Book II
The Coiled
Cars that say the snake out loud
No metaphor, no hedging, no plausible deniability. These machines are named for snakes and would like you to know it.
15 entries
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Book II
Dodge Viper
Ten cylinders, no apology, side pipes that burned the calf of every passenger
In 1989 Chrysler showed a red concept roadster with a V10 out of a truck. In 1992 it sold that car, essentially unaltered, to the public — without…
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Book II
Mitsuoka Orochi
Named for an eight-headed serpent that had to be made drunk before it could be killed
A small Japanese coachbuilder named its supercar after the eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent of the Kojiki — a creature so large that moss and…
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Book II
Dodge Viper GTS-R
The snake that went to France and made a noise nobody had permission for
A blue-and-white American V10 with a hood the size of a dining table won its class at Le Mans three years running and then won the Rolex 24 at…
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Book II
Ford Mustang SVT Cobra
A horse wearing a snake, which nobody has ever satisfactorily explained
For eleven years Ford sold a car whose bonnet said Mustang and whose flanks said Cobra, an act of zoological confusion so complete that it has…
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Book II
Vauxhall Wyvern
A two-legged winged serpent, sold to families in postwar Luton
Vauxhall’s badge is a griffin. Vauxhall named a car after a wyvern. For nine years the company sold one mythical beast while wearing another, to a…
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Book II
Shelby GT500 Super Snake
One was built. Shelby wanted fifty. The price made it a species of one.
Built to destroy tyres for Goodyear in the Texas heat, the 1967 GT500 Super Snake was meant to be the first of fifty. It cost too much. Exactly one…
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Book II
Ford 428 Cobra Jet
Not a car. An engine that became a promise.
The Cobra Jet is the only entry in this book that has no bodywork of its own. It is a cylinder head philosophy that Ford has been re-issuing for…
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Book II
Ford Mustang Cobra R
Sold without a radio, without air conditioning, and without a back seat, to people who had to prove they could use it
Three times, Ford built a Mustang with the sound deadening removed, the rear seat deleted and the stereo left out of the parts list, and required…
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Book II
Dodge Ram SRT-10
A snake that can tow
Someone at Dodge asked what would happen if you put the Viper V10 into a full-size pickup. Nobody in the room said no, and for three model years the…
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Book II
Ford Falcon XC Cobra
A falcon and a cobra on the same car, in a country with more venomous snakes than any other
Four hundred were built to clear a stock of leftover hardtop bodies. Ford Australia painted them white with blue stripes, numbered them on the…
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Book II
Dodge Copperhead Concept
The Viper’s smaller, cheaper, more survivable cousin, killed in committee
Dodge showed a low orange roadster in 1997 with a modest V6, the idea being a Viper you could survive owning. It was beautiful. It was sensible. It…
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Book II
Ford Torino Cobra
A large flat car with a snake on it and no intention of turning
Ford applied the Cobra name to its mid-size Torino, fitted the 428 Cobra Jet as standard, and sold the result to people who wanted the snake but…
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Book II
Dodge Sidewinder Concept
A pickup with a Viper engine, named for a snake that moves diagonally on purpose
Seven years before the Ram SRT-10 made it real, Dodge built a concept pickup with the Viper V10 in it and gave it the name of the only snake that…
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Book II
Ford Mustang Cobra II
A snake made almost entirely of stickers
In the depths of the American malaise era, Ford sold a Mustang with racing stripes, a bonnet scoop that led nowhere, a rear spoiler, a cobra badge…
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Book II
Ford Fairlane 500 Cobra
The cheapest way to buy a snake in 1969
Ford took its plainest mid-size body, installed the 428 Cobra Jet, deleted almost every comfort, and undercut everyone. Rubber floor mats. Bench…