Mother's Little Jalpa - 1989 Dodge Daytona Decepzione

[Señor Peligro]

Stumbled across this, figured I'd share. Don't know if everyone's heard of it, but it's a one-off AWD Dodge Daytona with a Lamborghini Jalpa V8. Thoroughly insane. Crappy pics, yes, but literally the only ones I've been able to find. Original article in the link below. Enjoy

http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf...s=yes

Quote, originally posted by Barry Winfield »

A sound you could feel as well as hear heralded the arrival of the black Daytona at the Chrysler Proving Ground, surrounding us with a deep staccato beat and strong rumbling overtones. Then a prominent hood bulge caught our attention as the car swung into the parking bay, its broad scoop captioned by a charging-bull insignia and the words "Lamborghini V-8." A quick walk around the car confirmed some atypical Daytona features. Wheel housings bulged and squared for wide tires looked not unlike those on the Chrysler Conquest TSi. Four functional tailpipes stabbed from below the rear valance panel. Tasty three-piece OZ wheels wrapped with low-profile Goodyear Gatorbacks held the car to a crouching stance. And new lettering was on the tail. Decepzione, it read*a jokey, made-up Italglish word used to embrace the dual nationality of the car and its surprising double personality. The Chrysler-Lamborghini union has prompted considerable speculation about what offspring might result, but we admit a Jalpa-engined Daytona did not figure highly among the suggestions under consideration. Still, when you think about it, its not all that weird an idea. The K-car platform is as ubiquitously representative of Chrysler in the Iacocca era as anything could be, and the V-8 format of Lamborghini's 3.5-liter engine isn't entirely alien to American consciousness, either. At least, that's what Lamborghini product programs general manager Jack Stavana evidently thought, and we're not arguing. "The car is principally an exercise to look at high-end engine output applications," he says. Sure it is, Jack, but wasn't it also motivated by a little bit of curiosity about what a 255-horsepower Jalpa engine would be like in a Dodge Daytona? Damn right. To tuck the tall Lambo engine into the Daytona front-end, Stavana first had to attach an A-car engine box (from Chrysler's Spirit/Acclaim range). That model's optional V-6 needs more space than the 2.2-liter four normally found under a G-body hood, allowing the 90- degree V-8 to drop right in. But the sheer height of the Jalpa four-cam engine presented other problems. For one thing, its quartet of twin-barrel 42mm Weber downdraft carburettors juts above the hoodline of a normal Daytona. For another, the crankshaft rides high in the engine block, dropping the cast alloy oil pan was below the car when the engine is mated to the transmission. The first of these challenges was met by adding the hood scoop, but the second remains a problem on Stavana's car even after some of the sump has been trimmed away. The alloy pan still hangs so perilously close to the deck that he had a bash plate fitted to protect it. When the car crashes onto humps and ridges, it does so with noisy impacts you can feel right through the structure. Lamborghini's lovely Jalpa V-8 puts its power down through a five-speed Getrag four-wheel-drive system developed specifically for the K platform. The system is now at such a level of readiness that it was available essentially off the shelf for this project. A viscous-coupling center differential splits torque evenly between the axles. Although the Daytona's usual rear beam axle was ditched in favour of substantially revised suspension components (including four-link cast alloy locating arms, hubs, discs, coil springs, and dampers), the car's front end still wears struts. These have been beefed up to handle the increased performance and the extra 350 pounds the Decepzione inherited along with its Italian powerplant and West German driveline. A lot of hand-built sheetmetal was used to accommodate the engine and the drivetrain, as can be seen by the imperfect fit of the hood, and the car is about an inch larger in length, width and height. The weight increase is mainly in front, but the all-wheel driveline naturally masks any fore-to-aft weight disparity by lending the car the usual four-by-four balance and traction. This Daytona proved very easy and pleasant to drive, with much of the communicative character one might expect from a car with Italian genes. The gearbox is more fluid and positive than the Daytona's, and relatively low torque peak (235 pounds-feet at 3250 rpm) lends this smallish 213-cubic-inch V-8 respectable flexibility. Still, the engine loves revs, and its astonishing to see the tach needle on the standard Dodge dash slicing through 2000 rpm of red zone and emerging beyond *into the ungraduated space where the Lambo engine's 7500-rpm redline would be* before a shift becomes necessary. The speedometer is also short of numbers; its 125-mph ceiling is easily reached and exceeded in fourth gear. (New instruments would be part of a whole new interior package the Stavana is now considering.) A yawning gap between fourth and fifth gears in the Getrag box suggests a long run before the projected top speed of 150 mph might be attained, but at least it holds the engine's clamour to reasonably civilized levels for high-speed cruising. Nasty weather conditions have so far prevented Stavana from confirming the car's potential, but we know it will run standstill-to-60-mph times in about six seconds despite its high-gearing, high-revving engine. We also know that it feels and sounds like an Italian supercar should. Heck, in this guise even the Daytona bodyshell looks exotic. Overwhelming technical impracticalities with the Lambo-Daytona (the low-slung sump and the non-federalized plumbing being only two) suggest that production of such a car is unthinkable. In fact, more than one prototype is highly unlikely, and that means Jack Stavana has one of the most unusual, truly unique hybrids. Listen for it.

Modified by Blackballed at 2:59 PM 9-29-2009

[gogoturbo]

I came

[ATL_Av8r]

how's that new scanner working out for you?

[Señor Peligro]

Quote, originally posted by ATL_Av8r »

how's that new scanner working out for you?

Pretty good, except my hamster keeps running out of breath.

I found it on the internetz.

[mikegilbert]

Quote, originally posted by ATL_Av8r »

how's that new scanner working out for you?

LOL.