primadonna z

Yes, I own the white Primadonna Z previouusly owned by Hoover Chan. And as you can see by the link, there is now a 4th Primadonna. I tracked Jack down, the original designer, and builder of the Primadonna's. He had recently aquired a very low mileage Z32 convertable. After spending most of the day discussing the history of the original cars (I had a million questions), Jack got excited to do something again. I flew back home, but it was to late...the bug had bitten Jack...again. We spent sometime thereafter trying to find the red car (Pic below) to no avail. So jack designed and built the Primadonna Z32. An amazing feat, he stopped everything in life, spent 6 months and designed, built patterns, built molds, and painted the car. 100% in a glorified tent in the backyard of his home (true Primadonna tradition). The photo's attached to link don't do the car justice, it's black and very difficult to photograph. I will tell you, and the people that have seen the car will agree, that the car is stunning, and quality second to none. In fact the car won best of show at the Stillen show in So.Calif. So a 4th car lives. Sorry to get off subject.

Haven't given it much thought. The car is not my daily driver, so it's pretty much fair weather only (who wants to clean up the mess?). However, if you look towards the top of the hood center you will see that the car does have a wiper (928 porsche rear wiper) that acts soley as a law enforcement decoy. Because the windshield extends so far forward, the wiper would have to mounted on the hood. Volkswagen (I believe?) used a wiper motor that had a long cable that attached to the motor that allowed the motor to be mounted in a remote location out of the way (I have this system on another car, and no it's not a VW!). Perhaps with a little work this could be used to drive a wiper transmission for a single wiper like the one shown. The Race Glass ought to be tough enough to take the abuse from the wiper, they demonstrate it's durability by giving you a piece of steel wool and allowing you to rub on it. Tuff stuff! Below is a picture if the re-profiled windshield 30 some years ago on car "01" during the orginal build. As you can see a dash panel needs to be fabricated to fill the area inside between the new windshield profile, and the old. Also the darker gray on each side of the windshield shows the mods necessary to the exterior cowl panel. The picture really illustrated the windshield extension. Great shape to reduce the wind resistance. Frankly, as soon as I get some other projects out of the way I plan on doing this mod to my other car. Short of the wiper issue it's pretty simple and straight forward.

If there is sufficent interest I could do a post outlining the Primadonna windshield mod. Actually it is quite simple. The biggest part would be modifying, or making a new cowl panel to work with the windshield. Since the windhield is Race Glass (lexan) the cost of the project is not huge. The windshield does extend forward at the very front center about 8 inches from the stock position, so retaining your stock wipers is not an option. Let me know

That could be arranged.

The black that you see in front of the rear wheel is chip guard. With all of the widebody cars alot of rocks are thrown up against the rear fender extremities. What you are seeing is a bed liner type of material that is painted black to protect the fenders. In the rear of the front fenders are two evacuation points. The upper is an evacuation duct, the lower an expanded metal grill. Both are to evacuate air in the front wheel housings. Probably do a pretty good job of getting air out from under the car, and aid in brake cooling as well. The vents located on the hood are to evacuate underhood heat, and air build up in the engine compartment. Thats my read anyway.

Rewind 30 years......... The Primadonna addressed many of the aerodynamic issues associated with the S30. Forget about the wing for just a minute. Low frontal area nose, small radiator intake, evacuating ducts in the hood, and fenders. These were all elements that Jack took in to account when designing the body mods(again 30 years ago). Combine that with (if your paying attention, and not staring at the wing) a re-profiled windshield (made longer, and at a softer angle), aero skirting, and the absents of drip rails, make the car clean and very stable at speed. The mirrors are terrible for aerodynamics, but offer great visability. Many will remember seeing early pictures of the car wearing BBS aero cooling fans in the wheels. Frankly, I have several sets of them, but are not partial to their appearance The modifications were done to a highly modified Scarab V8 car. This car is so well built that unless you have personally inspected the car, you probably don't get it. As for the rear wing, it is functional.....the weight alone is guaranteed to keep the ass firmly planted.

Status??? Status???

A couple years ago at the Turkey Rod Run in Daytona, a guy had an Opel Manta with a pair of small blocks, 1 in front of the other (sorry no pics). He had stretched the frame rails ahead of the fire wall. From the fire wall back, looked pretty much stock. Hadn't really thought about keeping a pair of em cool though....two radiators?

Depending on when. I could bring a g nose widebody, if there was interest.

Datman, In your other link you refer to the VCA. What is the VCA?

I have an image catalog, they are not showing that wheel available in a 17" modular. Guess it's too late anyway....wish me luck.

Thanks for the link Rob! Not sure that I feel any better though. Maybe I'll feel better when my head quits spinning from trying to follow the link. Guys sure make an art of getting off subject. Again Thanks.

Any input would be helpfull.

Two of the Three, Primadonna's built about 25 years ago had a re-profiled windshield. The windshield was actually race glass(Lexan), and was finished on the leading edge with a custom cowl panel. The install actually used the standard Z windshield opening on each side, and top, utilizing a trimed down stock windshield gasket. The leading edge was custom, but relatively simple, and incorporated into the cowl panel. The down side was the stock wipers were deleted in the process. The longer windshield with a softer rake definately gave a more sweeping look. Great work on your chop! Good luck!http://img157.imageshack.us/my.php?image=prima1725iv.jpg

Picture of the rear.

I watched this thread unfold hoping for a revival of the fat fender Z's of the seventy's. I a sorry to see things fizzle out. I wanted to take the opportunity to give hope to those involved. Hold onto your dreams. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20040

Been searching for the clutch fork boot for the custom cast Scarab bellhousing. Finally found it thru Partsvoice.com. The boot was made for a 62-67 Nova. The service was easy to use and I would recommend it for any hard to find parts. Hope this helps someone!