See, this is why people who can’t draw or sculpt shouldn’t make cars. I hate to slag something that someone has obviously put a ton of effort into, but all I can think when I see this is “world’s ugliest 80s Camaro — someone call Guiness!”. If you disagree with me, it’s on eBay as item #4636844659… so far, zero bids with five days to go. It’s basically a sloppy set of flat fiberglass panels put over a 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS chassis. Personally I think they’re insane with a starting bid of $2500.
Jeez, I feel so guilty now having written all that.
I have to admit that I don’t know much about this car… it just happened to be parked up the street from me so I took some pictures. Obviously it’s an old Camaro body on top of a 4×4 chassis (Bronco, Jeep, whatever, I didn’t look closely because I wasn’t alone and didn’t have too much time). I’m going to guess and say that unless there’s a lot more engine in it than I’m thinking that the asking price is somewhere in the $2000 range, but who knows… sometimes people have funny ideas about what things are worth.
Anyway, here’s a few more pictures. Oh, and it’s located in Toronto, Ontario. If you find out that it’s sold, please drop me a line so I can note that here.
Hey, it may not be a kit car, but it’s definitely homebuilt!
Bill Carter was an employee of Ordinance Maps that had designing these crazy cars made part of his job. On the left, the “Top Cat”, and on the right, the “G-WHIZ“. Both are built using V12 Jaguar bits with radical cab-forward designs, and both are reliable, driveable day-to-day vehicles rather than relatively non-functional show cars.
Now that’s ambitious! Joe Lee in Sofia (Bulgaria) is working on a largely from scratch metal-bodied Bentley EXP 2003 Speed 8 replica. The core chassis is a ‘70 Bug with 15×12 and 15×8 wheels, all on an Alfa Romeo Engine. He figures it’ll be done next month — below are a couple pictures, and he’ll update us with the final product later.
For those of you unfamiliar with the original, here’s what it will look like when he’s done:
Long, long ago I received the following email and pictures from Joe Korkin. I was very excited about it at the time, because this was one of my favorite cars (and continues to be).
Basically I have always been a Chaparral fan, and have wanted a 2D for quite some time. Unfortunately, no builders that I know of have attempted such a project. So I decided to build one myself . . . from scratch.
The bodywork shown in the accompanying jpeg photos represents a substantial investment in time, money and energy. Working from vintage photographs, film, and scarce technical specifications, I painstakingly built a solid model using CAD software. A plug and mold were subsequently constructed, yielding the prototype.
Note that no windshield appears in the photos; as this too represents a somewhat costly investment, and is partially contingent on the level of interest generated by my advertisements. If all goes well – and I expect it will – the DOT glass will be forthcoming.
I decided not to provide a chassis for the simple reason that there are so many component/material/configuration options available to the home builder, it would be unlikely that I could produce one with “universal” appeal. I will however freely share -assuming you’re interested – the chassis design that I am working on for my personal 2D. This is a hybrid space frame that will utilize stock Corvette suspension components wherever possible. The powerplant/trans will probably be a small block/ZF.
At this point in time I plan to produce a limited number of body sets in order to partially offset the substantial design/development costs that I indicated earlier.
The prototype is currently located at the fabrication shop in Albany, NY. It is available for inspection on any weekday from 9AM to 5PM.
So thats it. I hope this tickles your fancy . . . after 2+ years of work I’m still as excited as the day I started this project.
Sadly, the project ended at that point. I don’t know if Joe ran out of money or if he was threatened by Chapparal (since they did later re-release something very sililar as a limited edition “official” retro Can-Am racer). It’s very unfortunate given the obvious effort invested.
Oh, and please don’t call or write Joe about it, the project is dead. If anything changes, I’ll post that here.
Update! (June 2006): The project has been bought out! Click the “FIA Coupe” section to get the latest information!
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