This Supercar Builder Wants to Make a Modern Baja Boot

You may remember the Baja Boot, an off-road beast raced by none other than Steve McQueen in the 1960s. Now, James Glickenhaus is seriously considering a reboot of the Boot.

The new Boot, in development by Glickenhaus’ own company called Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, promises to be an off-road cracker if the initial renderings are any indication.

Measuring nearly 177-inches from tip to tail, the new Boot is almost a foot longer than a two-door Wrangler JL. Height is roughly the same at about 75 inches. As for looks, well, form definitely follows function. In the wilds of desert racing or trail busting, that’s no bad thing.

Thanks to America’s surprisingly relaxed rules for low-volume manufacturers (the same rules which allow ‘new’ DeLoreans to be built, for example), Boots built for customers should actually be street legal. Whether drivers will be able to convince the valet at a fancy steakhouse to park it is up for debate but this is one bruiser you won’t have to trailer to the trailhead.

Wheel travel is expected to be in the ballpark of twenty inches, a huge number when one considers the Ford Raptor has a relatively paltry 13.9 inches of travel in its rear suspension (for the record, 13.9 inches of travel is still a gonzo amount). Thanks to most off-road drivers not having three feet, SCG has no plans to offer a manual transmission.

SEE ALSO: Here’s the ‘Affordable’ Model from Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus

Its moon-lander front end is made possible by bolting the V-8 engine directly to the driver’s spine. Yes, the SCG Boot plans call for a mid-engined configuration. Two- and four-door iterations are shown in the concept drawings.

The original Baja Boot lit the fires on a 350 cubic-inch V8, cranking out 450 horsepower and buckets of testosterone. Huge off-road tires and a beefy steel tube frame allowed McQueen to attack the Mexican Baja with gusto.

SCG is planning on a release date sometime next year. The well-heeled off-road enthusiast will be able to put one of these brutes in their garage for about $100,000.