The 12 Most Bonkers Stock Exhausts Ever Fitted

Call me a weirdo, but as far as I can remember, I’ve always been some sort of ‘exhaust fetishist’. There, I said it.

No, I don’t mean that I compulsively put various parts of my body into an exhaust pipe when I see one, just that to me they’ve always represented an important part of a car’s design, which is in constant evolution. If there is one thing though that I can’t get over is the rise of those horrid fake exhaust tips, that are usually here to hide a much smaller pipe, like Matt Robinson explained a few months ago in his ‘7 Fake Exhaust Pipes That Make Expensive Cars Look Cheap’ article.

So, instead of whining, I’ve decided to celebrate a few gorgeous examples of epic exhausts that put this new trend to shame.

1. TVR Sagaris

Produced between 2005 and 2006, the TVR Sagaris’ design was nothing short of amazing. Aggressive front end, sculpted body with a myriad of vents in the bonnet etc. Another astonishing part of this car is the mind-blowing double exhaust, which is not only massive, but also completely perpendicular to the road. Not sure it would look that badass on your 205 GTi, though.

2. Porsche 918

The latest addition to Porsche’s top of the range, the 4.6l V8 of the 918 Spyder breathes through a (very short) double exhaust that comes out on top of the car, right behind the driver’s ears. Just awesome.

3. Dodge Lil’ Red Express

Thanks to a loophole in the American emissions regulations at that time, Dodge managed to release in 1978 the Lil’ Red Express, which had a High Performance 360 C.I. small block engine, but no catalytic converters, hence the crazy vertical exhausts. It was the fastest American made vehicle to 100mph at the time.

4. Ferrari FXX Evoluzione

Okay, this one is a little far-fetched since the FXX was basically a track-ready version of the Enzo, but 30 were produced as such by Ferrari. And honestly, how many cars do you know that have quadruple exhausts where you would expect to see taillights?

5. Bugatti Veyron

Every petrolhead’s favourite car (okay, I’m out…) needs no introduction, but there is still one small detail that not everyone knows about that monster: in addition to the massive central double exhaust at the back, it also has 2 smaller pipes that are hidden in the rear diffuser.

6. Morgan 3-Wheeler

The 3-wheeler is certainly not the most powerful or fastest car in this list, but I included it because other than the fact that I would love to test this funny little bugger out (cf Tiff Needell in a great Fifth Gear episode), rarely can you see the full length of an exhaust pipe on a road car. Motorcycle engine, you said?

7. Pagani Zonda

An exhaust that looks like a freakin’ Gatling Gun on an impossibly quick and ravishingly beautiful Italian supercar? Yes, please!

8. Cadillac Eldorado ‘54

When Cadillac updated its Eldorado in 1954, they decided to integrate the exhaust to the chrome bumper, which I think looks stunning. This trend continued for a few years but unfortunately, by 1958, Cadillac discovered that it created a moisture problem and made the change to exiting the pipes below the bumper. Shame.

9. Nissan GTR R35

When the chaps at Nissan designed the R35 muffler, they had a huge poster that read ‘SIZE MATTERS’ (Editor’s note : I just made that up), so they thought that 2 or 3 inches wasn’t enough for the diameter of the exhaust tips, and made them 4,5 inches (11,5cm) wide ! If you add up the four diameters, it equals to 18 inches (45cm), roughly the size of 2 footballs!

10. Bugatti 57SC Atlantic

There were only 2 57SC Atlantics ever built, one in 1936 and the other in 1938. The ‘36 example was sold a few years ago for the mind-boggling price of £28,4 million ($40 million). For that price, you get smooth lines, 170+ horsepower and … 6 exhaust tips on the same side. That’s about £4.7 million ($6.6 million) per tip! The £1.8 million ($2.6 million) of the new Chiron suddenly look like a bargain…

11. Fisker Karma

The story of this car is a curious one. Indeed, not being a fully electric vehicle, the Karma features a 2.0l petrol engine to extend its range, which is cramped in a very tight compartment (a smaller engine was originally planned, but deemed too weak given the sheer weight of the car). To make matters worse, the engineers decided (had ?) to make the exhaust exit in front of the doors (like a Mercedes SLR, which is badass), inducing even more heat in the same area, as well as being noisy and hurting the horsepower. To me, that sounds like a recipe for disaster. Moreover, the placement of the pipe means that if the vehicle is standing still, and your window open (which is not an extremely rare situation in a car), you have all the chances to breathe some nasty gases. So why include this example? Yes, this one is bonkers, but not for the right reasons as the company lost approximately $35.000 on each car it ever sold…

12. Chapparal 2J

As for the Ferrari FXX, this one is not a road car, but I couldn’t resist. Gamers (and especially Gran Turismo users) know that one for sure. As bizarre as it may look, the 2J was a real car, that was only officially raced in 1970. The concept was to create suction using a tight ‘skirt’ around the car, and 2 massive fans (powered by a snowmobile engine) to generate tremendous grip (hence the name ‘sucker car’). And it did. This fairly unique system meant that the car had two separate exhausts, one for the 650hp Chevrolet ZL1 engine, and one for the two-stroke snowmobile one. I want one.

What about you CTzens, do you know other examples of mad exhausts?

Thanks for reading my (rather long) first article :)