Mosler TwinStar

Weird Car of the Day #473: 2000 Mosler TwinStar – Aiming long

Mosler TwinStar illustration

That the 16-cylinder Mosler TwinStar is far from the rarest car at WCOTD must say something about my twisted priorities.

To my brain, Citroën adding a second engine to its 2CV for genuine off-road capability is an elegant solution. Warren Mosler's golf buddies coming by the shop and saying how "cool" a twin-engined car was (though that's not what they actually saw) and allegedly providing a genesis moment for the TwinStar is astoundingly stupid.

Build it because you can and all that, well, the base GM E-body platform underneath the Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe wasn't designed to handle all-wheel-drive, approximately 575 horsepower, 18-inches (457mm) of additional length, and a curb weight of 4780 lbs (2168 kg).

Styling? Trans Am meets hearse. NACA duct crimes. Permanently gaped bodywork. Y2lame.

Incredibly, five were made in total, and I'm not even quoting price because this car has been covered dozens of times before—if you must, start at Car and Driver's year 2000 review of the car linked below.

I can appreciate the theatre, however. The magazine wrote: "Our overall gas-consumption rate worked out to a relatively gluttonous 10 mpg, too, but this pales into insignificance when you start the car in a gas-station forecourt. See, the normal ignition key starts the front engine, but you then have to thumb a little black switch on the center console to start the rear engine. That gets the attention of everyone within earshot, we can tell you."

If you're ever wondering which cars the weird car watcher watches, he's searching for the TwinStar's opposites.