Vauxhall-powered Turbo Mini

Can’t wait for your Project Binky fix? Well it’s not the only Mini build out there! A talented chap emailed me his build at the start of the year, and I’ve only just had a chance to have a proper read of it, and boy am I feeling stupid for waiting so long! The car is purchased with a 2.0L Vauxhall motor already swapped into it (which is quite large for a car this size), with a plan for a quick tidy up that soon spirals into a full build. While the car is in pieces, he decides to add a turbo, because, why not? Apart from the quality home-built fabrication (like the tube front subframe with pushrod suspension) and wiring that goes on, the car also goes on an intricate diet, with grams shaved from parts wherever possible. This is going to be one fast little Mini when it’s completed, so keep your eyes peeled for updates in the near future.

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Vauxhall-powered, carbon-clad ’72 Mini

Car magazines have been a long-time love of mine. From a very, very young age I have thoroughly enjoyed flicking the glossy pages and seeing all kinds of custom cars in print, it has a certain feeling that the internet just can’t reproduce. But as good as magazines are, they leave a few voids, and one of those is that due to their limited space they only show you the finished product of a car. If you’re reading this, then like me, you want to see how a car was built. Every now and then the correct planets align and during your online browsing you manage to stumble across the build thread of a magazine feature car. That’s exactly what happened to me the other day during my daily perusal of STANCE|WORKS. I recognised this Mini instantly as the cover car of an issue of RetroCars I have at home and couldn’t wait to dive into it to see how the little “brick” was pieced together.

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Red Victor 3 – Vauxhall VX4/90 FD

I haven’t featured many drag cars in comparison to other build styles on this site, but Slinky from Red Victor 1 Racing over in the UK sent me the teams latest build and I knew it deserved a post. This style of drag car is usually the domain of American builders who focus their attention on the quintessential muscle cars from Detroit, so it’s good to see the same treatment being given to a unique car in a totally different part of the world.

The car in question is a 1972 Vauxhall VX4/90 FD being built for the NHRA/FIA Pro Modified class, with a twin turbo methanol slurping 540ci V8 shoehorned between the towers. The team are intending to make this the worlds only street-legal, NHRA legal, Pro Mod car. I guess that all depends on your definition of street legal!

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Vauxhall Cresta XJR

Here’s another classic body on top of a modern chassis build. I wonder if this style of building will be the way of the future, keeping classics alive on the surface with modern drive-trains and suspension powering them from underneath.

This one combines the shell of a classic Vauxhall Cresta with the guts of a 2001 Jaguar XJR.

Thanks to Peter from petrolthreads.co.uk for submitting this one.

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Racer86, project car extraordinaire

I’ve been following the Racer86 blog for a while now, ever since I first saw pictures of his KP30 Starlet which gave me the inspiration to fit a MK1 Rabbit front lip to my Datsun.

Rob is a prominent figure in the retro car scene in the UK due to his multiple project cars and his affiliation with the team at Retro Cars Magazine. Not content with one ballin’ old school ride, he also owns a dumped & flush NA MX5 and recently acquired a Vauxhall Chevette which he wasted no time in modifying. To check out his 3 projects and get a fix of general automotive shenanigans head over to Racer86.com

UPDATE! Since this post was first published, Rob has since moved on to even more projects, buying and modding an assortment of oldschool rides such as; a MK1 Cavalier, W123 Benz, Triumph Herald, an E28 BMW, a 924 Porsche, an E30 BMW, and another Mazda Roadster! Does anyone else live the retro car lifestyle as much as this guy? I doubt it!

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