Yes, I’m still fascinated by the Aston Martin “V8 Cygnet” that showed up at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend. The engineering that went into building this one-off screamer is impressive enough, as is seeing a 438-horsepower V8-swapped Scion iQ wearing an expensive suit walking up Lord March’s driveway making what is undoubtedly a fantastic snarl. But what really blows my mind is this: the V8 Cygnet isn’t a result of Aston Martin’s “Q” division putting together a “what if” concept. This isn’t an in-house exercise to have a little fun or to drum up business. Somebody actually went to Aston Martin and paid money for this car to be made. Which meant that someone actually dreamed this sucker up. Who does that? Who looks at the Cygnet…a car that, bluntly honest, looks like a melted gumdrop with an Aston badge and wings stuck to it normally, and said, “I want a wicked version of that!” And as strange as it sounds coming from my head, I’d rock this little bastard all day long. Light weight, a monstrous power-to-weight ratio, and a solid freak factor that nobody could walk past would always keep me grinning. And I’m sure that it gets fantastic fuel economy if you can keep your foot off of the pedal. Yeah…”if”.

But that gets me thinking…what other car could benefit from such an upgrade? What little speck of automotive-dom could be bitchin’ with the right swap? Think about a 1990s Dodge Colt with the newer 4G63 from a Mitsubishi Evolution, or a Chevrolet Citation running twin 3.8L V6s from early 2000s Buicks to create a mental, all-wheel-drive monster that could push nearly 500 horsepower while looking like one of Chevrolet’s bigger mistakes? If you can look me in the eye and say you wouldn’t drive something like that at least once, then all I can do is feel bad for you, because I’d love the chance to smack up some of the locals in their Camaros and Challengers with that.

Yes, I know, it’s another freak show build request. But you have yet to disappoint, readers!