sucksqueezebangblow

335bhp 900 Turbo

2012-02-02T15:41:00.002Z

Subtlety is the key with this '87 Saab 900. From the outside, it appears to be just a well-specced Turbo Cabrio, featuring the European aero kit and a gentle drop over some colour-coded 18" rims. But under the bonnet resides a heavily tinkered-with engine: a 2.0-litre 16v B202 with a 0.040 overbore and forged Mahle pistons, Megasquirt standalone management, knock detection, wasted-spark ignition, Garrett T3/T4 hybrid turbo, ceramic exhaust manifold, Siemens 60 lb/hr injectors, Precision front-mount intercooler with 2.5" aluminium piping, 2.3-litre head and 2.1-litre intake manifold, 900S intake cam, '85 900T exhaust cam, Magnaflow 3" cat-back exhaust and lots more besides. Surprised? Yes, I expect most people are.
More here and here.

Curtiss-Wright Model 2500 Air Car

2012-02-02T12:36:00.003Z

Developed by Curtiss-Wright in 1959, the Model 2500 Air Car wasn't really a car at all, more a kind of family hovercraft. However, keen to tap into the increasingly extravagant and innovative motor car market of the era, they styled it to look like a car, with headlights, indicators, bumpers and a convertible roof. It was powered by a pair of 180hp Lycoming engines (one at the front and one at the back), driving lift fans that created a foot-tall cushion of air; propulsion came from bleeding air from the fan chambers and blasting it out of the louvres at the sides. Simple in construct, it was a pretty promising idea, were it not for the fact that it really only worked well on perfectly flat surfaces. The military took an interest for a while, but abandoned their own development program as untenable in 1961. An odd footnote in the history of American transportation.
More here.

Street-racer NSX

2012-02-02T10:38:00.002Z

SuckSqueezeBangBlow often waxes lyrical about the focused targeting of the Honda NSX, aimed squarely as it was at the Ferrari F355. It's a tale oft recounted that the fundamental flaw of the NSX, excellent as it was in all ways, was the fact that it wore a Honda (or Acura) badge, thus denying potential buyers the kudos of exotica.

The flipside of this is that you don't generally see Ferraris modified in this way; in fact, it'd be sacrilegious to do so. But on the NSX, it's entirely appropriate - a smattering of JGTC influences turn this Japanese supercar into an all-out street-racer, as capable as it is purposeful.
Click here for more.

Double Trouble Hot Rod

2012-02-02T09:53:00.002Z

The US Hot Rod scene is a diverse and exciting place, filled with rumbling V8s, shiny chrome and a whole lot of tyresmoke. But after decade upon decade of modifying, showing and racing, are there really any new ideas these days...?

Of course there are. Technology in the automotive sector develops at a staggering rate, so your rod has access to ever-more impressive tyre tech, suspension set-ups, clever transmissions and so forth. But if you really want to shake up the scene, how about wanging in a whole extra engine?
What we see here, the Double Trouble Hot Rod, is based on a 1927 Ford Model T Roadster, although there's not a huge amount of that left. It's got a custom-built tube chassis and a fibreglass body, and yes, you've already spotted it: two V8s up front. They're both supercharged Ford 4.6-litre units, giving a combined total of around 1,000bhp. So, it's fifty times more powerful than it was when it rolled out of Highland Park eighty-five years ago. That's progress for you.
Click here for more.

SEAT Fórmula Concept

2012-02-01T14:32:00.004Z

The ability to keep looking impressive and not rapidly age is the mark of a good concept car. Would you believe that the SEAT Fórmula Concept was created in 1999...?
It's powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre 20v four, mounted in an ultra-lightweight aluminium chassis; with 237bhp and a total weight of just 900kg, the performance is just as modern as the looks. It has active aero (like a Veyron, Huayra or MP4-12C), a composite body, a six-speed, sequential, electro-hydraulic, semi-automatic gearbox and horizontally-mounted, F1-style wishbone suspension. They should really start taking it to motor shows again in 2012, it's still box-fresh...
Pics via Supercars.net

EK Turbo

2012-02-01T09:58:00.002Z

This generation of Honda Civic, the EK, is at just the right age and price point for a lot of them to be appearing on the scene with quality mods; modern enough to be edgy, but old enough to be a car from childhood (for those of us that started driving in the nineties, at least). This one features a 280bhp turbocharged B16 engine, and sits extremely low over wide sixteens that sport a fashionably extravagant level of negative camber. The interior is livened up not only by those bright red Bride buckets, but also by the sugar skulls that repeat across the dash, cage, doorcards and even over the bonnet. All in all, a quality job.
Via Southrnfresh

Renaultsport Clio 200 Raider

2012-02-01T09:30:00.000Z

Nineties hot hatch enthusiasts will recognise the Raider name from the run-out Renault 5 Turbo, a special edition that featured wacky paint and a variety of extras from the Renault parts bin. It's become something of an icon, so the name isn't one to be bandied about lightly.
...but Renault are good at this kind of thing. In the case of the Clio 200 Raider, they start with the already excellent 200 Cup and add the obligatory mad colour scheme (in this case, a choice of matt grey or matt red - and not wraps either, but proper matt paint). It also receives 18" alloys with Bridgestone tyres, and leather Recaro seats, as well as the option of either Tom Tom sat-nav or Renault's excellent Renaultsport Monitor, allowing you to measure lateral G-forces, lap times, acceleration times and so forth. It's built for fun, this thing.
It also costs an eye-watering £21,695 and they're only building fifty of them, so the likelihood is that a lot of Raiders will be bought by collectors and used sparingly, which is a shame for such a capable little pocket rocket. But hey, it exists, and we can all be thankful for that.
Pics via Evo

'56 Chrysler 300B

2012-01-31T12:47:00.005Z

Another masterpiece from Troy Trepanier's Rad Rides, this project started life as 1956 Chrysler 300B - one of just 1,102 built. This may irritate the purists, but you could argue that this is one of the greatest Chryslers ever created; the fit and finish is, as with all Trepanier's work, of a flawlessly high quality (in another league to fifties Chrysler fitment and materials), turning a sizeable sedan into an über-luxury hot rod.
Underneath, it features Dodge Viper suspension, Baer brakes and Dayton wheels, while under the hood is a 358ci twin-turbo NASCAR V8 - so the power is monstrous. But, as with all Rad Rides, the interior is the pièce de résistance; enlarge the photos and you'll see that the craftsmanship is exquisite.
More here and here.

Matra Laser

2012-01-31T09:28:00.002Z

The Matra Laser is the archetypal 1970s concept car: wedge-shaped styling, unorthodox door hinges, non-round steering wheel, improbable seats... the retro-futuristic Michelotti design is something that you could imagine the likes of Lamborghini might seriously have considered for production.
The Laser was mid-engined, although powered by Ford's 1700cc V4 unit (as found in the Corsair), which perhaps didn't back up the performance promises made by the silhouette. But ignore the uninspiring engine and out-of-place gauges on the dash - focus on the mad four-piece seats, the Quartic steering wheel that predated anything BL did, the wraparound rear lights, the vast glasshouse... this one-off 1971 prototype proved that the French were as capable as any of displaying flair and surprising design. Bear in mind that this was the era of the Renault 4 and the Citroën H-van: the Matra Laser must have looked like some kind of terrifying spaceship.
Click here for more.

Chopped Mini

2012-01-31T09:09:00.002Z

A number of elements lifted from different scenes make this Mini unusual. There's a bit of lowrider in there, with the chrome wires and the air-ride controls mounted in the first aid kit. There's a touch of rat, with the patinated bonnet and the interior trim made of hessian sacking. Some traditional, old-school Mini tuning is in evidence with the detailed A-series in the engine bay, and the rally arches. The exterior nods to the nineties with the frenched lights, yet is brought bang up to date with the offbeat satin brown paint. And, of course, there's the roof chop. It's hard enough to fold a grown-up into a Mini as it is... a roof chop shows you're serious.
Pic source.

Opel Monza GSE

2012-01-30T13:23:00.003Z

The Opel Monza GSE has a digital dash. Everything else is a bonus.

Another pristine offering from 4Star Classics, the GSE represents a muscular, luxurious underdog of the mid-eighties. There's a 3.0-litre, 180bhp, fuel-injected straight-six up front and an LSD at the rear; such swanky features as Recaro seats, headlamp wipers and, er, cassette holders mark it out as an item of quality, but it's that digi-dash that really makes it worth every penny of the £7k asking price.
Oh, and there are only 27 manual Monza GSEs left in the UK - if you're in a position to, I suggest snapping this up while you can...
Clicky.

Vader's Volvo

2012-01-30T09:43:00.003Z

How do you reverse the staid, sensible image of a '78 Volvo? How about making it look like Darth Vader's helmet...?
A massive turbocharged twin-cam couldn't hurt either, and you can't get a lot more outrageous than a perspex floor to show off your diff location. Click here for more.

Concours RS2000

2012-01-30T08:50:00.002Z

The concours pursuit is one of ritual, fastidiousness and extraordinary attention to detail. Everything on the car that's original must be saved and preserved; if it requires restoration, it must be to factory specs and with original materials. If parts require replacement or manufacture, again, they must be precisely as they would have left the factory. Concours isn't just about making sure all your screwheads point the right way and tweezering dirt out of your tyres - it's about making the car like it was brand new. And this includes foibles too; if the factory were known for leaving a bit of overspray on the boot floor, that's what the concours builder must replicate. Making it better than new isn't the point.

Of course, this can easily turn into a dangerous obsession. While you're hunting down the original seamstress who worked in the textile factory in 1976 to see if she'll run up a fresh batch of beta cloth seat trim, your wife could leave you without you realising. And then all you're left with is a car that's too perfect to drive for fear of getting it dirty.
Thankfully, not all concours builders go to these extremes. The grafter behind this mkII Escort has a sense of proportion - his RS2000 is just as the good Ford intended (including a rare shade of brown that not a lot of people would be bold enough to retain these days), but he also drives it all over the country to shows, using it as it should be used. Good on him.
Via Classic Ford.

The unusual Minis of Castagna Milano

2012-01-27T15:10:00.002Z

Thought the Rolls-Royce Goodwood Mini was posh? Wait till you see what Castagna Milano have been up to...
Established as an atelier in 1849, Castagna Milano pride themselves on quality of craftsmanship, and insist that their unique creations are 'fuoriserie', not prototypes: quality one-offs for discerning clientele, for whom money is no object as the art endures way beyond the cost.
They create all kinds of fascinating pieces, from blank-sheet designs to modified Bentleys, but it's their recent range of custom Minis that's caught SuckSqueezeBangBlow's eye.

This first one is the Mini WoodyTender - a maritime-inspired open tourer for the Riviera playboy. It features marine leather and teak panelling. Can easily be operated in deck shoes or with a Ralph Lauren sweater knotted about the shoulders.

This is the Mini WoodyClubman. Perfect for carting your kids around the family estate. Maybe a bit plush for bringing the dog, though.

And here's the Mini CrossUp. Vastly extended to create a utilitarian drop-gate pick-up bed for hauling your fancy wines back from the vineyard, but with an interior trimmed so opulently that you'll almost forget you're carrying a load.

There are many other Minis in the portfolio, and they're doing a lot of characterful work with Fiat 500s too - click here to see more.

1955-57 Gaylord

2012-01-27T10:37:00.005Z

So, this car is a Gaylord. Stop sniggering at the back.

In a quest for 'the ultimate sports car', Ed and Jim Gaylord commissioned Brooks Stevens to build them a prototype for the 1955 Paris Auto Salon, bearing their name. Which wasn't as funny then. Sporting the chrome, fins and scallops of the cutting-edge American cars of the period, it had an opening rear deck into which the chain-driven retractable hard-top would retreat. Under the bonnet was a 331ci Chrysler Hemi with GM Hydra-Matic transmission, all based on a chrome-moly tube chassis of Jim Gaylord's design.
The pictures you see here are of a second 1957 prototype, showing a slight stylistic evolution from the original but remaining basically similar. Its most notable feature is the aforementioned retracting roof, which prompted Alfred P. Sloan, then GM Chairman, to say to his engineers: 'You bastards told me this couldn't be done. So how did these idiots do it?'

The fact that you've probably never heard of the Gaylord is unsurprising. The aspirations for 'a Cobra class performer and a Rolls-Royce class tourer' were ambitious but not unrealistic, but it came at a time when the American auto industry was just too brutal to allow independent pioneering enthusiasts to flourish. Impressive and potentially brilliant as it was, the Big Three just couldn't allow it to happen.
You can learn more here.

Alfa 75 SZ

2012-01-27T09:40:00.002Z

The Alfa Romeo SZ is often regarded as the connoisseur's choice - a wilfully ugly yet sensational oddity, with challenging styling and panel gaps you could walk through; resplendent in eighties styling with its boxy lines and split-rims. It's their rarity that really makes them interesting, keeping them far out of the reach of the common man.
Of course, you could always take a sensible Alfa 75 and make it look a bit like an SZ...

It's weird how the fusion of outrageous coachbuilt coupé and squareish family saloon can look so right, isn't it? There's exquisite metalwork in evidence here, and the SZ's nose and chunky hips sit so well on the 75 you could almost believe that this was the saloon's shrouded purpose all along.
Click here and here for more.

'75 Swallowtail Racer

2012-01-26T14:14:00.002Z

This mkI Swallowtail Rabbit (Golf) was built by GMP Performance in 1975, and fully restored by them in 2010 to celebrate their 35th year of racing. The North Carolina outfit was founded by Joe Klitzsch and his wife Claudia, originally importing AbT, Oettinger and BBS parts, and expanding operations into a full race setup. The Swallowtail began life as a standard 80bhp daily driver, but was transformed by GMP; starting with an AbT intake manifold, dry-sump setup and side-exit exhaust, Joe built it to be an SCCA GT4 race car. The evolution continued with twin-Webers, race cams and forged pistons, along with Sachs coilovers and an LSD. A competition rollcage was necessary, of course, and this was complemented by shell strengthening and custom sway and strut bars; rolling stock was 13x6" BBS rims on slicks, while the body received fibreglass flares and a Zender lip.
It raced successfully for some time, but was retired in 1990 and parked up in the corner of the workshop, waiting to live again... and that pretty much brings us up to date: 2010 saw it receive a full refresh, and now it exists as a charming slice of retro race chic.
Click here for more.

Moal Gatto

2012-01-26T12:37:00.002Z

Historic cars are far safer than money in the bank. But with the ever-escalating prices of Ferrari 250 GTOs, Ford GT40s and their kind, are they becoming too valuable to actually drive? Would it be more of a shame to damage such a car while using it or to mothball it safely in the garage and deny it its purpose?

California's Bill Grimsley has an alternative. To sidestep the concern of either hurting or misusing a priceless sixties GT, he commissioned Moal Coachbuilders to create the Gatto - a unique, hand-crafted tribute to the coachbuilt classics of that era, but without the tippy-toeing that accompanies them. And it's no cheesy pastiche either; the throbbing heart of the Gatto is a genuine 250 GTO-spec Ferrari V12. The custom bodywork takes its cues from a number of period carrozzeria and manufacturers: the Zagato-esque double-bubble roof, the Maserati mouth, the Ferrari side-vents. Being a scratch build, Moal were able to eschew the frailties of the Gatto's spiritual peers and plan the car around such modern conveniences as efficient cooling, air-conditioning and sturdy brakes.
Exquisite, isn't it? Click here for more.

Happy Birthday, Escort Twin-Cam!

2012-01-26T11:40:00.002Z

The Escort Twin-Cam is a hugely significant car. In 1966 as Ford's new Escort was being tested at Boreham, the company's Competition Manager, Henry Taylor, and Chief Mechanic, Bill Meade, speculated that this family saloon might have the potential to be a whole lot spicier with a Lotus Twin-Cam in it. It is from this pondering that all Escort-based motorsport stems, and in January 1967 the Twin-Cam was drawn up, coming to fruition in under twelve months. 45 years later, let's celebrate its conception with a contemporary road test from Motor magazine. (Scans via Trigger - click images to enlarge.)

The Perfect '40 Ford

2012-01-25T13:20:00.003Z

There are builds, and there are builds. Some people focus on power, some on stance, some on the transcending of genres... Troy Trepanier's Rad Rides ethos is quality of detail; starting with a project car - this 1940 Ford, say - and rebuilding it from first principles as if it had been artfully massaged into life by craftsmen rather than mass-produced in a factory.
The exquisite detailing on this car speaks for itself: the repeating 'V8' logo in the subtle side-stripes; the material trimming on the foldaway roof; the nose slanted back from its upright origins; the retro-futuristic interior that's so perfect, it looks like it's been Photoshopped into reality; the sublimely shiny supercharger and suspension components. This is, without a hint of hyperbole, one of the best cars ever built. Full stop.
Click here and here for more.

Golf Rallye R32

2012-01-25T13:03:00.002Z

The Golf Rallye is quite a naughty thing; a sort of Wolfsburg Integrale with Group B-esque box arches, four-wheel drive and a supercharger. So you might argue that hauling out the 'charged engine and replacing it with something entirely different would be disrespectful to such an iconic and rare model.
Then again, bolting in the V6 from a mkV Golf R32 is several levels of awesome. Hey, you could always nail a supercharger to that too...
Clicky.

Ford Mustang RTR-C

2012-01-25T11:29:00.002Z

Isn't it nice that the words 'muscle car' and 'technologically advanced' can now go hand-in-hand without anybody raising their eyebrows?
The Mustang RTR-C, built for drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr., is eye-wateringly powerful as you might expect, to the tune of 550 supercharged horses. But it's also light; aerospace light. Carbon-fibre abounds, not just in the bodywork (every single panel, that is), but also the wheels: they measure 9.5"x19" front and 11"x20" rear, but their carbon construction means that they're extremely low-mass, as well as being super-strong. So it's like a brash Detroit spaceship.
Click here for more.

2nd-gen Camaro Z/28

2012-01-25T09:19:00.003Z

This second-generation Z/28 was spotted at the recent Supercar Sunday meet by cncpics.com; resplendent in seventies browns to complement its menacingly glossy black, it's a period-perfect slice of American muscle. The induction cowl, the contrasting interior, the Z/28 logos everywhere - effortless cool, with the brawn to back it up.
Here are some fine detail shots - you can see more photos of the event here.

Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth

2012-01-24T16:33:00.002Z

The Sapphire Cosworth was never treated with the reverence of its three-door predecessor; while the hatchback had the kudos of being a race-bred special, the later saloon was generally regarded as more of a reworked family car, uprated solely to use up the remaining YB engines Ford had bought en masse from Cosworth. As a result, most of the 3-doors you see today are either concours or Touring Car-spec, while Sapphires tend to be unceremoniously adorned with massive blingin' rims, drainpipe exhausts and look-at-me atmospheric dump valves. (Well, those that remain, that is; many have been pillaged for their engines.) This is a shame as it was a genuinely capable and impressive concept, as sporting as it was well-equipped, and tough with it.
So it's unusual to see one that's totally bone-stock. 4Star Classics have recently added such a car to their inventory though, proving that the idea of a standard Saff Cossie in 2012 isn't totally pie-in-the-sky. £7500 doesn't seem unreasonable for a 150mph luxury saloon, does it?
Click here.

Retro Notchback

2012-01-24T12:23:00.002Z

Want a feature car but can't be arsed to build one? You're in luck, my friend - here's a '69 VW Notchback that once graced the hallowed pages of Retro Cars magazine. Subject to a full nut 'n' bolt resto, it's got a new 1766cc engine with twin Dell'Ortos, Nissan 200SX seats, Volvo Amazon paint, a bike exhaust, IRS, Compomotive split-rims, disc brakes... the full works. Nice, huh? And all yours for a smidge over £8k - click here.

'41 Chrysler Newport Pacemaker

2012-01-24T09:45:00.005Z

This ex-Walter Chrysler, Jr. Newport is due to be auctioned at Amelia Island in March - one of five built, it was the exposed-headlight model used as the official pace car for the 1941 Indianapolis 500. Being a Dual Cowl Phaeton, the rear passengers sat in an entirely separate compartment to those in front, and even got their own windscreen; kind of like a tandem bicycle, but with a whacking great 5.3-litre straight-eight. Wonderfully massive, and very eye-catching with those graphics. Click here.

Supercar Sunday

2012-01-24T09:10:00.005Z

Supercar Sunday is a similar entity to the Irvine Cars & Coffee meet, photos of which you've probably seen around these parts before. As the name suggests, it's heavily geared toward the supercar owners of SoCal, although there's always a healthy portfolio of classics in attendance. Click here to see photos of the January 22nd meet.

Innovative EG Civic

2012-01-23T16:37:00.003Z

The intriguing thing about car modifying is that it's constantly evolving; you have to stay on your feet or you'll be left behind. Sure, there's no shame in following the herd, but the way to stand out is to innovate.
Take this EG Civic. With the addition of a few cool scene touches it would have made a very tidy little pocket-rocket; sitting low on Konis over BBS RS is a respectable look. But it's in the detail where this build is brought right up to date - have you ever seen a ducktail spoiler on a Civic? Or an S2000 dash conversion? These are unique mods and, added to the carbon-fibre accents, Recaro seats, Spoon exhaust, LSD and a variety of other trick moves, it makes for a real scene-stealer. That it's bright yellow is almost a side issue...
Click here for more.

Québecois Rabbit

2012-01-23T10:38:00.002Z

Firmly rooted in the ever-polarising VAG scene, this '79 Golf (Rabbit) is chasing scene points like nobody's business. Complementing the 1.9TD conversion are the oft-spotted VW Top Trumps - patina/rust, roof-rack, iron crosses, shark-mouth, lows, poke... if you like this sort of treatment, this'll be right up your street. If you don't, er, it won't. But in SuckSqueezeBangBlow's eyes, this kind of behaviour is ace. More here.

VIP E38

2012-01-23T10:25:00.002Z

...OK, this isn't actually VIP at all, but it's an easy tag to apply to a top-flight luxo-barge that's slammed over big rims, so let's go with it. It's an E38 7-series BMW with FK coilovers, running wide 19" wheels; simple and effective. Executive stance for the discerning enthusiast - with solid E38s selling for comfortably under £2k, this kind of motoring isn't just for the bigwigs any more.
More here.

The Montrose Avenue

2012-01-22T17:54:00.003Z

My dad had one of these in the eighties. It didn't look quite like this, though...
Built between 1978-82, the Mazda 626 was known as 'Montrose' in the UK, and they were sold here with the same winter-proofing that the domestic models received in Japan; that is to say, not a whole lot. And certainly not enough to deal with our road gritters... Papa SuckSqueezeBangBlow's Montrose was only a few years old when he bought it, but it was basically made of rust and filler. Hey ho.
The example we see here is an American-spec 626, and it's certainly looking a lot more together than any I've ever seen in the metal. Sitting low (but not crazy-low) over some tasteful polished split-rims, its beautiful blue hue lends it a certain retro charm. It was semi-obscure in its day, and in 2012 it's a superb, chrome-laden three-box that younger enthusiasts just will not recognise. A Nippon Georgia peach.
Clicky.

Sublime 200SX

2012-01-21T22:45:00.004Z

The fun thing about building show cars is that you have a great excuse to do all kinds of unnecessary stuff, just for the hell of it. Take this S15 Nissan 200SX: it features suicide doors, a mirror-polished engine bay (and a turbocharged Mazda rotary, no less), an underside so clean you could eat your dinner off it (if gravity so allowed), baseball mitt-stitched seats with the headrests removed, a rear-hinged boot with a fuel cell inside, cartoonishly vast rims and, best of all, retina-searing paint. Why not, eh?
Click here for more.

White Line Fever

2012-01-21T22:19:00.002Z

Some classic seventies-style touches on this newly-refreshed Chevrolet Monte Carlo: pinstriping, rumblin' pipes, some phenomenally detailed paintwork to the roof and rump, and substantial lows. Bringing it up to date, the panscraping is taken care of by an airbag setup, while fifteens keep it grounded. Low 'n' slow, with a thunderous attitude. Wouldn't change a thing.
Via Los Boulevardos

'NIK OFF' 126

2012-01-21T21:53:00.002Z

The principle ingredient of a successful drag car is power - thunderous, chassis-twisting, gut-wrenching power by the bucketload. But a lack of mass is also an important consideration.
Taking the latter to its logical conclusion is 'NIK OFF' - effectively the silhouette of a Fiat 126 wrapped around a vast engine. Yep, that's a whacking great V8 cradled in a spaceframe, hooked up to some spectacularly huge rear wheels, with an interior consisting of a few gauges, a Hurst shifter, a couple of lightweight buckets and, well, that's pretty much it.
Think of the power-to-weight ratio. Marvel at the unhinged wheelbase. Grin at the shiny, shiny mechanicals, as much for show as for go. This Fiat is really special.
Via Freestyle

Retro Opeloco

2012-01-21T21:35:00.002Z

Simultaneously old-school and bang up to date, this Opel Kadett D wagon is one of those archetypal retro models that, although once ubiquitous and anonymous, is now notable for its scarcity. It wears its years with pride through its wooden slatted roof-rack and pea-shooter exhaust, yet ties firmly into the 21st-century retro scene with boisterously flared arches, banded Nova SR steels, a little poke in the rear (oo-er, etc) and, of course, being a lot closer to the ground than when it left the factory. Works well.
Click here for more.

Edlinger E30 hillclimber

2012-01-20T21:31:00.002Z

Purpose-built hillclimbers are among the most brutal racers imaginable. Just look at the spec of this E30 3-series:
- Indycar 3.5-litre V8
- 570bhp @11,300rpm
- F1 gearbox
- 860kg
- canards, vents & diffusers to optimise aero
- custom-built carbon-fibre, er, everything
...so it goes as good as it looks. Scroll down to see!
More here.

Sunshine Beetle

2012-01-20T16:31:00.002Z

This Cal-look surf Bug is so yellow, it almost looks Photoshopped - the effect is achieved by having matte yellow paint, simultaneously bright and a sort of futuristic light-vacuum.
It's an '84 model that's been retro-fitted with '66 panels, with the overall ethos being smooth, uncluttered and clean.
And low, of course. That goes without saying.
Click here for more.

Irvine GTO

2012-01-20T16:10:00.002Z

A pristine slice of muscle car perfection for you here, in the shape of a first-generation Pontiac GTO. No monkeying about with the wheels or the ride height or anything, just clean, classic and fit for purpose. Inspiring.
Via cncpics

Gangster 240D

2012-01-20T15:05:00.003Z

Easy steps to take a Mercedes-Benz 240 Diesel into the realms of gangster chic:
- give it a damn good polish
- fit a set of BBS RS with pinstripe whitewalls
- lower it to within an inch of its life
- throw in plenty of Magic Trees, to disguise the smell of the bodies in the boot
...and you're done!

Via Sourthrnfresh

Streetracer mkIII Golf

2012-01-20T14:49:00.002Z

I'll be totally honest with you - the mkIII has always been my least favourite of all the Golfs, lacking the retro charm of the mkI & mkII, and without the quality of the mkIV or the razor-edged attitude of the V & VI. But this particular mkIII proves that they can be made to look spectacular.
Cage and buckets? Check. Purposeful stance? Check. Fresh wheel choice? Work Equip split-rims, check. Smooth, clean and aggressive? That's a big check.
Yes, this has won me over. I'm a fan of the mkIII now - expect to see more of them around here in the future.
Clicky.

Ferrari 550 Drifter

2012-01-20T09:06:00.002Z

Enzo Ferrari, il Commendatore, was a determined and relentless racer and motorsport enthusiast, but I wonder what he would have made of the precision chaos that is modern drifting? It's certainly an idea that seems anathema to the purists, to associate the cavallino rampante with what the tifosi may see as a hooligan's pursuit. And that's exactly why this 550 Maranello build is such a good idea.
Kristian Somogyi of Swedish outfit SVK Customs was serious about this project, built to compete in the Scandinavian drift series. The Ferrari V12 was unceremoniously junked in favour of a supercharged BMW V8; elsewhere on the car you'll see airjacks, centre-lock Schmidt wheels, AP Racing brakes that are bigger than your face, and oodles of hand-crafted carbon-fibre bodywork.
...and yet Kristian's project remains unfinished. Why? Because he's relocated to Vietnam; the 550 lies in storage, to resurface at an indeterminate date in the future. All the while, Enzo awaits...
Click here for the build, as well as various other SVK creations.

'51 Kaiser Business Coupé

2012-01-19T14:41:00.003Z

It takes a special kind of Americana enthusiast to scrawl their cross in the Kaiser box. Sure, they have strong credentials in terms of engineering and heritage, it's just that they're, well, not all that easy on the eye.
But, of course, cars are just made of metal and stuff, and anything can be altered. Take this '51 Coupé - jaw-droppingly beautiful, isn't it? It's been rodded to within an inch of its life so you could argue that there's only so much Kaiser left in there, but it's a work of art and something the whole Kaiser enthusiast community can be proud of.
The roof's been chopped and the windscreen raked back; it's got Jeep headlights, Corvette suspension and a Ford rear axle; the nose is more aerodynamic and hides a Cadillac V8. And there isn't a thing I'd change - it's just sublime.
Click here for more.

'65 Notchback VR6

2012-01-19T12:23:00.002Z

VWs of the sixties managed to combine style and flair with mass-appeal, utility and reliability, which is why their legacy endures and they have such a following today. But you could never really call the mainstream models 'sporting'.
This doesn't need to be a hurdle, though - you just hoik out the old engine and wang in a modern, right? Easy.

OK, it's not quite that easy, but it's achievable and, as this '65 Notchback shows, can be carried off with finesse and brutality in equal measure. It's powered by a 2.8-litre VR6 unit (the weirdly offset actually-a-straight-six engine from the Corrado and mkIII Golf); what's more, the owner has turned the rear-engined family car into a mid-engined track abuser.
I'm not totally sold on the 17" New Beetle wheels (although the diameter is necessary to cover the huge Brembo brakes), but the rest is pure class.
Click here for more.

Chip Foose: My First Golf

2012-01-19T12:07:00.001Z

He's not just a hot rod guy, you know...

VIP Celsior

2012-01-19T09:55:00.003Z

The VIP style is a fairly simple premise; large, luxurious saloons with vast, wide rims, prominent exhausts, glossy paint, very low ride height and extreme negative camber. This Toyota Celsior, spotted by Stance:Nation at the Tokyo Auto Show, is a case in point - it's got 9.5"x19"s on the front and 12"x19"s at the rear, a Toyota Century front end, a very precisely measured stance, and gangster chic in spades.
Big curtains in the back for privacy, too...
Click here for more.

Mitsubishi X-Car

2012-01-18T12:44:00.003Z

Well now, here's a curiosity. Designed and built by X Works Automotive, it takes the Mitsubishi Evo series - focused, purposeful, a bit scary - to its logical conclusion: a one-off, extreme track weapon that's totally uncompromising.
It's based around a McLaren-style carbon-fibre tub, with the mechanicals from an Evo VI cradled in lightweight subframes; the body panels are bespoke carbon-fibre items. It runs the Evo VI's standard state of tune, but at just 1,100kgs it's pokey enough to lap Silverstone as quickly as an F430 Challenge racer. Looks brilliantly odd too, doesn't it?
Click here for more.

Lamborghini 350 GTV

2012-01-18T09:26:00.002Z

This 1963 prototype represents the zenith of Ferruccio Lamborghini's consumer disgruntlement. A tractor manufacturer with a Ferrari he wasn't happy with, he was sidelined by Enzo and his boys - the complaints of a simple farmer weren't worth much to them - so he developed the 350 GTV out of pure spite. Or so the story goes.
With a Bizzarrini-designed 3.5-litre V12 clothed in bodywork by Scaglione, the prototype informed the forthcoming production 350GT very thoroughly, its controversial fastback styling making it look like some kind of sixties spaceship. It caused quite a stir at the 1963 Turin Motor Show. It still does today...

DeLorean EV

2012-01-17T13:14:00.002Z

You can imagine the meeting where the electric DeLorean was mooted - an off-the-cuff idea that immediately just made perfect sense. It ticks a lot of boxes: retro chic, desirability, Hollywood glitter, the fulfilment of childhood yearning, and a responsible transport option for the future. Yes, what you see here is a brand-new DeLorean which is powered by electrickery - and not the kind that you have to harness lightning to make use of, but proper battery packs and stuff. And it even glows blue, like there's a flux capacitor in there.
With a power output of 32kWh it'll hum happily past 88mph (er, eventually... I think that equates to about 42bhp), while the range should be around 150km. And this is no one-off show car - the Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company will be building these in 2013. Just to reiterate: you will be able to buy a brand-new electric DMC-12. How cool is that?!
Click here for more.

'55 Chrysler Sports Coach

2012-01-17T12:56:00.003Z

It's yellow, it's absurd and it looks like a toy. And it's superb, isn't it? From the sharply slanting chopped roof to the vast, staggered rims (22" front, 24" rear), to the bespoke independent suspension and the rumbling 5.7-litre Hemi, this is every inch the all-American custom. It's the attention to detail that really makes it shine - but is it more for go or for show...?
From TopSpeed, via Straightspeed.

SMD Hong Kong

2012-01-17T11:51:00.002Z

SMD is a pretty simple concept - standing for 'Sunday Morning Drivers', it's a bunch of people in Hong Kong who like to, er, drive around together on Sunday mornings, much like groups of mates do the world over. Oh yeah, and they all drive supercars...

The city-state's authorities are notoriously strict in their zero-tolerance approach, so this is more of a cruise than a race; kindred spirits blipping throttles and shaking down their breakfast with a little European flair. Bliss.
More at eGarage

Juha Kankkunen: Hoarder Extraordinaire

2012-01-17T08:46:00.004Z

Juha Kankkunen, rally legend, petrolhead hero and all-round nice bloke, has a lifetime of high-octane memories to look back on. But they're not all locked away in his head - they're in his garage.
And as you can see, it's a pretty impressive garage. The sort of set-up that you can imagine all racing drivers dream of, in fact; every car he's professionally competed in sits within, pristine, accompanied by the race suits he wore in period and the trophies he won, and flanked by Ferrari road cars and other exotica. This is a man who has invested wisely.
Click here to read the story of Juha's collection, along with dozens of photos. Set faces to stunned...

Jaguar XJ220S

2012-01-16T17:25:00.002Z

As if the regular XJ220 wasn't scary enough...
The XJ220S was a limited run of an already limited run; just six of them exist, and their hazy grey hues allow them to blip on and off enemy radar at will. Probably. Weight is just 1,080kg - 400kg less than standard - while the twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 has had its usual eyewatering 542bhp massaged up to a slightly unhinged 680bhp. The exhaust alone cost twenty grand. Serious piece of kit.

This particular one is due to be auctioned in the US very soon, with an estimate of £150,000-200,000 - out of the reach of the common man but, frankly, a bargain for the amount of car you get.
Via Evo

Lancia Delta Evo 500

2012-01-16T12:59:00.002Z

Lancia withdrew from the UK in 1994, so the Nuova Delta was a pleasure largely denied to us. Based on the Fiat Tipo platform, its focus was on comfort rather than the overtly sporting nature of its predecessor, although Lancia soon relented by offering a 3-door iteration that revived the HPE name. And then they went a bit nuts, creating a sort of second-generation Integrale: the Delta Evo 500. It came equipped with the Integrale's turbocharged 2.0-litre Lampredi engine (good for c.200bhp as standard) and 16" Speedlines, but still managed to be somehow anonymous. A rare beast, and an impressive one.
...and here's a UK-registered one for sale. These can only appreciate in value, surely?

23-window De Luxe

2012-01-16T10:51:00.002Z

The days of stuffing the innards of your Splittie with a bean bag, a bong and a rock 'n' roll bed are long gone... nowadays if you wish to stay ahead of the game, you need a big-ass telly, state-of-the-art surround sound, hardwood floors and an L-shaped seating amenity. And for the outside, you can't go wrong with clean and bumperless, sitting low over vast polished Fuchs-alikes. Gangster cruisin' for hippies' kids.
Click here.

'49 Bentley Woodie

2012-01-16T09:17:00.003Z

A wonderful fusion of styles, this - ye olde English opulence and solid sideboardery combined with surfrat custom panelling. Peculiar, isn't it? But this is no disrespectful reworking of a vintage Bentley, this is all period-build stuff. Crafted by Rippon Brothers of Huddersfield - Britain's oldest coachbuilder, no less - this '49 was built new on a Mark VI chassis, complete with 4¼-litre straight-6 and a four-speed 'box. Performance, of course, is 'ample', allowing you to whisk the family around in sumptuously-appointed luxury.
Click here for more.

King Kong 'Cuda

2012-01-14T22:35:00.002Z

Typical Australian muscle car build, this one - astonishingly fastidious attention to detail, with enough torque to knock Perth halfway across the Indian Ocean, but so clean and shiny it'd be borderline sacrilegious to use it. It's got a 528ci Hemi in a shaved bay, custom air-ride, billet rims, colossal brakes, a custom-trimmed interior with Mercedes seats and a whole buffet of gauges, B&M transmission and a Strange diff you could eat your dinner off... Should it be on the strip, or in a hermetically-sealed lab?
Click here for more.

Houndstooth Impreza

2012-01-14T21:50:00.004Z

There's a certain formula for modifying a Subaru Impreza: paint it Mica Blue, fit gold wheels, make the decision whether or not to apply 555 rally decals, ramp power up to around 400bhp. Very cool, but a little played out these days.

This Impreza represents something genuinely different, mixing its Eastern origins with the feel of a library in an English manor house. Resplendent in vintage brown, it has a houndstooth and tweed interior; the vast rear wing has been removed, the bootlid covered in quilted leather. On the outside. Yes, it's got gold rims, but they're dripping in retro seventies chic, while the jokey British number plate anchors this Japanese Impreza firmly in an offbeat UK aesthetic. And did you spot that it's a two-door...?
Via Speedhunters

Chevrolet Corvair Super Spyder

2012-01-13T12:35:00.002Z

Unsafe at any speed, blah blah blah...
We all know the Nader horror stories about the Corvair. But what if the much-maligned, rear-engined poppet had been allowed to flourish in the way it deserved? The Super Spyder may have come to fruition, harnessing a more sport-oriented drivership that could appreciate the idiosyncrasies of the unusual drivetrain layout rather than letting it fling them into trees.
The 1962 XP 785 Super Spyder concept was based on the factory Corvair, but shortened by fifteen inches. It had a Speedster-esque chopped screen and a cockpit that tapered into a fibreglass tonneau with the easy grace of the finest Italian design houses; the aggressive multiple exhausts brought the brawny rear right back to Detroit. It was an exercise in extravagance that turned the Corvair into a kind of speedboat for the road - America's playboys would have lapped it up.

Imagine if the gorgeous Super Spyder had been an option at launch: the Corvair might have hit an entirely separate demographic, and its story could have been very different. But we'll never know.

BōsōDub Variant

2012-01-13T09:32:00.004Z

It's easy to accuse the VW scene of being formulaic, but oddities like this keep creeping out of the woodwork to silence the naysayers. This 1989 USDM Fox Wagon has been lowered on custom coilovers above castor-like thirteens, to get it nice and close to the deck. A bōsōzoku-style front-mounted oil cooler and extravagantly upturned exhaust give the Euro Variant a taste of the Orient while the, er, mini-tank in the boot hurls the ethos firmly back to the fatherland. Brilliantly strange.

Click here for more.

Fiesta laying (sub)frame

2012-01-13T09:01:00.004Z

...because, of course, you can't lay frame if you don't have one. But you can try.

The mkIV Fiesta was never a particularly thrilling car, being largely an updated version of the aging mkIII, built down to a price. But, as SSBB always says, everything has potential. See how good a mkIV can look with the hydraulic removal of daylight between wheel and arch! And those wheels are pretty unusual too - banded Fiesta steels with contrasting lips. Works for me.
Click here.

'50 Ford Coupé

2012-01-12T13:25:00.002Z

The proportions of this 1950 Coupé are brilliantly cartoonish because it's been sectioned but not chopped; that is to say, 5" of height has been removed from the bodywork itself along the length of the car, but the traditional accompanying roof-chop hasn't been carried out, leaving a low-slung carriage with a bulbous top. It wouldn't work on a lot of cars, but on this ol' Ford it looks fabulous.

There are a lot of unique custom touches that make this car special - the Chevrolet V8 dressed up in Thunderbird addenda, the pearl white 'n' turquoise vinyl interior, the reshaped front and rear wings with Chevy eyebrows and Buick tail-lamps respectively - but it's the profile that really impresses. You know when a car's so good, it looks like it's been Photoshopped? That's what we've got here. A wonderfully executed example of period custom flair.
Click here for the full story.

2012 Porsche Boxster

2012-01-12T12:28:00.004Z

Porsche's design division must be sick of people banging on about how every new model looks almost identical to the last. This is a widespread but somewhat unfair criticism. Take the 911, for example - yes, you can track the design cues from the current model back to its originator, but every iteration in between has been markedly different. It's just that you sometimes have to look rather closely to see what's changed.

So you can imagine the thought process behind the 2012 Boxster: 'let's keep it largely similar, with the usual myriad detail updates to lights, bumpers etc. But then let's really confuse everybody by grafting on the rear end from a Peugeot RCZ.'
Yeah. You weren't expecting that, were you?

...and here's one in brown. There was a time when launching a new or revamped model with a brown example would have been seen as an act of madness, but thankfully people have been paying attention to SuckSqueezeBangBlow's advice over the last year or so. Brown is good. There should be more of it.

Super-Leicht Genesis

2012-01-12T11:53:00.002Z

SL stands for 'Super-Leicht'. This may seem a little incongruous with the modern Mercedes SLS, which weighs 1,600kg, but that is light in comparison to its peers... and you can easily trace the bloodline right back to the original SL.
Presented to the press in 1952, the Super-Leicht had a light aluminium-magnesium alloy body over a sparse tubular frame; the SL ethos permeated every element of the design and build process, from the magnesium gearbox casing to the perspex windows. Weighing comfortably under 1,000kg, it was powered by the 3.0-litre, six-cylinder engine from the W186 limousine, with triple-carbs and careful tuning and honing liberating 170bhp from the unit.

There were ten cars built overall - numbers 1 and 2 were hand-fabricated, with the subsequent eight employing serial-production techniques such as pressed body panels. Number 1, the prototype, was scrapped early on. Numbers 3-10 were all successful racing cars in the 1952 season, with much of the design and engineering informing that of the 1954 road-going 300SL. And number 2? That's the car you see here - the factory's development and testing car. It never raced, so has had a comparatively easy life. But with no.1 long gone, this is the oldest remaining SL in the world; the forefather of generations of featherweight Mercedes-Benz coupés and racers. And now, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the SL, it's been treated to a full stripdown and rebuild at the hands of the factory experts. Wears its years well, doesn't it?
Click here for more.

The V8 Ferraris

2012-01-11T13:06:00.003Z

The 458 Italia represents an interesting turning point for Ferrari; traditionally operating on a tiered model system with the V8-powered cars acting as 'entry-level' junior supercars, the 458 has hopped up a few rungs. It's a (comparatively) small, mid-engined, V8-powered Ferrari... but it's also the jewel of the fleet, offering unprecedented performance. It'd make mincemeat of an F40.

Fans of Evo will have seen their recent V8 group test but, if you missed it, click here to see the baby Ferraris compared side-by-side - 308, 348, F355, 360, F430 & 458, driven in typically spirited fashion to establish the evolutionary links that led Maranello to this outrageous Giallo Fly screamer. Beautifully written by Henry Catchpole and wonderfully photographed by James Lipman. You'll enjoy this.

Goggomobil TS Coupé

2012-01-11T12:30:00.002Z

Spotted at the first Irvine Cars & Coffee meet of 2012 was this little poppet, a Goggomobil TS Coupé. The diminutive two-seater was built from 1957 in the Bavarian town of Dingolfing by Hans Glas GmbH and, with a total production run of 66,511 cars, they're a pretty rare sight these days.
Its dinky 298cc twin-cylinder two-stroke engine offered a restrained 15bhp; it could do a maximum of 59.2mph, with a 0-50mph time of 27.9s. So not exactly sporty, but it was never meant to be - it was cheap, compact, and would get 50 miles to the gallon. And, of course, two-stroke smells delicious.
Photos via cncpics

PS Retro Touring 330R

2012-01-11T08:48:00.005Z

When I win the lottery - and I say 'when', not 'if'; it must be my turn sooner or later, I've been buying the tickets for ages - the first thing I'll buy is a PS Autoart Porsche. This has been set in stone for some time, and my wife is in full agreement: a freshly-built 'classic' 911 is the way to go. I mean, just look at the spec:
- 330bhp 3.8-litre dry-sumped flat-six (in 330R spec)
- 0-60mph in 4.7s
- 175mph top speed
- bespoke PS steel/aluminium body
- nappa leather seats with corduroy inserts
- Fuchs-style PS alloys
- LSD
- ...and pretty much anything else you want.

They start with a modern-ish 911 - a 964 or 993 - and build it into what is effectively a brand new early-seventies-style 911, complete with modern comforts, reliability, economy and performance. There is no downside. It's even got rear seats for the nippers.

Click here for more.

LöKlässe W202

2012-01-10T16:30:00.005Z

The W202 C-class Mercedes-Benz is a model that's generally overlooked by the modifying community. And that's a shame when they can look this good...
The wheels, you may have spotted, are eighteen-inchers from an SL55 AMG, squeezed under the arches with some enormously aggressive camber that serves two purposes; firstly, to stop them rubbing at such a panscraping ride height, and secondly, to look outrageous. Which has worked out rather well.
More here.

Ronal Nova

2012-01-10T12:25:00.003Z

SuckSqueezeBangBlow is a fan of the Nova/Corsa A - this was the first SSBB-mobile back in '99, and you can see some more recent musings on the model here.
This Norwegian example maintains the purity of the factory lines via the tried and tested chop, drop 'n' roll technique: a few coils hacked out of the springs, and a set of Ronal Turbos under the arches.
It's not a chav car any more. It's an appreciating classic.
More here.

'38 Ford Standard

2012-01-10T10:16:00.003Z

The license plate on this '38 Ford reads 'DADSROD'. The reason for this is that the car's a family heirloom - bought by the current owner's father in 1965, it was a staple of family life in the following decades. The Standard passed from father to son in the mid-nineties, at which point it began the radical transformation into what you now see before you: a Candy Tangerine brute from the gangster era, resplendent in chrome gills and chunky running boards. It's had a 4" roof chop, there's a considerable hike in under-bonnet firepower, and the interior is gorgeously luxurious. A fitting conclusion for a beloved family member.
Via Rod & Custom

Fresh '89 Accord

2012-01-10T09:25:00.002Z

You can see just how fresh this Honda is - it says it on every button on the dash...
In contrast with the accepted norms of a number of scenes, this car isn't rocking huge rims. In fact, they're 13"x7", tying this eighties Accord into a more seventies aesthetic. And it's low. Really low. So it's got a funky-fresh two-tone lowrider paintjob to accentuate the lack of altitude. Works well, doesn't it?
Click here for more.

Bufori La Joya

2012-01-09T13:37:00.003Z

The Bufori La Joya: it's the weird luxury kit car-alike you've never heard of. Looking like a cross between a Beauford and a Panther Kallista, this Malaysian-built car has the classic long-nosed profile of something that should be packing a straight-eight, but in fact the La Joya is powered by a mid-mounted 2.7-litre V6. And while it may look a bit like something your uncle knocked up in his garage with a Cortina chassis and a bucket of fibreglass, it is actually quite advanced; the body is made from a carbon-fibre/Kevlar composite, and sits over a spaceframe chassis. It's got baubles like sequential transmission, traction control, tyre-pressure monitoring and Bluetooth, and each car is hand-built to order. (The Bufori dealer network operates in Malaysia, Russia, Australia, China, the US and the Czech Republic, but they'll take orders from and deliver to anywhere.)
Noteworthy to SuckSqueezeBangBlow is the choice of tail-lights - from a series III Jaguar XJ, no less. Unusual.

Click here to learn more. Of particular interest is the options list: supercharger, 24k gold bonnet emblem, 24k gold instrument bezels, Persian silk carpets or the enigmatic 'precious stones of your choice: diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, etc'.
Pic source.

'64 GTO-R

2012-01-09T11:38:00.004Z

Nobody has ever looked at a Pontiac GTO and said 'you know what? That could do with being a touch more aggressive.' But, thankfully, dialing in needless aggression is meat and drink to the US tuning industry, and this '64 GTO is a case in point. It's got stacks poking through the bonnet, for a start. It's got NASCAR brakes and a hefty rollcage. It kicks out 680bhp, it has a unibody-style frame and a four-linked rear, and it looks pretty bloody scary too.
Aggressive? You betcha. And well worthy of tacking an 'R' onto the end of that historic GTO moniker.
Click here for more.

E30 M3 Touring

2012-01-09T10:40:00.002Z

There have been various home-brew iterations of the iconic E30 M3 over the years; stripped-out racers, convertibles, four-doors... but it's quite rare to see a Touring. BMW, of course, never officially built one but if they did, this is pretty much the ethos. There's a little artistic license under the bonnet; the race-bred M3 four-pot is hard to come by, but this car's 3.5-litre M30 six, as found in the M635CSi, seems rather fitting here in terms of grunt. There's a six-speed 'box, custom exhaust, custom Koni suspension and, of course, the iconic body addenda at either end. What really catches the eye, however, is what's housing those E39 M5 rims: the box arches.
The M3 had a lot of girth, with those wide arches acting as a brutal statement of intent. To have them perfectly transplanted onto a Touring is a work of quite some skill and patience, particularly in re-profiling the rear doors to suit. Artfully done, I think you'll agree.

2012 Nissan Juke-R

2012-01-06T16:58:00.003Z

Remember the excitement over the oddball Juke-R last October? (Click here for the SuckSqueezeBangBlow angle.) Well, the madness has borne fruit. Bulbous, satin black fruit. The Juke-R exists.
Evo's Richard Meaden was the first journo to drive it, and he got to do so in the wet - lucky boy! Behold:

Cortina Woody

2012-01-06T15:40:00.002Z

Ford of Dagenham never made the mkI Cortina into a California surf wagon... but if they did, this is pretty much what it would have looked like.
An ex-Retro Ford feature car, this '64 Consul Cortina Deluxe estate has had a full-body resto and is in mint condition; it features a wooden slatted roof-rack, banded steels with Zephyr hubcaps, bench seats and column-shift transmission. There's a 711M crossflow under the bonnet, and a Beach Boys song on the radio (probably). Cool, huh?
It's on the 'Bay right now - click here to see it in all its DI-NOC Woodgrain glory.

Turbine-powered MR2

2012-01-06T13:52:00.003Z

Now, if you saw the picture above in isolation, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was some kind of half-arsed BarryBoys nightmare. But in fact, this MR2 has been subject to something a little more radical than the usual styling and performance tweaks; it's sacrificed its sweet mid-engined setup for a pair of MASSIVE FRICKIN' JET ENGINES. Seriously.
It was listed recently on eBay, where the seller came out with the beautifully understated 'I think it's street legal except for this little excessive noise issue'. See the video below for an idea of what kind of noise these turbines make...
Via Engadget.

Jetta Variant on air

2012-01-06T10:53:00.002Z

So, a lesson in global VW semantics. The car you see here is a US Jetta Variant. In the UK, we call the Jetta 'Bora' - it's basically a Golf saloon with different headlights. We also have an estate version of the Golf. In the US they have effectively the same car, but with the Bora/Jetta nose, and using the classic VW 'Variant' name. It's a Golf/Jetta/Bora estate/Variant. All clear? Great.
...and this example is a little bit special; clean and smooth in pristine white, with oh-so-eighties lipstick red accents. The interior has been retrimmed in bright red leather, to match the equally eighties-esque BTCC-inspired Fifteen52 Tarmac alloys. (They're Porsche Guards Red, incidentally.) Airbags drop it to the floor, to settle those eighteens nicely in the arches. It's like a crisp white shirt with a set of red braces; there's probably a Filofax in the glovebox...
Click here for more.

'45 Willys Rod

2012-01-06T09:28:00.002Z

World War II jeeps are functional, sensible, utilitarian things, right?
Not always - look how much fun this one is! It's a 1945 Jeep CJ-2A that's been chopped about, bolted back together with Lego Technic and re-animated in cartoon form (possibly); it's got a Chevy 350ci V8, four-linked airbag suspension and a grenade for a gearknob. And it's as mad as a pig in a windmill.
Click here for more.

'Respect Your Elders'

2012-01-05T16:59:00.003Z

Two stunning '02s in as many days... I posted this one yesterday, and here's another beautiful example to inspire and impress.
It's common to apply '2002' graphics to these, but not in this manner; rather than the agressively reversed numerals of the Turbo, here we find them plastered all over, race car-style. The choice of retro multi-spoke rims is wonderfully in-period, with just a smidge of negative camber at the rear to imply a penchant for the track. Turbo arches & airdam and lurid orange paint mean it's an immediate head-turner too. Nicely done.
More here.

Bagged Rekord

2012-01-05T15:13:00.004Z

Cars like this epitomise the European retro scene: models that were once considered mundane and workaday fall rapidly from ubiquity to scarcity via their perceived disposability; a clean example is unearthed, then mercilessly dropped to the floor over some well-chosen wheels. Pure, simple retro chic. In this case it's an Opel Rekord - once the staple (and, let's be honest, unremarkable) transport of middle-managers, sales reps and taxi drivers alike, nowadays it's a rare and welcome sight. Will the Vectra go this way in a couple of decades? It's very possible.
Click here for more.

Honda HSV-010 GT

2012-01-05T12:09:00.004Z

It's no secret that SuckSqueezeBangBlow loves the Honda NSX. For its directness and single-minded pursuit of excellence, for its Senna assocations, for its unashamed targetting of the Ferrari 355, it's just a modern marvel. And it was very sad when it went out of production in 2005.
There have been myriad rumours about what Honda will create as a follow-up, and the most real offering to date came in the form of 2010's HSV-010 GT. HSV stands for Honda Sports Velocity, which is about as aggressive a name as you can get, and the car was developed to campaign in Japan's Super GT series, replacing the defunct NSX racer. Now, Super GT racers are typically based on production cars, so it wasn't unreasonable to assume that the HSV-010 GT would herald a next-generation NSX. Unfortunately this was not the case, although the word from inside Honda indicated that it was originally planned to be so, and that it was quashed by financial issues (i.e. that it wasn't deemed economically sensitive to launch a supercar in the midst of a massive global recession). Still, it exists as a racer, and a mighty one at that: 490bhp+ from a howling 3.4-litre V8, Ricardo sequential six-speed transmission and just 1100kg to haul around. Impressive.

Oh, and it's the Detroit Motor Show next week. The word is that Acura, Honda's luxury US sub-brand, will be debuting a new NSX for 2012. Keep your eyes peeled...

Carrera Panamericana Sedanet

2012-01-05T10:59:00.002Z

This is classic Carrera Panamericana fodder: take a vast Detroit barge from the forties and stuff an obscene amount of horsepower into it.
The enormous Cadillac bodyshell sits on an Art Morrison chassis, while handling is taken care of by full-race coilovers - this is a race car, after all. Power? You're looking at 600bhp and 580lb.ft from a supercharged Corvette LS9 V8. It's got all the bits you'd expect - super-tough manual 'box, Wilwood brakes, OZ wheels with acres of girth - but what first catches the eye is its pure sense of purpose. This doesn't fit into any specific scene per se; it's not a hot rod or a drag racer or a kustom, and it makes concours purists cry. The Carrera Panamericana is where it fits in, a chrome-bejewelled gangster with a bullish attitude and a hell of a lot of presence, thudding belligerently through the Mexican air with unstoppable force.
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Lamborghini Espada 4P Faena

2012-01-05T09:20:00.003Z

The Espada is something of a niche classic; basically a luxurious four-seater supercar with a futuristic (well, for the seventies) rear glasshouse and a front-mounted Miura V12. But for one connoisseur the practicality of rear seats and a usable boot wasn't quite enough - they wanted a couple of extra doors too. So that is what Pietro Frua was commissioned to build: the world's only four-door Lamborghini.
The Espada 400 GT 4P Faena was based on a Series 2 Espada - the chassis was extended by 178mm and strengthened, while Frua's new semi-monocoque body was artfully draped over the top. In its day it was the fastest of all the shooting brakes, its 350bhp engine carrying it to a comfortable 150mph, although at nearly two tons it was more of a GT than a sports car. Beautifully executed though, isn't it? Makes you wonder which modern supercars would respond well to the addition of some more doors...
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Alfa Romeo Montréal

2012-01-04T15:51:00.003Z

One of the all-time design greats, the Montréal - largely for its weirdness. It's got a dummy NACA duct for a nostril, lazily-lidded headlights, and rows of vents at the hips to make you think it might be mid-engined, when in fact its detuned Tipo 33 Stradale V8 sits squarely in the nose.
It was named Montréal because that's where it debuted as a concept, at Expo '67 in Canada. The response was sufficiently enthusiastic that the model was put into production, although it was never commercially available in North America. To be honest, the European ones didn't sell that well; despite its achingly gorgeous design, 197bhp delivered at a howling 7,000rpm and features such as an LSD and race-derived suspension that proved it meant business, it was just too expensive. Significantly pricier, in fact, than both the Jaguar E-Type and the Porsche 911, both of which were, let's face it, far less likely to break down.
But it's a firm SuckSqueezeBangBlow favourite - always has been and always will be. The gorgeous 1973 example you see here has been fastidiously restored by Alfaholics, to their famously impeccable standards. Fabulous, isn't it? Like a sci-fi citrus missile.
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Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro Ford

2012-01-04T13:41:00.002Z

How's this for an offbeat alternative to a GT40...?
Built by Ecurie Ecosse in 1963, this Tojeiro endurance racer was originally fitted with a Buick engine, but was re-engineered in '64 to run a 4.7-litre Ford V8. It was one of the first cars driven professionally by Jackie Stewart, its 400bhp and slippery shape easing it to early victories at Brands Hatch and Silverstone.
How does 0-60mph on 2.5s grab you? It could be yours (if your EuroMillions numbers come up) - click here.

'02 with a twist

2012-01-04T12:10:00.003Z

I went bumperless with my old 2002 - always works. But the real twist with this BMW is the wheels. Recognise them? They're from a Porsche 356, infusing this Bavarian classic with a little Gmünd flair. A gentle drop, a well thought-out interior, and you have a peachy little '02. Nice work.
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Les Déesses de Chapron

2012-01-04T08:55:00.004Z

The Citroën DS is such an iconic, revered design that monkeying around with it is borderline sacrilegious. But that didn't stop celebrated French coachbuilder Henri Chapron having a crack at it...
The first Déesse we see here is 'Le Leman', a hand-beaten DS 21 coupé. From head-on all appears standard, but the rear is heavily reworked, squaring it off to create a far more cab-forward profile; the dimensions are so radically altered, you'd almost assume it was mid-engined. You can read more about it here. (€162,000? Incroyable!)

This second example, 'Le Dandy', an earlier DS 19, appears rather more resolved around the tail. Its exaggerated curves accentuate those of the front quarters, giving it an almost speedboat-esque aesthetic. A gadabout fit for a président, n'est-ce pas?
You can learn more here.

Satin Blue 911R

2012-01-03T15:25:00.003Z

It's always nice to see an interestingly modified classic 911, isn't it? Even more so when it's been done on a tight budget. And when it's done single-handedly by one chap in his garage? Well, that's the strategy of winners.
Click here to read all about the rebirth of this tasteful and purposeful Porsche.

Chelsea Cruise: in motion

2012-01-03T12:41:00.003Z

I *heart* the Chelsea Cruise; the last bastion of the old-school petrolhead outlaw on the streets of London. And so does this guy...

Suzuki Regina

2012-01-03T09:47:00.002Z

We should all be encouraging cars like this. They'll perpetuate the future of our high-octane hobby.
The Suzuki Regina, a compact city-car concept, produces just 70g/km of CO_2, and still allows people to drive a car with a proper petrol engine rather than some horrid electric Moulinex. Its lightness - just 730kg - is kind of gobsmacking in a modern context (although it really shouldn't be; car manufacturers en masse need to employ more Colin Chapman thinking), and it's this plus the Regina's advanced aerodynamics that lead to the impressive CO₂ figure. Factor in a funky-fresh design with heavily-lidded eyes and a rear three-quarter that looks weirdly like a Citroën DS, and you have pretty much the perfect urban runabout. More of this kind of thing, please.
Pics via Autoblog.

Fiat Stanguellini Bertone Berlinetta

2012-01-03T09:17:00.002Z

This coachbuilt curiosity from 1954 tends to divide opinion - some think it's rather cute in its oddness, while others aren't at all keen on its kit-car-on-castors design. But love it or hate it, you can't deny that it's unusual, and that makes it a very SSBB car.
Designed by Scaglione, it has more than a little of the Alfa Romeo B.A.T. feel to it and, although it has just 1100cc under the bonnet, you get the feeling that it's a punchy little featherweight, like a Broadspeed GT or a Cox GTM. Feisty, and with a little Latin flair.
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