Even the Taliban is in the Supercar Business These Days
This story from earlier this year somehow just came to my attention, via the Twitter account of a former TTAC M.E. And it's a bit bonkers.
Thirty engineers at the Afghanistan Technical Vocational Institute in Kabul have come up with the Mada 9. This prototype, which has been five years in the making, has a Toyota 1.8-liter four-cylinder DOHC from a 2004-era Corolla.
That engine could be a placeholder until an electric motor is ready for use.
We don't know a ton of details other than that.
There's a political aspect behind this car -- apparently, Taliban Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani said the car is a way of proving that the Taliban can provide both religion and modern science to the country's people.
Check out the video below to see the car do a smoky burnout.
[Image: Screenshot]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Just as long as the Opium keeps flowing....sigh
I found it very tense when he pulled the door handle. Was there an IED or no? Cliffhanger. That said, I feel for the young men going to school in Afghanistan and dreaming of a better life. I also feel for the young women who are no longer allowed to go to school or dream of a better life.