2011 Porsche Panamera Turbo on 2040-cars

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Five cursed and haunted cars

Any kid lucky enough to grow up in Detroit is familiar with the Henry Ford Museum. It's huge, full of shiny things and a great place to take a child and let them burn off some energy. After several field trips and weekend outings however, the dusty concept vehicles and famous aircraft tend to lose their punch for youngsters. As a fifth grader, I was already gazing on the museum's many gems with glassy eyes. On yet another school trip, we made our way to John F. Kennedy's death car, a gleaming black Lincoln limo. The aging volunteer docent told our little group something I had never heard before. "You know, this car is haunted. Several employees have reported seeing a gray presence right here," he said, pointing to the back passenger side seat. I perked up. Now here was something I had never heard before. A haunted car? Sure, it happened in Goosebumps, but this was real life. It made sense, in a way. Cars can be violent, emotional places. That's certainly the case with JFK's limo, as well as the other four cars on this list. And maybe those gut-wrenching deaths can permanently doom a car. 5. Archduke Franz Ferdinand's Graf & Stift Death Limo World War I tends to be a forgotten war, despite being pretty terrible in its own right and setting the stage for the entire 20th Century. The French forces, for instance, lost more lives in the first month of WWI than the US did in the entire Civil War. Everyone who has been through a freshman world history course knows the conflict started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot by a Bosnian anarchist. The crazy thing is, Ferdinand had already avoided an attempt on his life that day, and was actually on his way to the hospital to comfort those who had been injured in the crossfire. One of the would-be assassins simply walked out of a cafe and saw his intended target sitting in front of him where the open-air limo had stalled. The archduke and his wife were shot through their heads and throats. Their deaths would not be the last caused by the limo. Throughout the war and into the 1920s, the limo was owned by fifteen different people and involved in six accidents and thirteen deaths, not counting the 17 million or so killed in the war triggered by the Archduke's assassination. The first person to own the car after the Archduke was an Austrian general named Potiorek, who went insane while riding in the car through Vienna.

Petrolicious profiles a Porsche 911 hot rod called The Growler

Petrolicious always does a superb job of showcasing fantastic vehicles and their owners. While some of its videos might go a little too far into the personal stories rather than putting the cars on the road for some people's tastes, this latest one is an absolute feast for the senses. The vehicle featured is called "The Growler," and this Porsche 911 hot rod assaults its driver with a wall of sound. The coupe maintains only the tiniest amount of on-road civility to still be regularly usable. Boasting a roll cage and a set of racing buckets inside, The Growler certainly looks all business. An engine tune, suspension upgrade, and 400 pounds of removed weight are enough to turn this 964-chassis 911 into something really sublime behind the wheel, too. As the first air-cooled car for owner Alex Bermudez, he's definitely starting near the top. Filmed on some misty canyon roads, the white coupe roars around sounding more like a racecar than anything road legal, and Petrolicious perfectly captures the this Porsche as it's flung around the narrow path. You can see the rear end just begin to step out before Bermudez catches it. Inside, each shift looks like the movement of a rifle bolt to shoot the car forward. Listening to the engine build revs might be the best thing you hear today, so stop what you're doing and take a listen. Related Video:

Lightspeed Classic 911 rocks out with its sprockets out

Singer does a pretty damn good job re-imagining the Porsche 911, but the faithful will aptly tell you that it's not the only name in the business. Munich-based Autoaktiv Motorsport also does a pretty compelling rendition of the classic German sports car. It's called the Lightspeed Classic, and this video clip casts it in light as good as we've ever seen. The brainchild of former Porsche engineer Ralf Skatulla, the Lightspeed Classic is based on the 964 but upgrades some key components while keeping the classic style. Power comes from a 3.8-liter flat-six from the 964 RS (albeit rebuilt with titanium components) that's been retuned to deliver 340 horsepower. It's got the gearbox from a 996 Turbo, the clutch from a 997 GT3 RS, and the brakes from a 996 GT3 Cup, along with Michelin Pilot Sport rubber coating a set of Fuchs-style BBS alloys. The result, as you can see, is lovely. Especially with Tim Schrick behind the wheel. The German racing driver is also a television personality, co-hosting D Motor – Germany's equivalent to Top Gear – alongside Sabine Schmitz and Carsten van Ryssen. Which is all well and fine, but what you really want to do is scope out the footage for yourself. If you dig Porsches (or even if you don't), it'll probably be the best 49 seconds you'll spend all day. Related Video: