The SCG Boot Is A Desert Racer That's Somehow Street Legal

Screenshot: Doug DeMuro

We get to drive a lot of cool cars here at Jalopnik, but we don’t necessarily get to drive everything. Ferraris, for example, are still off the table, but it’s hard to complain too loudly when Ruf lets us get behind the wheel of the SCR. Still, one car we’re disappointed we haven’t gotten a chance to drive is an obscure off-roader designed for desert racing by the same guy who created a race car intended to be driven to the track, raced and then driven home. Yes, we’re talking about the SCG Boot.

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Lucky for us, though, our old pal and friend of Jalopnik, Doug DeMuro recently got the opportunity to review the SCG Boot, so we’re just going to have to temporarily live vicariously through him. Sadly, he didn’t get the opportunity to take the Baja-winning Boot off-road to really see what it could do, but as cool as the Boot is, we’ll just have to settle for a road drive and a thorough explanation of all of the incredibly unique SUV’s quirks and features.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Boot, it’s built and sold by James Glickenhaus’s company Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, but the design isn’t entirely original. Instead, it’s inspired by the Hurst Baja Boot that Steve McQueen raced back in the 1960s. But even if you know that there was a previous off-roader in the past that looked similar, that doesn’t make the modern Boot look any less alien in a modern context. It’s just so weird, and we absolutely love it.

Also, did we mention that it’s powered by a supercharged V8 that was in the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and Cadillac CTS-V? Or that the engine is mid-mounted? Who doesn’t need a 650-hp, mid-engine, somehow-street-legal SUV from an obscure automaker in their lives? Yeah, it may cost $300,000, but it’s still a much cooler way to spend that kind of money than, say, a Ferrari Roma. You can’t even off-road a Roma.

The SCG Boot Is a $300,000 Street-Legal Desert Racer