Turning my Miata into a 50's looking Speedster

This is a project that I have wanted to do for a long time. Awhile ago I purchased a body from a company in England to base this project on. But, when I received it it was of very poor quality so I scrapped it. In the mean time I moved, have been overseeing a major house rebuild for my Mother, and have just sent my last 2 children off to college. Now I have some time to start.

I had a 427 lightweight Cobra body shell sitting around. I decided to use this body as the starting point. While the Miata and the Cobra have similar wheelbases and cockpit widths their layouts are completely different.

I started by unbolting everything I could from the Miata. I cut off the windshield, rear fenders and deck. I will be making a bolt in tubular structure that will stiffen the tub, tie the rear shock mounts into the roll bar support and tie into side impact bars. Be eliminating the Miata windshield and doors I don't think that people will know that the car is a Miata.

I am going to use a Porche 356 Speedster windshield. I will replace the seats with lightweight fiberglass ones that I molded from my backside. This will allow me to sit lower.

I have cut up the Cobra body and have used cardboard and duct tape to fill in gaps so that I can get a general idea of the look. I used Black primer paint on the side to try and hide the cardboard filler. Once I have decided that I am on the right track I will use foam and bondo for the final shaping. Then make a plug, pull a mold and lay up a body.

The Miata, after stripping the parts weighed a little under 1600lbs. I am hoping to come in close to 1800lbs. The goal is a lightweight fun roadster to drive through the mountains where I live. I am not building a race car. Just having fun. Please be kind until the finished car is revealed!

Here is what I have done to the Cobra body so far. - The Miata cockpit is a little wider than the Cobra. I cut the body along the valleys and spread it by about 1.5 inches per side. - The Cobra fenders, especially the rear, angle in at the rear. I straightened both front and rear out. - I shortened the rear deck and fenders by 4 inches than angled them down at the rear. - I shortened the front fenders by 1.5 inches and angled them down at the front. This allowed the snout to look extended. i think it looks good and aggressive. - I moved the wheel wells back to the Miata locations and made them smaller. I also cut off the big Cobra flares. - The Cobra has a short cockpit. I cut out the front of the cockpit by about 8 inches to match the Miata length to the front of the dash. - The windshield is mounted about 6 inches rearward from the Miata location. I wanted a longer looking hood. - I lengthened the Cobra hood scoop by 10 inches.

So more of an AC Ace replica than a Cobra. Cool.

Woah! Most excellent

"Like"

Very cool! Excited to see the final product.

Very cool!

Very cool! This needs its own build thread.

will be interested to see how this goes. I would say, however, that the rear end could be a bit longer compared to the front end.

yeah!

I think it looks really good. It would be nice to see more of an unidentifiable special than a clone of anything.

It looks a big thick through the middle. Are you going to cut the doors down?

I agree that the front overhang doesn't seem to match the rear. Otherwise, looks great!

Thanks for the comments.
- I agree that it would be good to create a completely original design. I have done a number of original designs over the past 12 years and have had a lot of fun in the process. For this I was looking to do something fairly quick and inexpensive. (While still looking good.) Clearly it looks like it belongs in the Bristol, Ace, and Cobra family. But, I think that it will look enough different to have people scratching their heads.

• I am not locked into the rear end length. I marked it at 2, 4 , and 6 inches shorter and slid the rear back and forth to check the look. I liked the 4 inches shorter the best. We will see if it stays that length.

• I too would like to have a little lower look. But, the Miata cowl height is quite high. The body, at the cowl, is as low as it can go. With this height set it makes it difficult to make a good transition to a lower door height.

Having fun.

Love the side view. As far as the overhang, I think shortening the front would be better than lengthening the rear. But whatever you do, you have my respect and I hope you are happy with what you end up with.

The danger of doing a replica as opposed to a unique design is that it can be recognizable but look a little off - it's the uncanny valley of car design. Good luck with that part. Ignore what the GRM forum says, there's a lot of grouchy old men who love to be back seat designers. But you probably know that by now

I've actually seen a Cobra replica using a Miata body. It was a bit like the M1stang, recognizable as a replica but a caricature. It worked better than you'd think because of the caricature aspect. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Build thread request already made, but I will second that motion. All in favor?

Aye!

I just moved this thread into the builds. I assume that was the plan. If not, let me know.

Remember to take a lot of pictures. I like pictures.

Very cool, I've seen little miata body kits to change the appearance...but not to this extent. Anxiously awaiting more pics.

So the Sammio didn't pan out, then? Bummer.

I like British cars but would prefer to own a Japanese sports car. I really like what they did to this B.

Thank you for the comments. Unfortunately the Sammio didn't work out. I was bummed about that too. The B looks great.

I spent some time making some design changes. When done I am hoping that it will have it's own unique look. And, that people won't think that it is an attempt at a Cobra replica gone bad.

I lowered the car slightly at the hips, lengthened the rear by 2 inches, redid the front fenders, made the air intake shorter and more oval in shape. I like the direction. Details will evolve as I move on to foam and bondo shaping.

I pulled the body off to make the roll/side impact structure. I hope to have that done tomorrow and will post pics of it. The weight of the roller, on my race scales, is 1496 lbs. I weighed it with the radiator/fans, battery, fuel tank(not in pic), and Miata seats. I will be using my own seats which are 20lbs less each than the Miata ones.

This shot it kinda has a big Healey profile (with a little extra overhang up front):

jmc14 wrote:

Here with the extra between the headlights and grill opening, it's a little Testa Rosa-esque:

jmc14 wrote:

I'm going to work on the front overhang. I have an idea of how to shorten it up. The problem has been clearance between the headlight buckets and the Miata chassis.

Today I worked on the roll bar, side bars, and chassis stiffening. Having fun.

I think you need to drive it right now, that looks like a barrel of monkeys.