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.

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

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!