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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Greengoon – retro afficionado

Since I’m a regular Ratsun browser from way back, I became very familiar with a certain green 510 wagon belonging to Greengoon, aka Duane. This wagon was always a bit different from the others, especially with it’s folding ragtop. I always looked forward to updates over the past few years, especially enjoying his DIY solutions to getting the ‘goon sitting closer to the ground and various tyre size testing on later-model OEM wheels. Heading over to the Non-Datsun section of the forum made me realise Duane’s penchant for old cars wasn’t restricted to just Datsuns, as he had another 2 project cars under his belt from the Toyota stable, including one very charismatic ’71 Hilux. I’m not the only one to sit up and take note of Duane’s skills, he was even the subject of his own Depth of Speed video, arguably the best series of automotive videos on the net (if you ask me). Head below to familiarise yourself with this trio of vintage vehicles.

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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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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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1994 Chevy Dually Custom

It’s funny how things work out. After reading an article on Speedhunters, I was briefly skimming over the comments at the bottom of the article, when I noticed someone talking about a suicide-rod being built for drifting duties. I googled the persons screen-name and found they had an account on Zilvia, so I promptly headed over there and pm’d them asking for more details in the hope of getting some pics & info for you guys.

As fate would have it, the project had been put on the back-burner. Fortunately for us, the team behind that car has something else in the build.

Presenting, Industrialized Metal, a 1994 Chevy Dually custom truck.

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’69 Chev Tahoe Short Wheelbase Transformation

I can’t remember how I stumbled across this build way back in 2007, but I’m sure glad I did. A talented guy named Mike over in Oregon has been cutting, chopping, and welding his 1969 Chevy Tahoe wagon into a work of art. It’s been converted from long-wheelbase to short-wheelbase, had an extra door added, custom suicide hinges, one piece tailgate, rust repairs, airbag suspension, the list is endless!
The most amazing thing about this build is that he’s doing it all himself in his garage.

If you like metal fabrication, this is one build you can’t afford to miss.

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