[Closed] New toy nearly ready - car not bike

What is/was it?

Don't know what it is, but it looks nice, apart from those sills which seem to have been attacked by very neat tin-wom.

BMW Z3 2.8 Straight six underneath

1957 Maserati 300S inspired on top.

Drilled chassis rails are stock BMW. It will be resprayed in RAL3002 or ruby red as it it's known. More claret/burgundy that it is a the moment . The rails will be a darker shade rather than the current silver. The idea is that it will lower the appearance especially with the black side pipes.

OOoohhh ... it looks very nice.

How much is the insurance ?

Same as any Z3

It is simply a modification to existing panels. No different to adding a spoiler according to the insurance

that looks so much better than the Z3, good work.

Hideous

Pigface - Member

Hideous

If you can't say anything nice...

*Sigh* Alloys not aligned properly

What was the reasoning behind this mod , did it cost lots ?

Do you cut hair for a living?

Nice that

Nice!

I think it's lovely apart from those sills. They're getting replaced, right?

If you can't say anything nice...

Piss off 😀

Yellow text on white?

I thought it was based on a MX5 at first 😉

Will be interesting to see what its like when finished, btw love the Maserati 300S, one of the best sounding cars ever.

I like it.

I like it

looks like a special from the 50's

Hairdressing duties are reserved for my 600bhp SLK.

Sills looked like a brilliant idea when we found them hidden under the original cladding. Thought they would look great highlighted in silver. They don't. They will be painted a slightly darker shade of the final body colour. Can't get rid of them as the are the car chassis.

Cost? A lot less than I feared and not much more than I told the wife.

Panels of the Z3 unbolt and the panel kit is available now from Tribute Automotive. I have kit one. You can get a tribute Tribute Z300S

Pig face and Jamie - say it like you see it you ugly Gits 😉

I don't think Jamie was being defamatory 😉

Fair point. It was Josla who hurt me

What about the wing mirrors?

Each to their own and if it makes you happy why not.
However on this occasion I'm out.

I'm sure it will bring a lot of joy to a lot of people.

Looks very nice but I've never got this faux vehicle thing myself. Of course buying the a genuine one would cost an obscene amount of money but trying to make another car look like one to me just doesn't seem right.

I'm not the owner though and clearly you like it so enjoy.

[img] [/img]

[IMG] [/IMG]

I'm sure it will bring a lot of joy to a lot of people.

right before you cut their hair

I took a peek last night at this pic and I was unsure about it, pics hardly do cars justice so I hope the proportions look good in the flesh.
It would be nice to hear that you've tuned the engine and fettled with the brakes and suspension too..
But on the whole, looks pretty good and all the better for it being in red.
All you need now is a bit of McHammer on the stereo and you're away.. 😉

Its an improvement on the Z3 but I immediately thought MX5 rebody - which seems to be where Tribute started out - but thats maybe photos for you. Fair play to you it looks very nicely executed and the lines are good, how good were the mouldings and how much shut line filling did you need to do? I really like the Velo Rossa kits, the Tribute 250 kit is just wrong, very like the mr2 355s.

[i]McHammer on the stereo[/i]

The Scottish pop-rap artiste?

"Can't Douche Dis" 😆

Cant see past the yellow text on a white background.
SORT IT OUT!
Car looks ok, not sure about the rear vents, but its not my car.

Pigface - Member
Hideous

I like it- Not sure if red is the best colour, I'd have gone for silver or dark grey IMO.

Criticism is accepted, I have similar feelings about Peugeot 406 coupes becoming Ferraris etc.

I was originally building a car from scratch based on a Scimitar SE5 chassis but when I snapped my foot off I could no longer drive a manual. This meant I needed an automatic and old autos aren't great. This meant I had to go far a modern car and open myself up to such criticism. I got over it pretty quick.

Wing mirrors are temporary.

Final paint will be a darker red, RAL3002 Ruby Red.

[img] [/img]

mmm similar to this really

Well, I like it, you doing the build yourself?

I had a trip in the 'original' car, the new one looks much nicer 🙂

Good job WCA, still loike the other one better, something to do with 600bhp me thinks 😉

I like it, not so sure about the point of 600hp in an SLK though

apart from the meccano sills I think it looks great.
I'd like to see its purty Maserati mouth though before passing final judgement.

i like it, not so sure about the point of 600hp in an SLK though

Rear end fun 😳

I'm not overly keen myself, but if the OP did it themselves I can see why they would like it, and each to their own.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't get a 600bhp SLK. Pretty sure it will be very rapid, but well an SLK just isn't special, certainly I was very disappointed in the 350 SLK I drove. Yep its red, but it certainly wasn't a sports car.

The SLK doesn't take too much explanation. I needed to replace my ageing CL.

I can't drive manuals properly so need an automatic so that removes a lot of cars from the equation.
It needed to be my daily driver so had to be comfortable enough to drive 300 miles in a day without issue so that ruled out a lot of sports cars.
It needed to be acceptable to MrsWCA so that narrowed it down further.
It needed to be affordable which removed the option of anything new.
I have the shines truck of dreams for carrying bikes and people but it still needed to be reasonably practical so that ruled out bikes and single seaters.

While considering all these points a mate drove past in the SLK and MrsWCA said she liked the sound an thought it looked pretty so I bought it. The fact that the original owner had spent £30k on the engine and suspension so it handled and had grunt was a bonus.

Well I like it. It's not what I'd do to a car but at least it doesn't look vulgar or tasteless.

Looking forward to seeing the finished article too.

Merc was easy to explain. The red one is less easy but let's try briefly.

I like cars and always fancied building myself one in the style of a 50s road racer. Not a replica but just inspired by the era. Umm, that's the explanation really.

I started with a knackered old Scimitar and no mechanical knowledge : http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3273

Within a year I had stripped it to the chassis, rewired it, sorted the brakes and fired the engine. I was already to connect up the engine for real and bond the body on when I snapped my foot off which stopped everything.

Laid in bed with time on my hands I thought about what I actually wanted from the car and decided it was only a toy but would be used for holidays as well. This meant it had to be pretty (in my eyes), comfortable enough for MrsWCA, reliable enough to drive to Milan with issue and have a bit of poke for playing in the Alps. I also had to be able to afford it.

I looked at loads of different classics and it seemed I had chosen diametrically opposite selection criteria. I could have reliable and comfortable but not pretty and no poke. I could have poke and pretty but no reliability or comfort. The most common theme was that I couldn't afford them.

I considered another build from scratch but needed a suitable donor. It had to be auto So was always going to be modern. The BMW came with bolt on panels which made things easier. It also came with a 2.8 straight six engine, rear drive, air con and heated seats. That gave me comfortable, reliable and with a bit of poke straight out of the box. Just needed to make it pretty.

I asked Tribute to prepare me a body styled like a Maserati /300s but reproportioned to fit the BMW and I like the result.

[img] [/img]

Quick update picture. Still needs painting but the holey sills have gone and the door handles are much prettier (IMO)

[img] [/img]

17 minutes until that reg. plate is taken out is my guess.

Beautiful though 🙂

reg plate is hinged so it swings back out of sight when it hits bumps or sees a speed camera 😉

Looks nice now the sills are done, but a stick on number plate on the bonnet would look better than that awful dangly thing, 🙂
Edit, can you widen the track on the back axle? Fill those arches a bit..

reg plate is hinged so it swings back out of sight ... or sees a speed camera

I had a mate with a plate like that on his fireblade, unfortunately one day he went past a traffic car and couldn't remember if the plate was up or not so gunned it, he lost them fairly quickish but was then going so fast he stacked it at the first roundabout he came to 😀

There will be a sticky plate on the bonnet with the hinged one held out of sight when parked. I might forget to release the clip holding the dangley one in place until the nice policeman reminds me. Makes my open to speeding tickets again but will look nicer

I know bigger profiles is more old school but thats crying out for taller rims/ever so slightly lower profile tyres (IMO) 🙂

15" wires from an old Aston Martin is about as big as I could find / afford. High profile tyres to fill the arches.

I am thinking of some slightly wider tyres but with a similar profile though. I am enjoying the sideways balance of the car a little too often in the damp

I approve!

Front looks more Griffith esk.....

The wheels look in keeping with the car, but they could do with spacing out a bit, a bit like peeps used to do with Minis with those spacer thingys
Just the back ones, the front looks great.

What about the wing mirrors?

It hasn't got wing mirrors it has door mirrors, i.e. mounted to the door.

Looks ok, how does it compare weight wise over the standard panels much of a change?

I like it!