The Toyota Camry…a car that isn’t bad, but suffers due to an issue with it’s reputation as a safe, secure, and absolutely BORING car. I don’t like to pick on the Camry too much. They’re good cars, if you aren’t into cars. They have enough power, carry enough speed, have enough room, and will get you to and from wherever just fine. Which is the problem…there is no soul to a Camry. Competent? Oh, all day long. But inspiring? I’ll put it like this: the only way a Camry ever inspired me involved a visit to the local Lookout Point, and the car didn’t really have a damn thing to do with that trip. It only brought us there and back. Understand?
What does inspire me, automotive-wise, is the idea of a twin-engine car. I’ve been intrigued at the thought ever since I learned about the “Push Me, Pull Me” Chevrolet Citation X-11 concept car. One weak-suck V6 barely making power…meh. Two V6s now making decent power…okay, you have my attention. This means that what was originally a 200 horsepower front-wheel-drive slug is now a 400-horsepower, all-wheel-drive bit of fun. And in the case of a Toyota Camry, mods exist for those engines. Ask fans of Lotus cars what they can do.
This Garage54 project was built a couple of years ago but only recently has come to light. Just imagine what this thing could be with turbochargers…Just putting that out there.
I have read that Ron (?) Mancini did the same thing years ago with a Chrysler LHS, and it talked about the twin engined car terrorizing Woodward Ave, but I have never seen another thing about it. I’d love to see what it looked like and how the work was done.