apr 17, 2012 - 2012 ROMANOV Industries Comrad V16 Racetruck

Description:

In early 2012, Romanov made an attempt to shock the world. Up until 2012, the only car under their name was the admittedly horrendous 1945 Carrier, so at a major annual European autoshow, people were quite shocked to hear that Romanov would be present and were going to unveil some epic creation.

The Comrad was premiered and was hyped to be the ultimate racing truck. On paper, it was mighty impressive. The engine was especially appetizing, a 15L naturally aspirated V16, producing close to 1.500 horsepower and north of 1.700 Nm of torque. This beast of an engine rocketed the 5.7 ton machine up to 278kmh top speed, with a 0-100kmh speed of only 3.72 seconds. However, there was a catch.

Somehow, it seems like all the focus was on speed and power, but in practice, the truck handled like a boat and remained far from the competition in regards to handling characteristics and was largely non-competitive on a racetrack.

The Comrad project was discontinued and the truck on display was the only one ever made at a fully functioning level. Despite it's lackluster track performance, it's collectors value has been on the rise since the project's demise. It was sold to a private collector at a undisclosed price in late 2012, but it might turn out to be a good investment as experts forecast it's appreciation in value to continue climbing due to it's rarity and uniqueness.

Price at launch in 2012:
$229.000

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