Specials and Replicas
Discussion
In the world of classic cars does anything split opinion more than replicas and specials ?
Many years ago special building was looked at very positively. It was a way of getting good performance by combining the best components from various manufacturers including aero and motorcycle and using ingenuity and imagination to produce an interesting one-off.
Replicas on the other hand were somewhat looked down upon as not being quite the done thing.
Opinions seem to have changed with good quality replicas now being held in high esteem (and why not ?) but with a strong lobby that classic cars shouldn't be modified in any way even if they really aren't suited to modern driving conditions.
I say there's room for everything and everyone and let's just enjoy our hobby while we still can.
What prompted this was finding some pictures of a Mk6 Bentley that I had made quite a few years ago. So I'll start the ball rolling with a couple of pictures of the "Warley Roadster"
Let's have a few more special pictures.
Many years ago special building was looked at very positively. It was a way of getting good performance by combining the best components from various manufacturers including aero and motorcycle and using ingenuity and imagination to produce an interesting one-off.
Replicas on the other hand were somewhat looked down upon as not being quite the done thing.
Opinions seem to have changed with good quality replicas now being held in high esteem (and why not ?) but with a strong lobby that classic cars shouldn't be modified in any way even if they really aren't suited to modern driving conditions.
I say there's room for everything and everyone and let's just enjoy our hobby while we still can.
What prompted this was finding some pictures of a Mk6 Bentley that I had made quite a few years ago. So I'll start the ball rolling with a couple of pictures of the "Warley Roadster"
Let's have a few more special pictures.
mph said:
In the world of classic cars does anything split opinion more than replicas and specials ?
Many years ago special building was looked at very positively. It was a way of getting good performance by combining the best components from various manufacturers including aero and motorcycle and using ingenuity and imagination to produce an interesting one-off.
Replicas on the other hand were somewhat looked down upon as not being quite the done thing.
Opinions seem to have changed with good quality replicas now being held in high esteem (and why not ?) but with a strong lobby that classic cars shouldn't be modified in any way even if they really aren't suited to modern driving conditions.
I say there's room for everything and everyone and let's just enjoy our hobby while we still can.
What prompted this was finding some pictures of a Mk6 Bentley that I had made quite a few years ago. So I'll start the ball rolling with a couple of pictures of the "Warley Roadster"
Let's have a few more special pictures.
Now THAT'S really nice - a bit of Corsica about the body. You've managed to achieve what many MkVI builders couldn't - the radiator is in the aesthetically right place, and not stuck out the front like most.Many years ago special building was looked at very positively. It was a way of getting good performance by combining the best components from various manufacturers including aero and motorcycle and using ingenuity and imagination to produce an interesting one-off.
Replicas on the other hand were somewhat looked down upon as not being quite the done thing.
Opinions seem to have changed with good quality replicas now being held in high esteem (and why not ?) but with a strong lobby that classic cars shouldn't be modified in any way even if they really aren't suited to modern driving conditions.
I say there's room for everything and everyone and let's just enjoy our hobby while we still can.
What prompted this was finding some pictures of a Mk6 Bentley that I had made quite a few years ago. So I'll start the ball rolling with a couple of pictures of the "Warley Roadster"
Let's have a few more special pictures.
I don't see any problem with reps/specials/recreations whatever they are as long no-one's pretending that they are the real thing and that a good but less desirable model hasn't been binned to make a more valuable version, eg making a Bentley saloon into a Lemans/ Brooklands rep.
Fair game if you start with a trashed / not worth restoring saloon, it's better that it survives as a soft top / race rep than being scrapped, but there have been cases of people taking good saloon bodies off to make reps and I think we need to retain standard saloons as much as softops and race cars.
Fair game if you start with a trashed / not worth restoring saloon, it's better that it survives as a soft top / race rep than being scrapped, but there have been cases of people taking good saloon bodies off to make reps and I think we need to retain standard saloons as much as softops and race cars.
RonnieH said:
WOW, that Jag is something special, there's hints of D, E and i can't think of the name, maybe it was XJ13.... they only made one, v12 mid mounted..... there's a hint of that in the nose....... what is it under the skin..??
Thanks.There is a thread about it somewhere with a few more pictures. Basically it's a tubular chassis with all Jaguar running gear and an alloy body.mph said:
Thanks for that. I have a lot of previous and I'm considering another Bentley Special if I can get the funds together.
My Jag Special as mentioned by Lowdrag.
Do you do all the design work yourself?My Jag Special as mentioned by Lowdrag.
I have a theory about car design, and I think that design by committee is one of the reasons so many cars look so awful these days. My view is that one talented designer will always produce a better job than a team of ten experts.
Astacus said:
Do you do all the design work yourself?
I have a theory about car design, and I think that design by committee is one of the reasons so many cars look so awful these days. My view is that one talented designer will always produce a better job than a team of ten experts.
It would be an exaggeration to say I did all the design work myself, but I like to think I have a good eye for design.I have a theory about car design, and I think that design by committee is one of the reasons so many cars look so awful these days. My view is that one talented designer will always produce a better job than a team of ten experts.
The Bentley Special was based on a 1930's Alfa Romeo design that I particularly liked. The Bentley has a higher bonnet line due to the height of the radiator surround so quite a lot of change was required from the original Alfa. The builder superimposed the Alfa outline onto the Bentley chassis and we agreed on the shape of wings and other details by exchanging e-mails as I was overseas at the time.
The Jaguar Special was done in a similar way. I had decided I wanted the car to fit into the late 50's sports racer mould. When you look at cars from that era there are a lot of similarities of line between Aston, Jaguar, Maserati, Ferrari etc.
We started with a selection of pictures and sketched out a preliminary shape. We then went into more detail e.g. windscreen (flat or curved) windscreen pillars (seperate chrome construction or integral) , wheel size, front air intake shape , bonnet opening (front or rear) similar for boot etc.
Weather equipment, interior details, ventilation etc. etc. Once we had the major items agreed the builders laid out an artists impression and I altered it to suit my ideal.
Such things as the wing vents and the side exhaust were finalised along with dozens of other items and then they started the build.
I've attached an early sketch and you can see some of the changes we'd already made.Not quite the back of a fag packet, but near enough.
Astacus said:
mph said:
Thanks for that. I have a lot of previous and I'm considering another Bentley Special if I can get the funds together.
My Jag Special as mentioned by Lowdrag.
Do you do all the design work yourself?My Jag Special as mentioned by Lowdrag.
I have a theory about car design, and I think that design by committee is one of the reasons so many cars look so awful these days. My view is that one talented designer will always produce a better job than a team of ten experts.
Designing cars is an art, and like any other art form it begins with an individual artist's vision.
Can you imagine Leonardo da Vinci inviting the Pope and a delegation from the Vatican round to meeting after meeting after meeting to decide quite how The Last Supper should look?
Exactly.
You always used to be able to look at a 'design-house' car and say 'yes, this person designed that'. Nowadays, when car companies even copy each others' exhaust pipes on the understanding it'll make them 'contemporary' regardless of whether it actually works or not, it seems to me the very idea of car design has lost its way.
This was parked in the carpark @ the LCBO in Gravenhurst (Muskoka area north of Toronto), it looks like an XK120....but its not quite right, the wheels are modern steel wheels with faux spoke covers, and there are 2 exhaust pipes at the rear, something V8 powered gave its chassis perhaps ? The indicators are just wrong, the rear taillamps were round like the front indicators, it had wind deflector/quarter lights fitted with 'XK120' emblazoned on them, would a genuine one really advertise like this? I think not.
still turned heads though!
still turned heads though!
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