I’m pretty exhausted right now. We’ve had a great Monterey Car Week, full of great cars, legendary cars, rare cars, and also an Aztek. We’ve done a lot of fun stuff, taken lots of pictures, shot lots of videos, and now we’re facing that mass of fascinating stuff and feeling the daunting task of turning it into exciting content for you, you, you. Mostly, though, I’m just beat. Still, before I allow myself to collapse onto my sleeping litter of oily rags and straw, I have to show you an incredible car we happened to see in one of the general parking lots in Monterey.
As you can see above, this is not a car that’s easy to ignore, at least in part because its proportions are so wildly different from almost any other car you can think of. It’s long and low, impossibly low, like a single slice of car in a world of much thicker car sandwiches.
I mean, look at this thing:
It’s a sleek, low, curvy wedge, and if it seems like a deliberate study into just how far one can push automotive styling, you’d be pretty much correct. Designers and brothers Dennis and Peter Adams referred to the car as “an investigation into extremes of styling,” and the name of this investigation is the M-505 Adams Brothers Probe 16, built in 1969.
The Probe 16 uses a bespoke chassis and has an Austin 1600 engine mounted in the middle, transversely. The body is fiberglass, and only three of these were made. This one is chassis AB/3, originally made for the bassist of the band Cream, Jack Bruce.
Look how this thing is dwarfed, at least on the vertical axis, by an original Mini Clubman:
One weird detail: some of the switchgear seems to have come from a Volkswagen of the era?
Those light switches – the round ones in the middle – are right out of an old Beetle.
It’s pretty incredible to see one of these just parked in a normal parking lot, surrounded by normal – well, normal for Monterey Car Week – cars. Especially knowing it’s just one of three. Oh, and I mentioned the movie thing in the headline because this car’s sibling, chassis number AB/4, was used in the Stanley Kubrick movie A Clockwork Orange:
Sure, they called it a Durango 95 in the movie and I don’t really think they were ever meant to carry four droogs, but it sure looked great doing it.
Also, this is one of the things I love about Car Week.
Got milk?
(asking for a friend)
DROOG LIFE! YEAH-YEAH!
I was just thinking of these! The article about wankers having their supercars impounded by London police made me think, there’s a long history of showing off in central London, Jack Bruce of the band Cream bought one of these because his Ferrari Daytona didn’t stand out enough….
I hear that you can easily get an extra 50 hp out of these with some pretty simple mods, but only when running on Moloko Plus.
A modern aerodynamic ultralight streamliner to seat 2 or 3 should be every bit as low, to keep frontal area down, without sacrificing the front and rear track width needed for traction. I’d style it less like a wedge, and more like a flattened Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ1 Zagato, except with added rear wheel skirts, and any vents or openings generally expressed as NACA ducts, relying mostly upon ground effects for downforce, with no drag-adding wings at all.
Such a car could have a frontal area around 1.5 m^2, and if you get the Cd value around 0.18, you’d an overall CdA value about half that of a current gen Toyota Prius, and subsequently, close to twice the highway fuel economy possible with a similar drive system. And because it would be a small car even more diminutive than a Miata, you could keep weight under 2,000 lbs or so.
Imagine holding close to 190 mph top speed on a modern Prius drive system, and with this hypothetical car weighing under 2,000 lbs, doing 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds with it. And then approaching 100 mpg highway at a steady 70 mph.
I’d totally roll with my droogs in that thing.
Those droogs were on their way to meet Darth Vader.
Remember to change your oily rags every 3,000 hours (of sleeping).
Is there an alternate severe duty change interval?
Only with long-life oily rags.
If you want to see some photos of what the interior looks like (crazy!), check out this Bonham’s auction. https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/25839/lot/36/1969-m-505-adams-brothers-probe-16chassis-no-ab3/ It would appear that the only way to get in and out via the sunroof, which apparently slides backward for entry and exit.
So looks like Alex’s droogs were in fact leaning on the seatbacks, stuffed in there. Real horrorshow!
Since David has a girlfriend now he lets you use his bed when your in LA? How nice of him
Well, that sounds like sleeping conditions in the Aztek, like David’s supposed to be doing…
Can we all agree that these are the best 4-lug wheels in existence?
I quite like them too… very nice design. Except for one detail that bothers me. The spindly thingy sticking out the middle of the wheel has three wings on it. It should be four to match the rest of the design. Or remove it completely to make it look a bit cleaner? Once I noticed that I could not unsee it…
Missing information: taillights are from a __________?
Looks like a school bus to me.
I was thinking the same – commercial truck parts. But it would be interesting if they’re from some car.
Early Simca 1000?
So frickin’ cool lookin’.
Judging by the relative size of the rest of the car… This thing is running on 10s and 12s. Those are friggin’ tiny. I wonder what it feels like taking a hill crest at speed considering the length of the wheelbase, the tiny wheel diameter, and the no doubt extremely limited suspension travel…
Also the owner of the Austin Clubman needs to be given a stern talking to. You should never inflict the Minions on anybody, not even you worst enemy.
Per Wikipedia, they are 12″ front and 15″ rear.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probe_16
I’m surprised Torch didn’t mention the position of the eyes on that mini…
Wasn’t this car, or one whose styling was very inspired by this car, also featured in THX 1138? It’s the vehicle Duvall – the titular THX 1138 character – drives near the end of the film during his escape.
I had to Google that film. Apparently it used Lola T70 race cars.
…and now I have to watch the film.
Worth it. I first saw it in the ’80s as a kid, creeped me out/stayed with my for days. Saw it a number of years back at a revival theater, and same exact feeling.
The sense of dystopian dread is so well conveyed, and on such a low budget (the “Lucas-ified” digitally enhanced version is fine/doesn’t actually add much).
I think it is a much better film than Star Wars. The student film that George Lucas made that it was based on is pretty amazing if you ever get a chance to see it.
I keep changing my mind whether THS 1138 or American Graffiti is my favorite George Lucas film.
I’ve seen it – the electronic labyrinth! It’s like raw creativity, shorn of everything else to get in the way.
Agree on that and American Graffiti. Each of them shifted moviemaking in big ways that are often overlooked. THX provided a template for Star Wars in that things from our existence could be refashioned to provide something familiar yet compellingly alien, and Graffiti pretty much created the ‘retro’ genre.
I love the jet turbine sounds they give it in the movie. And toggle switches, lots of toggle switches!
The Triumphs turned into futuristic police motorcycles aren’t bad either.
That car is James Garner‘s Lola T70, he owned two of them.
Some people (ha, probably Craig Cheetham, given his track record of getting things wrong as per what constitutes the world’s worst cars) had claimed it was made specifically for the film, so that’s quite astonishing that Kubrick and co. simply took a ready-made (!!) car and went with that.
“[T]his is not a car that’s easy to ignore, at least in part because its proportions are so wildly different from almost any other car you can think of.”
Good that the “almost” qualifier was included, as I actually thought of the Pink Panthermobile upon first seeing the headline and the lead image and then reading the article itself. While the Pink Panthermobile wasn’t as low as the Adams Probe 16 it certainly had absolutely outlandish proportions. (While the Probe 16 had an Austin 1600 engine the PPM had an Oldsmobile Toronado V8 engine!!) https://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/the-original-pink-panther-car-up-for-grabs-38292_1.jpg
JT himself wrote an article about it over at the old site but since it’s from 2016 it no longer has the pictures (at least they didn’t show up on my smartphone, they might show up in desktop/laptop format?) so here’s another article, with pictures, which mentions that the Pink Panthermobile was bought and restored by Galpin Auto Sports: https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/the-pink-panthermobile-has-been-restored-to-its-former-glory-after-years-off-the-road/news-story/860cc2a1f5a6d211262108c17f745cf5
All the “glass” in that has to he plexiglass, right? If not, I wouldn’t be surprised if glass was the single most expensive component to the car.
This, for all practical purposes, was an extension of the Adams brothers’ creations at Marcos… a kind of Mantis evolution. I’m a big fan. Just curious, the Clockwork Orange version appears to be a ragtop… so was the third version a convertible or another enclosed coupe?
Pretty sure the glass roof is also the door, and therefore was probably removed for the movie.
The sunroof lifts off, and is the only entry/exit. They just left it off to cram four droogs in there.
Keep in mind they weren’t actually driving it. It sure looks like they were on a stage with a projected backdrop. Even the scene driving under the semi was likely a camera on a trolley.
The size vs. a mini REALLY puts this into perspective. I already know my spouse would refuse to get in it. She’s WAY too tall with too much leg to make that a graceful endeavour.
However, I’m sure my 5’7″ frame could roll in & out fairly easily.
I was thinking the same thing. I’m over 6′ and knowing how I barely fit in a classic Mini makes me think getting in the Probe 16 is like squirming into a coffin…
Whitewater kayak for the street.
I’d like to watch someone getting into it and back out, because right now, I just can’t envision how it is done.
Can’t even tell what part of it opens.
What I would think of as T-tops open like gull wings?
The Pelican Parts license plate frame makes it even better, and definitely makes me think there’s plenty of other VW parts on it.
I’ve gladly given that company a fair bit of money – they’re worth every penny.
I rotate my dollars between them, FCP Euro, and ECS Tuning for all the bits of my vintage Merc. The most recent round went to Pelican cause they struck the right balance of price vs. shipping time so I could fix my windows before a road trip.
I agree that they’re stellar to deal with.
PP puts on nice Cars and Coffee events too.
I wouldn’t know, I’m closer to the Atlantic than the Pacific, and north of the border.
For some reason the phrase ‘exciting content’ read in my head as ‘excrement’, necessitating a double take. I don’t know why. I’m sorry and will show myself out now.
Cool car, though.
You’re forgiven. This is a Torch article, after all. Excrement/feces are a common thread.
Somewhat less often of late..now that you mention it. Either that or I’ve become accustomed to it.
Is the rearview a periscope?
Is that color Clockwork Orange? Anyway, that car is as queer as a clockwork orange.
There is a MTB manufacturer in the UK called Orange, and one of their models is the Clockwork.
I had one in the 90’s and when it was stolen I had a huge amount of grief reporting it to the police because it was silver and the officer’s brain melted at the concept of a thing being called one colour, but painted a different colour. I remember thinking at the time that there was no way this idiot is going to recover my bike, and I was right.
The officer was obviously not a cinema buff either.