smash

There's a Z GTO in the UK running genuine Borani's - in fact it's one of the most authentically detailed GTO's I think I've seen. You may be able to contact him through the Italian replica Club for info - his name is Howard. http://www.italianreplicacarclub.co.uk/2402/frames.php (look under members) A company called the Z farm looks after the car in the UK

Hi Mike - sorry, no is the quick answer! (but then I'm no closer to getting a GTO rep either as the cob's still up for sale, lol!)

Hey Rob - signed up to znet and found this stunning ZGTO hiding in last year's posts. A customer car of the Z Farm - the guy apparently has spent a bomb on it - check the roof line reprofile and genuine Boranis - and it has race correct interior. I'm in love but it's never gonna be for sale!

Looking to buy a GTO replica in the near (hopefully) future with a small block V8. Most have Dayton wire wheels but I'm wondering if anyone knows the power rating of this type of wire? I know that the AC/Shelby cobras ditched wires in favour of Halibrands because they were getting twisted way out of shape and just couldn't handle the power. Couldn't see any rating on the Dayton site - any ideas?

Tuscan? Oh no - you really DO like working on cars, LOL! Speed 6 engine waranty claims are probably responsible for the state TVR's in now! And what with TVR going back to V8's in the form of the Melling lump - 2nd hand values of Tuscans are going to drop even lower than the ridiculous $30K entry point. That said the performance bargain is 4.5 AJP V8 Cerbera - 0-60 3.8 and 190 vmax for $20K entry 2nd Hand. The guy I bought my cobra from replaced it with a Tuscan - I spoke to him a while ago and he spent $18K on engine rebuilds. The orginal engine blew, the TVR rebuilt engine blew up whilst it was running in and so in the end they upgraded him to Red Rose spec FOC. He sent me a vid of it going thru the gears on a rolling road right the way up to 180mph - sounded awesome. Anyway that's just the road going Tuscs let alone the 440R. Hell of workshop you've got there, especially including the contents!

HELLO!! and it's RHD as well - perfect! Surprised the extra length is as obvious as it is - hats off to your engineering skills - awesome job. I've noticed some GTO's have three side vents - are you tempted to add the extra, especially with the correct length you've created?

Chelle - can't find any pics of your car *ahem* Dot - Jag V12s are 10 a penny over here. Not really a popular engine for kits and the like - bit of a pain in the a$$ and expensive to tune - ironically for the kind of app. we'd be using it for we'd rather go with american V8 (which, I might add, we pay a hell of a premium for over here!).

Attempt at comparison before and after lowering and addition of black vinyl body stripe following first part of front arch to change shape. And I wondered what those Halibrands would look like... I've come to the conclusion that I like the Halibrands but the stripe is very subtle and wouldn't look good close up.

OK, so the plan that is forming in my head so far - I'm impatient (terrible trait that has got me in trouble at least more than once previously with cars) so I will be looking to buy pre built (Bill not making any plans yet but if the cob goes OK then I may be flying out to see you;) ). I've been studying every GTO pic I can find - the real and the replica and have come to the conclusion that there are two major identifiers to the Z based. The hatchback and the apparant 'stockiness' of the Z compared to the longer looking and more lithe inspiration. I don't actually think it's so much the wheelbase as the extra depth of the Z body - from messing in photoshop two things really seem to help, getting the car to sit as low as possible, I think speedracers is as low as I've seen although I'm wondering if it's possible to get it to sit lower? On the real article the bottom of the body appears to line up about 3/4 the depth of the wire wheels - is it me or do the replicas seem to sit about half way or higher? The other, and this really is pandering to optical illusion (and I'd be interested on any thoughts on this), would be a tight graduated shading sprayed to the bottom 1 or 2 inches of the body as it curves under to make the whole car appear 'thinner' and gain an additional bonus of illusion of length to the body. For this to work to maximum advantage the car would really have to sit very low. Stupid idea? Probably - sounds like me! I'll mock something up in photoshop to see if I can demonstrate what I mean (black cars are excluded obviously *ahem*) EDIT*** OK, scratch that idea - can't find a decent side view of a replica! Stupid idea anyway, and after even more scrutiny it seems the cabin is shorter on the real thing and it has one hell of a tall upright windscreen. The front wheels are really tucked up in the arches on the real one......hmmm, I think I should just buy one and not worry, lol! BTW Has anyone ever put a set of knock off Halibrands on one of these?

Hee-hee! My cheque book doesn't do 'insane' - he's got his little head well screwed on! V12 sounds awesome (in all ways!) - scary stretching the frame though, very brave (or completely nuts!!) Speedracer - had a look over your car domain page - that's totally stunning!! (best looking chevy iI've ever seen ). Re: bodies I s'pose it's very much like the cobra family tree - in the UK pretty much all derivations can be tracked back to ground zero which was the import of a Steve Arntz body. Stands to reason that the ZGTO's lineage would start from one point also. Bill I found a couple of pics of your car elsewhere but a bit blurry - would be interested if you could send me some pics and a spec. Rob - advice taken How many do you reckon are actually on the road in the UK? more to the point with anything other than stock 240 lumps?

Yeah - that looks 'pretty good' LOL! Very, very nice! Any thoughts on using 2+2 to get the longer wheelbase? Noticed some talk about it on the UK forum although I would've thought the door would end up looking too long as a trade off against the different roofline maybe?

Bill - been pricing container and import tax and duty and that certainly looks 'do-able' I reckon that's about £17K door to door Searched the forum but can't find any pics of your car apart from the engine bay - my cob is Ford Windsor so that's great. Is it a hatch or trunk style rear end? Would appreciate any pics you might be able to post so I can get an idea of what $25K gets me - as I say I'll be looking around end of July with any luck. The cob has to get me to Le Mans Classic and back then it's up for sale. Rob - Cheers for the link, had a nose and will post on there separately. Saw moggys panels and notice it's the boot conversion a la scorpian. In all honesty I'd still rather get a car stateside for the same reason the splitscreen dub heads do - 30 years of soggy europe c/w 30 years california sunshine - well you know the deal. Scott

Hi guys, Firstly let me say i've been cuising through the forum and galleries and there are some truly great looking cars on here. congrats. I had a 240Z back in '93/94 and tbh I'd forgotten just what superb looking cars they are in their own right. Being in the UK, most Z's are suffering from the very damp climate and mine was certainly no different - oh man the tailgate! Anyway (prime your flame throwers!) I'm currently considering what to get when I move my shelby cobra rep on in July - somehow a 'Rari GTO replica makes sense what with the cobra/ferrari wars and all! My problem is there was only ever one kit available in the UK that i suppose was probably splashed from an Alpha - I've seen only a handful about at shows over here but most leave much to be desired. I found the scorpianz site and that conversion looks awesome - I like the vela rosso too but want fixed head. So too business then... I'd love to know what realistic time scale and cost is involved with one of these. For me not only would I have to get the kit shipped over the pond but also the donor Z if I want to get anything rust free - plus the fact you guys are really way ahead on Z tuning and V8 hybridz (which I don't think actually exist over here). I was originally thinking I'd like a V8 having had the cob with all that low down grunt, but I'm coming round to a straight 6 turbo - it might actually be in with a shot of sounding something like the original unlike the V8! What should I expect to pay for a solid Z turbo ready to rap....I mean sympatheically convert? Does anyone do turnkey on these conversions anymore? Sorry for the lame questions but I'm a long way away over here Ok, hit the burn button!