My toolbox still proudly displays the sticker of the Ontario Handcrafted Vehicle Club. It unfortunately dissolved not long after its third annual BBQ (1998) due to the death of the founder John Cunningham. I wanted to very briefly share the three cars that were there when we last got together.
Above: John Cunningham’s Porsche Speedster Replica
Above: Bob Witcher’s MG
Above: My Aztec 7
These are the very last pictures I ever took (for eBay actually) of my old McBurnie Ferrari Daytona clone. If I recall it was built around a big block ’74 Corvette (and you can see my red ’77 in the background of a couple of the shots). I think I paid about $3000 for it and turned it around on eBay a week later for nearly double… I’d bought it primarily because it was a deal and I wanted to just sell it because (sorry guys) Ferraris aren’t my thing on the whole. The guys who bought it ran some kind of movie car attraction and last I heard were turning it into a Miami Vice display!
The Invader GT is a real love it or leave it car… on one hand it’s a high performance vehicle that was advertised based on its strength (with a picture of another Beetle sitting on top of it). From some angles, it’s a gorgeous, sporty, exotic, and from other angles (especially the rear and the segment around the doors) it looked awkward at best.
Let’s start with Dae’s stock Invader GT. He writes,
“The car currently sits on a 68 bug chassis. I plan on the 2.0 by next summer. Interior is currently black but I’m leaning towards grey replacement after I fix a couple spots in the floorpan. Current paint is iron but I’m in the process of prepping for new paint as we speak. Black or dark burgandy… Everyone remarks ‘what an ugly car!’“
When I last talked to him (ages ago), Allen Hoelzle and his kids were rebuilding an even odder looking Invader. It sat on a VW chassis (as they all tend to), but with a Porsche engine. The front section has been redesigned, and an attempt has been made to build “real” doors. These mods were done by the previous owner.
We were chatting about Kelmarks, by Eddie just sent me a nice old picture of his dune buggy.
I miss my Manta Mirage a lot… It’s just a mind-blowing car, one of the greatest kits ever made. So it didn’t surprise me when I had my Montage up for sale that a few former Manta owners wrote me with “please take a trade” offers… I turned down Mike in Phoenix, Arizona’s offer of trade, but he did share a photo of his former car with me, and I thought I should pass it on here. Great looking car, although I don’t know if those lights look all that legal?
I recently (well, not that recently, but I’m trying to get caught up) received this letter from a reader in Oshawa, Canada. If you know anything about it, please post a comment!
I recently came into possession (gift) of what appears to be a British-built coupe; I’ve sent all the pics I have at present, which were taken by the previous owner. While, from what I can see, quite an attactive design, I would have hated to suffer a rollover in this car, as it appears that all the seams are parting, and the only rollover protection, other than the roof, seems to be a tubular hoop, about 1″ in diameter, running from the frame, upwards just in front of the door hinges, crossing over underneath the dashboard, and back down to the other frame member. The spare tire is carried in the compartment underneath the taillights. I’ve kept the car because I find it quite interesting to see how many individual GRP pieces make up the car, and it indicates the amount of thought that goes into manufacturing these cars. The remains of the bonnet have a large bulge over the engine, but that is the sum total of all bodywork from the firewall forward. I have the doors, spare tire cover, plastic (perspex?) rear window, and the top surface of the hood, and will, at a later date, forward pics of those pieces, once I have it all in a workshop. If anyone can ID it, I would like to see what it looked like with a complete front end in place.
I have very little (zero) knowledge about this kit, other than the obvious — it’s old and rare!
I don’t know if he ever sold it, but last time I talked to him, Mirna was asking $60,000 for this rare Ferrari F50 turnkey (and was selling the kits for $15,000). It was built around a supercharged 3.8L V6 producing about 270hp on a five-speed standard. “Very fast and reliable,” he tells me.
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