The Off Road Cars from Transformers Age of Extinction: A Detailed Look If you’re like me, you sat in the theater for Transformers Age of Extinction, and at some point this burning question distracted you from the movie just a bit; what are those off road sports-car looking things?! Fast and with few boundaries, these sports car dune rider things took a hybrid approach to driving in a way you don’t see every day. As cool as they were, I was surprised to find out that the company behind these vehicles may very well be cooler.
The Creators (this includes you)
Local Motors, the creators of the off road demon known as the Rally Fighter, are a very unique company. Believe it or not, they are what they call a “crowd-sourced” car manufacturer. Somewhere around 20,000 or so enthusiasts are able to add input and suggestions to the design process. It’s kind of like etsy, except more badass. People can bring things to market that would have otherwise just been a figment of their own imagination. Even more amazing, is the amount of community and camaraderie that develops because of this process. It truly is an American subculture.
Hollywood love for the Rally Fighter So the company is cool, great, but what about the car? It’s got the coolness factor for sure. According to interviews, Local Motors was on set for 6 weeks to yield the few minutes of footage seen in Transformers 4, but the impact of the vehicles was still something to be proud of. Mark Wahlberg, Michael Bay and just about everyone on the set couldn’t get enough of them.
Details and Specs
The Local Motors’ Rally Fighter is a 50 state, street legal, off road capable vehicle. On the road the company claims the vehicle rides very smooth, on par with most luxury vehicles, but it’s important to note that the airy suspension has a cartoon effect when driving. The vehicle noses down whenever the breaks are applied and wobbles a bit. Off road handling isn’t quite as good as vehicles purpose built for such activity, but the vehicle reaches 100 plus mph on dirt roads easily and transitions between different terrain profiles easily. Not to mention, catching air doesn’t put much risk of damage to the vehicle and beating the snot out of one of these isn’t exactly frowned on. Its tube chassis’ durability cannot be denied, as seen in this youtube clip of a Rally Fighter flipping end over end and keeps on driving. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM-FFt5bRCY. Just remember that insurance will likely only cover what you do on civil streets and you’ll be on your own for damage caused off road.
The Rally Fighters feature a 6.2L LS3 V-8 (edited 7/22/17 thanks to power user Ryan for spotting the error) Engine with 4 or 6 speed automatic transmission, sports 430 horsepower and utilizes rear wheel driver. You might want to check your local laws before exiting a traffic jam by driving over the curb and hauling your way through a rock quarry to get to work… but the capability is there. An optional supercharged version ramps things up to 640 horsepower.
Ford’s 4 link solid state 9 inch rear axle is used along with King remote reservoir shocks which can pull off 20 inches of wheel travel while the front manages 18 inches. In house cnc carves out beefy wishbones from billet aluminum with a multi-link independent front suspension, and a matching set of long travel coilovers. Also, there’s a detachable stabilizer bar.
13.9 inch ventilated disc brakes take care of sudden stops, and readily available 285/70R-17s are fitted to its 17 inch alloy wheels. The wheel base is 115 inches. Manual transmissions are not recommended due to the nature of the vehicle’s intended use, but the open source nature of the vehicle may allow for some wiggle room on features. This could even include converting it to run on used vegetable oil.
In a lot of cases, they forego any actual paint jobs in favor of vinyl wrap. The idea being that any damage to your “paint job” can be repaired by replacing an individual piece of vinyl; makes sense. Unlike regular car companies, if you so desire, you can head down to their micro factory, roll up your sleeves, and actually take part in building your own Rally Fighter.
While they compare the commute in this vehicle to luxury automobiles, the interior is anything but. Not taking away from the badassness of this ride, the interior of the Rally Fighter is reminiscent of the interior of the Chevy Nova from the movie Deathproof. Its minimalist construction keeps down on weight, but leaves little for luxury features. There’s not much room in the back seat for anything but smaller friends or a large cooler, not that it matters. Lots of gauges are planned to allow monitoring performance when pushing the limits.
Cost
So, how much does badass cost? Well, it depends on your individual input on the car you have built, but plan to invest in the neighborhood of $99,900.00 for an average model. If there’s one universal thing Americans love, it’s options, and the Rally Fighter certainly has them. If you can’t afford one, but have a lot of skill and know how, take a look at their build kits. You can pick up the powder coated chassis, billet front arms, rear links, brakes, fuel tank and fuel pump, front hubs and uprights, complete rear-end, rear brakes, and hardware kit for just $19,500. Or, pick up a drift trike just to say you own something from local motors. The possibilities are endless with local motors, so check out their website see what sort of a insanity you can dream up.
Thanks for reading, Kephra
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I post as often as I can, but due to a slight case of dyslexia sometimes it is difficult to post quickly. I have to rewrite my work many times for it to be clear and concise. Subscribe and you’ll always know when I have something new up. Thanks in advance.
Check out a detailed look at the Tank SUV from “Fast Five”
The Tank-SUV from “Fast Five” a detailed look. Updated on 4/4/24!
Check out This photo I made!
Click the photo for a larger more detailed version and to read the short story I wrote about these two characters. The original photo was taken on my cellphone at CT HorrorFest in Connecticut. If you know these two let me know so I can link them they never got to see the photo.
OWN YOUR POWER Creative 
Oh my goodness! Awesome article dude! Many thanks, However I am having issues with
your RSS. I don’t know why I can’t join it. Is there anyone else having identical RSS issues?
Anyone that knows the solution will you kindly respond?
Thanx!!
Hey, thanks so much! I’m looking into the rss issue now, unfortunately I don’t know anything about coding etc. But will contact WordPress about it. In the meantime, I know lots of people have been able to subscribe for the email updates located at the right side of the page. I post as often as I can, but due to a slight case of dyslexia, it’s hard to post as frequently as others. You won’t get inundated with emails from me and the only time you’ll be contacted is when something new is posted. Thanks for the encouragement and either way I’ll try and find out what’s going on with the rss. Thanks!
Thanks for your research and information on this vehicle. Yes,admittedly this bad ass vehicle definitely caught my eye in the movie. Do you know if the body is based on any specific model or is it completely custom made?
It’s more like a “franken-car” I believe the v8 engine is from bmw, the tail lights from honda. Ya know what I’ll do? I’ll do a little digging when i get home and update the article. Great question, when my book is finished I’ll send you a free copy. Thanks for the help.
The 6.2L LS3 is not a diesel motor. It’s what comes in 2008 and up corvette and 2010-2015 Camaro and many other v8 gm products. Variations of it come in their SUV’s too. It’s a great motor though. I swapped one into my Jeep Wrangler.
I don’t know what happened there, lol. Thanks for catching it! If you see anything in my other articles let me know. I would have to look it up but I’m assuming yours is lighter than a rally fighter that must be an “advanced users only” set up on a jeep lol someone inexperienced could probably flip themselves before they even knew what happened
No problem. Just trying to lend some knowledge where I can. That rally fighter actually seems like a lighter setup than a jeep. And looks like it can hold up to way more crazy stuff than a jeep as well.
Look into the Dyslexie font. If you use it when reading and writing it helps with dyslexia.
Awesome didn’t know about that thanks. When my book’s ready I’ll send you a free copy.
Thank you for the article. I wasn’t able to find anything about the rally cars and this article covered it all.
Glad to help and thanks for reading 😆 i’m always writing it just takes me a while since i struggle with reading/writing etc. More stuff on the way. Feel free to comment on anything and everything it only helps me improve and makes this art of words better for everyone 😆 thanks again!
Yes, this is a great article. I did not find so much information on these cars, and this helped me. Thank you!
Awesome, thank you, being dyslexic anything I write that people enjoy makes me very happy!
Thank you for the article. You answered all of my questions. I would love to own one, but as a teacher will be impossible. Can still dream about it being a lottery win purchase.:) Such beautiful cars. Love the exterior look with what they can do.:)
Hey, thanks so much! Yea if only, lol, it’s like a mobile office AND bunker on one lol. I talked to them again recently they have even nicer interiors now too. Someday maybe lol
Sorry for the dyslexia. I really appreciate the extra effort it takes to write such a good article. Descriptive and well written, it puts a reader right into the action of driving the vehicle.:)
oh thank you so much! I’m working on getting better, check out my newest posts and the photography I’ve been working on. I think I’ve been getting even better lately.