RE: RML reveals first customer Short Wheelbases

RE: RML reveals first customer Short Wheelbases

Thursday 23rd March 2023

RML reveals first customer Short Wheelbases

British firm reckons it takes nine months to gestate a Short Wheelbase - we're betting it's worth the wait


We haven’t caught up with RML since we drove the prototype last year, but evidently things have continued to move quickly at the Wellingborough-based firm - or as quickly as things can move when you’re hand-making seven-figure, V12-powered Short Wheelbases. 

RML says it takes nine months to meticulously turn each example from a Ferrari 550 Maranello into what is effectively a new model, and production is well underway on the initial three. The first customer car is due to be delivered late next month, and is currently having its wiring harness installed and its cabin insulated while it awaits the return of its 5.5-litre V12 and six-speed manual gearbox. The 550’s engine is rebuilt to factory standard for its new setting, albeit boasting a unique cooling system to fit the new body.

That body, of course, is a work of art. The two-piece carbon fibre affair is said to weigh just 42.5kg, and is shown here in unpainted format, already fitted to its restored and powder-coated steel chassis. The next evolution has its major panels - doors, bonnet and boot - fitted and is fully primed, while the car nearest completion has been through the painstaking in-house painting process. 

“Each Short Wheelbase is hand-built,” said Michael Mallock, RML’s CEO. “But we also use the most advanced technology to make sure that the quality of its build meets the very highest levels. All parts are laser-cut to minimise deviation from specification, and the jig we use only allows a maximum 0.25mm tolerance, meaning that all 30 cars in our production run will be produced to a consistently high standard.”

Needless to say, it’s this kind of attention to detail that RML’s buyers are paying through the nose for - and our time with the prototype suggests that they’re patience is going to be rewarded with something truly special at the end of it. Not just a can-ya-guess-what-it-is restomod, but a virtually new, British-built GT car in its own right.

Car Zero will be on display at Goodwood Members’ Meeting next month - we suggest you seek it out to see what all the fuss is about. 


Author
Discussion

sharkfan

Original Poster:

242 posts

230 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
I am sure it will be amazing to driver but WTAF are those wheels???

Surely they can find a way to replicate something that comes closer to the classic, deep-lipped Borranis?

The ones in the photo look like the version Hot Wheels would put on their toy cars thinking "that's close enough"...

trails

3,624 posts

148 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
sharkfan said:
I am sure it will be amazing to driver but WTAF are those wheels???

Surely they can find a way to replicate something that comes closer to the classic, deep-lipped Borranis?

The ones in the photo look like the version Hot Wheels would put on their toy cars thinking "that's close enough"...
Minging, but expensive?

Nimerino

295 posts

112 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Don’t get this at all. A 550 Maranello is amazing, as is a 250 SWB. No need to butcher either.

trevalvole

965 posts

32 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Nimerino said:
Don’t get this at all. A 550 Maranello is amazing, as is a 250 SWB. No need to butcher either.
This. May be if the 550 was damaged beyond economic repair, but otherwise no.

Nish Gnackers

1,000 posts

40 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
No 250 SWBs were hurt during this process and a standard 550M is not one of Ferrari's greatest designs.

thelostboy

4,562 posts

224 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Agree that the wheels ruin it. Proper kit car vibes.

paul13

370 posts

201 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Cannot afford one, but wouldn't if I could! I much prefer this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_14Lp4obEvA

dunnoreally

952 posts

107 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
To “gestate”? What do they get birthed out of a womb when a 250 and a 550 love each other very much?

The word is “build”, you pretentious twonks tongue out

paul13

370 posts

201 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
trails said:
Minging, but expensive?
^^^ THIS

trevalvole

965 posts

32 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Nish Gnackers said:
No 250 SWBs were hurt during this process and a standard 550M is not one of Ferrari's greatest designs.
I'd say the 550M is the best Ferrari V12 since the 250s.

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
I am liking the looks of this even though butchering a Ferrari to do so feels completely wrong !

fozzymandeus

1,038 posts

145 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
This reminds me of the swb and GTO and other 250 replicas like TRs they made about 20 years ago where the base was a 250GTE. Utter madness to sacrifice originality for pastiche.

thegreenhell

15,115 posts

218 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
sharkfan said:
I am sure it will be amazing to driver but WTAF are those wheels???

Surely they can find a way to replicate something that comes closer to the classic, deep-lipped Borranis?

The ones in the photo look like the version Hot Wheels would put on their toy cars thinking "that's close enough"...
I agree, it would look much better with a set of BBS E88s. The gold BBS centres would go nicely with the blue bodywork.

Bencolem

1,013 posts

238 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Agreed, those wheels look awful!

nismo48

3,610 posts

206 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Bencolem said:
Agreed, those wheels look awful!
+1 frown

GeeTeeBee

102 posts

12 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
paul13 said:
Cannot afford one, but wouldn't if I could! I much prefer this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_14Lp4obEvA
Agreed. I want to like this RML thing, but it's just fundamentally off. Probably the donor car is just too big to get the proportions right.

Maybe some more sympathetic wheels would make the difference (why do so many resto mod type cars have such horrendous wheels?). Some of the bare shells in the images look promising, but the finished car on awful wheels looks fairly naff.

Look remarkably dumpy in this image:


PSB1967

273 posts

155 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all

pycraft

764 posts

183 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
GeeTeeBee said:
Agreed. I want to like this RML thing, but it's just fundamentally off. Probably the donor car is just too big to get the proportions right.

Maybe some more sympathetic wheels would make the difference (why do so many resto mod type cars have such horrendous wheels?). Some of the bare shells in the images look promising, but the finished car on awful wheels looks fairly naff.

Look remarkably dumpy in this image:

Looking at the nearmost car, I see what you mean. The problem is that the wheelbase looks too short - but given the name, I doubt it could have been much else?

pquinn

7,167 posts

45 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Lot of money for a pastiche.

Murph7355

37,651 posts

255 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
pycraft said:
Looking at the nearmost car, I see what you mean. The problem is that the wheelbase looks too short - but given the name, I doubt it could have been much else?
It's because it's too wide.

The proportions are just wrong.

Makes you realise how accurate and detailed designers really need to be to get it right (and how these guys haven't).