Ofcourse I tried to find a picture but I found something even better.
At first, I didn't realize that was even a Miata until I read the description and looked at the back. Yep, it's a Miata with the front end of a... Volga? If somebody knows, share some knowledge with a brother because besides that Russian car (Volga), I don't know what that front end came off of.
What is striking about this build is the quality. If you didn't know and didn't notice the Miata part, you would probably ask what type of car that is, right? I don't see anything that looks wrong. I asked my wife if she knew what car that was and she said Porsche. It does kinda look like a Porsche. Good job, wifey.
When I was looking for the RX-7 Miata, I stumbled across something interesting or weird, however you look at it. Apparently there are now body panels you can buy for your Miata that makes it look like it kinda has the RX-7 front end...
Does that look bad? I couldn't convince myself that it doesn't. Sorry to anyone who might be running this 'kit.' One thing it might be good for and I believe is the reason that Miata has it is to be able to put a big intercooler for your turbo and have it fit. It gives you extra room for that. If I'm not mistaken and that's not the radiator, the car above might be running one.
Another striking mod when you see it has to do with either shaving down or adding to a body part to either fill in a dip like where the license plate goes in the front or shaving something down to create a cleaner look.
I'm an LS400 guy and since most of my knowledge relates to that car, I know that some people shave down the part of the trunk at the very back that goes up maybe 3/4 of an inch. Not having done this, I don't know if there's enough metal there to make it flat with the rest of the trunk or you use Bondo.
To fill in gaps, you definitely use Bondo.
The Lexus LS400 has an indentation on the bumper for the front license plate. In the picture above, you can see there is no such thing. Just a flat surface. Actually, if you look hard enough, you can tell where they did it. That's not to say it detracts from the quality. The quality of work is very good here.
What you can sand or fill will depend on what car you drive. Some cars don't have a single thing you can do that with. But if you can and particularly want a clean look, something like filling that indentation on the LS400 makes a huge difference.
One thing that I have never seen although I have heard mentioned about being put on the Lexus I'm so in love with is a chop top. Yes, the hot-rod thing where they chop some length of the pillars to bring the roofline down lower. They always tend to look amazing and it would look doubly amazing on a VIP car. Just picture it for a second. I'll give you a moment.
Oi mate, this Mini wasn't small enough so I cut some of the top off, eh?
Jokes aside, this is one of my favorite modifications altogether. Chop half a foot off the top of the right car, put it back correctly, and if you used the right car, will look mean as hell.
There's a video floating around on YouTube that shows an LS400 with the roof cut off doing donuts. Looking at it, even though he just chopped it off, the LS400 makes a mean convertible!
A convertible conversion, though, sounds like a nightmare and I have also never heard of anybody doing it. Probably with good reason. Actually, I have a vague memory of one so I suppose they're out there. However, if you can fabricate a roof that folds over and down, you may be able to pull this off.
To be honest with you, the convertible LS400 I saw stuck with me like Gorilla Glue because it looked so great. If you're an engineer and have the right skills or can do this with a team, you can probably use the dimensions of the roof you cut off to create a convertible roof. Making it seal onto the windows will probably be 1 of 10 annoying things. There has to be room in the trunk or wherever to put the drop-top, an electric motor to move it, and hours of design.
I don't curse on here for the children but if I did, I would. Man! I recommend you watch this two minute video!
A removable hard-top could be easier to make but taking it off would require two people, at least. That roof is heavy. Again, you would probably have to fabricate a new one out of lighter materials.
That's a good list but what else is there? Well, the mods actually stop at your imagination but somebody already thought of...
Wide-body kits, man! One of the most appreciated, beautiful productions in the automotive world. Not only does a wide-body car look amazing for some reason but it handles better. The reason these cars need a wide-body kit is because the wheelbase has been extended. This makes the car much more stable.
Imagine a go-kart which has the wheels in almost a square while a limousine has them in a very long rectangle. The go-kart would turn much more easily if everything else was equal.
Okay that's too wide buddy, bring it back some. (Please don't.)
In life, there's good and bad. That's the Yin and the Yang. There are great widebodies like the Lambo above but there are also very horrible ones.
If you can't create or buy a wide-body kit then wait until you can. There's a reason this is in an article about the hardest things to do to a car! Don't even think of Bondo.
As you might imagine, creating a wide-body car is very difficult. I wrote that last sentence in that way for a reason. There are fabricators who create wide-body cars and there are others who add wide-body kits. Both are good and both look great. The Honda pictured above looks great with a kit. In that car's case, that was the way to go.
Creating a wide-body car consists of taking off and re-doing all or most of the body panels. These mechanics are either modifying them or creating completely new panels. This takes extensive knowledge of engineering and very expensive tools.
There are many more things I could list. You have diffusers and spoilers. Those are more on the easy side unless you're doing something special. I do plan on releasing a similar article to this where I can list some easier mods.
As always, take care everybody and be safe. Especially on the road. Thank you for reading. If you like these articles, sharing the website means more to me than gold at this point.
News: You might see this at the end of some articles. I will be posting news when I have an update or something in the works. What I want to share with you guys is something exciting.
I have been invited to sort of an underground car meet at an undisclosed location some time soon. There are a few drivers who want to show you guys their cars and give you their background. These people have been at it every Saturday for years.
It's definitely going to be exciting, especially since my baby is running great!
Wide-body Ferrari 328.
No, that's not my baby pictured above.
Hopefully StereoRob will be coming with me to some of these meets. That way we can roll up in two or more LS400s. I'm very excited and I can't wait, actually. Thanks for reading, my friends.
- Rokas Kirvelis
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