Supercars spotted, some rarities (vol 7)

[Doofus]

Voxy said:

As I suspect you may know, in the late ‘80s, AMG had a factory in Saitama, just north of Tokyo, purely to serve demand from the Japanese market.

I believe AMG Japan turned out a reasonable number of E60s, but that there were only a handful of European spec E60s made...and that the European spec cars are worth significantly more as a consequence.

But I am sure there are others who know much more than me...

I wasn't aware of the AMG factory in Japan, but presumably that explains AMG Mitsubishis, which I'm sure I haven't made up.

[Dapster]

Doofus said:

I wasn't aware of the AMG factory in Japan, but presumably that explains AMG Mitsubishis, which I'm sure I haven't made up.

You haven't made it up, but you may wish you had.

Mitsubishi Galant VR4 AMG




Mitsubishi Debonair V 3000 Royal AMG



The Galant was a tune up job but I think the Debonair was just pimped up with the stock engine.

[Spanglepants]

Saw a GT40 North Milton Keynes in the afternoon then this evening a Silk Cut Jag Le Mans car on the A5 just south of Bletchley MK. Had no idea they could be legal on the road?

[chasingracecars]

Spanglepants said:

Saw a GT40 North Milton Keynes in the afternoon then this evening a Silk Cut Jag Le Mans car on the A5 just south of Bletchley MK. Had no idea they could be legal on the road?

This one... (stolen from twitter)

[Spanglepants]

Looks like it, cheers, also a BMW 3.0 CSL like this-

chasingracecars said:

This one... (stolen from twitter)

[Doofus]

Dapster said:

Mitsubishi Debonair V 3000 Royal AMG

Wow.

Just wow.

Actually, not wow.

But wow.

[giblet]

The Debonair was just a ghastly bodykit, wheels and some AMG badges. The Galant however was uprated engine parts and a map. The NA engine did pretty well with all the work.

[Doofus]

giblet said:

The Debonair was just a ghastly bodykit, wheels and some AMG badges. The Galant however was uprated engine parts and a map. The NA engine did pretty well with all the work.

No 'ghastly bodykit' can make a car look that bad, unless the car was horrible in the first place.

[isaldiri]

Was absolutely pristine this one parked up near my place this evening. At risk of being branded a philistine I still wonder if it's an original...

[V8LM]

Not with the reg F250 CAL it isn't.

[thegreenhell]

isaldiri said:

Was absolutely pristine this one parked up near my place this evening. At risk of being branded a philistine I still wonder if it's an original...

F250CAL plate not recognised by DVLA.

I think it's a BMW Z3 underneath.

Edit - it's on a different plate but looks like the same car otherwise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh42Detbwlc

Edited by thegreenhell on Sunday 22 July 22:54

[isaldiri]

thegreenhell said:

F250CAL plate not recognised by DVLA.

I think it's a BMW Z3 underneath.

Ah. Ok I did think it was a tad unusual to be there if a real one. Was in impressively good nick all the same for a replica anyway.

[AstonZagato]

BMW Z3 based replica. Not a real one.

[Dapster]

Not a bad replica but when you see them side by side, you can see the proportions are all out.

[Voxy]

tigerkoi said:

Ahhh, but but but...I think Voxy is pointing that the Japan market was another bespoke, customer relationship situation than RoW, so therefore only counting RoW spec, which most people converge on as at 12.

Don’t forget not to count any Coupe variants. Saloon only. Different body code as you’re likely away.

Truth is no one probably knows because it doesn’t look like anyone kept firm records simply due to looser relationship between AMG and Daimler at the time. In terms of limited editions cars from major brands the only stuff that looks nailed on numbers wise - from that era - is Alpina. Down to our Seek, is that

Some research suggests that the E60 option pack is 957 and the Limited option pack is 958. Only a few examples (the 12 mentioned) are thought to have both option packs.

If I understand correctly there are, perhaps, circa 130 E60s with option pack 957 only...but I’m not going to wager on it!

To add to the confusion, AMG Japan seems to have offered an E500-6.0 model - where E500s shipped from Germany were subsequently fitted with a 6.0 engine.

Here’s an E500-6.0 currently for sale:
https://www.carsensor.net/usedcar/detail/CU7081772...

[DickyC]

chasingracecars said:

Spanglepants said:

Saw a GT40 North Milton Keynes in the afternoon then this evening a Silk Cut Jag Le Mans car on the A5 just south of Bletchley MK. Had no idea they could be legal on the road?

This one... (stolen from twitter)

Walkinshaw built a few road going examples according to a quick search.

[LotusOmega375D]

What search?

That replica's been posted on here more times than I've had hot dinners!

[Sofa]

echazfraz said:

Just before I saw the Volvo in my last post I saw a blotchy primer coloured Testarossa Spider with the VRM "TRS 123" drive past. The door vents and mirrors were red.

That reg comes up on .gov.uk as a silver Ferarri so it seems legit but it looked very odd.

I'm annoyed that I didn't get my phone out in time as I've never seen anything like it!

Would it be this by any chance? Reg doesn't quite match but it's close enough and I doubt there's 2 primered Testarossa Spiders driving around the UK.

[DickyC]

LotusOmega375D said:

What search?

That replica's been posted on here more times than I've had hot dinners!

"silk cut jaguar road legal"

All sorts of interesting stuff comes back.

I'd post a link but I've never mastered doing that from my phone and I'm 200 miles away from my laptop.

[LotusOmega375D]

Just done your search but Google doesn't flag anything up to substantiate your claim that Walkinshaw made a few road-going versions of their Silk Cut Le Mans cars. That oft-sighted home-built replica registered 224SMP does appear in the Google images, but that's it.