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Equus Bass 770: How To Ruin a Great Idea in Three Simple Steps

Handbuilt in Detroit, the Bass 770 takes design features from some of the most iconic muscle cars and combines them with modern tech. This was an awesome idea that Equus, unfortunately, ruined with a series of questionable decisions.
Equus Bass 770 17 photos
Photo: Equus Automotive
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From the mid-1960s until the early 1970s, nearly all the American brands that meant something had at least one muscle car in their lineup. But the energy crisis of 1973 put an end to nearly a decade of excitement as performance dropped drastically and most iconic models were either discontinued or morphed into boring people-movers.

Fortunately, by the mid-2000s, muscle cars made a comeback, giving us even more power to get excited about. Moreover, technological advancements allowed those who wanted the best of both worlds to breathe new life into their classic muscle.

Although purists will disagree, the restomod trend gave birth to some awesome rides that combined the iconic looks of the classic icons with the handling and steroidal muscle of their modern counterparts.

The great idea behind the Equus Bass 770

Equus Bass 770
Photo: Equus Automotive
Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Detroit, the automotive capital of the United States, Equus Automotive decided to take a page out of the restomod book and launch a series-production muscle car that blends classic design with modern hardware and fabrication methods.

This idea translated into the Bass 770, an awesome handbuilt throwback that takes design cues from some of the most popular muscle car classics like the late-1960s Mustang fastback (body), Chevy Camaro (rear), or Plymouth GTX (front), putting it all together into an all-aluminum chassis and body combo.

Even more impressive, it received a 640-hp supercharged LS9 from the supercar-slaying Corvette ZR1. This legendary powerplant enabled the 770 to sprint to 60 mph (0–97 kph) from a standstill in 3.4 seconds and achieve a top speed of 200 mph (322 kph).

With a pretty cool, retro-inspired design and supercar-worthy performance figures, the car seemed like a terrific idea, but the company took several questionable steps that ruined what could have been one of the best-selling muscle cars in the U.S.

Step 1: Name it after the boss

Equus Bass 770
Photo: Equus Automotive
Well, if they actually named it BOSS 770, it would have sounded less original, but much better. It turns out that the car was named after the company’s boss, Bassam “Bass” Abdallah which is understandable because apparently, he came up with the whole idea.

But, when most of us hear “bass” we think about that common fish that a five-year-old with a stick and string can catch. The bass is no shark, so the name doesn’t exactly sound menacing. Not to mention that, depending on one’s accent, “bass” can sound a lot like “bus”.

To make matters worse, Hyundai marketed a sedan called Equus (horse, in Latin) in North America, so the company name wasn’t the best choice either.

Step 2: Make it look too much like a Mustang fastback

Equus Bass 770
Photo: Equus Automotive
When you say that you want to create a modern muscle car that combines design cues from some of the best-looking classics, you expect something more than a facelifted fastback ‘Stang.

There’s no denying that the car looks awesome for a Mustang restomod, but for a new, series-production throwback, it just lacks originality.

The design team could have gotten more creative and conceived something truly unique like a structure that combines the front end of the second-gen Charger with the curvaceous rear of the Challenger/Cuda’, then put the ‘Stang’s fastback roofline on top. Or they could have just subtly refreshed the old Ford design like Chip Foose did with his gorgeous Mach Foose.

Step 3: Make it obscenely expensive

Equus Bass 770
Photo: Equus Automotive
Apart from the unmistakably American design and a powerful V8 stuffed under the hood, a true muscle car was a somewhat affordable vehicle. This was (and still is) one of the main selling points of these terrific vehicles.

But, for whatever reason, Equus decided that what muscle car enthusiasts truly wanted was a vehicle with a price tag that starts around $250,000 and goes well over $500,000 in fully option-out trim.

The Bass 770 is a very cool ride, but comes with an outdated engine (be it a powerful one), quite a standard chassis that looks too much like the C6 Corvette's, and an interior that lacks the cutting-edge features that you would find in a modern BMW or Mercedes-Benz, let alone something in the same price range like a Bentley.

With $500,000 in your pocket, you can just commission one of America’s best custom shops to build you a better-looking, far more powerful restomod, and you’ll still have enough money left to feed it gas for the next decade.

The conclusion

Equus Bass 770
Photo: Equus Automotive
Even if it doesn’t have the catchiest name and falls short of what it could have been in terms of design, the Bass 770 is still a very awesome, retro-inspired muscle car. If it was priced slightly under $100,000, it had the potential to be a serious competitor to the higher-end versions of the modern Camaro, Charger, Challenger, and Mustang.

Unfortunately, the company’s decision to slap a ridiculously high price tag on it was more offensive than hiring someone to take a dump on the front porch of each and every muscle car enthusiast in the U.S.

Okay, so maybe I was too brutal with that one because, after all, Equus announced that this was going to be a limited-edition, luxury muscle car that not everyone will afford. Still, no matter how you look at it, the car doesn’t deserve that kind of money since it has nothing truly unique or exotic about it.

What started out as a great idea that got muscle car fans excited turned out to be an attempt of making fast money by selling a grossly-overpriced product. Furthermore, two or three decades from now, when a Challenger Demon or even a tastefully restomodded classic will fetch hundreds of thousands on the collector’s market, nobody will be willing to spend anywhere near that much on what was essentially an epic failure.

In 2017, when production kicked off, the company announced that it would only build a limited number of Bass 770 examples. Since you can apparently still order one on the Equus website, it seems that the car wasn’t too successful, despite the brand’s marketing efforts, such as the awesome Bullitt-inspired promotional video below.

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About the author: Vlad Radu
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Vlad's first car was custom coach built: an exotic he made out of wood, cardboard and a borrowed steering wheel at the age of five. Combining his previous experience in writing and car dealership years, his articles focus in depth on special cars of past and present times.
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