Blade (car)

"Perhaps THE classic American muscle car. Compact two door sedan made for the greatest generation and lusted after by their jaded children. Cheap to make, and one of the highest-selling new cars in American history - this is what classic American cars were once all about."

- Southern San Andreas Super Autos description.

The Blade is a two-door open top lowrider and a two-door muscle car featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online. It is manufactured by Vapid in the HD Universe.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Depicted as a two-door open top car from the 1960s, the Blade combines elements of the 1965 and 1968 Chevrolet Impalas. The rear of the car resembles that of the 1965 Impala, with chrome, convex-shaped areas around the taillights. Its headlight design is again similar to that of the 1965 Impala. Unusually, the Blade has no side-view mirrors.

Being a lowrider, its exterior and interior can be modified at Loco Low Co.. If the car is equipped with hydraulics, it can be used in lowrider competitions. While normally appearing with only an open top, the car can be modified at Loco Low Co. to feature a hard top or a convertible top.

The Blade may be found on any Mexican gang's turf, and is driven by said gang members, especially the San Fierro Rifa. It can occasionally be seen driven by non-gang affiliated civilians.

Like most lowriders in the game, the Blade offers a substantial boost to the player's sex appeal.

Grand Theft Auto V
The Blade returns in the I'm Not a Hipster Update for Grand Theft Auto V. The Blade, now badged under Vapid, is now styled as a small two-door muscle car based on the 1964 Ford Falcon. The double front fascia and grille takes influece from both the 1962 Pontiac Tempest and 1964 Mercury Comet. The taillights resemble those found on the 1971-1972 Dodge Dart Demon. It ditches the lowrider style from the 3D Universe for a more "gasser" style with raised front suspension and a solid beam axle.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Acceleration and speed are quite impressive, and the brakes and slick handling serve the vehicle well. Although cornering is also excellent, the one major drawback of the Blade is its major oversteer, which makes emergency brake turns futile, and driving at high speeds a challenge due to the potential loss of control at the slightest disturbance. The Blade is capable of withstanding significant impact damage due to its strong frame and overall construction, but does not fare as well against explosive damage.

Like all lowriders, the Blade is not recommended for off-road racing, as it is prone to flipping.

Grand Theft Auto V
The Blade's performance is much better in Grand Theft Auto V, thanks to the high-output V8 under the hood. However, it is quite a mixed bag. It has extremely good acceleration for a Muscle car, but lacks top speed to keep up. Handling wise, the car handles less like a normal Muscle car, instead having a more unique, understeer-heavy design which resembles the Rat-Loader and other low-end Muscles. It will need to slow down into corners more than other cars, but can make up this lost speed with its aforementioned acceleration. Unlike other Muscle cars, it lacks almost all semblances of oversteer.

The Blade is also somewhat special in how hard it is to ram off the road. Being a very back heavy car, the Blade can shrug off most rear-end rams and attempts to PIT with ease. This makes it a good car for attempting to evade police, or in racing, as other players attempting to take down a Blade will find it very difficult to force the Blade off the road. Crash deformation only furthers this, by being able to take large amounts of head-on collisions before smoking, and axles being damaged is not very likely in normal circumstances.

It's worth noting that when in first person (or to a lesser extent, hood view) it's very difficult to see the road while in a Blade, so suspension upgrades are suggested for this vehicle or by switching back to a third-person perspective.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The following upgrades can be made in the Loco Low Co. garage:

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

 * Parked in front of the garage of a house east of the El Corona Safehouse in El Corona, Los Santos.
 * Parked east of El Corona Safehouse in El Corona, next to a Voodoo and another Blade (only when wanted to export).
 * Can be found driven around in San Fierro Rifa gang turfs like Doherty, Garcia and Battery Point, all in San Fierro.
 * Very common anywhere at night time.
 * Quite common in rural areas such as Bone County or Whetstone, along with Remington and Tahoma.

Grand Theft Auto V
Enhanced version only:
 * Appears inside the garages of any of the protagonists (PS3/XB360).
 * Can be bought for $160,000 at Southern San Andreas Super Autos.
 * Spawns outside Los Santos Customs in Burton, usually heavily modified.
 * Can spawn in traffic (often pre-modified).
 * Tends to spawn in car parks located in Pillbox Hill, Rockford Hills and La Puerta, and is commonly found in a lime green color.
 * Can appear in Stock Car Races.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Can be purchased from Southern San Andreas Super Autos for $160,000.

General

 * The default radio stations for the Blade are:
 * GTA San Andreas: Radio Los Santos.
 * GTA V: Channel X.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * A flame-proof Blade can be found during the mission High Stakes, Low Rider.
 * In an artwork of GTA: San Andreas, Ballas members can be seen shooting at Grove Street Families members in what appears to be a modified Blade.
 * Given that the artwork seems to depict beta Ballas members, in addition to the beta versions of the Grove Street OG's (Sweet, Big Smoke, Ryder, and Carl), it's possible that the Blade was a Ballas gang car at some point in development.

Grand Theft Auto V

 * The Blade's rear suspension is lowered, due to the fact that it has a straight axle front end.
 * The Blade seems to be modified for drag racing, as indicated by its impressive acceleration and wide rear tires.
 * The original description of the car mentioned it as a four door sedan, but the model is clearly a two door. This was most likely a developer oversight, but it has since been fixed
 * The Blade seems to have the same Roll Cage and Chassis Upgrade setup as the Sabre Turbo.
 * The Blade, like many other vehicles, does not have reverse lights.
 * Its engine noise is shared with the Buccaneer in GTA V.
 * The steering wheel bears a Declasse badge even though it is manufactured by Vapid.

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