If there was ever a car trend tailor-made for us, it’s the Dakar, Bahar and everything in-between-spec sports car. The Porsche and Lamborghini arguably kicked the whole thing off with the 911 Dakar and Huracan Sterrato respectively, both of which arrived within seconds of each other. But the restomod scene already had both of them beat, especially on the 911 front, with the Singer and Tuthill’s outrageous SC/RS, not to mention the countless number of home-brewed Safari specials that crop up on YouTube. It begs the question, what else could be improved with a set of bolt-on arches and off-road springs?
An off-road specialist in Hertfordshire has asked the very same question. Its stock list reveals a selection of Jeep Wranglers that have been fitted with sports exhausts and spruced up with quilted leather interiors, plus there are a pair of Toyota FJ Cruisers: the American-only 4x4 based on the Land Cruiser. And while the Tonka Toy-like FJ would comfortably be the quirkiest car on any dealer’s forecourt, it has nothing on the car we have here. Behold, everyone, the Smart Fortwo ‘Jeepster Special Edition’.
Now, there are plenty of wacky Smarts out there, such as the Crossblade and all the Brabus offerings, but this is on a whole other level of bizarre. Developed by the specialist it’s named after, the Jeepster is every bit the Dakar-spec Fortwo its three previous owners had always dreamed of. It started life as a Grandstyle Convertible, before Jeepster swapped out the original suspension for something six inches taller. Obviously this was done to improve ground clearance, but it also opened up enough room for the company to fit a set of heavy-duty Black Rhino wheels and chunky Toyo Open Country off-road tyres. That doesn’t seem to have left a huge amount of clearance between the tyre and the bolt-on wheel arches, which don’t even cover half of the tyres.
Performance, meanwhile, is mostly unchanged from the base car. Jeepster says it has fitted with a more ‘rorty’ sounding exhaust and, er, that’s about it. So that means you get 84hp from a 1.0-litre turbo three-pot which, short of the Brabus, is the most powerful motor in the range. It’ll get to 62mph in under ten seconds (okay, 9.9 to be precise), although the beefy off-road tyres and larger wheels will have done nothing to embellish that time.
Needless to say, we haven’t a clue what it’s like to drive, so we’ll have to take the seller’s word on it. “It's not a hard cornering sports car obviously”, they say, suggesting that “you do have to [be] careful around the bends.” Given the height of the thing, that seems like reasonable advice, and it suggests any enquiry will be met with total honesty. Apparently, it gets to 60mph okay and generates passerby goodwill like nothing the vendor has ever driven. Which is nice. It currently wears some graphics to promote the firm that made it; using it in a similar vein wouldn't be such a bad idea. We're thinking outdoor specialist. Or joke shop.
Either way, pay £14,995 and it’s all yours. You can get a Smart Fortwo Convertible for much, much less than that, while a newer, all-electric Brabus version will only cost you an extra couple of grand. None of them will be any good off-road, though, and even if this one falls at the first hurdle on a green lane trail, it ought to be amusing enough just zooming about a muddy field in a rear-engine, rear-wheel drive city car with rooster tails behind you. No, the Jeepster won’t be for everyone, or many at that (though the company says it has more in the pipeline), but who doesn't love whacky creations like this? Keep ‘em coming, Britain.
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