Who makes em, be it 308, F40, Testarossa. I have seen some darn good lambo ones but that involves all sorts of cutting and removing things that give a lot of Ferrari ones away, windshield angle, wheelbase, etc. I have seen many and all are a little off here and there. Any links?
This is not for me, just general old curiosity and killing time while at work.
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04:30 PM
PFF
System Bot
dratts Member
Posts: 8373 From: Coeur d' alene Idaho USA Registered: Apr 2001
I think that you would have a hard time finding a better kit than John Watson builds and he is a real honest southern gentleman. The 355 spider I bought from him has a stock wheel base. He moved the wheel wells forward on the rear fenders to maintain the stock wheel base. So now my wheelbase is 3" shorter than the real thing, but I didn't have to cut the car in half and then weld it back together. I'm not going to put Ferrari emblems on it and I'm thinking about chopping it 3". I'm not going to try to fool any one that it is real. I just like the 355 styling. I think that he might make a stretched body kit if you wanted it.
If you'd like pics there is a kitcar forum that most of the 355 fans are at... Look for a thread in the technicle section called "funnywheels is going topless", it is the longest thread in the section just about... I'll search for the link to it, but in there he has pics of a John Watson spider that he worked on, a 3 inch stretched version, making it an accurate wheelbase.... It is also the best kit put together right now...Link to site is below...
link to site: http//www.kitcar.ca/yabbse/index.php
Most 355s require some frame mods to change the wheelbase.
308s/328s CAN be made to look the most authentic in my opinion because the actual dimensions are so close to the real one to start with. Most of the measurments are within fractions of an inch. There are little details that will give it away, but if you get picky you can do some simple mods to look better. ie/ add trim to door to make window look like it has a vent wing, use correct looking wheels and not some crappy knock off like old ARE flat stars, and doing an interior rebuild. I was in a sports car club with mine and there were several real ones too. To 95% of the people they saw no difference, even those owners at first just thought mine was a different year. I even had salesmen at my local Ferrari dealer think it was real until I showed them the engine.
I think that you would have a hard time finding a better kit than John Watson builds and he is a real honest southern gentleman. The 355 spider I bought from him has a stock wheel base. He moved the wheel wells forward on the rear fenders to maintain the stock wheel base. So now my wheelbase is 3" shorter than the real thing, but I didn't have to cut the car in half and then weld it back together. I'm not going to put Ferrari emblems on it and I'm thinking about chopping it 3". I'm not going to try to fool any one that it is real. I just like the 355 styling. I think that he might make a stretched body kit if you wanted it.
The AD 355 kit in stretch or stock wheel base is the best 355 kit out there and John is very honest and will do you right. I highly recommend John, I built his spider kit and then I matted his kit to an 87 GT by modifying it I think I built the 355 for me. I redid the front turn signals to use Toyota ones and made the door vents 2.5 inches larger and used the Fiero roof and matted the 355 deck lid to the Fiero for a better fit and OEM operation I also modified the gas filler to fit the stock Fiero for better operation so it is round now and not oval. I shaved the door locks and use poppers to open the doors the 355 is a beautiful car and the OEM Ferrari lights and body parts will bolt up to Johns kit. He also has an extended windshield kit that looks great I opted for stock but I live in Texas and we have a lot of gravel trucks running around my Avalanche got popped twice in one week
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12:24 PM
THE BEAST Member
Posts: 1177 From: PORT SAINT LUCIE,FLORIDA,USA Registered: Dec 2000
Wow, that car is gorgeous. I'm thinking about starting one of those in a year or so, when I get everything situated. How much do you think you have wrapped up in that car?
F355, is that a stock wheelbase car. I notice you cannot see through the rear windows, is this the reason? It looks great by the way. I would build one for thefun of it, but I alos bet this would fool most.
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08:01 PM
Lothurin Member
Posts: 306 From: North Dakota Registered: May 2004
Definitely John Watson! His cars are phenomenal and he is a great guy to deal with too! He is from about about a half hour from my hometown in GA so I always go visit him when I go home... It hasn't been mentioned here but he is also the designer and builder of The Wraith car. It got publicity as a Dodge but they had nothing to do with it and screwed him over on the deal. But it does prove that he can build a car! And that custom windshield also comes from John. He had them built to spec in Australia and they really go a long way toward making the car look more authentic.
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12:20 AM
Amida Member
Posts: 2355 From: Seattle, WA. USA Registered: Jul 2003
Wow! Thats absolutely gorgeous! Do you have any closeups of details? Like the doors, deck, interior? What was the approximate final price for this baby?
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02:08 AM
Amida Member
Posts: 2355 From: Seattle, WA. USA Registered: Jul 2003
Frankly I'm surprised that John's still in business. It's well known that Ferrari is actively pursuing possible infringements of their trademarks, even to having car auctions closed on eBay. Essentially all of the guys who used to make Ferrari look-a-like kits for fieros are out of business because of this ! Yet no one who knows about John seems shy about spilling their guts about what he's doing to anyone who asks, even when they admittedly don't have an interest in buying his products .
This is something to think about guys .....
[This message has been edited by PaulJK (edited 03-24-2006).]
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04:47 AM
Songman Member
Posts: 12496 From: Nashville, TN Registered: Aug 2000
There's nothing to think about at all. John used to be in the auto design business. The Ferrari guys know him very well. He deals with them directly. Part of the reason John is still around is that he doesn't advertise and rub their noses in it. John only deals by word of mouth. Another reason John is still around is because a lot of his design cues ended up in later model Ferraris. I guess they figure it is a trade off. If you want an exact Ferrari replica, John is the only way to go. A lot of companies say it but John makes the only car that can use real Ferrari parts. The biggest obvious problem with the red coupe above is the quarter windows. John's cars take real F355 quarter windows perfectly.
Another pretty authentic car that is a direct bolt-on to the Fiero is the Aldino. It is based on the BB512 as shown above. There was a kit called Corson a long time ago that was pretty exact to the BB512. Ferrari got them and supposedly made them break up the molds. Apparently that was not the case. The molds were bought, modified with fender flares and such and rereleased as the Aldino. Richard Lichte, the current owner of Aldino, is a great guy and does a lot to support the Fiero community. http://www.aldinokit.com
[This message has been edited by Songman (edited 03-24-2006).]
"Another pretty authentic car that is a direct bolt-on to the Fiero is the Aldino. It is based on the BB512 as shown above. There was a kit called Corson a long time ago that was pretty exact to the BB512."
Very interesting, I remember Corson cars back in the day and remember them looking very good. They had a spyder that showed up in a lot of magazines back in the early 90's.
Agreed with the above, it's the windshield and quarter windows that can make or break these in my opinion.
[This message has been edited by fullcircle (edited 03-24-2006).]
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11:34 AM
Songman Member
Posts: 12496 From: Nashville, TN Registered: Aug 2000
Anyone interested in an Aldino should contact Rich. He has a plan where you buy the kit in three parts. As you finish one part of the process, you order the next package of parts. It makes it affordable for anyone to own a kit car. And these cars are really finished nicely too. There are covers for the frame so it looks good when you raise the tilt front and rear end of the car.
I would think about doing one of these and trying to incorporate John's extended windshield into it.
F355, is that a stock wheelbase car. I notice you cannot see through the rear windows, is this the reason? It looks great by the way. I would build one for thefun of it, but I alos bet this would fool most.
Yes I went with the stock wheelbase. I knew the car is not real so why go to the extra trouble and Johns stock wheelbase kit is hard not tell. The rims are Cobra Rs 17x9 front and 17x10.5 rear I have tons of pictures and starting to post the whole process on my website. I was forced to stop posting my projects here because of a member here that felt he had to bash me every chance he got and I got sick of all the lies he was telling and calling my car a hack job so I post my progress on www.diyfiero.com now were this behavior will not be allowed and deleted. I have wasted more money on this car than I have in it at the moment. It has gone from 2.8 Auto (lasted a month) to SBC five speed (lasted one week) to 4.9 Five speed (lasted a little over a year) to now waiting for 3800SC six speed. I took the 4.9 five speed out of it and it is in the Mutt now so I'm still enjoying this motor set up. Interior is being replaced with Nissan 240 and thinking of doing a chop top targa or at least chopping it. After chopping the Mutt it changed the look of the car so much and it gets so much attention I can only imagine how low and wide the 355 will look. When done the Mutt is my daily commuter car that is why I wanted the 4.9 in it you just can not beat the 4.9 for a daily driver in my opinion, I love it in a Fiero. And for my play car I will have the 355 SC six speed.
The best kit, isn't a kit at all... for about $40K US, you can just buy a 328 GTB. Of course, the insurance and maintenence costs are quite a bit higher. I really like the 308 kits too though. They sit really slick on the Fiero usually. The one on here that had the f-body dash and door panels was really slick.
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12:01 PM
Songman Member
Posts: 12496 From: Nashville, TN Registered: Aug 2000
The best kit, isn't a kit at all... for about $40K US, you can just buy a 328 GTB. Of course, the insurance and maintenence costs are quite a bit higher. I really like the 308 kits too though. They sit really slick on the Fiero usually. The one on here that had the f-body dash and door panels was really slick.
I disagree, but we all have opinions. I could afford a real Ferrari if I wanted one but I learned with my Porsches and Jaguars that the maintenance cost is not worth it. And drivability is much better with a kit. You just can't beat good ole American mechanicals. I like having a car that I can work on and also drive every day without having to worry about it. So for me at least, a real Ferrari is not the best answer.
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12:17 PM
PFF
System Bot
Formula88 Member
Posts: 53788 From: Raleigh NC Registered: Jan 2001
I have 5 rebody Ferarri type Fiero based cars. My favorite is my Testarossa it is a 7" frame stretch it has NOS 75hp shot w/ 4.9L/4T60E Caddy set up and Held Slalom wide track front and rear suspension and 12" Wilwood brakes on all 4 corners. I have an older 355 IFG Berlinetta clone 3" stretch that looks ok that I got from Dave Held it now has a 3800SCII with a 4T65E, 75hp NOS, Slalom wide track suspension 13" brakes and 18X11" rear tires and 18X9.5 fronts, I am waiting on an LSD, intercooler, performance heads, manifolds and a performance shortblock but it runs great as it stands. I also bought Roger Garrison's 308 that is near perfect and installed a 4.9L/4T60E changed the interior color to red/black, standard wheel base.. Also an F-40 w/4.9L / 4T60E on a standard wheel base Fiero with 12" brakes. The last car I have is a 355 Spyder w/3800SCII and a 5 speed. This is currently on hold due to lack of interest. I have almost everything to finish this car including the convertible top and mechanism. By far my favorite is the Testarossa it gets the most looks and comments. I have pictures posted on The Kitcar forum ARI's of most of the cars. All of the cars have Mr. Mike's interiors (the Testarossa is on his website "512TR"), PISA digital dashes, real Ferrari tail lights etc. None are perfect copies but customized to my tastes, they all get attention! Don't be fooled that even a partially built one bought from E-Bay will be inexpensive to complete. I find the list of improvements is endless in what you can do with these cars. Who makes them? Mine are all various makers none are still in business. I prefer to start with a 80 percent complete project that people abandon for various reason's. They do most of the hard work and I just have them finished and customized. Take care. Bill
[This message has been edited by aa2uk (edited 03-25-2006).]
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02:53 PM
Formula88 Member
Posts: 53788 From: Raleigh NC Registered: Jan 2001
Formula, thats a Dino (cheap Ferrari) but they never made a convertible I know of. Id say someone got a dino kit and cut the roof off. There are also no factory produced 308/328 convertibles. If I remember right too, real Dino's had a V6.
This one has Ferrari emblems wrongly. Although Ferrari made it, all emblems said Dino, named after Enzo's son.
[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 03-29-2006).]
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08:21 AM
Formula88 Member
Posts: 53788 From: Raleigh NC Registered: Jan 2001
Formula, thats a Dino (cheap Ferrari) but they never made a convertible I know of. Id say someone got a dino kit and cut the roof off. There are also no factory produced 308/328 convertibles. If I remember right too, real Dino's had a V6.
This one has Ferrari emblems wrongly. Although Ferrari made it, all emblems said Dino, named after Enzo's son.
Yeah, but I've never seen any Dino kit - hardtop or convertible - for a Fiero. I'd love to find out more info. That looks fantastic! I always was a sucker for the earlier Ferraris.
I'd love to get a 250 GT clone (the Ferris Bueller Ferrari). They are made off of Fox body Mustangs, I believe. And of course the 265 and even the 400i are pretty cool. The 400i actually used a GM Turbo 400 automatic transmission, IIRC.
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Of course, the insurance and maintenence costs are quite a bit higher. I really like the 308 kits too though. They sit really slick on the Fiero usually. The one on here that had the f-body dash and door panels was really slick.
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