The 12 Most Unlikely Performance Cars - Automobile
Some of the most fascinating vehicles ever put into production are performance variants of basic sedans and compact cars. Cars with no performance aspirations whatsoever, like the Mercury Grand Marquis and Volkswagen Beetle, sometimes spawn misfits equipped with turbochargers, large engines, adjustable suspensions, and big brake kits--odd things to find on cars more... When the Ford Contour debuted in 1994, it was a European-designed compact sedan which offered little more than basic transportation for the masses. Ford’s Special Vehicles Team (SVT) worked their magic on the Contour, transforming it from a bread and butter sedan into America’s (claimed) M3 competitor. To facilitate this paradigm shift, the Contour received a high-flow intake manifold, polished and ported heads, specially ground camshafts, hot pistons, a lighter flywheel, and a trick high-flow dual exhaust system. Ford added a beefier suspension, with thicker anti-roll bars and a stronger set of brakes to handle the added speed. At this point, An anemic early-90s Oldsmobile compact would seem like the least likely car to spawn a performance variant. However, not only did Oldsmobile create a higher performance Acheiva, but they created one of the best driving compacts of its day. Source: www.automobilemag.com
