- Concept cars. A lot of them are very sick. We love them. They're like looking
into the frickin' future, but like hover boards, a lot of these cars never get made. Today we're going to talk about
10 super dope concept cars that didn't get made but definitely, 100% should have been made. We'll be looking at Japanese Porsche's. Futuristic semi trucks,
and even a 70s Cybertruck? Strap in boys and girls 'cause we're going to the
future through the past. This is-- - [Announcer] D-List. - [Narrator] Dodge Ram T-Rex. - Frickin look at this thing. Look at it. Are you looking at it? Look at it. This fricking boy could
be released tomorrow and would sell like
dinosaur shaped hotcakes. You know Post Malone would buy one right off the fricking bat. It was designed in 1997, two years after Post Malone was born, meaning it predates the Hennessy 6x6. It predates the Raptor. In fact, you might even
say it's pre-historic. Now just like a T-Rex has three arms, This truck had three
axles and six wheel drive. It also had a big ol' Magnum V10 engine from the Ram 3500 that we talked about in our episode about the best
cheap trucks that you can buy. Unfortunately the big, unfortunately the big wigs
and the rich main offices at Dodge said that it was
too awesome to produce but there is a twist to this tale, a conspiracy theory, if you will. Dodge was owned by Mercedes at
the time of the T-Rex, okay? Mercedes decided hey, we can't build this six
wheeled dinosaur truck. Then 10 years later,
Mercedes made a 6x6 version of the G Wagon. Coincidence? I keep trying to tell you
guys there's no fricking such things as coincidences, okay? Look at the facts. All right? Connect the dots, follow the money, follow the money, follow
the money, follow the money. - [Announcer] Nissan MID4. - Back in 1985 when I'm from before the NSX was even a twinkly, Twink, twinkle in Honda's eye, Nissan unveiled a car which they said would be a competitor for Porsche and Ferrari. It was called the MID4. Now with a name like MID4, you'd think that it
would be a mid-engine car with a four cylinder engine, right? Well, you'd be half right. But you'd also be half dead wrong pal. It was designed to
receive a brand new V6 and that V6 was gonna be mounted
behind the driver and sideways. Right in the middle of
the four wheels, Get it? MID4. Makes perfect sense. Bing, bang, boom. MID4 was also supposed
to get all-wheel drive and four wheel steering,
really cool stuff for the time. Then in 1987, they made another one. They called it the MID4-Two and that one had two fricking turbos on it. If they weren't gonna make it, then why did they make a second
one that was even cooler? What are they doing to us? Like a lot of concept cars, Nissan never actually
planned to make this thing. It was meant to be a design study to showcase their cool technology in something that
resembled a road going car. it's like a mannequin at Old Navy where they just put an outfit on it, that's basically what a lot
of these concept cars are, mannequins at Old Navy where
they put the outfits on them. Old Navy has the coolest mannequins and the most relaxed fit jeans. Cool fact though, the MID4's twin turbo V6
did end up getting used in the Z32 300ZX. So, you know, we're all just stardust. Everything is connected. It's the circle of life. I am made of the same things as you, you are made of the same things as a car, carbon makes steel and you. Cars are boys. - [Narrator] Audi Avus Quattro. - The Audi Quattro was the
sickest Audi of the 80's, So when they stopped making it in 1991, it was a big deal. Question was, could Audi's next car
revolutionize the industry like the Quattro's all-wheel drive system did way back in 1980? What was Audi going to come up with next? The answer was the Audi Avus Quattro, Look at this fricking thing. It looks like it's from a Will Smith movie about a bunch of I robots. It looks like it's from
the future but in reality, it's from the past, the design was apparently influenced by Audi's streamliners which were their land speed
record cars from the 1930s. You can definitely see the connection. This shiny little concept that couldn't, had an all aluminum space
frame chassis making it incredibly light and
strong, just like Nolan. His bones are wide but
they're hollow like a bird. The dude only weighs like 84 pounds but he can dead lift like 850. This car was supposed to be powered by a 502 horsepower W12 engine but when it debuted at
the 1991 Tokyo Motor Show, the engine was just a wooden model because they didn't get the
real one done in time but sadly, it just wasn't meant to be. The recession of the early 90s led Audi to shelve the Avus project. It wasn't a total bust though. The aluminum frame and W12
did both find their way into the 1994 Audi A8. Maybe we'll do an episode
on big old luxury barges that you can get for cheap. I don't know, let me know in
the comments if you want that. I definitely will love those. Me and Max both just loved
those big ol', big ol' boys. - [Narrator] Honda HP-X. - Is it HPX or (murmurs)? I'm going with HPX. The Honda HPX is one of the most recognizable
concept cars ever made. All thanks to the
company that designed it. Pininfarina, the peeps behind some of the most beautiful
cars ever were asked Honda to design them a car
that would show the world how capable this Japanese company was. I wanna point out that at
this time in the late 80s, Honda was still known more for
its fast bikes and slow cars. So this was a big swing. This was a big deal. Pininfarina put their Ferrari designs away for a few months and whipped up the HPX which is short for Honda
Pininfarina Xperimental. It's not experimental if you use the E. You gotta just go straight for the X. Xperimental, Xperimental. HPX featured a mid mounted V6, which was basically a Honda Formula Two V8 with two cylinders chopped off. The coolest thing about the
HPX was its fighter jet style (beeping) pit. It has a single piece plexi glass bubble that's slid forward when
you wanna get in and out of the car just like Goose
or Maverick and honestly, the worst thing that COVID
has caused was pushing back the premiere of Top Gun 2, I'm not even getting sponsored by those guys even though we
tried, we tried they said no but Top Gun 2 is gonna be the
sickest movie of our lifetime. I'm calling it. Tom cruise is kind of a weirdo but he's a national treasure
and a straight up professional. - [Narrator] Volkswagen W12. - VW, my favorite car company
has never made a super car. Have they made some super duper cars? 100% but never a super car. Volkswagen has a long history of making really good economy cars with a fun little twist
and that's why it was so surprising when they teased the world with a W12 Nardo in 1997. It was named after the Nardo Ring , VW's test facility where this very car
smashed 12 speed records in a 24 hour test. During this test, the W12
maintained an average speed of 200.6 miles per hour
and that's including stops for gas and to fill up
the drivers big gulps. One thing you gotta know
about Volkswagen test drivers, they love their sodie
pop boy, no ice though 'cause they're German. It's already cold why would we add ice? I took German in high school and we had like a German guy come talk to us and someone was like oh, is it true that you guys
don't put ice in your sodas? And that was his answer. He's like yes, it's already cold why
would you put ice in it? VW chief at the time, Ferdinand Piech, Piech, Piech, Piech, Piech, Piech, Piech ordered that VW have
a super car in their fleet. It borrowed the technology for
its W12 engine from the Audi Avus which we just talked about. Time is a circle and it was
designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the genius, legendary designer behind some of the most beautiful and innovative cars in the history of cars. I'm talking about the BMW
M1 and the Daewoo Lanos. Obviously a W12 powered super
car was gonna cost a lot of money, but even Piech
didn't realize just how much money it was actually gonna cost. When the bean counters counted all the beans it was gonna
take to make every car, they were like no way, guys. That is way too many beans
and they vetoed the project, but there is a happy ending
to this story because in 1998, Piech convinced the VW
board to purchase Bugatti. So in the years that follow, VW turned over their W12 technology
to Bugatti and it was that technology and development
which led to the Veyron. For more on that, check out our D-list
episode on the fastest car for every year. Listen, I know that I ask
you guys to watch a lot of my other videos but I really
want you to watch this one. - [Narrator] Steinwinter Supercargo. - Now this next car is
not at all a super car but very much a semi truck. The Steinwinter Supercargo was designed and built in Stuttgart and they budded at the Frankfort Motor Show in 1983. The idea behind this ridiculous, pretty awesome looking vehicle was to reduce the footprint of
semis on the world's roads. Normal semi-trucks are big bricks and bricks aren't very
aerodynamic especially when they're big. Also the gap between the cab and the trailer creates a lot of drag. So what do you do? Well, you make your cab flat
and put it under the trailer. Problem solved, Bing bang, boom, let's all go home and have
dinner with our wives. Finally, I can see my kids for once. Maybe I'll help Tommy with his homework. This thing had a big ol' Mercedes diesel that made 753 torques and the whole thing was
only a half inch taller than a Lamborghini Huracan
which is a very short car. The thing could carry a fully
loaded shipping container on its roof while towing
another one behind it. So you've got this super buff, versatile truck the size of a Lambo, sounds really good on paper, right? Unfortunately this bad boy had his flaws. Just like me. The driver's vision was really, really bad compared to a regular semi which sits high up and has huge windows and it turns out that Lambo's aren't the most practical height for towing shipping containers. Reliability was also an issue. I mean, the stress put
on trucks is incredible with engines and chassies expected to go like a million miles
with just minor maintenance. Sadly, the Supercargo
just couldn't cut it. Mercedes pulled their funding
and that's all it took for the semi-truck of the future to become a concept of the past. But you're a little shook
truck and I'll see you again. Just like all great, great ideas, this one refused to die and it finally got its
rightful place in history when it was featured in
Power Rangers Time Force which is basically the coolest thing that could ever happen to anybody. - [Narrator] Mazda RX-Vision. - Have I seen it in person? Yes. Did I touch it? Yes. Did I get in trouble? Yes. Pshh, you guys already knew
I'm a bad boy for life. The Mazda RX-Vision was
released at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2015 and was meant to be a glimpse into the future of Mazda
sports cars obviously drawing inspiration from their long line of incredibly successful
road and race cars. The RX-Vision was a long, sleek front engine rear-wheel
drive beastie with yes, you guessed it, Ferrari engine. (groaning) that's a good looking car. It was designed using the KODO philosophy. What is the KODO philosophy you ask? Well, Mazda designers try to make cars that encapsulate the beauty
of life in the hope that by doing so they can give the car a soul. Did I mention that this
thing had a fricking rotary? Despite all the positives
and all the cool stuff, the beauty and the rotary and all that. It just wasn't meant to be. the RX-Vision never
made it into production which sucks because this car
would have been phenomenal. We can see this thing's DNA splattered all over the fourth gen Miata which was designed at the same time but it's a shame that we haven't got a new
rotary Mazda sports car and I'm not sure if we ever will. - [Narrator] Mercury Montego Sportshauler. - You guys probably don't
remember the Mercury Montego. It was a mid-sized sedan,
released all the way back in the grandpa times in 1968, it was powered by range of
Ford V8's and was available as a four door sedan, a two door hardtop, a four door station wagon
or a two door convertible. But one Montego that never
made it to market was this one, the Sportshauler. Sportshauler, Sportshauler. Unveiled at the 1972 Detroit Auto Show, the Sportshauler looked like a Montego from the front but carried
a surprise in the back. Kind of like the tale I was born with but had to have removed and that's why I got this tramp
stamp to cover the scar. This frigging boy had a compartment behind the two front seats
that had a fricking ATV in it and the freaking ATV looks
like a fricking moon Rover. The rear window and deck
lid opened electronically. Then a tailgate dropped to
the ground to form a ramp. So you could bring your moon Rover out, moon Rovers aren't your jam? Okay, well it could be replaced with a mini bike or a snowmobile. Pick your awesome poison, Juliet. This thing is a gosh dern Cybertruck before the Cybertruck was the Cybertruck, but it's not even a truck. It's a cyber car. - [Narrator] Datsun Idx. - The Datsun 510 is a great little car. People fricking love
them, it's just like hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. In 2013, Nissan released this
21st century re-imagining of the 510 and the car
community went wild, wild. I cannot overstate how wild we all went. The IDx concept was marketed
by Nissan as their answer to the rear wheel drive
tuner craze and they claimed that it could be a direct competitor for cars like the Hyundai Genesis coupe and the GT 86/BRZ/FRS. The Nismo edition was set to have the same 230 horsepower engine from the Juke Nismo which
somehow did get made. Nissan I love you but
you're bringing me down. It was all looking so good. Nissan said they were gonna make it. Journalists were even allowed to drive the fully
functioning concept car, both younger Max and
younger me were trying to figure out how long it would take them to depreciate until we could afford one. But as we know all too well
from other cars on this list, hype doesn't always turn into sales and when Nissan ran the numbers on this relatively pricey concept, it just wasn't a viable
option to be produced. You know, like the Nismo Juke. (screaming) To learn more about Nissan's awesome, amazing decision making ability check out these two episodes of the
Wheelhouse that Nolan hosts. I'll put a link in the description below. It's such a shame that
this thing never got made because Toyota had already proven that there was a market for
front engine rear wheel drive sports cars with the GT86. - [Narrator] Dodge Copperhead. - That's right, in at
number one on the list of 10 concept cars that we wish they would have made is the Dodge Copperhead
and as a fellow snake boy, I like the name, Kentucky
Cobra Merch coming soon. This thing is sick. The copperhead was first shown at the 1997 North American
Auto Show and was envisioned, you guys ready? As a smaller, more affordable
version of the Dodge Viper. Sounds awesome. Sign me up. Where is the waiting list? I would love to at least drive one. So not only did Dodge
shrink down the proportions of the Viper, giving the copperhead a
perfect baby Viper look, you gotta be careful with the baby snakes 'cause they don't know how
much venom they're supposed to let out. They'll just let it all
out and they'll kill you. They also added sick aero
which would help the Copperhead to get the most out of its
modest 220 horsepower V6 motor. It was low and wide which gave it excellent handling overall but by far the best part
of the Copperhead was that it came with the five-speed manual and rear wheel drive you guys, it would have been a
fricking American Miata. It was gonna be priced at around $30,000. That's $45,000 less than a Viper and you can imagine that at that price, they would have sold a
freaking butt load of them, just like every other
awesome car on this list. It wasn't meant to be. First and this is honestly
so lame, Bill E Gibbons, the guitarist for ZZ Top had built and customized a 1950 Ford
Coupe and registered it as the Ford Kopperhead
with a K and they had to rename the car, the Dodge concept car to keep from getting in a legal battle. I do think that they could
have put a little more effort into it and named it
something a little bit cooler. Like there's a million snakes. Name it the Dodge baby Viper or name it, the Dodge black moccasin,
Dodge yellow bellied sea snake. That sounds like an insult that a pirate would say to a pirate. Yours a yellow bellied sea snake. At the time, Dodge was owned by Daimler and Mercedes had their own
small drop top sports car, the SLK which was selling well in America. So that also contributed to
the Copperhead not being made. But the main reason that the Copperhead didn't get
made was because of the SUV. Dodge wanted to focus on more
lucrative areas of the market. So they decided to shelve the Copperhead and gave us the Dodge Durango. I mean, it's a good looking SUV I suppose. Dodge would use some of
the Copperhead styling when they redesigned the Viper in 2003 for the second generation and then even made a limited run of 300 Copperhead Vipers
in 2005 but still guys, we were so close to
having an American Miata. I imagine an alternate universe where the money pit Miata is a Dodge and we're all just cruising around in our little American Miatas but unfortunately the only place that that can happen right now
is in Gran Turismo One and Gran Turismo Two because the car was
featured in both of those. Thank you guys so much
for watching this episode of the D-list and everything
else on Donut Media. If this is your first Donut Media video, hell, if this is your first
car video, welcome aboard. We'd love to have you go ahead and hit that subscribe button. Hit that notification
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damn near every day. You wanna learn more about
how Nissan keeps messing up? Check out this episode of the Wheelhouse. I love you. (gentle upbeat music)
