Well, it’s the silly season, aka SEMA season, so a bunch of huge builds have been wrapped up just in time to make it through the doors of the Las Vegas Convention Centre. One of those builds is this evil looking, black on black, twin turbo, 1970 Pontiac Firebird built by the team at All Speed Performance. I was lucky enough to catch the build thread a couple of weeks ago when the car was in the body shop, so I was excited to check up on it’s progress now that some SEMA coverage is starting to flow, and thankfully it was completed in time. Build thread link after the jump.
Official Porsche Restoration
Build threads are posted up online by a wide range of enthusiasts, from the one-man DIY battler in a dimly lit garage, to the big-budget workshops with corporate sponsorship offers flying at them, and everything in between. Well now there’s a new kind of build thread author to add to the equation, an actual car manufacturer. It looks like Porsche is jumping on the build thread bandwagon with a full restoration of a 1973 911 to be thoroughly documented on their website. Read the post at Jalopnik to find more info and a link to the build thread.
VW Kombi + Trailer
More crazy contraptions from our Scandinavian friends. This time it’s some Finns who have created a VW Kombi trailer made from an unused cab, complete with airbags, tubs, and some big American Racing hoops. If that isn’t enough, it actually gets towed around by a matching full-size Kombi.
Thanks to Jani-Matti for submitting this one.
RWD MKII Jetta
Mid-engine RWD MKII Volkswagen, sounds familiar, doesn’t it? That’s because a very similar project was featured here over a year ago [click here]. While this one definitely shares some similarities, one point of difference is that it’s a Jetta, not a Golf. You have to give these guys props for ripping out entire floor-pans and changing the drive layout of a car in their garage. I’ve also got my eye on a MKI Golf being converted to V8 RWD, so keep your eye out for that one. The VW scene sure knows how to keep bringing the goods.
Definition of “Hand Made”
While browsing the H.A.M.B. for my daily dose of traditional ‘rodding goodness I stumbled upon this gem of a thread. These guys live, eat, and breathe hot rods, and will stop at nothing to keep their projects going. Watch as the owner forms his own body panel out of a flat sheet of steel.
This would be one of the few people who can truly rock the “Built NOT Bought” catchphrase.
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Sharka NA Miata v2.0
From the ashes of a past flame rises a new love. Adam’s pride and joy was a ’97 Miata that met its maker after being rammed up the backside by an inconsiderate truck on the freeway. Instead of packing up and going home, a stock ’95 was purchased with the promise of rebuilding the vision of the original car, only better.
You know those kinds of build threads that are full of great photography, well-written narratives, and lots of DIY mods? This is one of those threads, I think I’ve read it front-to-back about 3 times now.
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.
Rusty – a complete narrative
You’ve seen it before, you’ve heard the love, you’ve no doubt heard the hate, and you probably aren’t sitting on the fence when it comes to your own opinion on this ride. I’m not here to sway you either way, but the owner/builder/evil mastermind behind this infamous and ever-evolving 5-series has just put together a beautifully photographed build thread showcasing its entire colourful past from the very beggining, including the 1JZ swap and recent roof chop, and it’s my job to bring it to your attention. Link after the jump.
Carbon Escort Cosworth
Chido just emailed this over to me today. It’s not often that I’ll post up a build as soon as it’s submitted, since I have so many to sort through, but this one deserved it.
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MotoIQ – Tanner Foust Scion
If you aren’t already a reader of MotoIQ, then you should be. Their catch-cry says it all, “more signal, less noise”. The site is all about the nuts & bolts of cars and modifications, without the e-hype that goes along with our scene. I was browsing around the site before and noticed they have a very in-depth 5 page article on Tanner Foust’s Formula Drift Scion. We’ve all seen images of the NASCAR powered coupe going sideways at silly speeds, but if you crave more information and want to know what’s underneath it, make sure you hit up their article here.