Franken Ferraris (the cars) in Italy

[cornerstone]

Check out this story on Franken Ferraris being found in Italy:

News story: Fake Ferraris Busted in Italy

I liked this bit:

"None of the engines was made by Ferrari, but the gang used internet hobbyists' sites to accumulate visible parts that were genuine. These included dashboards, steering wheels and, of course, the Big Red's distinctive black and yellow badge.

What most impressed investigators was the quality of the workmanship that went into shaping the fibreglass bodywork so that the cars looked authentic. One said it was evidence of extraordinary ability."

I guess the fake car forum have their own Ziggy !!

Hey, speaking of which, has anyone seen Dependable-Bayerische-Motoren-Werke-Person around here lately

[phaedo]

You beat me to posting about this, got an abridged email not 10 minutes earlier. From a local watchseller - from the title and source figured it would have been about the Ferrari watches, not cars...

[b16a2]

There is a guy along the road from me that has Toyota MR2 with a Ferrari bodykit. From afar it loks quite good, but upclose, the fitment of the body panels, and particularly the sound are nothing like the real deal.

[The Mentalist]

I don't see what the big deal is. Replica Ferraris on MR2's, Fieros and Peugeot 406's have been commonplace and legal for years. My local bodyshop builds a near identical 360 on a a 406 doner and real Ferrari hardware for around

[yellomen]

Hahhaa... this is great! Can i also order a fake Volvo XC90 ?

[TeeJay]

Excellent stuff

I admit, I was rather hoping to have seen a 'Ferrari' cobbled together from parts from various models though. I saw a car in one modded car magazine, where most of the accessory parts (lights, door-handles, mirrors etc) had been replaced, but by parts for other cars by the same manufacturer, so, although it was obviously a customized car, the parts all 'fit' together, rather than clashing with each other

[Sweattdogg]

Replica cars have always facinated me since I was a kid. Best Franken I ever saw was on ebay about 6 years ago. A real 355 was flood damaged and salvaged. Someone picked it up down south and dropped a Mustang 4.6 into it somehow. It looked pretty good from the outside, but the inside wasn't too good. I think it still sold for close to $40k.

[andreww]

Yep, I've seen Fiero body kits since the late 80's. Not just Ferrari, but Lamborghini Countach and Diablo kits. Don't be under the impression that these were wolves in sheeps clothing either. The examples that I saw had the engines replaced with either supercharged 3.8s or Cadillac Northstars. Brakes and suspension were all pretty high tech as well. I contemplated re-skinning my Fiero at one point, but the reality was that replacement body panels would be near impossible to find in the event of a fender bender.

[rosnik]

that's not new. :-O

Do you remember Tom Selek's white TESTAROSSA in "Miami Vice" TV series ?

That was a Ferrari replica!

On the same TV series the '365 Daytona' was GEN... ;-)

[Martyd3]

I would definitely mod this

[Corgi]

[Chrischy]

that's not new. :-O

Do you remember Tom Selek's white TESTAROSSA in "Miami Vice" TV series ?

That was a Ferrari replica!

On the same TV series the '365 Daytona' was GEN... ;-)

LOL...Exactly the other Way...

BTW:It was Don Johnson

[rosnik]

BTW:It was Don Johnson

you are in right!

[tmg]

Yup, there's a Niche market too with replica Porsche Speedsters. I like the fact they're registered with the DMV as a VW

[The Mentalist]

LOL...Exactly the other Way...

BTW:It was Don Johnson

Yes, and there were actually three Testarossa's. Two were real and a third was a Testarossa 'stunt' car based on a De Tomaso Pantera which was destroyed after filming as part of the product placement deal with Ferrari.

The Daytona Spyder was a 79 corvette with a custom bodykit built by Tom McBurnie. They originally belonged to car dealer Al Mardikian but were confiscated by the Feds and sold at an auction in Palm Beach where Michael Mann saw them and bought them for the show.

[rosnik]

The Daytona Spyder was a Rep too!!

[The Mentalist]

The Daytona Spyder was a Rep too!!

Yes, and arguably the most famous rep car of them all. A genuine Ferrari Daytona 365 GTS/4 spyder, at mid eighties auction prices was ridiculous (I've heard up to $10 million a car) so it was not only impractical, but downright stupid to use a real one. The McBurnie Corvette based replicas were therefore used, albeit modified with real Ferrari hardware such as real Borrani wheels and decals. At the time noone could have guessed that the rebodied Corvettes used would get so much attention and this really annoyed Enzo Ferrari off so he started legal proceedings against McBurnie and the wider Daytona replica business which meant that they had to cease trading. You can still get Daytona replicas, but they are very much under the radar now. Rowley Corvette make an awesome one and one day I will probably splash out if they can make me a RHD version.

[Guest carlsbadrolex]

I know of someone right now in production of a replica Ford GT40. I have seen it and it will be amazing when it is done. They actually had a doner GT40 to use for making body molds. I will see if I can get some pics next time I am over at the shop.

[TeeJay]

I know of someone right now in production of a replica Ford GT40. I have seen it and it will be amazing when it is done. They actually had a doner GT40 to use for making body molds. I will see if I can get some pics next time I am over at the shop.

If that's the model of car I think it is, I saw one once on a program, and the owner said that when it came to scavenging the parts, to get the correct sweep of the windscreen wiper, they had to use a wiper moter from a JCB