I’m understandably in a project car mindset after enjoying yesterday’s “The ‘Shitbox Triangle’ And How To Pick Your First Project Car,” and though I’m in no shape to be taking on a car project more ambitious than the RC variety, I can’t help but think about what my dream project would be.
“Isn’t that the same thing as a dream car?” No, not to me. For example, a dream car for me (I have many) might be a Mustang GTD; but my dream project car is certainly some kind of Beetle or Beetle-based kit car – probably a Baja bug, like the topshot beauty on sale here. at I like those, obviously, but they also seem like something that would be fun and relatively easy to work on – just four bolts to pull the engine, no water cooling to fuss with, and all that. Mind you, in this fantasy I have a nice three-bay air-conditioned garage for cars and car projects, and all the tools and stands and lifts etc. to do it all like I’m hosting Horsepower TV or any of those other old Power Block shows.
Less interesting to me are project cars in the David Tracy mode of rusted heaps, but I gotta say, the astounding 240Z restoration series on YouTube really gets my resto-project juices flowing. I mean, look at the attention lavished on these hood hinges!
How about you? What’s your project-car dream?
Top graphic image: Beverly Hills Car Club
I would like a second generation Pontiac Formula Firebird. Instead of being flashy I would dress it down to look like an Esprit model, complete with white walls. I would drive it to my trailer on the beach and try to mind my own business. Leave your name and number, I’ll get back to you.
Remember to practice your J-turns.
If I could get a project car it would be a saab sonnet.
Excellent! I knew a woman who owned one. When she told me it had a V4 I assumed she was mistaken. Crow is quite tasty.
My son is showing interest in mechanics. We got a 4 stroke go kart as a project. Once we get that up and running I was thinking about moving to a Beetle. There is so many ways to build it, its cute and quirky enough that it might get my daughter involved as well.
But for me personally my dream project car would be a CRX.
If I had the time, money and most importantly the garage space, I would build my dream Fiero. I’d blueprint and lightly turbocharge a Duke, because damn near nobody bothers to turbocharge a Duke, let alone blueprint one, upgrade its internals with SD4 parts if I can find them, and connect it to a five-speed trans. Light suspension upgrades and then send it.
A 1967 International Scout with the gigantic 196 cu in. four cylinder engine. Make it as smooth as possible – which won’t be very smooth – and reliable, and that’d be my smile-and-wave cruiser. It won’t be fun at highway speeds.
Then I’d find one of the approximately zero remaining AMC Eagle Kammbacks, fit it with an AMC 150, turbo again because I want a dash of extra power but not all the time, a five-speed manual again and a selectable Hi-Lo transfer case, which Eagles didn’t get. It might not be feasible to have the selectable transfer case in a Kammback, its wheelbase may be too short to permit it. With Blizzaks at all four corners, this would be an unbeatable winter ride.
I’d like to build a VW sand rail buggy. Might not bother with a VW engine though; some of these Briggs and Stratton “Big Block” one-liter V-twins make sufficient power to move a lightweight rail down the road with something resembling alacrity. Just a not-too-many-rules fun build.
I’d like to build a Corvair dune buggy like my uncle had. I’d have to go through some old family photos to get a better idea of how it looked. Might take some liberties there. I don’t know that I’m too keen on cutting up a good Corvair though; if one with bad mid-body damage came along, that’d be a viable donor.
I want to build or refurb a tractor. Not a big one, but like John Deere 420 or Allis-Chalmers 720 – or perhaps for gits and shiggles, an Allis-Chalmers G.
But before I did any of these things, I would build my own blueprinted Toyota 22R engine. Not 22R-E, just the R. Carbs work fine. Build it perfect. Hog out the old one and clean up the engine bay of the Truck that heart will go into, in front of a new clutch and a freshly rebuilt transmission with new syncros, bearings and shifter bushings. Regear the rear end because the old girl doesn’t need to sound that thrashy on the highway. Fix the sheet metal, paint it up, make a new cover for the seat. Drive it for another lifetime.
An early ’70s 911 S 2.4. I would love to wrench on one of these as a project car – lets be honest, that’s probably the only way I would be able to afford one these days.
I’d also love to restore an early ’90s 2 door MB Geländewagen – TD stick with all-terrain steelies of course.
My dream would be a 4-motion Golf Sportwagen with a 5-cylinder DAZA swap and a 6-speed.
More realistic would be swapping my Alfa GTV 2000 to V6 Busso power. Also hoping to swap my split window Bus to electric power. One project at a time though
2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ Classic. I actually had one while they were still considered the disposable Jeep and I just thrashed it. How I regret that now. In about 15 years I do think my current 4xe Jeep will be a fun (and difficult) project
My dream project car is one that someone else finished for me that I’m able to buy for less than what they put into it in terms of parts and labour.
As for a specific model… I’m thinking that you take one of the really luxurious Talisman Cadillacs, designer Lincolns or a Chrysler Imperial from the 1970s and give it a modern electric car powertrain with at least 200 miles of range.
That way you get the best of both worlds… the classic car luxury but without the shitty performance, shitty fuel economy and the pollution.
Dune Buggy. I like the upcoming Meyers Manx 2.0 electric buggy, but a standard VW powered one is still cool as heck.
There’s a specific kind of AE86 build in Japan that’s seen as a tried-and-true way to end up with a cool and fast car: take a hi-comp/coil-on-plug late-90s 4A-GE motor, put twin Keihin flat-slide carbs on it, and drop it on a set of 14″ SSR/Work/Watanabe wheels. I think it’d be cool to do a specifically foreign take on the formula – a California-spec engine with an aggressive single cam, Weber carbs, a set of wheels from some rad-era muscle car.
Honestly? A new kit build car.
Too many to list lol.
I’d really love to do a NASCAR streetcar 69 Charger build. My favorite show growing up was The Dukes of Hazzard, and I’ve always dreamed of doing something with that generation Charger.
Only in this instance, I don’t want it to just look like a 60’s stock car, I want to run a genuine racing motor. SB2 or some sorts. There are plenty of old RCR motors around.
I’d like to run Eagle slicks on it with 15 inch wheels. Maybe not the brightest idea for a street car, but I live in a very dry area so wet traction isn’t much of a concern, plus it would only be driving sparingly on weekends.
AMC Spirit AMX. As hot of a stroker 4.0l as is possible, a 5-speed, in black. Shove in every bit of AMC go-fast handling parts I can find, and then go around telling people that it’s like a 3 series but better. It won’t be any better, but that doesn’t matter.
You. I like you.
An Austin-Healy ‘Frogeye’ Sprite.
And if I had the money/time/space/tools, I’d replace as much as possible of the underpinnings with MX-5 bits.
Alas, I have a single parking space, and not enough money to even afford a non-running Sprite 🙁
The one that was someone else’s project but they actually finished it and did a fantastic job but the now ex wife is selling it for a pittance as revenge.
Caterham Seven, from the kit. Possibly still, but at least relatively recently, Caterham would sell you a Seven in kit form so you could literally build your own new car.
You’d select from a couple of engine options, but everything else would come in a series of crates with a (dated reference but you get the point) phone book-thick set of instructions on how to put it all together.
There’s a neat little book called Roadster about the trials and travails of a mechanical novice who decided to do just this.
I can’t imagine a more intimate way of getting to know your car, and you’d always be able to bust out Patrick Mcgoohan’s line from The Prisoner, “I know every nut, bolt, and cog; I built her with my own two hands!”
It looks like Caterham still sell kits
At least one Quasar-Unipower City Car was brought to North America in the 1960s. I like to think it’s still out there somewhere. The last known sighting of it was in New Brunswick in the 1980s:
https://live.staticflickr.com/8202/8285223514_7efc9b6257_b.jpg
My guess is that after such a long absence it’s probably a fixer-upper if it still exists at all.
My god, that’s…It’s like it’s made from Lego. Good luck; I’d sure like to see it!
I figure that, if nothing else, new glass would be easy.
It’s ALL right angles! Majestic.
Honestly, it’s a modified mini with a cube on top. Building a replica would probably be the easiest route. Not that I’ve ever fixated on the idea for several months.
An ’88 Chevy Nova Twin Cam. Or maybe a 20V 4A-GE swap into an E80 Nova. I want my little car back. But with extra Tofu cred.
I like the idea of having an old style American ‘truck’ like a C-10 stepside or a Ford F-100 and putting in an EV drivetrain. The appeal of those cars for be has always purely been about looks rather than what drives them. Otherwise just freshening up a really cheap hatch with decent brakes and tyres and suspension. I bought a Hyundai Getz a few years ago unseen from an auction a few years ago but it turned out to need nothing but a headlight polish so I never needed to try any ‘mechanical’ work on it apart from oil and filter and a new gearshift gaiter.
Here is someone who did that with 58 Chevy
You can hate on this electric-converted 1958 pickup truck, just don’t race it | KSL.com
I’d actually paint mine
I saw at least one project where a guy had one of the bullet-nosed 1950s Chevy pickup repowered with Prius hardware. He did a good job of integrating the ladder frame with the Prius’ chassis, so the Prius hardware is all pretty much exactly where it used to be and the old chassis is acting like a subframe. But from the driver’s seat, if you don’t look at the gauges (which are all Prius) you wouldn’t know it…until you gas it up and realize the old beast has been averaging like 30 miles per gallon.
Purchase and restore one of those Mk1 Toyota MR2 with the on demand superchargers that were around for ’88 and ’89. I test drove one years ago and still kick myself for not getting one.
Some kind of 1960s Alfa Romeo Sprint GT. Growing up my neighbor up the street had one, rusty as all get out but i loved the shape,i always fantasized about buying it and restoring it to glory.
Mk1 VW Scirocco. Still.
This was my first project car. I stripped one to the shell, painted it, and put everything from a two-year old (at the time) totaled 16V Scirocco in it from the wiring harness to the power steering, brakes, and axles. It turned out so much better than I expected, even though it only had had the stock 16V power level.
I’d love an Esprit, and because I’m sure it would always be broken it would count as a project car.
My uncle when I was a kid completely rebuilt a 1966 Plymouth Barracuda. He still has it and takes it out on nice days. Such a cool looking car, and I wish the Barracuda got more love. I’m not mechanically inclined enough to know how to really do a project car. I told my wife that if I ever won the megabucks, I’d totally take some classes to learn how to fix cars, and then have a small shop and tinker with cars and actually learn how to do things the right way and then be able to have a couple of classics.
I’d love to put a twin turbo Detroit Diesel 8V92 into an old Duesenberg. Call it the Detroit Doozy or something. Not a Rat Rod, no way; start with a fully restored Duesenberg, all coach paint and prefect upholstery, just with the engine covers off.