CRX Type R

The Honda CRX is one of those iconic cars that's just effortlessly cool; a perfectly-proportioned pocket-rocket with a revvy VTEC, pin-sharp handling and retro chic in spades. Hard to improve upon, right?
Well, how about adding a 2.0-litre K20 VTEC from an Integra Type R? Tweak that to 311bhp, add in a 100bhp shot of nitrous oxide, and you've got rather a lot of jiggling whimsy for the '09 Civic LSD to cope with. Add coilovers, Volk fifteens, Brembo brakes and a rev counter that spins round to 10,000rpm and there you have it: perfection, improved.
Click here for more.

ZiL: on the factory floor

If you've heard of ZiL at all, it's probably as a manufacturer of Russian trucks and buses. But did you know that they also hand-build limousines for the Russian government?
I say 'build'... they stopped mass-production in 1999 (although, being hand-crafted and bespoke, it was never 'mass-production' per se); in the Soviet era ZiL were building around 25 limos a year, but a regime shift to Mercedes in 2000 saw the company cease operations in that sector. However, the factory doors were re-opened in 2007 for the rebuilding and restoration of their former output: limos with bullet-holes, or maybe just in need of a refresh, are made as good as new by workers who've been involved in the company for their whole working lives.

Powered by 315bhp 7.7-litre V8s, their performance is decadent on a Western scale, mirrored by the opulence of the interior appointments - you can call the ZiL a Soviet Rolls-Royce with a straight face. Looks kind of like a Mercedes Pullman too, if you squint a bit...
More here.

'68 Mini + VTEC Turbo

There was a time when 'Turbo Mini' meant a Mini with a blown A-series from a Metro in the nose. How times change. These days, a performance Mini needs a VTEC or an XE to even be a contender... you can imagine the ballistic fury that breaks loose when you strap a turbo to either.
So yes, this '68 Mini looks like a handful. With carbon-fibre panels, the already featherweight go-kart is pared back to flyweight standards, leading to an eyewatering power-to-weight ratio - with 399bhp to play with, it must go through front tyres like they're going out of fashion.
Click here for the full story.

Corsa D on air

(...'Corsa D' meaning 'Corsa mkIV', rather than 'Corsa Diesel'.)
I've never been that big a fan of the Vauxhall Corsa, although the latest model has won me over. The ballistic-yet-intelligent VXR Nürburgring Edition proves that the new kid is finally able to cash the cheques written so long ago by the 'Corsa' name, while the sharpened styling makes the proposition as a whole far less mumsy. And, as demonstrated by this example, modifying one doesn't automatically make it look like a low-rent chav-wagon; indeed, the addition of air-ride, polished & colour-coded split-rims and a luxuriously trimmed interior makes for rather a classy little hatchback. We'll probably be seeing a lot more of this kind of thing in the near future.
Click here for more.

Caddy-zilla

As VW Caddys go, this is the big one.
With a project involving as much bespoke design and custom craftsmanship as this one, the choice of base car arguably doesn't matter all that much, so it's pretty neat to see an underdog like the Caddy converted into a ballistic racer of this magnitude. Consider the most radical of the alterations: the drive is shifted from the front wheels to the rear. The engine no longer resides beneath the bonnet, but is mid-mounted. It's an entirely different engine too, being a turbocharged Volvo five-pot. The interior now sports just the one seat, mounted centrally, McLaren F1-style. And then there's the unique subframes and suspension, the 19" split-rims, the 8-pot brakes, the hydraulic handbrake, the drive-by-wire system, the custom steel-fabricated bodywork... you'll never look at the humble Caddy the same way again.
Click here for more.

Audi TT RS Plus

As incredible as it may seem that Audi could make the TT RS any hotter, the 2012 RS Plus adds an unprecedented dimension of silliness. It's as fast from 0-62mph as an R8 - just 4.1 seconds - while the top speed is a frankly befuddling 174mph. That's 174mph in an Audi TT. Think about that.
That's a limited speed too, so you could turn the wick up even higher if you were so inclined. Complementing the thrust from the 360bhp, turbocharged, 2.5-litre five-pot is Quattro all-wheel drive, a six-speed manual 'box (or seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutch transmission with launch control, if you want), adaptive damping, brakes like dinner plates and some truly beautiful seats. It's also quite a lot more economical than the old TT RS, if you're bothered about that kind of thing.
Prices are north of £50k, which is a lot for a TT. But not a lot for a 174mph bruiser...

Lotus Anglia

Ford never sold a Lotus Anglia, but if they had it would have looked very much like this. All of the key elements from the Lotus Cortina are in place: the rev-happy twin-cam with twin Webers, the Ermine White paint with Sherwood Green side-stripe, the Lotus steels with mirror-shiny hubcaps, the discrete Lotus badging. Bringing this home-built example up-to-date (and making it a little more fun on the track) are such entertaining additions as lower, stiffer suspension, Cobra buckets, a full rollcage and polycarbonate windows. Chapman would have approved.
Photos via ABcarpix

Chinese mkII Golf GTI

Modified Chinese cars are tricky to come across online. Whether it's the Great Firewall of China ringfencing the content or the fact that bloggers are heartily discouraged from sharing their works with the wider world, we can't be sure; what we do know, from the occasional photos that slip through the net, is that the modifying scene is just as vibrant and diverse over there as it is anywhere else in the world.

Take this mkII Golf GTI. We can see from the photos that a number of European influences have migrated eastwards, from the polished BBS rims, aggressive stance, bonnet bra and clean, fresh treatment of the classic lines. The subtle 'GTI 20V' badging suggests a 1.8T or V5 under the bonnet too. But this is mere speculation - these photos were sourced from a blog with very little content, and no text beyond lorem ipsum placeholders. Mysterious, huh?
Source.

EF Civic Turbo

The EF-generation Honda Civic has followed the path of so many eighties/nineties hatchbacks: ubiquitous>overlooked>scarce>retro. They're now appearing in all kinds of modified iterations on the retro scene, and they don't come a lot better than this example...
Under the bonnet is a turbocharged B18 unit with forged rods and pistons, big injectors and all kinds of other goodies, adding up to 294bhp @ 14psi. It rolls on wide fifteens with coilovers and sizeable brakes, while the interior features little more than buckets, harnesses and a whole lot of gauges.
Click here for more.