Project 510 goes offline!

FF01

I arrived home from vacation yesterday (apologies for the lack of posts) to find a nice surprise waiting for me. Late last year I was contacted by Fast Fours magazine in the form of a feature offer, which I excitedly agreed to, and the finished product is now in my hands…

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Model A Coupe

Model A

We haven’t had a good ol’ hot rod on the site for a little while, so here’s one that’s been patiently waiting in my archives. A classic looking Model A, low to the ground, in a gorgeous combination of blue and gold, stunning in it’s simplicity. Notice the distinct lack of rust, skulls, or goofy body proportions. This is my kind of rod.

Thanks to Chris for submitting.

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Area 52

Area52

To follow on from the last post about his MX5, I thought it was only fitting to continue with another creation from the hands of Bruce. But this time it’s not a car, it’s a place where car guys come together and work on their projects as a community, forging bonds that are thicker than oil and stronger than steel. I present to you, Area 52.

This garage feature differs slightly from the others, as it doesn’t involve the actual build of the garage itself, but the automotive activities that happen within the walls and the new toys (hoist, anyone?) and tools that slowly trickle in. The site was transformed from your run-of-the-mill factory space to a character-filled hideaway where friends spend days and nights wrenching on their cars, helping each other out, and learning new skills. The monthly “play weekends” have an open door policy and go from Friday afternoon all the way until Sunday, with members traveling from all over Europe to be a part of the action. All of this is solely funded by Bruce for his love of cars and the community that comes with it.

The world would be a better place if there was an Area 52 in every town.

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Teenage Dirtbag – NA MX5

TeenageDirtbag

If there’s a person who embodies the spirit/mantra/black magic of Build Threads and the people who get it post tag, it’s definitely Bruce aka Mystery Machine from the Retro Rides forum. He’s someone who lives and breathes cars while also enjoying the challenge of taking cracking photos whilst wrenching, and documenting his actions as clearly as possible with an intent to educate and entertain his audience (not as easy as some may think). Having owned and modified more cool cars than I’ve had hot dinners, his MX5 project was the first that caught my attention, a thread that I happily read numerous times for my own enjoyment (a rare treat these days, as my usual priority is to find stuff that everyone else will enjoy). I hope you all take as much pleasure in reading as I have, and I look forward to keeping an eye on – and later sharing with you – his new project, already firmly planted in my bookmarks.

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BMW E30 V8 $2010 Challenge

VorshlagE30

What better way to kick off the new year than with one of the most popular platforms in the word for modifying, the BMW E30. This E30, concocted by the team at Vorshlag, was built to compete in the Grassroots Motorsports $2010 Challenge, and then went on to win the $2012 event the following year. Watch as it goes through three engine swaps and two paint-schemes, all while being cleverly modified by the Vorshlag team to be competitive while keeping under the budget limit.

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Performance Imports Best Blogs 2011

Photo 31-12-11 12 38 13 PM

The latest issue of Aussie mag Performance Imports features a list of their choice of the 30 best automotive blogs and websites (which pretty much resembles my bookmarks folder). I was very excited to see my own humble site sitting proudly at No 17…

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Custom CNC-built bike

CNC-bike

So, I heard you like CNC machined parts? Check out the astonishing amount of work being poured into this 1-off bike by Shaun Wainford, the man behind SW Engineering. Having a CAD/CNC setup in your home would deinitely come in handy for hobbies like ours, and Shaun definitely makes full use of the tools on offer.

Thanks to Matt for submitting.

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Saab 96/9-3

Saab9693

It’s time for another chassis-swap build, and this time the donor car and recipient are both Saabs. The builders are combining the classic shell of a Saab 96 with the modern underpinnings of a Saab 9-3, with the goal of creating a little unassuming Swedish track tearer.

Thanks to James from Car Throttle for submitting.

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FMU BMW X5

FMU-X5

Confession: I’ve had a long-running man-crush on Fluid Motor Union ever since I first stumbled across their posts on the StanceWorks forums. Their famous flame-spitting Gallardo image is my Ps3 wallpaper, every day I look forward to their in-depth posts about the latest goings-on at the shop, and I constantly day-dream of sending my Datto over to the land of 1-gallon soda cups for a bespoke one-off FMU exhaust system. Not only do they do some of the cleanest and most impressive fabrication work I’ve seen, but they take the time to document their daily activities on their own blog and various forums, so people like you and me can enjoy gawking at glorious TIG beads from our computer screens all over the world.

Recently the team embarked on giving a damaged BMW X5 a new lease on life, but kept a lot of the progress shrouded in secrecy, until now…

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Aqua S13 restomod

AquaS13

It feels slightly strange using the word “restomod” to describe the build of a car that originally rolled off the production line in the 90′s, but that’s exactly what this is. Levan carefully chose a clean ’92 240sx as his project base, then set about to restore what Nissan got right while updating and modifying the areas deemed in need of improvement. The restoration portion includes such factory fresh parts as a brand new OEM sunroof and fuel tank, along with countless trims, clips and rubbers. The modifications? Just check out that gorgeous paint and the flawless 18″ Work Meisters, not to mention the fully built and turbo assisted KA24. From top to bottom (literally), this is one very clean and well thought-out car.

More S13 builds can be found here.

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