Auto Fans Club

In 1986, the Porsche 959 was the world’s fastest street legal product car. Some 337 of these road-going monsters were built but not one of them was a factory-finished convertible. Regardless of what you may have heard or seen on forums, such a vehicle was never sanctioned by Porsche. There was a one-off “Speedster” built by Auto-Becker for the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show but that’s about it.

So is this done and dusted? Of course not; this is the internet we’re talking about. 959 Speedsters are sighted by Porsche enthusiasts as much as Elvis Presley or the Loch Ness monster. If you believe what you’ve read, these things are everywhere. And I do mean everywhere, even in New Zealand.

So our seller throws in the usual platitudes we’ve come to expect from this sort of posting like, “This is one very rare and special car,” and that it was “professionally built”.

If Geo had asked Isuzu to design them a car that would appeal to California’s surfer crowd in the mid-1990s, chances are it’d look a lot like the Thunder Ranch Riot. A fibreglass bodied, Volkswagen Beetle-based turnkey kit car, the Riot looks like a Geo Storm that’s been cut, shut and had Dodge Viper parts tacked on to its exterior. And it can be all yours for the low, low price of US$12,000.

Usually, it’s Nissan owners that want to upgrade to a model from sister company Infiniti, but in this case, it’s the other way around. Found for sale in Quebec by Carscoop reader Caroline is this Nissan GT-R wannabe based on the Infiniti G35 Coupe. From what we can tell, the owner’s budget dried out after he or she finished the front end that now resembled the R35 with a bespoke grille and front bumper assembly. Read more »

There is no question that when it comes to automotive clones from China, history repeats itself. Following in the footsteps of Mercedes-Benz’s China partner BAIC, which came out with a five-door hatchback closely resembling the Stuttgart firm’s B-Class, Brilliance Automotive, BMW’s associate in China, is working on a compact SUV model that looks very much alike X1 crossover.

According to Chinese news site Auto Sohu that broke these scoop photos, the new Brilliance model with the Audi name and BMW looks will be officially revealed at the upcoming Shanghai Auto Show in mid-April. It is reported that the Brilliance A3 SUV will be offered with a 1.6-liter gasoline engine sourced from Mitsubishi’s local division.

The Lancia Stratos HF is the other Italian supercar of the 1970s. It may not be as well loved as some of the other greats – Lamborghini’s Countach, Ferrari’s Daytona or Maserati’s Khamsin – but it still holds a special place in many enthusiasts’ hearts. So it should come as no surprise that Stratos replicas are somewhat prevalent, especially in Europe.

The ebay seller assures us the work was carried out by professionals (isn’t it always?) and -as usual- the vehicle is going for a lot less than its original asking price. The car is said to be built by a Mr. Bates who provided the chassis to UK “repli-car” kit manufacturer Hawk Cars. Perhaps coincidently, Hawk Cars also makes a Lancia Stratos replica kit.

Here at Carscoop we’ve shown you Ferrari F430 clones based on all sorts of sports cars ranging from the oh-so popular Pontiac Fiero to the Toyota MR2 and even the Toyota Celica. Now it’s time to show you an F430 doppelganger of even more humble origins as this creation is reportedly based on a Toyota Corolla.

I swear the Fiero Owner’s Club of America is not paying my salary, it just appears that way. Here we have yet another stunning replica based on that most prestigious of U.S. motoring icons: the Pontiac Fiero. GM’s indefatigable plastic-bodied, mid-engined two seater has gone on to become the underpinning of many a dodgy European thoroughbred imitator. Today’s target is the Porsche Carrera GT, perhaps one of the greatest cars to come out of Germany in recent years.

Our seller’s “Carriero GT” features a rebuilt engine and transmission (never a good sign in this sort of car) with the car said to have covered 6,900 miles since then.

The seller will have more than enough once he sells this beautiful and quality replica for the low, low price of US$21,500. Don’t believe me? The seller himself says, “THE PICTURES SHOW THE BEAUTY AND THE QUALITY BUILT INTO THIS REPLICA.” And you can really see it too, from the awkward body mouldings, botched-together interior and Costco brand fog lights.

You'll be hard-pressed to come across a more bizarre replica than this BMW 7-Series-based model, which was found for sale in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by Carscoop reader Ahmad. If you do, please don’t hesitate to contact us…

Now, what we have here is a BMW E23 model, or to put it more simply, a first-generation 7-Series sedan. To be precise, it’s a 1985 728i that left the Bavarian firm’s factory with a 2.8-liter inline-six gasoline unit delivering 184 horsepower.

For aesthetic reasons us ordinary mortals would find hard to comprehend, the owner of the BMW went and transformed the front-end of the 728i in the likes of a Shelby Mustang, and the rear to imitate the look of a Nissan Skyline GT-R R34. Feel free to check out the rest of the pictures after the jump and have your say in the comments section below.

Is the Jaguar XK8 not good enough for you? Then how about turning it into something with a bit more pizazz like an Aston Martin DBS? At least that’s what an eBay seller is proposing in our latest replicar find. The DBS doppelganger is based on a 1998 Jaguar XK8 and was up for sale on eBay with a ‘Buy it Now’ price of $50,000, but received no bids.

Not surprising, given the fact that you can find examples of the XK8 for as low as $8,000, with KBB suggesting a retail value of around $12,000 for a pristine 1999 model with the same mileage (95,000 miles). Heck, for under 50 grand you can actually get a real Aston Martin as we found 2002/2003 DB7s going for around $45,000 on eBay. Photos and video follow after the break.

Okay, you got me. “Cute utes” are not really my thing. I’m more of a Dodge Ram SRT-10 or an HSV Maloo man myself. Yes, they’re affordable and sure if you’re on a budget and need a reliable vehicle that can carry a whole lot of work gear and tools there’s really nothing better.

So here’s a “step-side” style ute pickup based on a 1989 Chevrolet Caprice. Step-side pickups have a step moulded into the body, typically between the passenger doors and rear wheel arch. They were popular in the 1950s though are somewhat rarer these days.

There are probably more Pontiac Fiero-based imitations in the world than real Ferraris. Today, though, we have something a little different. No, it is not a Pontiac Fiero-based Lamborghini Miura (we have already had one of them), it is a Toyota Celica that has been transformed into a passable F430 replica.

Did I say passable? Well, only just. From the front, it looks okay, with the hood, headlights and A-pillar being sufficiently F430-like. As you move back, however, it all starts to unwind. The awkward side window treatment, slab-sided rear flanks and the shape of the rear windscreen just seem wrong. Though you can’t expect much from trying to transform a front-engined, front wheel drive Japanese coupe in a mid engine, rear wheel drive Italian exotic.

Few names in automotive history make the average car enthusiast’s skin crawl like, “Geo”. Geo was General Motors response to the growing number of Japanese and South Korean imports that had invaded the U.S. market. Essentially taking the most boring and insipid models from Suzuki, Toyota and Isuzu and building them stateside, Geo embodied the whole, “Who Gives A...” attitude that has made GM so reviled by some.

The Geo Storm was essentially an Isuzu Impulse stripped off all the things that would have made the latter an appealing proposition to the enthusiast: Lotus tuned suspension, turbocharger and AWD. What was left was essentially a four-cylinder sedan with two less doors and a vaguely sporty body. Still, it was a big seller for Geo and GM, no doubt leaving the corpse of Colin Chapman rolling in his grave.

In order to celebrate the 150 years that have passed since the unification of Italy, Ferrari recently chose to name its newest Formula 1 car the “F150”. It seems that Ford wasn’t too impressed with the patriotic gesture and sued the Italian maker over the race car's moniker. The Blue Oval claimed that it closely resembled its own F-150 nameplate, thus causing “irreparable harm” to the trademark.

According to the paperwork filed in Detroit, the lawsuit also referred to Ferrari’s www.ferrarif150.com website and accused the Italian company of cyber theft and trademark infringement.

Ford aimed to prevent the use of the F150 name in the United States, and expected Ferrari to give up any revenue and profits earned through the disputed nameplate in the States.

Sure, most people would love to have a Bugatti Veyron; sadly, at over a million bucks a pop we're talking a vehicle that's slightly out of reach for most consumers. Thankfully, one man and eBay have rectified this issue with something we'll call a Cougatti (or Bougar).

Based on a 112,000-mile 2002 Mercury Cougar with a V6 and automatic transmission, this one-of-one Cougatti has a starting bid of $89,000 and no takers as of this writing. Potential buyers get all the body work, 20-inch wheels, angel eye HID headlights, LED tails, two gas caps (one functional), and power windows/mirrors.

In October of 2010 we brought you a Toyota Soarer / Lexus SC that had been transformed into an abomination with a Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM front end and a Nissan 200SX rump. It was bad, but I still liked it better than the snooze-mobile that was the ‘91 Soarer / CS.

Well, from the same website that brought us that automotive mullet comes yet another creation that’s been refashioned into something else. This time its a Nissan Silva. This particular freak of coach building features a Mercedes-Benz rear end (or at very least the taillights) and Nissan 350Z front end. The result is less than impressive.

So you want your own limousine? Sure, I can dig that. Who hasn’t thought of trading in their daily commute for something that’s chauffer driven? And what better place to start your search than on eBay, where you’re sure to find something both unique and affordable, if not exactly well built or driveable.

Here’s one such find, based on a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit (Golf for the rest of the world) with a Mercedes-Benz nose piece. The seller’s description reveals that this vehicle has new brakes, struts, a new exhaust, new wheels and tires, new windshield and gas tank. And it still has its original motor and transmission, with a twin barrel carburettor with aluminium intake and header which the seller assures us makes it, “Fast for what it is.”

Previously on Carscoop, we’ve seen Pontiac Fieros turned into “Fierarris”, Toyota Soarers adorned with Mercedes-Benzes off cuts and some others too hideous to even mention. For the most part, it’s a case of turning a boring, mainstream car into something that resembles a high-priced exotic if you’re squinting through grease paper with the sun in your eyes and have lost a lot of blood.

What you rarely see is something exotic transformed into something that some people would call mundane. That’d just be silly. Never to be one to shy away from a challenge, the Russians have done just that: taken a Jag and turned it into a GAZ.

Originally this car was a 1993 Jaguar XJ40 with an automatic transmission and a 3.2 L V6. Its exterior has been adorned with the grille, head- and taillights, unique side vents and boot emblem from a ‘70s Volga. It’s not quite in the same league as the BMW 6-series derived Volga V8 Roadster or the Porsche Cayenne-based “Lenin-mobile”, but it’s still an impressive transformation.

We received some e-mails asking us if the green-colored Ram truck hiding behind the Chrysler-ized Prius 300C we showed you earlier today was a tricked out Dodge, or if, like many other project cars shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon, this too was a replica. The answer is it's a Ram Truck clone based on the Mazda Bongo Friendee, which is a Japanese domestic market MPV with seating for eight, offered between 1995 and 2005. Like the Prius 300C, the Ram Truck Friendee was built by a team of students from the Saitama Institute of Automotive Technology.

Don't let the Nissan 350Z snout and the Infiniti G35 Coupe (JDM Nissan Skyline V35) rear end design fool you; the glitzy painted roadster model you're gawking at is in fact a JDM Mitsubishi Eclipse Spider - possibly a third generation model. But before you try to digest all that info let us quickly add that Paint Star's Tokyo Auto Salon project car also hides a Subaru-sourced 2.0-liter turbocharged flat-four engine under its 350Z-shaped hood. See the rest of the photos in our image gallery after the break.

[Updated gallery] The Tokyo Auto Salon is always a blast featuring all sorts of unique tuning proposals, like this here Porsche wannabe. When our Tokyo show man Phil e-mailed the above photo, we assumed it pictured a Porsche -possibly a Boxster- modified to resemble a Panamera Convertible. We were quickly proven wrong, however, when he sent over an image of the interior and some video footage revealing that the Porsche Panamera tune was actually a...masqueraded Nissan 350Z Roadster. More photos after the jump.