on the road? If you’re the owner of this creation, you build a real-life version of it. The Freedom 1 is literally one of a kind, having been completely designed and built by the owner, based on an original concept he put to clay back in the 70’s.
I have great respect for a man who looks at every one of the thousands of cars available and decides none of them are quite up to his standards, and builds his own. All of us want to be different and have cool things that are uniquely ours, but let’s be honest – almost all of us drive a mass-produced contraption built by a machine (I said most, mdharrell). Say what you will about the design, or the interior, or the 30-year buildout, but he has joined an elite club of car guys who drive exactly the car they want.
The front end reminds me a little of what Dodge did with the Charger when they made the Daytona, while the back end makes me think of a Pontiac 6000, with its huge brake lights.
What do you think? We know there’s nothing else like it on the road, which makes it rare, but is it desirable?
Quick Take: Freedom 1 is the only 1
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Takes lots of dedication , hard work and money to follow your dream.This guy did.
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So what are the underpinnings of this singular creation?
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The video says “Audi Turbocharged drivetrain”, but when he zooms in on the guy’s display plaque it’s a 1.8T out of a TT and it seems to be up front, still FWD.
This site indicates the original engine was a VW, no idea what kind. I initially assumed beetle, but with completion in 1992, perhaps it was from a Golf?-
Proportions, size, and what you see between the wheels reminded me a lot of:
http://www.picautos.com/images/volvo-480-convertible-01.jpg
Very cool to have build something on your own. I just figure the pedestrian safety standards of this machine are…eh…otherworldly. -
A 1.8T would pretty much drop into a vehicle designed for the older VW 4-cylinder watercooled powertrains, because… well, it’s basically a VW 16 valve with 4 more valves and a turbo. (Although, the version in the TT was the Mk4-6 Golf block style, but you can tap holes in the Mk4-style block for Mk2/3-style mounting.)
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“(I said most, mdharrell)”
I didn’t say anything! I assume most people drive Goliath 1100s or Sunbeam-Talbot Tens until proven otherwise.-
I’ve learned to avoid making generalizations when it comes to this audience. And you. It’s a good thing.
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Freedom 1’s just another word for nothing left to lose….1.
I don’t exceptionally like it, but it looks well done, and would at least have blended in well on the set of Back To The Future Part II.-
I don’t especially like it, either, but I love the dedication.
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