Tag: air ride

A Tale of Three Lotii

Colin Chapman, James Bond, Formula 1, Pretty Woman. These are some of things that you might associate with the word “Lotus”. But what about air ride, engine swaps, wide wheels and interior re-trims? I’ve mentioned before how much I love seeing once pampered classics being torn down and fettled with as they become more affordable, and these three examples truly embody the guiltless “modify everything regardless of the badge” train of thought. You might not agree with some of the styles of modification, but I’m not here to convince you one way or another, I just like seeing people modify cars, especially cars that are rarely messed with.

All three builds reside together on the Retro Rides forums, and whilst enjoying their threads individually, I thought they’d make a great combined post to showcase how these vintage British sports cars are being re-imagined by the DIY crowd. I’ve added some captions to the images to make it easier to follow, I hope you enjoy.

Want to read more “A tale of …” posts featuring multiple cars? Click here.

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Bagged Porsche Dually

Not the kind of title you’d see every day, right? After overwhelming feedback on the Facebook page, I bring you this very unique piece of machinery. What was originally a Porsche 911 is now merely a Stuttgart shell sitting atop a Chevy pickup dually chassis, with a 454 V8 and 4-speed, riding on air. The build isn’t finished, the thread goes cold after just over 2 pages. If anyone knows what ever happened to this thing, please let me know!

Thanks to Samuli for submitting. Click here for more Porsche builds.

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VH41 V8 airbagged Cedric

There’s really no introduction I can type up for this car that will do it justice, so I’m just going to give you the facts, because they’re way more impressive than anything I could muster up. Nissan/Datsun Cedric, VH41 V8 conversion, custom-made cast ITB’s with carbon velocity stacks, airbags on all 4 corners with tubular crossmembers and arms, 4 link rear end, and some of my favourite oldschool JDM rims; August Feroce’s. Oh man, I’m getting a cold sweat just thinking about it. It’s also gracing the cover of the June 2013 issue of NZ Performance Car Magazine.

Thanks to Nils for submitting, who also submitted the K20 1st Gen Civic.

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Street-legal sculpture – ’63 Econoline

For this build you’ll need to take a step outside of the scene we’re all entrenched in, and see things from a different perspective. Shawn Hibmacronan isn’t your typical hardparking scene-kid, out to get a magazine cover and a tyre sponsorship, far from it. Shawn is an artist, and I’m talking about an actual artist here, not just a guy who doodles in his spare time, but someone who lives his life creating mechanically-influenced sculptures. His latest project, however, finds him crossing over into our world; an aired-out ’63 Ford Econoline with a VW TDI engine swap. Shawn’s philosophy for the car is a bit different from what we’re used to, and that’s what I love about it. It’s refreshing to hear someone from a different subculture talking about a process we’ve become so accustomed to. Another interesting element of this build is that Shawn has started a Kickstarter campaign to help funding, now why didn’t I think of that?!

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1953 Business Coupe

Back in November I made a post on the Facebook page noting the abundance of European and Japanese rides on the front page. I asked you if you wanted to see some American iron, and the response was overwhelming, so I featured the Bagged 52 Chev. But you were duped! The picture of the car I posted when I asked the question wasn’t actually the 52 that I ended up featuring, it was this gorgeous airbagged and chopped 1953 Business Coupe. So put some time aside, make yourself comfortable, and get ready for an extremely cool car with some top notch DIY metal work.

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Bagged 52 Chev

Like I said on the Facebook page the other day, it’s a bout time for some American muscle to grace the front page! During my frequent browsing of one of my favourite hod rod and custom resources, the H.A.M.B., I found a great build of a 1952 Chev. This mid-century 2-door sits lower than a [insert something low here] on a custom frame with airbags. The thread is full of enough bare -metal fabrication of both frame and body to wet your never ending appetite for automotive construction.

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’79 Mustang Pace Car

There’s a couple of reasons why I love this build. First of all, coming from Australia I’ve never seen a Mustang of this year, let-alone a modified one. I’ve seen plenty of mid/late 60s, early 70s, and a few current models, but never one like this. I guess I’d have to go to a Mustang-specific show to see one in the flesh. Secondly, how freaking cool are retro pace car graphics!? This retired race marshal receives a new millennium freshen-up, with air ride, some big billet wheels, a carbon/suede combo interior, and a DOHC supercharged donk set to be fitted in the not too distant future.

Submitted by Dan, a friend of Tom who built the car. What a guy!

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Midmounted Mazda Minitruck [video build]

This following build was part of the teasers I placed in my “Best of 2010” guest-post on Speedhunters last year. Out of the 5 teasers, I have only managed to do a follow-up feature one of them, The Widow Maker. Well, here’s number two!

This minitruck is like no other I’ve seen. It might be bagged and body-dropped like many others, but what sets it apart from the rest is the Lexus V8 sitting behind the cabin. Another element of this build that strays away from the norm is that Nick, the owner and builder, has chosen to document the build in video format, creating his own YouTube channel to showcase the progress. The updates are always informative and entertaining, with some choice Kiwi wit thrown in amongst the tech stuff. Head below to find all the links you’ll need to get acquainted with this unique creation.

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VW Type 3 Wagon

If I ever have the opportunity (and I hope I do) to travel down the air cooled VW path, my weapon of choice would definitely be a Type 3 wagon. I just love the shape, ever since I first saw one back in highschool with deep black paintwork and brightly contrasting chrome, I’ll never forget it. But enough reminiscing, there’s an interesting story about the wagon in this feature. From what I can gather, apparently it started it’s life as an Australian Delivered model which was imported at some point during it’s lifespan over to the United Kingdom. The story picks up in the present day with the wagon being restored with the utmost detail to show-standards, before being sold to a lucky buyer back in, you guessed it, Australia.

Thanks to Chris for submitting.

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Layed-out Datsun 620

I need to be careful about what I post on the Facebook page, I seem to have created more work for myself! Today I found a picture of a car I thought looked pretty cool, edited it slightly, then posted it up. I didn’t realise it would prompt a handful of the 1700+ followers to request a full build thread. Well, who am I to decline such a request? Although, I’d hate to imagine what would happen if I couldn’t provide a thread to go with an image in the future, I’m imagining an angry mob with home-made TIG’d pitch forks and high-octane gas powered torches.

So, by poplular demand, here’s a Datsun 620 pickup with a very funky oldschool paint job, having it’s undergarments torn out and replaced with fresh metal and airbag suspension.

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