For those who don't closely follow automotive industry news, the name Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG) may be completely unknown. This small-scale American car manufacturer is owned by multimillionaire film producer and entrepreneur James Glickenhaus, and made waves in the motorsport world with the production of the SCG 003, an ultra-high-performance carbon fiber car designed for endurance racing.
Glickenhaus is known for his collection of rare vintage racing vehicles, and for his interest in financing modern reinterpretations of those classics. One of the prized vehicles in Glickenhaus's collection is an off-road buggy known as the Baja Boot. The original 1967 Baja Boot was custom-built for the legendary actor Steve McQueen, in order to compete in a grueling off-road race now known as the Baja 1000. Only two were ever made — one is in a museum, the other belongs to Glickenhaus.
Inspired by the original Baja Boot, Glickenhaus set out to create a modern reinterpretation of the vehicle, known as the SCG Boot. SCG intends to push this vehicle to its limits by entering it in the Baja 1000 and other classic off-road races starting in 2019. A press release reads, “Unlike trophy trucks, our Boots will be fully road legal, and able to drive on and off the road.” The company also plans to attempt to set a world altitude driving record by driving the Boot up the side of the 22,615-foot Ojos del Salado volcano in the Andes Mountains. But that's not all.
SCG recently announced plans to drive a Boot expedition vehicle from New York to Paris in 2020 — and they won't be doing it by crossing the Atlantic. The SCG Boot will be driven west through North America, amphibiously across the Bering Sea, down the Road of Bones in eastern Russia, across the Trans-Siberian Highway through Beijing, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, and across eastern Europe to arrive in France.
In a true mic-drop moment, Glickenhaus published a Facebook post with “a formal invitation” to any and all manufacturers of SUVs to join the SCG Boot on its globe-trotting journey. Although we doubt any other automakers will be willing to attempt it, we're excited at the prospect. Glickenhaus wrote, “We plan to leave Times Square Summer 2020.”
Ordinarily, we might assume that these plans (and the vehicle itself) will never come to fruition, but SCG has proven it has the desire and resources to take on some extremely ambitious projects. We'll definitely be watching to see how this trip plays out.
For off-roaders who are interested in buying an SCG Boot of their own, the road-legal version will reportedly be ready as soon as 2019. MSRP will reportedly start at roughly $100,000 — amphibious attachments sold separately.