This is the last pair of these I’ll subject you to, I promise. But I couldn’t let this week of weird customs go by without showing you all these two creations. One of them I’ve seen for sale for a while, and I’ve been waiting for the right time to feature it. I guess that time is now.
Yesterday we went cheap, and, well, you get what you pay for. The monsterized Buick scared most of you, so the slammed Ranger ended up winning by default. Quite a few commenters wanted to put the Ranger back to some semblance of a functional truck, which I guess is possible. The Buick is pretty much beyond saving.
That little Ranger isn’t my style, but I can see how much work went into it. It was probably a nice show truck once upon a time, but it has been mightily abused since then. If someone really wanted to return it to its former glory, it could be a fun project. It’s certainly cheap enough to start with.
Most folks just walk into a dealership, buy what they sell, and drive it as-is. But for a bold few, the way a car comes from the factory is just a starting point. I’m not one to customize cars myself (at least not real ones; some of my model car creations are pretty far out there), but I have long been an admirer of custom vehicles. I especially enjoy it when someone comes up with a way to customize a car that I never would have thought of. One of these I’ve seen before, but the other one is new to me – and probably all of you as well. Let’s check them out.
1960 Morris Minor on 2002 Toyota Prius platform – $10,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter DOHC inline 4 plus electric motor, CVT automatic, FWD
Location: Hayward, CA
Odometer reading: 27,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Most of the time, when someone customizes a car, a boost in horsepower is part of the formula. When the car you’re customizing is a Morris Minor, it’s hard to make the horsepower lower, so a boost is virtually guaranteed. I’ve seen Minors with all sorts of engine swaps: V6s, V8s, Mazda rotaries, and more, but this is a new one. What we have here is a Morris Minor body swapped onto a first-generation Toyota Prius.
Swapping the Minor body onto the Prius’s platform changes the drivetrain layout entirely. This car is now front-wheel-drive, with a 1.5 liter gasoline engine, an electric motor, and a very clever continuously variable transmission between them. Taken together, they’re about double the power of the Minor’s original four-cylinder engine. The seller says this car runs and drives very well, and completed a long road trip down the coast last summer with no problems. You can’t say that about a lot of custom cars.
The interior is pretty much all Prius, and it appears to be in good shape. Ironically, one element of the dash is the same between the two cars: a center-mounted speedometer. The stock airbag steering wheel has been replaced by a wood-rimmed Grant wheel – not strictly kosher if this car is legally considered a Prius, but fine if it’s considered a Morris Minor. I don’t know which is the case. It has working air conditioning, which is funny, because it has no roof.
A 2002 Prius is about seven inches wider than a Morris Minor, so the bodywork had to be widened to make it fit. It looks a little off, but only if you know what a Minor is supposed to look like. It has been decorated with a few tiki statues, which is an interesting choice. It looks like this was originally a Morris Minor Traveller wagon, rather than the more common sedan, which is kind of a shame. Travellers look cool the way they are.
1973 Chevrolet Corvette custom wagon – $20,000
Engine/drivetrain: 350 cubic inch OHV V8, four-speed manual, RWD
Location: Richmond, CA
Odometer reading: 87,000 miles
Operational status: Runs well, but not drivable
Corvettes, especially C3 Corvettes, seem to get modified a lot. Sometimes the result looks pretty good, but other times not so much. This ’73 Corvette was sort of a mixed bag when it was built: the shooting brake conversion works pretty well, I think, but I’m not as sold on the row of rectangular headlights it once wore.
It seems to be a fairly standard Corvette under the reworked fiberglass, with a 350 V8 and a four-speed stick. It sat for 25 years, and the seller has done a lot of work to revive it. Mechanically, it’s ready to go as soon as the bodywork is done. The engine, brakes, suspension, and cooling system are all new.
This is the only interior photo in the ad. It looks like it’s in reasonably good shape, but the dash is disassembled. The seller says the power windows work, but it needs a lot more wiring work to be roadworthy. I’m assuming all the dashboard parts are included to finish it.
The custom bodywork was designed by a guy named Harry Bradley. He also designed a bunch of Hot Wheels models for Mattel, as well as the Dodge Deora custom pickup truck. That makes this car a bona-fide piece of hot rodding history. It has seen better days; the custom front clip is gone, and I have a feeling it’s because the car was wrecked. There’s some damage to the left rear as well that has been partially repaired. It now wears the front clip from a newer C3 Corvette; I guess the intention was to modify it to match the original. The trim surrounding the original six-headlight setup is shown in one photo, and I assume it’s included.
The trouble with custom cars is that they’re the product of one person’s individual tastes. They may love it, but that doesn’t mean someone else will. And that makes selling one a difficult proposition, especially something as left-field as these two. One is a combination of two vehicles no one would have ever thought to put together, and the other is a semi-famous one-off looking for someone to bring it back. Which one appeals to you more?
The Mruis does nothing for me, the proportions are way off, and the body work along that cowl looks pretty hack, plus it’s a full-time convertible. The Vette on the other hand, seems overpriced in my opinion, but the idea of the finished product makes me happy. What is the best shooting brake conversion out there?
Not sure about best shooting brake here.
But for some reason I have been wondering how a 914 would look with a well executed shooting brake done.
I should have bought a 914 long ago before they became “valuable.”
Maybe I’m wrong but aren’t things like the roof a vital part of a unibody cars safety/structural integrity? There’s no way to know what that seller did to reinforce the Prius’ chassis so I’m saying no to that noodle mobile. Plus I’m a sucker for both Corvettes and wagons.
I’ve often wondered about this, beyond the issues you mention of removing the roof, how does someone go about “swapping” a body into a different platform with unibody construction. Even with a roof, I can’t see how the original structural integrity can be maintained or even where the “platform” stops and the new body starts. What’s kept, what’s removed, how are they joined? I can’t imagine any unibody vehicle modfied this much that I would feel comfortable driving
I came here to hate on the Corvette, but compared to the Morrius, the only thing I can find real fault with is the price. The fact that it’s unfinished and undriveable doesn’t bother me as much as the fact that he’s asking 20 large for an unfinished, undriveable project. The Minor is awful, but at least I’m not going to throw another 20k getting it going.
Morrius Minor gets my vote.
Both horrible, I’m choosing to loose fewest $$ on the Morris.
One positive thing I can think of, is that the Toyota front suspension doesn’t “splat out”, like I’ve seen a 1000 do once in a busy intersection, and heard owners tell about. But that’s about it.
https://board.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=28125
Oh man, I wanna see more hybrid retrofits, so I’m voting for the Morris today.
I’m not as appalled at the Morris as others apparently. While I’ve never yearned for a Morris nor a Prius, this seems like a combo that is actually kind of practical and appealing. It’s not going to be a rocket, but you have a chassis and components that will keep up in regular traffic and be pretty reliable. Although I’d want to put normal tires on the front of it, looks like the ones on there are super skinny?
These C3 vette wagon conversions never did it for me. Seen plenty of them, and they all look silly to me. At least this particular one has a bit of 70s conversion-van energy in it, but it’s not worth it. Maybe if it weren’t in pieces.
I feel like we’ve seen the Mor-yota Pri-nor on SBSD before? Maybe just mentioned, not competing.
‘Vette for me. I don’t want either, but it would take less work to be close to something desirable.
Morrius? Priorris?
Yeah, I’ll take the functional someone else’s project over the non-functional someone else’s problem- I mean project.
I voted Morris because I can see a situation where I’d actually dig that. Owning a small beach place down the Cape or up in Maine, that Morris would be a neat runnabout to store at the vacation house. Running into town for dinner or supplies? Use that little oddball. I’d absolutely de-tiki it because that takes it from being novel to being Tri-5-Chevy-Boomer-Tacky and you all know what I mean.
The Corvette is going to be objectively more fun…eventually. $20,000 for someone else’s incomplete and previously damaged custom project sounds like a pile of problems. Plus, like Elhigh just commented, it has been done. Several times. I submitted an article proposal all about all the efforts from the American market to feel out kammback sports cars (Firebirds, Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, the list is weird). So, it isn’t particularly original or interesting. It’s just messy.
That leaf and road badge on the back of the Morris-Prius is the 2010s Ford hybrid logo. Anyways, that chimera is at least usable so I voted for it over the parts car Corvette.
I am not normally a Corvette kind of person. Until the C8 it was the union retirees car, and the C3 was the lowest point, not by any fault of its own but its parent company’s slow response to a changing policy environment. I like the late C4 for being way better than people are willing to admit, LS people especially. But still, the Corvette rarely* sparks my JDM-tainted imagination…Until now. Until this one. That custom breadvan GT conversion might need some finishing touches but it will look stunning when done.
The Minor is too stretched over a chassis far too big for its body, and other than California or Hawaiian surfer vibes, I don’t see a reason to pick it. It has become a nostalgic novelty, and I think I have to treat it as such. Yes, it is half the price, but neither car is going to be a daily, and while the Minor only really fits the vibe within a few miles of the Pacific Ocean, the Corvette works anywhere. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I want the C3. Not “will begrudgingly take,” but want.
*See: WEST Corvette No. 5./C2 Grand Sport Race Car.
The Morris seems viable as it stands…it would even be fun for half a year around these parts, but not much beyond that. I personally don’t get the fascination for kammbacks, but that’s me. Personal taste aside, this one is way overpriced and would require a substantial investment just to get it back on the road – money that you’d absolutely never get back. Yes, the pragmatic choice is the sunny day-only cruiser.
The Corvette mod is actually kind of typical; it’s far from the first of these that I’ve seen. It’s the first I’ve seen that has Bradley’s personal touch on it but shooting brake C3s, while not exactly common, aren’t news by any stretch.
I think I’m more attracted to the Morris, not least reason being that, like the Corvette, the foundational car is essentially unchanged. It’s only a new body on top of what is pretty much an untouched Prius. It’ll run and drive exactly like the original which, if you aren’t in it for the go-fast yuks, is plenty good enough and compared to the Morris skinsuit it now wears, a big step up.
The wildest rebody onto a Prius chassis I’ve seen was a guy on Ecomodder.com dropping a Firebird convertible body onto a 2014 Prius V chassis. He was giving up a little bit in power, picking up a lot of chassis rigidity (compared to a ’67 Firebird convertible, this was never not in the cards) and flexing hard with his bodywork skills. The fender extension is invisible.
Shooting Brake is always the answer!
Morris-Prius because it’s a lot less money flushed down the crapper.
Morris Prius, please, he said grudgingly.
I don’t even want a regular Prius, but as projects go this one is more or less done – i.e. it’s a functional vehicle – and it’s half the price of the C3 which is quite far from being functional.
The [original] Morris is a visually charming little car. I would do whatever necessary to de-tiki-fy this one without angering anyone or anything, and maybe put a roof on it.
Unfortunately when I tried to view the listing I was informed “This posting has expired”.
I bet the tiki stuff is to help mask the bodywork where he widened it.
I don’t know: the whole back portion appears to be homemade (out of wood) so it’s not as if the builder needed a tiki-sized spacer. I think it was purely an aesthetic decision.
Someone could replace the tiki figures with Gimli and call the car Mine’s a Mor-ius 🙂
If I already lived in Cali near some coastal roads, that Morris would scratch a specific itch I didn’t know existed
I’m trying real hard to play along, but both of these are a no for me. I can’t even drive the Mriuss half the year, and can’t hide when I am. The Vette is way too much money for too little return, it’s got at least another 10K to get it right, probably more like 15, and no one is going to pay 35K for that thing once it’s done, which after driving it around the block to experience how sucky a fat C3 is to drive would be what I’d want to do with it.
Neither
Today is a good day to get some exercise.
Ugh. If these were my only choices, I would walk
Double ick today. But since I would probably wrench enough on the Corvette to get it driveable, and know a good body guy, I could at least make something better out of it.
Yeesh I would prefer to vote neither but since I have to I voted for the Vette but even then if it was 10k or less I could see being a fun f it money type of project but at 20k? You can get a lot of different types of fun classics in good shape for that price.
I am old enough for a mid life crisis ‘Vette. This one as least has storage space.
Is neither an option? Both of these are terrible.
I’m pretty sure that is this week’s theme, “thank you, but no.”