A faint whiff of “chick” wafts off the 2005 Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 Roadster – despite the supercharged, 330-horsepower V6 engine that is installed under its long, grooved hood – and I can’t figure out if it’s because Celine Dion was featured in the first Crossfire commercials or if the car’s excessive surface detailing in combination with its bright Aero Blue paint job represents a few ersatz baubles too many to take the SRT-6 seriously. Certainly, part of the problem is the convertible top, which erases one of the Crossfire’s strongest design characteristics – it’s rakish roofline that tapers into a tidy boat tail. And, of course, I’m keenly aware that the SRT-6 is a Mercedes-Benz hand-me-down, a retired first-generation SLK massaged by the geniuses at performance tuning house AMG.

Somehow it all adds up to a sham, though the car performs beautifully, because ultimately the Crossfire SRT-6 is a marketing ploy, a quick-and-dirty way for Chrysler to get into the high-buck luxury-sport game with a distinguished, German-made, American-designed two-seater that’s based on hardware nearly a decade old. The Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 Roadster is a glamorous driveway decoration, a car for showing and telling, not driving. Which makes its reality as a terrific-handling back road burner quite ironic.