While on my daily blog haunt I was checking out one of my regular reads, The Chronicles, to get my Honda fix. Now most of you have probably seen images from the Tokyo Auto Salon that just passed, and one of the cars getting heaps of attention would have to be the Epson NSX GT car made entirely out of cardboard. If you were to merely scroll down a page full of pics from the show, you won’t even realise that it’s not a real car, it’s so damn realistic.
Mercedes W124 500E
I was getting a few hits from Datsun Nissan Sports Cars of Finland Forums, so as usual I followed the link and found myself in a thread on their forum. This happens all the time, so I try to make a point of seeing if I can find anything to feature while I’m there. Luckily, there was another link in the same thread to the project you’re about to see here.
This build is spearheaded by Stefan who’s piecing together a super-touring styled Mercedes W124 500E, complete with a carbon fiber wide-body and plenty of CAD-drawn/CNC machined parts.
Retro Rides Awards 2009, 2nd place x2!
Retro Rides holds annual awards with a range of categories, from Thread of the Year to Best Magazine, letting the members have their say on what they liked and didn’t like over the past 12 months. Build Threads was nominated for Best Blog, while the below photo I took was nominated for Best Static Shot.
I didn’t tell anyone, as I wanted the voting to happen naturally, and I ended up getting 2nd place in both categories. Pretty happy with that! Retro Rides is a great forum if you’re into classic metal so I hope you all check it out, and thanks to everyone who voted!
You can see the results from all of the different categories here.
Datsun Life
Foreground: Alex’s 610, awaiting SR20DE conversion.
Middle: Stu’s 120Y 2 door sedan, Z18ET powered.
Background: My 510, catching some rays.
1928 Aussie Built Rod
Hot rod builds always amaze me, especially the more traditional ones. It’s not like they’re taking a complete car, stripping it down, and then rebuilding it. A lot of the time they start off with something as minor as a few body panels or even just a grille shell or firewall and somehow manage to build a complete car from such minor pieces. To watch someone create a car from practically scratch is nothing short of amazing.
This is another gem from the H.A.M.B, a bits-and-pieces Model A hotrod built at home here in Australia.
Corrado Drag Build
Arnas emailed me a link to this build which I know absolutely nothing about, except that it looks damn serious. The link just features a bunch of pictures, so if anyone has any info please feel free to leave a comment.
Edit: Arnas just emailed me some more information on this build. The car was originally tuned to it’s limits using the factory platform until it couldn’t be developed any further. About 10 years or so ago, the Lithuanian owner decided to gut the car completely and build it into the full framed beast you see below, using a composite body and powered by the cars original engine. You can see the car in it’s previous form here.
16v Fiat powered Morris Minor
One of the many great build submissions from Cereal, this is yet another awesome project built in true DIY-style by one man in his garage. The main page of the website dedicated to this car explains the project as…
“A Morris Minor convertible for road, race, rally, and hillclimb use, featuring 2 litre 16v engine, space frame chassis, double wishbone suspension and a 178mm widened body.”
There is so much detailed information of this build that has been categorised & documented on numerous pages, so make sure you click the link after the jump to see it in it’s entirety.
Project IV – Wheels + Lowering
So now that the coilovers were installed, I was just waiting for my wheels & tyres to arrive. After debating over the usual Audi & VW OEM styled wheels that are available, I eventually settled on some MKIV R32 Aristo replicas in 18×8 +35 with 225/40/18 tyres. Nothing drastic, no poke or noticeable stretch, but good enough to look nice and still be practical.
AMS 280Z 2JZ
Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you had/have a great day and all the best for the holiday season, be safe on the roads.
Remember the AMS EVO X? Well the same workshop is now turning their attention to a Nissan 280Z in the form of a 2JZ transplant. The build isn’t finished yet but it’s just too good to wait. It’s being pieced together with the incredible quality of work that you can only expect from a top quality builder such as AMS Performance.
Thanks to Kyusha Kai for submiting, make sure you head over and check out his blog, it’s full of oldschool jdm goodness.
Project 510 – Diff rebuild
In my last update on the Datsun, I mentioned my diff was playing up just after I installed my CV driveshaft conversion. One of the first things I did was drain the diff oil and inspect the drain plug. This is what I found…
