The Rally Fighter is an American automobile manufactured by
Local Motors
Local Motors was an American motor vehicle manufacturing company focused on low-volume manufacturing of open-source motor vehicle designs using multiple microfactories. It was founded in 2007 by John B. Rogers Jr and had headquarters in Phoenix ...
and introduced in 2009. It is the first car to be developed using co-creation design. The exterior design was submitted by Sangho Kim and selected through community votes. The Rally Fighter is street legal in all 50 states.
Specifications
![Local Motors Rally Fighter rear](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Local_Motors_Rally_Fighter_rear.jpg)
The Rally Fighter is powered by a front-mid mounted 6.2 L GM LS3 V8 that produces at 5,900 rpm and of torque at 4,600 rpm. Power goes to the rear wheels through a 4-speed
GM 4L85-E automatic transmission. The suspension features double A-arms up front and a 4-link Ford 9-inch axle in the rear, both using coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers. This gives it 16 inches of suspension travel in the front and 20 inches in the rear. It also features a fiberglass body to save weight. In the interior, the Rally Fighter is equipped with standard 3-point harness seat belts, a full roll cage and
Recaro
Recaro Holding, as the parent company of the Recaro Group, owns the Recaro brand and the independently operating companies Recaro Aircraft Seating (aircraft seats) based in Schwäbisch Hall and Recaro eGaming (gaming seats) based in Stuttgart, Germ ...
seats, as well as amenities such as air conditioning, stereo and power windows.
Build process
The Rally Fighter used an assembly process where the buyer of the car went to one of Local Motors' micro-factories to assemble their car with help from a team of Local Motors employees. This also allowed the Rally Fighter to be titled as a
kit car
A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor ve ...
or component car in the United States. The Rally Fighter is street legal in all 50 states and upwards of 50 cars have been produced.
Crowd sourcing
The Rally Fighter is an
open-source vehicle.
The Rally Fighter is believed to be the first production vehicle designed through crowd-sourcing, the process of drawing input from a global community of interested people via the Internet. The winning design was submitted by Sangho Kim of Pasadena, California, and is inspired by a
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...
fighter plane. It was chosen through a vote in 2009 by a community of people on the Internet. Using this method, the car was developed from start to finish in 18 months.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.rallyfighterusa.com/
2010s cars
Cars introduced in 2009
Cars of the United States
Crowdsourcing
Front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Off-road vehicles
Open hardware vehicles