Monday 3rd October 2016

Clive Sutton US right-hand drive conversions

Put off a new Corvette, Hellcat or Raptor by sitting on the wrong side? Now there's a solution

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However good the latest breed of American sports cars is - very, very good by all accounts - being sat on the left of them will always be tricky in the UK. It's not an insurmountable problem, especially when you think of how many Delta Integrales and E30 M3s there are around, but certainly it can make things awkward. Think of the drive-thru.

Ram. For when a Ford Ranger is too prissy

To address this issue, and in response to increasing demand for American cars over here, Clive Sutton is now offering a range of right-hand drive conversions through its Sutton Bespoke service. Using "precision sculpted mouldings" of interior components that are then handcrafted to mirror the original fit, Sutton Bespoke is promising "factory standards" of fit and finish. Where required, 3D printing is also used to remanufacture certain parts.

So what's on offer? The Dodge Ram is the most recently completed project, in full-Texas 1500 Laramie Quad Cab V8 spec. If you're more of a Ford man, Sutton will also convert F-150s, F250s and Raptors. Plus the Toyota Tundra. And Chevy Silverado. Moreover, for those with a fledgling hip hop career, Escalades are available for RHD conversion.

But we care about the sports cars, right? On Sutton's conversion list is the latest Corvette, the Dodge Challenger (see the image and, yes, including the Hellcat), the Chevy Camaro (2010-2015, with the new car in development) and the Ford Mustang. Quite why you would want the old car converted when there's a new car available in right-hand drive is another matter, but it is possible.

RHD Challenger? Interesting...

This is not a cheap endeavour though, even if American cars tend to be a little cheaper to buy. On something like the Ram, prices start from £26,400 (including VAT), with a right-hand drive Escalade on offer from £36,000 plus the purchase price of the car. The muscle cars are pricier though, with both Challenger and Camaro conversions beginning at £32,400. And for a Corvette it's £50K.

So you'll need to be pretty committed to the cause. But then the appetite for American cars is growing over here and, well, people have spent far more money making one-off cars in the past. Wonder if they can sort a Mustang GT350R?

[Burwood]

absolutely ridiculous price. Top notch job carried out by experts in NZ costs 25k NZD which is £13k.

[big_rob_sydney]

50k to convert a corvette?

You're having a laugh.

[TooMany2cvs]

Target market? Footballers.

[tim milne]

Costs nothing to reverse through the drive-thru

[DBRacingGod]

For that money you could probably import a new HSV GTS already in RHD from Oz.

[Z28DUNC]

tim milne said:

Costs nothing to reverse through the drive-thru

Or get your passenger to order it!

[Krikkit]

Z28DUNC said:

tim milne said:

Costs nothing to reverse through the drive-thru

Or get your passenger to order it!

I'd love to reverse through... Imagine reversing a Hellcat through a McDonalds... Chaos.

[GranCab]

The only drive-thru most of those will fit in would be a drive-thru lorry wash .....

[Vocht]

Krikkit said:

I'd love to reverse through... Imagine reversing a Hellcat through a McDonalds... Chaos.

Would be mad! Imagine pulling into a Drive-Thru and facing one of those haha.

[WCZ]

makes no sense on these cars imo.
I'd only bother on something like an SLR, 918, P1, enzo, F50

[Matt UK]

At that price it does not compute.

But appreciate the man-hours that have to go into it, so like anything bespoke, you pay for your whims.

[j90gta]

All these vehicles were designed with the steering wheel on the left. Just leave them that way. How many people think nothing of taking their right-hand drive vehicles on the Continent? I have driven plenty of left-hand drive vehicles in this country without any bother; indeed with the width of these vehicles it's easier to place them nearer the kerb.

[Itsallicanafford]

i commuted into work in our left hand drive E24 this morning. It really is not an issue at all, in fact, it was easier to have a good chat in traffic to the owner of an M3 who wanted to know about the car..

[UberObeast]

Wonder if they'd convert a c6 ZR1 for me when I win the lotto

[SturdyHSV]

j90gta said:

it's easier to place them nearer the kerb.

Exactly, if anything it's easier on narrow roads as you know you're as far over as you can be.

[cookie1600]

j90gta said:

I have driven plenty of left-hand drive vehicles in this country without any bother; indeed with the width of these vehicles it's easier to place them nearer the kerb.

How about overtaking? I drove a LHD Mini around for a while in the 90's and had to have a reliable passenger with me at all times just to get past people.

Anyhoo, surely the pretty bits inside are relatively easy to duplicate, it's the oily steery, stoppy and goey bits that I'd be concerned about as they could be fitted to areas of the cars structure that were never designed for them and possibly with adaptions to get them around exhaust headers, gearboxes and the like. Some of the early conversions that even manufacturers did (Ford RS1600i?) to get usable RHD cars into the country were allegedly bodges at best.

How are the cars' warranty, crash protection, insurance, longevity dealt with in these conversions?

[Ozzie Osmond]

Someone remind me the cost of a brand new RHD Mustang V8?

No, I think I'd rather have a Camaro converted and pay twice the price...

[V8Matthew]

It's true having an LHD car makes it slightly harder to overtake, but if you still can't do it with 707 horsepower you deserve to be fleeced for that much

[LuS1fer]

I seem to recall some of their Mustang light conversions were well dodgy so let's hope this is better.

[Ozzie Osmond]

V8Matthew said:

It's true having an LHD car makes it slightly harder to overtake, but if you still can't do it with 707 horsepower you deserve to be fleeced for that much

You'd think in these days of dashcams and reversing cameras it wouldn't be rocket science to install a forward looking camera at the top right of the windshield with a screen the driver can see.

In fact, I think I might be able to knock one up myself for a tad less than £50k!