More story-time than all-out build, this post revolves around a keen youngster from Norway who lives in US and has a deep love of hot rods and customs. A stolen daily driver leads him to Craigslist for a replacement, where he finds an ad for what looks like a well-worn farm truck, but turns out to be much more. A closer inspection reveals custom body-work by George Barris and pin-striping and murals by Von Dutch. The sale and handover is not a simple pick up, hand shake and “see ya later”. Both buyer and seller start a blooming friendship that opens up a treasure trove of history thanks to the original owner’s penchant for taking and keeping old photos. The new owner continues to keep in contact to ask questions and pick up parts, and even just cruise around and talk cars. Apart from the car itself, the thread is great just for the old photos from the custom car scene of yesteryear and the series of coincidences that unfold.
Tag: custom
Mazzarini RT V6 – Custom Car Build
I feel as though I’ve been moving away from the original intentions of this website, and that is linking you to interesting builds from around the world. What I mean by that is, I think the site-hosted builds like the Ferrari F40, Honda City Turbo II, EG Civic/S15 Silvia, and my own garage build have distracted me from posting those unique threads from various forums. Not that those builds aren’t interesting – and they’re a hell of a lot more work for me to set up – it’s just that this site was built on finding and sharing builds from external forums. So here we go, back into the swing of things with a completely custom built car from Sweden. The fiberglass body is influenced by 1970’s race cars like the GT40 and Lola, with a 3.2L Alfa Romeo V6 for motivation. Thanks to HÃ¥kan for submitting, this is his own build.
So what do you think, do you prefer being linked to builds on forums? Or do you enjoy reading builds that are completely hosted on this site? I’d love to hear your thoughts…
Mach 40 Mustang/GT
Buried inside one of the many great 2012 SEMA posts on Speedhunters was this highly customised Ford Mustang, a car that some might dismiss at first glance. Actually, calling it a Mustang is probably a bit of a stretch, because this extreme 1-off build is actually based on a rear-engined 2006 Ford GT, with the appearance of a lower and longer ’69 Mach 1. While there isn’t a build thread as such, you can still head to the bottom of the post to see hundreds of photos of the build process on the creator’s own website, Eckert’s Rod & Custom.
Click here for more Mustang builds.
Thanks to Geoff for submitting.
F1300T Hillclimb Racer
For some people, modifying an existing car isn’t enough, even completely dismantling one and reassembling it 10x better just won’t satisfy them. Oh no, they just have to show off their amazing amount of talent and build a car from scratch, the jerks! As you can tell by my jealousy, this is one impressive creation, based on an aluminium tube frame with a Hyabusa engine (to be turbocharged at a later date). It’s not quite finished yet so I’ll be sure to update again when it hits the road.
Click here for more Hayabusa powered builds.
Thanks to Andy for submitting.
Custom built Streetfighter
In my years of ogling over bike builds, I can’t say I’ve ever seen a sportbike with a custom made frame. I’ve seen plenty of choppers and bobbers fitted with fabricated tube-frames, or stock frames paired with hard-tail rear sections, but this streetfighter is the first time I’ve seen a modern bike with a 1-off aluminium frame hugging the driveline. There is some discussion within the thread regarding the choice of material and techniques for building the frame. I’m not qualified to comment on that stuff, all I know is it’s fun to watch things being fabricated from metal!
Thanks to Dante for submitting.
1JZ Mini
Yes, you read that correctly, a 1JZ in a Mini. A 1JZ…in a Mini. I don’t know what is causing the recent influx of Mini’s here lately, but this is the 3rd one I’ve featured in as many months. To be honest I don’t like featuring similar cars in close succession, and this build is still a fair way off completion, but there just wasn’t any way I could hold off on showing you this one any longer (plus the only thing ‘similar’ to the other ones is what’s left of the body shell!). Did I mention this Mini has a 1JZ in it?
Thanks to Matt for submitting.
4-Rotor FC RX7
So, the last RX7 I posted was devoid of a rotary engine, so here’s another one that keeps it’s Wankel roots, but with a twist. If you love engineering, machining, welding, lathes, heat treatments, stress analysis, and 3D renders, then you’re going to love this completely custom made 4-rotor powerplant. Definitely one for the tech-heads amongst us.
Thanks to Oliver for submitting
Hayabusa Reverse Trike
Just when I thought I’d seen every kind of build combination make it’s way into my inbox, along comes Ben and his one-off creation. I can confidently say “one-off” because I don’t think anyone else out there would be crazy enough to turn a Hayabusa into a reverse-trike, then mount a Suzuki Carry body on the front end, and set it off with 3 Porsche twists.
Click here for another trike build.
Click here for more Hayabusa powered builds.
Custom CNC-built bike
So, I heard you like CNC machined parts? Check out the astonishing amount of work being poured into this 1-off bike by Shaun Wainford, the man behind SW Engineering. Having a CAD/CNC setup in your home would deinitely come in handy for hobbies like ours, and Shaun definitely makes full use of the tools on offer.
Thanks to Matt for submitting.
Ex-a-Busa
I read a post the owner of this car made on Jalopnik, then did some digging around to locate the build thread.
Wikipedia defines a Locost as “a home-built clone of the Lotus Seven. The car features a space frame chassis usually welded together from mild steel 1 × 1 in (25 × 25 mm) square tubing. Front suspension is usually double wishbone with coil overs. The rear is traditionally live axle, but has many variants including independent rear suspension or De Dion tube. Body panels are usually fiberglass nose and wings and aluminium side panels. Each car is highly individualized according to the resources, needs and desires of each respective builder.”
This particular Locost build is based more on the style an Arial Atom, but the similarities end at appearances, because it will be powered by a rear mounted Hayabusa engine. The owner has been corresponding via email with the builder of the car, a talented man they call Pook. Firstly they swapped sketches and ideas, and now they discuss changes and updates as the custom creation is being fabricated. Amazingly enough, the two have never met in real life.