Tag: best of

Just like last year, I thought I’d round up the most viewed builds of 2013 and post them up in a list. Looking back and seeing what you and your fellow readers like the most is very interesting to me, and it’s a great reason for you to re-check some great builds from the year gone by.

Here we go!…

 

10. LSX E39 BMW Wagon – Kicking off the list is this very detailed build featured back in June. This unassuming E39 BMW wagon was the recipient of an LSX engine transplant, all documented very thoroughly in an enjoyable thread with great photography. Definitely one of those ‘make a cup of coffee and get comfortable’ builds.

9. 1969 Porsche 911 GT3 Restomod – Ahh, classic Porsches, the darlings of the internet. I’d be a fool not to feature them, especially ones as nice as this, packing a carbon wide-body and late model watercooled GT3 engine conversion.

8. Lifted MKV Golf – I’m very glad to see this car make the list and I always get a kick out of re-posting it. This is a perfect representation of someone bucking the trend and going in the complete different direction to those around them.

7. Mach 40 Mustang/GT – Big dollar car, with big dollar mods. A Ford Mustang morphed with a Ford GT, classic looks with modern supercar performance, purely awesome.

6. Bagged Porsche Dually – Remember what I said about the car in the number 8 spot? Times that by 100 for this. There isn’t much information out there about this extremely different Porsche (if you can even call it that).

5. Lancia Delta Evo1 – Part 2(JZ) – This was actually a car that I had featured before in it’s former state. It had undergone such a transformation that I didn’t even recognise it when it was submitted to me again. Thanks to Speedhunters’ coverage of Gatebil, this would now have to be the words most well-known Lancia Delta, and for good reason.

4. 4-Rotor Volvo 142 – Scandinavian builds are always a big hit, generally due to the fact that they’re almost always incredibly crazy and impressive. This one is no different, a home-made 4-rotor powered Volvo, because, you know, that’s no big deal, right?

3. Peugeot 205 Hillclimber – Bringing us to the top 3 is this little Pug. Home-built with lots of welding and copious amounts of tubing, this is what people want to see. Changing the drivetrain direction never hurts, either.

2. Satan’s Lady Bug – Just look at this thing, how could it not make the list? There’s not much Beetle left here, but I’m sure Satan would be right at home tearing up the molten rocks of hell in this V8 powered beast.

1. Ferrari F40 LM Restoration – The above builds from numbers 10 to 2 received between 8,000 and 16,000 views over the last 12 months, but the F40 post clocked up an amazing 66,000+ hits! The amount of time I spent putting this post together surpassed any other I had done before. Hours upon hours were spent copying, pasting, and re-hosting images so that everyone could enjoy the thread without having to sign up to Ferrari Chat, which requires a membership to view images. I even had to make a few posts on their forum to be able to unlock the private message function so I could ask the owners permission. As a result, people didn’t link to the actual build thread when sharing this around, they linked to the Build-Threads.com post, sending a shed-load of traffic my way. F40’s are generally loved and admired by most car nuts, so to have one being documented while undergoing an intense restoration is pure ecstasy for people like us, so I just knew this would be taking the top spot.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and patience during 2013. I know this isn’t the worlds flashiest blog, nor do I post nearly enough content, but you still send me love and keep checking the site, so I thank you for that and can’t ask for any more. You should all know by now that I never promise any more than I deliver, so you should be pleased to know that 2014 will be much of the same; builds, builds and more builds! So please keep me in your bookmarks and remember to like the Facebook page for more content between blog posts. 2009 – 2014, 5 years strong!

– anth

Everyone else seems to be doing it, so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon. I’ve never done a “top 10” or “best of” list, but I like the idea of it, so I’ve just checked through my stats to find out which builds received the most amount of hits over the past 12 months…

10. Starting off the list is the LS3 NC MX5 posted in back Feburary. Not much was left of the original NC, but the end result was one of the toughest late-model MX5’s I’ve ever seen.

9. Next up was the aptly named Upstairs Audi Quattro, a build that started out on the second floor of the owners garage.

8. Coming in at number 8 is the Twins Turbo Motorsports Viper, definitely an extravagant build from every angle.

7. The number 7 spot wasn’t actually a build thread at all, but rather a spotlight on the shenanigans taking place at Area 52, an ever-growing communal garage and hangout spot in the UK.

6. Next in line was an engineering masterpiece, the 4-Rotor FC RX7, proving that people love the technical nitty gritty.

5. Half way now, number 5 was taken by one of my favourite builds of the year, the WRX-powered tube-framed Porsche 914. I still love the way the front and rear ends are detachable from the center tub.

4. Getting closer to the top, number 4 – the Lifted MKV Golf – was definitely a hit with readers, showing that taking a different approach to a popular platform really gets peoples attention.

3. Inside the top 3 now, the third spot belonged to the Teenage Dirtbag – NA MX5, a build undertaken by someone I’ll gladly call a build thread expert, Bruce (a.k.a. Mystery Machine) who coincidentally is the man behind Area 52, as seen a few spots back in number 7.

2. Taking 2nd was a budget race car, the BMW E30 V8 $2010 Challenge, featured almost 1 year ago. This (and many other popular builds) proves the point that a big budget does not necessarily equal a good build thread.

*insert funny drumroll gif that doesn’t exist*

1. Top honours for 2012, with just shy of 20,000 views in under 10 months was the bright green and very wide Subaru powered Porsche Boxster. With a hero image like the one above, who couldn’t help but click on it?

That rounds out the top 10, as voted by you, and by vote I mean you clicked on it. I hope you all had a great 2012 and I may the best of luck come to you in 2013. I don’t really have any grand plans for the site this year (as usual) so I can’t make any big claims like other blogs, I’m just going to keep doing what I do and post good builds way too infrequently with short-and-sweet intro’s haha, so, uh, keep reading! Don’t forget you can email me at buildthreads(at)gmail if you have a good build to submit, or even feedback or ideas, I always love hearing from readers (but can’t always respond straight away). Lastly, if you haven’t already, be sure to like the Build Threads Facebook page or follow me on Twitter, they’re definitely the best way to find out when the latest build is going to drop.

Peace!