What's your favourite car/truck alt-mode?

I've been reading a book about the habits of the uber-rich lately, and part of it got me thinking. I'm not a huge car person (or art, or wine, or pretty much anything else that gets used as a mega-rich status symbol), so it'd be a struggle for me to choose a flashy/show-off-y car. If I somehow ended up stupidly wealthy and had to pick one I'd probably end up doing something stupid like just choosing a car I could make look like one of the Transformers I grew up watching as a kid, and call it a day. I'd be a pretty lame rich person, I guess.

Anyway, that in turn got me thinking...I don't think we have a 'favourite/sexiest alt-mode' thread yet (apologies if we do and I've missed it). So...how about you?

If you somehow came into stupidly large amounts of money tomorrow, and could get/arrange to acquire any 'can-be-driven-on-the-roads-without-having-the-army-called-on-you' TF-homage vehicle for your very own, what would it be? Or if you wouldn't necessarily want it for your own, what's your favourite civilian-y vehicle TF alt-mode?

Alt-modes like the classic G1 Optimus Freightliner count, as do the various F1-type cars, and motorcycles are fine too, but stuff like Warpath's much-more-fun-than-cars General Motors M551A1 Sheridan ARAAV tank is out. No Cybertronian alt-modes either, 'cos, well, they don't exist.
Any continuity family/series is fine, and you're not limited to just the toy/cartoon/movie - if it's a real car/truck/bike alt-mode then it's in.

What's your favourite TF non-military/civilian alt-mode?

http://i.imgur.com/gh978A5.jpg

I like alt modes which are really plain, such as the Mazda 323 (Bumblejumper) or VW Beetle etc. It really helps to sell the idea of the Transformers being robots in disguise. Because when a Lamborghini drives down a street, everyone notices.

This is also why I liked many of the early G1 Autobots (Mirage not included :p) - Nissan Fairlady, Toyota Celica, Mazda 7, Porche 924 Turbo etc., these are all vehicles that you see IRL without drawing undue attention. It's also why I really like Binaltech - same concept only with more recent car models. Each time I see a Subaru Impreza or Honda S2000 or Jeep Wrangler etc., I immediately think of BT. :cool: It's the idea that anything around us could be a robot in disguise, and the more everyday the alt mode, the more I like it. And it also allows greater mobility for the Transformers. Cos G1 Mirage wouldn't even be able to drive on a public road. :p We saw Captain America and his mates evading detection in Civil War where they got away in a small blue VW Beetle.

And believe it or not, but this was often the real art of of the Ninja in real life, which led to the belief that they could become "invisible." Contrary to what movies and cartoons have taught us, ninja more often just wore plain clothes. They dressed as commoners. Heck, look at how Hydra agents blended in with SHIELD They didn't wear Hydra uniforms, they just looked like SHIELD agents. It was impossible to tell who was SHIELD and who was Hydra unless the Hydra agents did something to reveal themselves.
"Hey, Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?"
"If they're shooting at you, they're bad."

Even the early Decepticons had some with plain alt modes to infiltrate human society, particularly Soundwave and the Cassettes, the Constructicons, Reflector and heck, even Megatron. In the G1 comics Megatron was once carried around by a human as a gun. The Insecticons in the comics were also able to mass-shift in alt mode and they were actually insect-sized in their Insecticon modes, just like the Insecticons in Revenge of the Fallen. At that size they could buzz around undetected, as well as getting into buildings via gaps under doors etc. Movie Frenzy had the same thing going as a CD player - he was even able to infiltrate Air Force One! :eek: Good thing Time Warrior's an Autobot. :p

In answer to the thread question, my favourite automobile mode would be the Mazda 323. It's so unassuming and quintessentially Australian (as Australia was one of the first countries outside of Japan to import the 323 (known as the Familia in Japan)). For this reason I'd really love to see a CHUG (or MP) Bumblejumper! :D I'd rate the 323 above the Beetle because the VW Beetle now has a sort of hipster-nostalgic appeal which draws attention to it. As in, when you see the old Beetle driving down the street you do look at it and think, "Cool, a Beetle!" -- people even play Beetle sighting games like Punch Buggy. There's no such thing as Punch Familia. :p If you passed a 323, odds are that most people probably wouldn't even notice. The conversation might go more like:
"Cool! A Mazda 323!"
"What?"
"That's a Mazda 323! They were known as the Familia in Japan and is the forerunner to the Mazda3!"
"I literally couldn't care less."

tis a tricky question. I agree with Gok that the 'normal' cars of the early G1 line were what made the idea of Transformers so interesting.

But I don't think that's the point of this thread, this thread is of all the cool 'realistic', civilian alt modes through the history of the franchise.

I would get a kick out of driving around a 'G1 Skids' my first toy, along with Thudercracker.
I would also get a kick out of driving around an 'Alternators Wheeljack', or a movie soundwave.

If I had stupid amounts of Money though I probably wouldn't even go to the trouble of a 'G1 Prime', it'd have to be 'Movie Ransack'. I'd have the money and make the time to get me a civil pilots license and any old WW1 Biplane is going to stand out, but in a 'cool collectable' kind of way.

I would drive to the airstrip in a Movie Lockdown. :D

It's really two questions TBH.

"What's your favourite (realistic, car/truck/bike-type) alt-mode?"

and

"If you could have any TF's (again actually-exists, car/truck/bike/equivalent) alt-mode as your own personal sweet ride, what would it be?"


So, you know, if you'd really like the one-of-a-kind Wheeljack Lancia Stratos, well, you could in theory buy it and drive in it around town if you were stupidly rich. An F1 car is a little bit out there in terms of driving-down-the-shops-for-some-milk-a-bility, but you know, it sort of could be done. Well, OK, not really, but it's still a real-life car. Trying to take the kids to school in a Sherman tank, on the other hand, that'd be a mite trickier to get away with. Sort of. You know what I mean.:p

If the answers to those two questions are different, feel free to answer them separately.

It's not a deadly serious thread, just something for fun.:)

I didn't include things like planes/tanks/hovercrafts/weird space-age drill-tanks/cassette players because I figured questions like 'favourite aircraft alt-mode' or 'all-time favourite alt-mode' kind of warrant their own thread, plus I think we have a few topics like that already.

Porsche 935 Turbo

I'd have a Countach done up like Masterpiece G2 Sideswipe. All black with red windows. I'd then get a modern Lamborghini done up the same as my "classics" G2 Sideswipe. But given Lamborghinis are unreliable as all hell, I'd buy a Mercedes Benz SLS Black Series as my daily driver, aka Movie Soundwave.

:cool:

Being a fan of Lamborghini's modern efforts and 80's efforts I will say G1 Sideswipe/Sunstreaker/Alert's Countach, AoE Lockdown's Aventador and TLK Hot Rod's Centinario are all favourites.

But I also really love the long nosed trucks with a sleeper like TFP Season 1 and 2 Optimus. That one's a big favourite.