Agree, being a car owner is nice. But it is even more pleasant to collect cool car do it yourself.
Today we will share information about what you need to collect cool car in my garage.
Kit Car or "component car" is a set of parts from which the buyer can independently assemble the car or entrust the assembly to a third party. Kits can vary significantly in configuration, ranging from those in which the complete set + instructions and ending with those in which the set of parts is not complete (that is, for example, you will have to order the engine and transmission separately).
When self-assembling such a car, it will not hurt you:
- spacious garage;
- a complete set of necessary tools;
- good knowledge in auto mechanics;
- a support team in the form of friends who will always help.
The importance of the team is difficult to overestimate. For example, the guys from the video below assembled the car in just 7 days!
Kit Cars history
The basic definition of a Kit Car is a car assembled from spare parts for sale. parts from a specific manufacturer. Most manufacturers usually sell a full range of spare parts needed to fully assemble a vehicle. Such kits are usually accompanied by detailed instructions and the model can be assembled in the garage on its own.
Essentially, a Kit Car is as good as a factory-built car, but by no means can we rule out factors such as efficiency and safety, which are highly dependent on the person doing the assembly.
The first Kit Car was designed by the Englishman Thomas Heiler White in 1896. As you can see this kind it took a long time to gain popularity.
By the 1950s, Kit Cars had shifted to second gear and production had increased significantly. And in the 1970s, a real Kit Car began in the UK - a revolution associated with the fact that such cars were not considered vehicle and were not taxed accordingly. Models such as the Lotus Elan appeared on the market, which could be assembled at home without paying purchase tax.
Most modern "build models" are copies of famous cars mid 20th century. With bodies made mostly of fiberglass and polyester panels, these models were lighter and easier to handle than a typical factory car.
What is in the box?
If you think, "Is this crazy?" - then think again!
Every year, thousands of assembly kits are sold around the world. this means that when you read this article, some guys are sitting in their garage and doing their own car after work. Kit Cars are relatively cheap and typically cost less than $ 3000.
Most of the companies selling these sets expect you to come and buy your chosen set on designated days. Depending on the company from which you buy the kit, this interval can vary from 1 to 10 days a year.
Regardless of the model you buy yourself, the basic set will include: chassis, body parts, engine, radiator, transmission, clutch, brakes and shock absorbers. The kit comes with a huge bag of nuts and bolts and other parts depending on the type of vehicle you want to assemble. If you don't have an assembly guide, it will be quite difficult to figure it out.
At the next stage, the most important thing is to assemble everything correctly, because people will drive in the assembled car and it is important that the car does not fall apart under them and is safe. Most of the kits also include a video tutorial where you can watch someone build a car.
If the instructions provided by the manufacturer are not enough for you, you can always consult with other experienced kit cars amateurs for specials. forums and resources on the Internet, but it is better to meet them in person (if there are such guys in your city). If you are assembling a car for the first time in your life, then use this option.
Did you like the rubric " crazy hands"In the TV program" While Everyone Is Home "? It's so great to make a useful device out of nothing. Maybe you know how to weave ropes from old plastic bottles or are you masterly making laundry baskets from newspaper tubes? How about using screws, pipes found in a junkyard, and a kit of a young chemist to build ... a car? Yes, not just a model, but for it to go? In our country, this hobby existed quite recently. Moreover, in some the moment it acquired an almost industrial scale. At the same time, none of the hand-made models closely resembled either domestic or foreign cars. "Around the World" recalls the Soviet Kulibins and their iron "pets".
Both the Swedes and the Reapers
In the spontaneous popular movement "do it yourself" there were several of the most famous names. First of all, these are twin brothers Alexander and Vladimir Shcherbinins. It must be said that they did not really resemble people obsessed with technology: they worked as graphic artists and spent their free time in a bohemian environment, sitting in the Hermitage garden and discussing painting with their comrades. However, this did not stop them not only from getting carried away with automotive design, but also having an excellent understanding of components and assemblies. Back in the late 1960s, the brothers set out to build sports car based on the "Volga".
Shcherbininskaya GTSC
The frame for the first sample was welded right in the yard, then the car was lifted to the seventh floor, where the fiberglass body was glued. Then the structure on ropes was lowered back through the balcony, and there, in the open air, they continued to work on the suspension, engine, and interior. The car received a double body of the "Grand-Turismo" type, hence the hard-to-pronounce name of the model - GTSCh (the last letter meant the name of the designers - Shcherbinins).
Soon the brothers designed another model - a coupe, which was given the shocking name "Satan" (later assembled in the image and likeness of this car by other enthusiastic Algebraic brothers, the model was named "Yuna"). The Shcherbinins had dies for making body parts, as well as all the technical documentation, so anyone could use the developments. And several people did it. Therefore, there were at least a dozen of such cars in the Soviet Union. Some of them have survived to this day and sometimes appear at rarities exhibitions.
I'd go to constructors
The heyday of the automotive "amateur" fell on the post-war years. In the country, circles of auto and motorcycle enthusiasts arose, where they not only dealt with the repair of units, but also learned to design. Successful models were reported on the pages of newspapers and magazines such as Technics for Youth. Largely thanks to this publication in the traffic police in 1957 were developed technical requirements for self-made cars and the rules for their registration, which allowed such cars to go on public roads. The last edition of such requirements was published in 1987.
Just the same "Satan" Shcherbinins drove for a long time without state registration plates. There were several reasons for this, one of which was that the DIY movement in the 1970s was so popular that everyone recognized this car anyway. Specifications the cars did not fit into the norms allowed by the traffic police, but an exception was made for the Shcherbinins, since they were artists and illustrated the new edition of the Rules road traffic THE USSR. In exchange, they were allowed to register their cars.
Dreams Come True
One of the most famous Soviet car homemade products was named "Yuna". Its designer, Yuri Ivanovich Algebraistov, dreamed of becoming a pilot, but did not go to flight school for health and became a first-class driver. From his youth, the future designer repaired his father's "Victory", which went to the family with a bat and unkempt, and over time he knew every detail, every screw of the car. Having learned about the homemade products of the Shcherbinin brothers, Yuri, along with his brother, also fired up the idea of \u200b\u200bassembling their own car. The Algebraists joined the Shcherbinins to work on "Satan", and then, on the basis of this experience, they collected "Yuna".
"Yuna" by the Algebraist brothers
Six years passed from idea to implementation, when the finished car on the license plates began to travel on the roads - from 1970 to 1976. The first car of the series went to his brother, and then Yuri began to assemble the car for himself. He completed it in 1982, three days before the Moscow-Baku home-made car run. Straight from the garage, the second "Yuna" went to the test and on the very first trip "made" 14 thousand kilometers.
Algebraistov's machine starred in the main role in the film "The Testers", which was released on the cinema screens in the second half of the 1980s. Viewers later recognized "Yuna" on the streets and applauded. By the way, the very name of the model is an abbreviation from "Yuri and Natalia Algebraistov". In numerous interviews, the designer mentioned that the manufacture of the car and all subsequent improvements were possible only thanks to his wife Natasha, who supported him in this field.
Show yourself, look at others
The state not only did not interfere with independent designers, but also helped them in some way. As we already said, self-made cars could be registered with the traffic police. In addition, races were regularly arranged, where you could show yourself and your car. Each time it was an all-Union event. In his memoirs, designer Yuri Algebraistov said: “… the runs of home-made cars of that time were simply amazing. Pioneers with flowers stood on the road between the villages, the traffic police led us from beginning to end, changing at the borders of the regions. And you had to see the faces and eyes of people who met us, those who were shown on TV ... "
Another Soviet homemade car - "Pangolina" - and its designer Alexander Kulygin
About car homemade products filmed TV shows. Especially often this topic was pedaled in the computer program - "You can do that": both "Yuna", and "Pangolina", and the amphibian "Triton", and many other unique models were mentioned in one way or another in the issues. They wrote about "piece" cars and authoritative magazines, such as "Behind the wheel", "Modelist-constructor" or "Technics - youth". Any Soviet boy knew the names of homemade products. Moreover, at the end of the 1980s the book “I am building a car” was published, written by Vasily Zakharchenko and Ilya Turensky. Also, special sections appeared, such as the Moscow section of amateur car construction, which at some moments was attended by up to four hundred people.
* * *
The names of the Soviet homemade products were very different: in different years, "Gnome" and "Ant", "Trud" and "Zvezdochka", "Cheetah" and "Proton" were driven along our streets. Certainly good car, designed by hand, was a lifesaver and an excellent substitute for a hard-to-reach production car. And yet, one should not forget that most of the homemade products were built on the units and assemblies of the same Zaporozhtsev, Zhiguli and Muscovites, and sometimes the Volga. It turns out that it was not only a shortage, but rather a desire to stand out, implement your design ideas and get behind the wheel of something unusual, not like everyone else.
Unfortunately, in the 1990s, the Samauto movement gradually faded away. The car for many ceased to be an unattainable dream, there was a choice, and for their own inventions the majority did not get their hands on, and there was no time. In addition, the fashion for "home-made" products has passed, giving way to the prestige and comfort of foreign cars.
Photo: ru.autopedia.wikia.com (x3)
Some motorists are categorically not satisfied with the cars produced official manufacturers... And then they decide to create homemade carsthat will fully satisfy all the individual wishes of the owner. And today we will tell you about 10 most unusual similar vehicles.
The black raven is perfect car for the Kazakh steppe. It is fast, powerful and undemanding to use. This unusual SUV was made from scratch by an enthusiast from the city of Karaganda.
Black Raven has a 5-liter engine with a capacity of 170 horse power, thanks to which the car can accelerate to a speed of 90 kilometers per hour when driving over rough terrain and off-road.
Angkor 333 is the first completely electric carcreated in the Kingdom of Cambodia. It is surprising that this car is not the result of the development of the auto industry in the country, but a private project of one person - a humble mechanic from Phnom Penh.
Author Angkor 333 dreams of opening his own factory in the future to mass produce both electric and gasoline variants of this car.
Fans of Batman films from all over the world dream of the Batmobile - a delightful superhero car design that has many different functions that are not available in regular production cars.
And engineer Li Weilei from Shanghai decided to realize this dream with his own hands. He created a real Batmobile, as if descended from the screens of cinemas. At the same time, the Chinese spent less than 10 thousand dollars on the construction of this machine.
The Shanghai Batmobile certainly doesn't have ten different kinds weapons and does not travel at a speed of 500 kilometers per hour, but in appearance it exactly repeats the Batman car shown in the latest films about this hero.
A real Formula 1 racing car costs a lot of money - over a million dollars. So there are no such cars in private ownership. At least their official versions. But craftsmen from all over the world create copies of racing cars with their own hands.
One such enthusiast is Bosnian engineer Miso Kuzmanovic, who spent 25,000 euros to create a Formula 1 street car. The result is an incredibly beautiful 150 horsepower car that can accelerate to 250 kilometers per hour.
Driving this red car through the streets of his city, Kuzmanovic received the nickname "Bosnian Schumacher".
Chinese farmer Old Guo was fond of mechanics since childhood, but he worked as a farmer all his life. However, after the fiftieth anniversary, he decided to follow his dream and began to develop a car of his own production, which was named after the inventor - Old Guo.
The Old Guo is a compact Lamborghini designed for a children's audience. But this is not a toy car, but a real car with electric motor, which can travel up to 60 kilometers on a single battery charge.
At the same time, the cost of one copy of Old Guo is 5,000 yuan (just under $ 500).
Kiev resident Alexander Chupilin, together with his son, assembled their own SUV, which they called Bizon, from spare parts from other cars, as well as original parts. Ukrainian enthusiasts got a huge car with a 4-liter 137 horsepower engine.
Bizon can accelerate to a speed of 120 kilometers per hour. Fuel consumption in mixed mode for this car is 15 liters per 100 km. The interior of the SUV has three rows of seats that can accommodate nine people.
The roof of the Bizon car is also interesting, which has a built-in folding tent for spending the night in the field.
The LEGO construction set is such a versatile material that even a completely working car can be constructed from it. At least two enthusiasts from Australia and Romania succeeded in creating an initiative with a name.
As part of it, they built a car from the LEGO designer, which can move thanks to a 256-piston pneumatic engine, while accelerating to a speed of 28 kilometers per hour.
The cost of creating this car was just over $ 1,000, of which most of the money was spent on the purchase of more than half a million LEGO parts.
Every year Shell organizes special races among alternative fuel vehicles. And in 2012, this competition was won by a machine built by a group of students from Aston University in Birmingham.
Upside Down Camaro is Chevrolet camaro 1999 with a body turned upside down. The car was created for the parody 24 Hours of LeMons, in which only cars worth less than $ 500 are allowed.
Agree, being a car owner is nice. But it's even more pleasant to assemble a cool car with your own hands.
Today we will share information about what you need to assemble a cool car in your garage.
Kit Car or "component car" is a set of parts from which the buyer can independently assemble the car or entrust the assembly to a third party. Kits can vary significantly in configuration, ranging from those in which the complete set + instructions and ending with those in which the set of parts is not complete (that is, for example, you will have to order the engine and transmission separately).
When self-assembling such a car, it will not hurt you:
- spacious garage;
- a complete set of necessary tools;
- good knowledge in auto mechanics;
- a support team in the form of friends who will always help.
The importance of the team is difficult to overestimate. For example, the guys from the video below assembled the car in just 7 days!
Kit Cars history
The basic definition of a Kit Car is a car assembled from spare parts for sale. parts from a specific manufacturer. Most manufacturers usually sell a full range of spare parts needed to fully assemble a vehicle. Such kits are usually accompanied by detailed instructions and the model can be assembled in the garage on their own.
Essentially, a Kit Car is as good as a factory-built car, but by no means can we rule out factors such as efficiency and safety, which are highly dependent on the person doing the assembly.
The first Kit Car was designed by the Englishman Thomas Heiler White in 1896. As you can see, this species took a long time to gain popularity.
By the 1950s, Kit Cars had shifted to second gear and production had increased significantly. And in the 1970s, a real Kit Car began in the UK - a revolution associated with the fact that such cars were not considered a vehicle and were not taxed accordingly. Models such as the Lotus Elan appeared on the market, which could be assembled at home without paying purchase tax.
Most of today's “build models” are replicas of famous mid-20th century vehicles. With bodies made mostly of fiberglass and polyester panels, these models were lighter and easier to handle than a typical factory car.
What is in the box?
If you think, "Is this crazy?" - then think again!
Every year, thousands of assembly kits are sold around the world. that means when you read this article some guys are sitting in their garage and making their own car after work. Kit Cars are relatively cheap and typically cost less than $ 3000.
Most of the companies selling these sets expect you to come and buy your chosen set on designated days. Depending on the company from which you buy the kit, this interval can vary from 1 to 10 days a year.
Regardless of the model that you buy yourself, the basic set will include: chassis, body parts, engine, radiator, transmission, clutch, brakes and shock absorbers. The kit comes with a huge bag of nuts and bolts and other parts depending on the type of vehicle you want to assemble. If you don't have an assembly guide, it will be quite difficult to figure it out.
At the next stage, the most important thing is to assemble everything correctly, because people will drive in the assembled car and it is important that the car does not fall apart under them and is safe. Most of the kits also include a video tutorial where you can watch someone build a car.
If the instructions provided by the manufacturer are not enough for you, you can always consult with other experienced kit cars amateurs for specials. forums and resources on the Internet, but it is better to meet them in person (if there are such guys in your city). If you are assembling a car for the first time in your life, then use this option.
While looking for material for the community, I stumbled upon a blog in which the author described how he built the car. This was not just some kind of car, but a legendary car with interesting story - Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing". I became interested in the history of the recreation of a car rarity and plunged into fascinating reading about how they made a copy of the legendary car from scratch, and not just a copy, but a car assembled from original parts.
Later I managed to meet with Sergei, who made his dream come true and find out some of the details of creating a car. He allowed me to take text and photos from his blog and make a post for the community readers.
In the process of creating the Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing", the suspension from the Mercedes W202 and W107 was used. Keeping in mind that the best is the enemy of the good, we install adjustable shock absorbers. Pay particular attention to the gearbox rear axle, usually it is with him that the biggest problems arise, which is why customizers are so fond of non-split bridges. On a Mercedes, this unit, together with the drives, is assembled on a stretcher, which greatly simplifies the work with it.
The stainless steel exhaust system complies with the Euro 3 standard, and fuel tank - a real work of art: baffles and overflow pipes are installed in the fuel to prevent splashing. In one of the photos - the steering wheel lock
In the "Gullwing" project, it was decided to use the next generation of M104 engines with a volume of 3.2 liters and a power of 220 hp. paired with an automatic 5-speed transmission. The choice of the engine was not accidental - it is more powerful, lighter and quieter. The gearbox is primitive, with a torque converter, many of these units are familiar from Mercedes W124, W140, W129, W210. A hydraulic booster was also installed, all units are new, so there should be no problems.
We make the body.
Back in 1955, the company " Daimler Benz"produced 20 cars with an aluminum body and 1 with a composite. We decided to try a composite.
After making the body and assembling the chassis, the crossing of the body with the frame begins. The process is so painstaking and dreary that no pictures and words will convey it. Assembly and disassembly, fitting - all this takes more than one day. Many parts are finalized on site, and the body is bolted to the frame through special dampers in 30 places.
All body parts are installed and adjusted - doors, hood, trunk lid. There is a lot of trouble with glasses - they are attached to rubber seals, and since all seals are original and designed for steel, you have to strictly observe the thickness of the frames of the openings. Each part is removed, adjusted by hand, and only then installed in place.
Many parts for the most popular vintage models are still produced in small batches in some workshops, which is actively used by all restorers. But what a sin to conceal: the factories themselves forge their rarities, especially in this "Audi" and "Mercedes" have succeeded.
Many museums have explicit copies. So recently a lot of "Horchs" have bred. This is especially interesting considering that all the factory documentation was lost during the war. Dozens of workshops on the equipment of those years stamp forgeries, passing them off as carefully restored products. The devil is in the details.
So we just bought and collected all the details that could decorate any rarity for 500 thousand euros. I assure you, every nut and bolt (I'm not talking about rubber bands) have correct labeling 1955 year. Everything is original, even the seat rails.
The body is already primed, and this is the most important point, because composite is a special material for painting, because plasticizers and all sorts of other complex things are needed here. The secrets of the primer are cherished and no one will ever tell you them. But it looks beautiful.
A small video from the painting process
In the meantime, the body is being painted, let's start preparing the units for assembly. As I already said - the devil is in the details, and there are more than 2 thousand of them in the car! Dashboard, they were looking for her for a very long time.
We also find devices and relays, of course not everything turns out right away.
But with enviable patience and perseverance, you will have the opportunity to get a completely authentic dashboard consisting of 80 (!) Parts.
The main thing is that it also works later: the devices are all expensive. Good is not cheap.
The body is covered with 6 layers of varnish, it is very beautiful and it will not be necessary to paste over the film under chrome. Yes, shagreen is a must, and the grain is small. Now they don't paint like that, they dilute everything with water, they have the ecology, they take care of nature. By the way, paint 744 (silver) is the most difficult to paint, any painter will tell you.
Finally got married chassis with a body.
They installed the doors. It would seem that this is not a tricky business, but I want to tell you a story. Mercedes 300SL "Gullwing" had many design flaws. One of them was the doors themselves: they were steel, heavy and hinged to the roof of the body, and were fixed by a spring enclosed between hollow steel tubes with hinges at the end.
In the extreme upper position, the spring was compressed, and when the door was lowered, it stretched out with a crash and slammed the door. When opening it, it was necessary to overcome the resistance of the spring, which simply pulled out the door along with the brackets (at 900 euros per piece).
Experienced owners of "Gullwing" know that if misused, this will inevitably lead to deformation of the roof, besides, the brackets themselves simply break. The rod with spring assembly over time became a frantic shortage and its cost increased to astronomical heights. Each owner of such a rarity repairs these units once a season. We decided to go the other way and install gas shock absorbers.
It would seem that what is easier, but it was not so. I had to develop the entire unit, it took 4 months of hard work. Fortunately, a workshop was found that brought ideas and drawings to life. With complete external authenticity, the doors today open like the tailgate of a German SUV. The knot turned out to be so successful that it immediately became the object of desire of all owners of rarities, I think that soon all "gulving" will have doors that open very effectively and smoothly, without knocking. Now this process has really become like the flapping of a seagull's wing - gracefully and smoothly.
This is just one, and the simplest example of those tasks that had to be solved when building this car.
By the way, the door lock mechanism has also undergone changes. Despite the cost of 1,500 euros, he often jammed and did not fix the door, but that's another story.
At the very beginning of the project, it seemed that interior trim was the smallest problem, since at every step there are workshops for changing salons, so what, but now any craftsman can handle leather. Business is to sheathe a bunch of details with leather, but as it turned out, this is a HUGE PROBLEM!
After four attempts to create interior details in a tuning studio, I realized that everything is much more complicated.
The created products did not want to look like the original. Everything looked like a cheap fake: the skin was puffy, traces of heat treatment were visible, the texture did not match, and no one could pick up the material. In short, I began to delve into the intricacies and found out that modern craftsmen do not know how to work with felt, wool and other materials used at that time. They bluntly warmed and stretched the skin, used foam rubber wherever they could, actively worked with an iron, in short, mercilessly destroyed materials, depriving them of their naturalness and nobility. I'm not talking about durability.
After suffering six months, we came to the conclusion that only restorers are capable of such work. They have special paralon and felt. In general, they found a company, guys - wolves, guys, about 60 years old, who have been restoring only Mercedes for 40 years. What they showed and told us is just a novel about leather, and they guard their secrets in much the same way as the secret of making paper for the dollar.
The video shows an approximate course of the process.
Interior details for my baby were done for 4 months. The skin is just like living.
I will also add that the leather that manufacturers offer today is chemical bullshit with impregnations. No wonder all the owners of Mercedes and BMWs after a year of operation go nuts - the salons look like those of old redvans: not fresh, the skin stretches, peels off. As I said earlier, the devil is in the details.
I'm not talking about vinyls widely used by the Japanese, and by all manufacturers in general. Now in a Mercedes there is not enough leather for a jacket, one bullshit, that's why options appear - "design", "individual", "exclusive". Leading manufacturers, at least for 10-15 thousand dollars, will offer you real leather, but what they sew for you for 50 thousand rubles does not even dare to name leather.
Wheels are one of the most important parts of a car. So for our handsome man, there were two types of wheels. The first were put on the civilian version.
The latter were offered as an option. They came from sports - real, with a central nut. Of course, it's nice to have chrome wheels, but the price of 5 thousand euros per wheel is somewhat annoying.
How can you then hit the nut with a hammer, knowing that it is golden? The original disc for classics is also not cheap - 3 thousand euros. So I think I really want to save 8 thousand euros.
One of the main factors in the operation of the engine is the removal of exhaust gases (combustion products). I do not want to recall the laws of thermodynamics here, I will only say that the last 150 years exhaust pipe is a symbol of progress. Remember locomotive pipes, steamboats, blast furnaces. Remembering my love for detail, I want to assure you that it was the pipe that received the utmost attention. This is a masterpiece of engineering.
The exhaust system is made of stainless steel, which no manufacturer can afford, and is a complex system of thick-walled and thin-walled pipes mounted one into the other, this made it possible with complete authenticity appearance pipes solve the problem of "gulving" - noise and heating of the cabin. And the main thing is the exhaust sound, it's just a song. The problem was solved by using resonators inside the system.
If you want to understand what kind of car you have - look at the exhaust pipe!
Don't pay attention to the date on the photo, just bought a decent camera. They snapped it off, but the instructions were not sorted out, and the date was wrong. Well, to hell with him, all interested, enjoy.
We made many changes to the design, we try to do everything as authentically as possible. A very cunning handbrake.
The tank is a separate song, they made their own from stainless steel, slightly changing the location of the neck, but this is a separate story.
There is a good saying - it's better to see once than read about it a hundred times. Everyone who reads and watches my blog knows my favorite expression - THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS. It is these details that I will show you today. It makes no sense to write for a long time, you yourself will understand everything.
Braided harnesses and wiring, well, I think you just haven't seen this yet, a two-tone horn, in short, just look, it's all called TECHNOLOGIES.
The main task facing the implementation of this project was to create a complete authenticity of all interior details. It would seem that it could be easier than copying an existing sample, but as they say, everything is not so simple, and much more difficult than even restoring.
So, we needed to make all analog devices work, and work correctly with electronic units modern units; shove a bunch into a tight little car additional equipmentsuch as air conditioning, hydraulic booster, brake booster. All this should work from standard toggle switches and switches. Stove dampers used to have mechanical drives, like on the Volga Gaz 21, so the stove had to be thoroughly altered. But the biggest challenge was making the gear selector.
The whole difficulty was that the car was originally built for sports, it was small and very low, even the engine had to be placed at an angle of 30 degrees so that the silhouette of the car would not be disturbed. The box was located in the tunnel and had a direct articulated drive.
There was no more than 2 cm of free space between the box and the box itself. I already said that the car itself was cramped and very noisy, and this problem had to be solved. Since a standard engine-gearbox pair was taken, the task became even more difficult, because automatic transmission much larger and has a completely different control principle.
After much torment, a hinge and a linkage system were designed, which made it possible to completely imitate this unit, as you can easily verify by looking at the original.
And the most interesting thing: if you carefully study the photos, you will see that the seats are much lower than the original, this is also a trick. The fact is that the car was so cramped that a person with a height of 180 cm rested his head on the roof and was forced to sit hunched over at the steering wheel, but I like to ride with straight arms, so I had to change the angle of the steering column in order to ensure comfort and not disturb the general view. How this was achieved is a whole novel, from the creation of a unique sled to the rework of the floor and seats.
I am not the first one who decided to recreate the legendary car. Back in the late 70s, similar attempts were made in America, the farthest advanced was Tony Ostermaer, a former mechanical engineer from Gardena. He managed to build about 15 cars in 10 years using units from Mercedes of those years. Today these cars are rarities themselves.
I saw them, of course, these are not as high-quality products as I would like, but this is the best thing that has been done. In the 90s, there were attempts by the American company Speedster to implant it on the Chevrolet Corvette C03 nodes using Tony's matrix. Only 2 cars were manufactured. One of them is now in Ukraine, and the other is in Moscow. The cars were sold for $ 150,000.
Actually, that's all. True, there were attempts to put shells on the SL and there were many more loud statements, but all this is nothing, people were running ahead of the locomotive, as with our ё-mobile: there is nothing yet, but already 40 thousand applications have been submitted.
By the way, working with a composite is very difficult. Only its high-quality painting costs about 10 thousand euros. Well, and most importantly: FORGING AND COPYING ARE TWO BIG DIFFERENCES.
They say that everything in the car should be fine, both the engine and the trunk. On the first car, they decided to use gas shock absorbers to open and fix the trunk lid.
We redesigned the filler neck a little, reasonably considering that if it would fit tightly to the trunk lid. This will reduce the risk of spreading the smell of gasoline inside the cabin in the event of a spill.
I didn't like the idea. On this machine, they made it closer to the original, changing only the shape of the filler neck (a steel funnel around the lid should prevent fuel from spilling onto the carpet).
Of course, the collective farm was not without: they built a leather condom around the filler neck. It seems to look nice, and they abandoned the shock absorbers, putting the native mechanism (stick) for fixing the trunk lid. You could, of course, get confused with the springs, as in modern cars, but I think it will kill the spirit of the machine itself. The trunk looks very nice when open.
And from behind everything looks very cool. Considering that today everyone is already using tubeless tires, we decided to free up space by placing a stowaway in the trunk instead of a regular wheel. Now at least a string bag is where to throw.
Actually, the matter is inexorably moving towards its logical conclusion. Of course, it's nice that everything ends so quickly, all that remains is to smear it with a little roll and stick on the wheels.
The wheels are temporary, so as not to guess the original.
That's basically it!
Let's go around the car.
I can only add one thing: before you start doing something, think carefully about whether you have enough strength to finish what you started.
After arriving in Russia.
Video from the inside of the recreated car.
In this video, you can see how the Germans are restoring the hero of the reportage, the very "gullwing".
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