MX5 250GTO body conversion kit

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tribute-Automotive-MX250...

Interesting development - as the Whitney song goes "It's not right, but it's OK" be very interesting to see how this fairs. No IVA and £1700 all in.

Could maybe have done with a bit more overhang at the front to try and disguise short wheelbase but whatever you think it's still considerably better proportioned than the 944 conversion kit IMHO and considerably cheaper as well...

Fix up?!! None taken! Jeez you lot have got more money than sense!!

Yeah, it was just a really, really rough respray - so rough in fact the cobra has just gone through THT for £25k!

My cob repaint included front repair to grp (tear through careless tow rope after I managed to shear the output shaft of the toploader) and filling external hinge holes following conversion to internal hinges.

http://www.totalheadturners.com/carforsale/419-Old... - the stripes are vinyl by the way, not painted.

Same painter did colour change on friends TVR Chim for £850 including custom candy paint. painter was recommended to me and only used him once - no mates rates.

Mega money does not necessarily mean mega paint.

I saw a £2.5K paint job (saw the bill) on a Dino replica that was nowhere near as good.

Dreamspeed - your imaginery budget for build of your own design kitcar of £20k - does that include £3/4k of paint then?

I know, I know - I don't know why he's so cheap. Actually the cobra worked out like this - I had a towing rope "cut" through the firbglass at the front and ended up having it repaired and painted from front to doors (inclusive) @ £400. The match was everso slightly out - so I got the rear painted and external hinge holes filled @ £260. So, all done @ £660. It went back to smooth a lacquer drip on the roll of the dash top - tbh it's still noticable but no biggy. I did no prep.

The TVR was colour changed for £850 including custom paint - that included door shuts but NOT interior of boot and bonnet. That was left down to owner to sort - satin black or whatever. It did require a bit of additional mopping. Ownwer did some prep in form of parts removal.

It's a very small unit - very small! And no, he doesn't have an oven - it's heat lights on stands only which I know would put some off immediately. Thing is he gets good results at super kean prices - he's not VAT reg btw and i'll be honest, he is hard to pin down sometimes as he doesn't do that many hours now. Having seen a mate go through loads of stress taking a well known painter (3 letters - starts and ends with S) to court over issues on the £4k respray of his cobra (they settled on the day of the court case outside court) I'd rather go my route. Of course it was better paint than mine but not 3K's better and a hell of lot more stress plus my expectations weren't sky high like his. Who came out happier? Me I think cos it always niggled him. The sinks marks where they filled his wing mirror mounts were shocking btw.

Anyway, back to the MX250 - what's interesting about this thread is the massive difference in budgets people are prepared to throw at the same car. The range looks to be £5k to £12k which I think quite a surprising differential for such a low cost kit and maybe shows it's not all necesarily about cost?

The Velo Rossa is a chopped version of the old Datsun 240Z based GTO kits (recognise the door handle?).

The ultimate development of the Datsun based GTO kit was the Scorpion GTZ, which was actually bought as a going concern from the states by a UK based company OM Sportscars who promptly disappeared without trace! Their intial pricelist showed turnkeys available at £25k.

I guess there's a "know your market" lesson there.

Perfect base vehicle for this . . . http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-MX5-Eunos-V8-TVR-e...

V8 MX5!

Don't give up! Very sad to hear that what Scorpion provided wasn't the full package - always interesting to get the other side of the story. Would love to see some more pics if you can conquer the system - it's still a great looking car.

I seem to remember having the chassis discussion on a thread at the time and I've got a feeling one of the cobra rep chassis came up with the same wheelbase (I might be making this up!)

If those are the only issues on a £1300 kit that's pretty bloody good!

Blind stainless rivets solves corrosion and water ingress issues

That just leaves the screen - loose your £50 excess and get a fresh one in before you do the conversion. You'd be pretty unlucky to get a terminal crack though

Pictures now on the tribute forum of it in primer:






Forum thread: http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/forum/showthread.p...

Looking good so far but I hope that's not where the buck stops(groan!)

For me the rear arch is a little too square/boxy and the haunches too flat on the top - in fact the whole top of the rear is a bit flat and just generally lacking the curvy gorgeousness of the Vela Rosa:-




It really doesn't need much - it's so close - just some more shaping and it could be a very pretty car indeed

First profit taker . . . £8500?!!

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C312832