FURIOUS REPLICA CAR

Building a Fast and Furious Replica Car can be a fun but challenging endeavor. The enthusiasm is understandable, given the excitement that still exists for these movies. It’s the same type of enthusiasm I had for cars as a teenager.

In fact, I couldn’t until I got my driver’s license before I

started working on cars, so I worked on friend’s cars. My buddy had a ’78 Ford

pickup with a 351C and I changed the carb on that. Another buddy had a 69

Mustang and I installed a Paxton blower on that. And so it went for the next 20

years. I had a day job, but after work, I was tinkering on cars.

At 18, I rebuilt my first engine by myself using nothing but

at Chilton’s repair manual. The car was a 1973 V6 Capri with siamesed exhaust

ports and nylon teeth cam/crank gears instead of a timing chain. That was fun!

I learned a couple of things early on:

1) If you don’t have the money to do it right the first

time, you sure as hell don’t have the money to do it a second time.

2) If you don’t know what the fuck you are doing, hire

someone WHO HAS PROVEN RESULTS doing the exact job you need done.

Case in point – remember that V6 Capri I just

mentioned?  I sure as hell didn’t try to

bore the cylinders at home – I sent the block to a proper machine shop. Know

your limits and your capabilities. If you’re struggling to come up with the

cash to buy a part or get a certain job done, you might want to consider

another hobby – or another career.

Judging by some of the work I’ve seen on replica cars around

the world, it’s clear that some builders are in over their head. It’s a damn

shame too, because some cars are being ruined for collectors because of shoddy

replicas and it affects others in the hobby.

Parts are nearly impossible to find and those that are available

are often double or triple their original price, so when someone gets a rare

set of wheels and slaps them on a shoddy replica, it’s frustrating.

People often ask me what I think of replicas. The short

answer is that I admire those who would go to such trouble. The long answer is

that I don’t understand why some people are willing to settle for shoddy

workmanship and building a car that’s supposed to be about passion.

Let me explain.

Common sense in automobile customzing means that you only do

what can be done right. If you’re going to try to replicate a movie car’s

interior, you don’t cut out pieces of leather and glue onto door panels.

A movie car replica should be put together with care and

attention to quality. To do anything less is an insult to the fans and it’s

selling yourself short.

I’ve traveled to many countries and seen many replicas. Some

are done so poorly, they look like they were built on a dirt road in Mongolia.

I just don’t understand why anyone would build a car with no attention to

detail and no concern for quality. Morevover, I just don’t understand why

someone would showoff a car that looks like it was built by monkeys. It’s

embarrassing.