Practically Classics Forum

At some point today it will be outside the garage, so ill take some decent pics

You should change the thread title to Ford 535i swb or BMW Granada. That would confuse people

G39

Sorry but looking at the cars you have knocked up,they are nothing more than cut and shuts,from the top and bottom rather than front and back!
Please god,make sure I am nowhere near one when its being driven on the road!
I live near Malmesbury,and hope that Escort you ruined get crushed asap!
I sincerely hope you are only building them for offroad use!!

back in the 90s i restored a mint 2.0 cortina ghia it had only done about 50.000 miles & had a fresh engine in it. when it was finished i sold it on to a mate who then wrecked it... i was heartbroken... i was in tears when i found out the pillock who bought my 92 nissan sunny blew the engine up as he was too lazy to check the oïl..

Pilkie wrote:Sorry but looking at the cars you have knocked up,they are nothing more than cut and shuts,from the top and bottom rather than front and back!
Please god,make sure I am nowhere near one when its being driven on the road!
I live near Malmesbury,and hope that Escort you ruined get crushed asap!
I sincerely hope you are only building them for offroad use!!

Eh? That's not very nice.

Plikie - Personally each to their own if Bubs is bold enough to attempt such a build then good luck to him, it's not compulsory to view the thread - so if not your scene don't read it.

Pilkie wrote:they are nothing more than cut and shuts,from the top and bottom rather than front and back

That is not quite true. Cut and shuts are bodged together illegal scrap. Franken-cars are put together properly not just tacked and sold to make a few pounds for a car thief.
I suspect that this will handle and stop better than the standard granny and certainly won't be any worse in a crash.

The number of cars that have had all their chassis rails, sills and floor pans, suspension mounting points, etc replaced could be considered a "cut and shut" if you want to be funny about it. Kit cars made from bits and pieces, land rovers made up of 16 cars to keep them on the road. I could go on.
If the quality of the work is good then it will be as safe as anything else before the deliberate design of crumple zones.

And who tests the quality of the work involved??
Welding on a set of flared arches or doing a rust repair is one thing!!
Welding what amounts to 2 cars together,and bunging in a bit of bracing to try and strengthen it is totally different!
They both react different in a crash,and welded together,god knows what would happen!!
If such a person building a frankencar is a fully qualified automotive structural engineer with years of experience, then thats fine,I trust they know what they are doing!
But ive seen cars built from an idea of," I wonder if it would work",by individuals, back street garages and car breakers that frankly when you look closely,are death traps!
Its scary to look at the work involved!
Sadly the only way to test these is when they have crashed and then you can see how they hold up,or not,and hopefully not at the expense of a life!
Do they get properly inspected before being let loose on the road,as they would come under radically altered vehicle,or are they still illegally carrying the reg of one of the donor cars!??
Restoration of a classic car in the correct manner using correct new or s/h parts cannot be classed as you say a cut and shut!
For gods sake I hope they dont feature cars like this in a classic car mag!
I am affraid that many will read this and think,! "I can do that"
With potentially fatal results!

You are allowed to put more than one sentence per line.
I won't claim to know how testing for such vehicles works but assuming an IVA is required it would have to meet the same standards as other kit cars manufactured. Would you rather be in a crash in something with a beetle floorpan and lots of plastic or something welded together and made of metal?
Technically welding repairs to a chassis counts as altering it and would subject the car to a test so all welding should be tested before the car is allowed on the road regardless of whether it is a replacement floor pan or swapping the whole bottom of the car.