£40K motorcycle inspired by fighter plane

Birmingham, Alabama-based Confederate Motorcycles has been building fast, outrageously designed, limited run motorcycles for over two decades, and its creations have been by turns brilliant and insane. Their latest, the $65,000 X132 Hellcat Speedster, looks destined for the first pile. It's a made-in-the-USA cruiser so gorgeous and powerful, you may be able to forgive its excess in price.

The Hellcat Speedster is the latest in Confederate's Hellcat series, which it's been building since the early 2000s. The original inspiration for these motorcycles was the World War II-era F6F Hellcat fighter plane, whose simple, high-quality design helped the Americans win in the Pacific.

Previous Confederate projects include the Renaissance Fighter, a $110,000 art project with a comically large girder fork holding the front wheel, and the slightly more civilized $72,000 X132 Hellcat Combat, which hit 172.2 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

-wired.co.uk