Turning my Miata into a 50's looking Speedster

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Agreed!

Just keep it like that and come up with a silly name for it:

Snariel Matt'em

I agree. I want to drive it as is. My mind is racing with ideas. Maybe a simple flip up front and a 7 style back? Since there is the Catfish, maybe call it the "TOAD". Ideas anyone?

jmc14 wrote:

This looks freaking AMAZING. I want one.

I, for one, salute you, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter

I have completed the final mock up. I reduced the front and back overhangs and narrowed the body a little. It will have small fender flares. I will also use vintage looking wheels. Details will evolve in the final shaping. Getting started on that tomorrow. Having fun, John

I'm liking that lots. What do you have in mind for the grill? Will the boot lid be removable?

jmc14 wrote: I have completed the final mock up. I reduced the front and back overhangs and narrowed the body a little. It will have small fender flares. I will also use vintage looking wheels. Details will evolve in the final shaping. Getting started on that tomorrow. Having fun, John

Hmm, I think that's been photoshopped...

Can't wait to see the result. You do good work.

Thanks. The reduction of the body length and width was actually done. I cut out the tin in front of the front wheel wells. This gave me the clearance needed for the headlight buckets. This allowed me to move the fenders back. With the front shorter I could shorten the rear. In person the car is very tidy looking.

The dual head fairings are actual parts that I made. A friend of mine touched up my pics in photoshop. He added "Interceptor" I like the name.

Nothing else will do. (OK, maybe Halibrands...)

Looks good and +1 for the figs.

Looking fantastic. Planning to market it once you get it done?

Wow that looks good. Can't wait to see it finished.

Thank you for the comments. Today I purchased some foam, fiberglass supplies, and body filler. Tomorrow I start making the plug.

I make my living off of royalties from some simple inventions and from the sale of coin banks (www.bigbellybanks.com) that I invented for my children. I don't have any employees. A friend of mine runs a company that makes my banks and fills my orders. I am pretty much retired and love to build unique cars. I play in my shop.

I am doing this car for pure fun. Not with any intention of making a business out of it. That being said, I will have the molds and jig to reproduce the parts. I have a friend that runs a fairly large Kit Car company. I will send the molds and jigs to him. If anyone wants one I will have them fill the order. I have done this before with another car that I had done for myself. Some people wanted to build it so I sold some. If I sell any the money would go to help support my 18 year old sons racing. We are in New England and after starting in go karts, then going to 600cc Sprint Cars, he ran an ACT late model car this year. He has the bug. It would be an inexpensive kit. Probably around 4K. Now, lets see if it comes out as good as I hope.

Having fun, John

Let's see the last one!

Looks fantastic so far. I love this project. I would definitely swap out the wheels for something with a low offset and a vintage style. I mention this as it may affect your body design.

Any thoughts on color?

I agree about the wheels. I have another NA with the stock Daisy wheels. I put them on the project car today. Since the idea is to do this on the cheap I am going to form the body around the stock size and offset. It will be fairly simple to make up a set of wider flares that can be grafted on. This will allow for other combos. As far as offset I don't want to mess up the scrub radius. I haven't researched other wheels so I will have to that.

How about an update on this?

Any news or updates on this?

I'm sorry, there are no updates. I have worked very little on my projects, including this one lately. Unfortunately I've had 2 heart attacks this year and am having complications from severe diabetes. I'm not allowed to go to my shop or do any lifting until I have heart surgery.

Yikes, sorry to hear that. Best wishes for your upcoming surgery.

Agreed sorry to hear that! Get better soon man so you can finish this thing up!

Get well soon!

I thought someone on here made those banks. My wife loves them. She gets them for all our friends when they have kids.

Thank you very much for supporting Big Belly Banks! I truly appreciate every order.

And, Thank you for everyone's kind words. I hope to be back in the shop in the not to distant future. I miss working on projects.