Classic motorcycles, everyone I know likes them, and wants one. If you read blogs like Pipeburn and Bike Exif, it’s hard not to get caught up in the romance of cafe racers, bobbers, board trackers, flat trackers, and all the other sub-categories that I don’t have enough time to Google. With second-hand retro Japanese bikes available for more than affordable prices, and many online outlets selling the must-have accessories, it seems the perfect time for outsiders to step into this world. But what if your knowledge of bikes isn’t terribly strong? Could you give it a shot anyway? Well, Rick did, and the result certainly has me inspired…
Category: Build Threads
1953 Chevy Pickup
An enthusiastic car fan drags his grandfather’s old work truck from his uncles farm in very poor condition, with the intention of restoring it to it’s former state, prior to it’s neglect. Nothing unusual about that, we’ve certainly heard similar stories before, but you don’t usually hear about a job like this being undertaken by someone whose previous automotive experience is limited to changing spark plugs on a Taurus. To my delight (and surprise), the restoration was taken on with vigor, and piece by piece the truck was brought back to life, completing what many other family members said they were going to do, but never did. Right here is the essence of this game we know and love so much, just a guy restoring a car and learning things along the way, doing as much as he can on his own, bringing back a piece of history.
Thanks to Pixel for submitting.
Toyota Starlet / Volvo 240
Time for another one of our favourite types of builds, where the mad scientists of the car world decide to take two unsuspecting cars and morph them into a single automotive frankenstein. I’m talking, of course, about chassis swaps. This time it’s a Toyota Starlet having it’s insides removed, while a Volvo 240 donates it’s underpinnings and drivetrain, giving us a RWD Swedish powered Starlet.
Thanks to Jose for submitting.
1JZ Nissan Cefiro
When I first stumbled across Liam’s Cefiro build it was still in it’s infancy, and I remember thinking to myself “I hope he goes through with this”. As we all know, time and time again build threads are started but sadly not finished, however this was not to be the case. In a matter of months the thread detailed the transformation of a very stock looking Cefiro into a 1JZ powered, kitted and slammed drift/street machine. The updates came in thick and fast, with great photography and a very cool shared workspace, the build is now close enough to completion to be enjoyed by the masses…
Subaru powered Porsche Boxster
Following-on from the last build, here’s another Subaru powered build for your reading pleasure. The only difference is this time the turbocharged flat-4 isn’t sitting in the front of another Impreza, it’s in the back of a Porsche Boxster. This Boxster was bought with a blown motor, so the swap was intended from the get-go. The car is being built to be competitive on the circuit, while at the same time testing the reliability of the engine conversion for future public release.
Thanks to Ben for submitting. Wanna see more Porsche builds? Click here.
Baja 1000 Subaru WRX
Who’s up for some hot ‘n’ heavy fabrication action? Geoff emailed me a link to a Subaru Impreza being transformed into an off-road racer capable of completing the Baja 1000. The build isn’t even finished yet but it still commands a feature simply for the quantity of work being applied to it. The amount of raw metal being manipulated reminds me of another fabricators dream that I featured in the past, Desert Racer Fabrication.
If welding and fabrication is your thing, hit up the Fabrication tag for more features that are sure to be up your tig’d and bead-rolled alley.
Opel Corsa AWD
The humble little Opel Corsa (or Holden Barina in my country) was designed to be used as an affordable and efficient means of transport, nothing more, nothing less. But that doesn’t mean you can’t tear it apart and fit a turbo-charged AWD drivetrain from it’s bigger brother, the Calibra, which is exactly what this Swedish builder did…
44 Bikes Frame Shop
Passionate, talented, patriotic and meticulous is how I would describe the owner/builder of this next garage. Built as a workshop for 44 Bikes, an all-American mountain bike frame building company, this space started off as an abandoned horse stable before being restored and modified into what it is today. Just as much effort has been put into the thread as the actual building, with sharp photography and designed title text overlaid on images, it’s a highly enjoyable read. Threads like this are the reason this site exists.
’72 Chevrolet Crew-Cab Pickup
Every few days I’ll get a build submission emailed to me, sometimes they’re great, sometimes not so great. But this particular submission – apart from being a great build – interested me for a different reason, it took me back to when I launched this blog back in February of 2009 (3 years strong!). That’s because this build is hosted on the same forum as the ’69 Chevy Tahoe that was a part of the first handful of posts I ever made. What we have here is a custom built 1972 Chevy crew-cab pickup. Since Chevrolet never built a crew-cab in this model, the owner has constructed his own version by splicing a pickup with a Suburban and resting the whole thing on an aired-out 2002 Silverado chassis. Peep below to dive into the very detailed 100+ page thread.
Project 510 – sump mods
Ever since I first lowered the car a few years ago, one problem I’ve always been faced with is a low-flying sump plug (sump = oil pan). The previous owner fabricated a custom sump for the car and positioned the drain plug right at the lowest point, which wasn’t a problem at the ride height they planned to run, but I had different ideas. Added to that, the sump had some received some damage over the years which resulted in a few hairline fractures, and the plug no longer had a perfectly flat surface to seal to, so when I walked into the garage and saw a large trail of oil, I knew it was finally time to put my long-running plan into action.