Well, that sounded like a member of the Fiberfab family to me, and I figured the "Porsche engine" would turn out to be a VW Type I with funky carburetors and/or strange-o cooling ducts. Nope! That's a Corvair engine underneath that battered fiberglass body.

In case you were in any doubt about the decade of this car's origin, here's a clue. Four-time DOTS honoree WhatWouldJesseDo was seriously considering buying this car and making it into a totally sensible daily driver, but the battered old GT-15 is now off limits. More on that sad story later today.

Back in those days, aftermarket sunroofs were serious- and leaky- status symbols.

Yes, this 1986 Yugo convertible (go here if the listing disappears) suffered some Kentucky hail damage, so the car's owner (the seller's grandfather) "got the idea of turning it into a WhaleMobile off of some cartoon, and he took his crazy idea and ran with it." Sadly, the seller possesses "an inexplicable fear of these evil creatures" and must sell… and his loss is your gain! It has a functioning blowhole with water pump, and the tail even features aero-enhancing manual controls. This fine machine got some attention on the 24 Hours Of LeMons forums, but it appears that no team has what it takes to put it on a race track. That's shameful, but we know you have what it takes to make it your daily driver. Come on, Yugo Whalemobile!
[Louisville Craigslist]

Fortunately, that kind of painful decision doesn't really come into play here, because we've got a couple of projects that will take you well outside the realm of what the normals would consider real cars. Dive right in, the fuming nitric acid is fine!

Do you want an innovative single-seat commuter vehicle that runs on biodiesel and gives you roll-cage safety? The kind of car that tells the world you not only march to a different drummer, you've pushed all drummers into a deep pit with spikes in the bottom? If so, we've got the project for you! It's a homemade, VW turbodiesel-powered, fully caged machine, a testimonial in steel to the glory of Pick Your Part's monthly Half Price Day sales. Where to start describing this creation? The side-mounted radiator? The tempered-glass windshield? "Lots of Heim joints"? You'll find plenty more info here. Although the project has two years of work invested, it has been driven only once, for "about a mile." Thanks to Hiroshima Built My Hotrod for the tip!

Commuter vehicle? Bah! The way the economy is going, the only thing you'll be commuting to is Lord Humungus' office, so you might as well grab a few nonlethal automotive thrills now before you find yourself operating the quad-speargun turret on a Holden Kingswood. Wait, did I say "nonlethal?" Let's substitute "possibly nonlethal" here, because this TVR Vixen appears to have a murderous gleam in its eye. A right-hand-drive, fresh-off-the-boat, fiberglass-bodied, built-in-a-Blackpool-shed British sports car with Ford Kent power? Sounds good to us! I'm unable to read the description without extreme mental agony, because it's written in classic EBAY CAPS LOCK STYLE, IN HUGE BLUE TEXT, WITH RANDOM PUNCTUATION, but it appears to be in non-running condition. It's possible that most or even all the parts are present, including a "NEW REAR WINDOW STILL WITH THE PROTECTIVE WRAP," so your only task will be to make everything work. Shouldn't be much harder than fixing up a '74 Valiant, right?

The Panther appears to be the British answer to the Excalibur, built in the 1980s using Ford running gear. The real Panther cognoscenti no doubt go for the extremely rare Ssangyong version. Tek_nic's words:

I live and work in Colorado Springs - big jalopnik fan - and an even bigger fan of european cars.
This morning, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a Panther!
Seriously - it was hiding in the bushes - and nearly pounced on me. Luckily I had my camera - and want to share this sweet Kollisto with you. It looks to me like someone is using this as a daily driver - I don't know about you, but that would really help lower my stress levels. How can you get mad in a car that looks this good?

Taking on the Citroën CX Pallas that won the last Choose Your Eternity poll would be akin to dragging a washing machine through a 100-yard gauntlet of meth-crazed chimps armed with tire irons... in other words, a walk in the park compared to the projects we'll be contemplating today. Adopting either one of today's exquisite machines would feel much like donning a wetsuit stuffed with Asian Giant Hornets and climbing into a Drum Debarker filled with burning creosote-soaked railroad ties and radioactive dioxin bottles packed with selenium tetra-azide. But, dammit, they're totally worth the pain!

Much as we love the Fieroborghini, bolting some Italian-looking plastic body panels on a Fiero isn't all that heroic a project (though installing a Cadillac 500 engine and front-drive transaxle out of an Eldorado does get our respect). No, your Fauxborghini needs more sweat, more blood, and a Nile's worth of tears. We're talking about a quasi-scratch-built backyard Countach here, based on a Detroit family car from the 1960s. That means something along the lines of this 1967 Ford-based Lamborghini project (go here if the listing disappears), which could obliterate drop into your life with megaton force for $795 or "an interesting trade option." Why, that price is down in 24 Hours Of LeMons territory (and I can guarantee a great deal of judicial slack when examining the budget of any team with the guts to bring this vehicle to a LeMons race), but we think it would be even more fun on the street. Now, this Fauxborghini- which appears to be have some '67 Fairlane DNA- lacks a few of the features you'd find on the real deal. We're pretty sure that Ferrucio Lamborghini never installed front drum brakes on any of his cars, and the same goes for the leaf-spring rear suspension. As for the drivetrain, it appears to be a Ford Windsor V8 mounted backwards and driving... well, we're not sure. Maybe a V-drive of some kind? A shaft coming off the front of the crank and driving a flipped-over Porsche 944 transaxle? Or maybe this project is meant to be a mid-engined front-wheel-drive car, which would be so completely wrong that it's just perfect! Thanks to Josef for the tip!

You'd be a Project Car Hell God or Goddess for sure, were you to get that Fairlaneborghini into daily-driver condition, but we understand that sometimes you need a generous helping of classic British luxury in your project. No, we don't mean yet another Jaguar, or even a Bentley or Rolls. We're talking Lagonda here! That's right, an Aston Martin-built updated version of the W. O. Bentley-designed prewar Lagondas, a car you have no hope in hell of ever obtaining. But wait! A miracle has occurred, and it has become possible to buy this 1956 Lagonda 3 Litre Saloon in a no-reserve eBay auction. Even better, the current top bid is only $1,000. Really! We're forced to admit that a few flies have found their way into the ointment here; in fact, the ointment is pretty much entirely flies. First of all, the incredible Lagonda Straight Six engine that propelled Aston Martin to glory in the 1950s... well, it's as gone as D.B. Cooper, and probably just as difficult to find today. The seller himself states that this project is "Broken down, incomplete and a restoration project only for the relentlessly ambitious or deranged." But come on, how hard could it be? Just start by getting yourself an appropriately powerful inline-six engine- say, this 2JZGTE/6-speed combo deal, for example- and then start casting and/or machining all the missing trim pieces from scratch. As for the interior, you'd be amazed what $500 will buy you at a Tijuana upholstery shop. No problem!

Pace cars for drag racing? Sure, makes sense… but what doesn't make sense is the abomination that Dominick found accompanying the NHRA Pace Car Firebird Camaro. Can anyone decipher the script above? Here's what Dominick has to say:

hey im a daily reader, new to writing back. correct me if i am wrong , i have found what to me is a late 70s NHRA pace car firebird i found it while browsing thru a local used car dealership in malaga spain also found this other thing got no clue what it is but it looks wicked thanks alot and it figured u guys whould know what to do with these

Of course you do! Oh, sure, you'd have fun with a Lotus Esprit or Fiat 124 Sport Coupe (incidentally, the Lotus beat the Fiat rather handily in the Choose Your Eternity poll), but you wouldn't have the pride of driving a total oddball orphan genuinely unique machine. That's exactly what we've got for you today!

You may not have heard of Siata, but they were once legendary for their Fiat-based (and even Crosley-powered) sports cars. The Siata Spring was based on the rear-engined Fiat 850 chassis, and you'd have a helluva time finding one… until now. We've got this '69 Siata Spring (go here if the ad disappears), which seems to run and doesn't suffer from much rust. What could go wrong, then? Well, a weirdo conversion of a nervous Italian machine, done by a now-defunct company… do we need to draw a diagram? This thing is going to be a never-ending project, so you might as well start figuring out how to stuff a WRX engine in the back!

Normally we wouldn't consider a VW-engined Lamborghini copy to be a true Fauxborghini, but that rule wasn't made for the likes of this fine Belgian machine (go here if the ad disappears). I'm not so good at reading Dutch or French, but that doesn't matter much here. Just look at the photos and you won't care about the "chassi et moteur vw" part! It appears to be a particle-board and duct-tape interpretation of a Countach, no doubt built in a Belgian prison from smuggled-in components and based entirely on a verbal description of the original car. It's only 1,000 Euros, and you could make it your own! Thanks to Doede for the tip!

Sure, it probably handles like Grandma's Cutlass Supreme, but who cares? It looks good, it has a manual transmission, it's 25-and-a-half grand, and it will probably eat up a real Daytona in a drag race. Watch this, y'all!

[eBay Motors]

You may have noticed that the words "Fiero," "Pontiac," or even "GM" don't get mentioned anywhere in the description, but the statement "v6 tuned port fuel injected with an auto transmission that shifts like a dream" tells the whole story: this is a Fierrari. However, its Fiero origins aren't so obvious at first glance (other than the engine and gauge cluster) and the build quality seems pretty decent. Would you be better off taking your $34,500 and purchasing a clean 308 or Mondial, with enough left over to pay shop bills for a couple years… or do you get the nicest Fierrari in town instead?
[eBay Motors]

The seller, who uses an innovative photographic technique to heighten the appeal of this Dino replica, claims there's a Porsche engine somewhere in the car. Actually, what he or she states is "powertrain says porsche," which could mean we're looking at a VW-based kit car with a dime-store Porsche emblem taped on the 1300's air cleaner, or maybe it's a Madman Grade hand-fabbed tube chassis with a quad-turbo Porsche 928 engine belting out 900 horsepower. Either way, you'd think the innards of a vehicle that earns the appellation "my baby" would be more familiar to its seller, but such is not the case here.
[Craigslist Seattle, go here if the ad disappears]

[Craigslist Knoxville]

[eBay Motors]

[eBay Motors]

[Craigslist Kansas City, go here if the ad disappears]

[Craigslist Chico, go here if ad disappears]

The Basement Lambo was great, but who's got that kind of time? You might not want a Fiero-based Fieroborghini, but how about something in between? Say, this tube-framed, turbo Buick V6-powered Lamborghini Countach replica (go here if the ad disappears), which is priced at a low, low, super-low $8,000!
Now, part of the reason this car is so cheap might be that the general pall of loserness cast by the sword-sliced Muncie home invaders (see photo, above) has depressed all values in the Indianapolis area, but don't let that stop you! This thing has an '87 Buick Grand National turbo V6 installed, though it "needs the turbo piped," and there's nothing wrong with the body that "a small amount of bondo cant fix."

That Backyard Lambo would be fast, once you solved all the turbo bugs and cranked up the boost, but it's still an imitation of a more expensive machine. Get yourself a Stutz Blackhawk, however, and you'll have a genuine original, a car designed from the outset to knock 'em dead at the casinos of Pahrump Las Vegas! Don't listen to those low-rolling Keno players who moan about the Blackhawk being based on a Pontiac Grand Prix, because that would be a slap in the faces of owners such as Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Evel Knieval, and Lucille Ball! You'd think it would be impossible, totally out of the realm of possibility, to purchase a project Blackhawk at a price even close to that of the Backyard Lambo's, but we've tracked down this 1972 Stutz Blackhawk (go here if the ad disappears). Yes, you're seeing that price correctly: $7,500! There's some roughness throughout the car around the edges, but it's a runner: "car runs but has not been on the road for more than 10 years." We're assuming that means the engine makes noise and/or smoke, but don't fret about that- the good ol' Pontiac drivetrain hardware is cheap and easy to find. The interior stuff might be a little more difficult, but you can just Grand Prix-ize it and the ghost of Lucille Ball might not haunt you as a result. The missing emblems and trim components might be tougher to find, but a real Blackhawk owner can overcome all adversity!

You've got your Fauxrraris based on Fieros, or Corvettes, or 280Zs, or even Mitsubishi Eclipses. But say you want the reliability and VTEC power of a Honda product in your Fauxrrari? Sure, sure, it's front-wheel drive, and maybe that makes a Ferronda even more of an abomination in the eyes of Ferrari purists, but horrifying the purists to the point where they have to start dumping extra anisetta shots in their espresso just to maintain the will to live… well, that's why we're here, isn't it? Of course it is, and that's just one of many excellent reasons for you to purchase this 1994 Acura Integra with 'Ferrari F430 conversion' (go here if the ad disappears), which sports a totally reasonable asking price of a mere $2,500. The seller says "everything on car is perfect," but then his or her ironclad sense of honesty compels the following semi-disturbing qualification: "its stalling MILDLY on 2345 gear and when on 60mph wont let me go higher its not tranny cuz wen in neutral i press gas and it struggles so it might be senors or m.a.p sensor which online is 70$." You see? The stalling is mild; get a new MAP sensor and it's good to go! Of course, you'll need to jack up the horsepower to Ferrari standards, so that you'll be able to torque steer your way into the nearest ditch justify that fine, fine pure Bondo bodywork, which means adding turbocharging and intercooling until the combustion chambers are hotter than the surface of the sun.

You could definitely have some fun in an Integrrari, since it would actually be pretty quick and all, but the Fierrari guys will point to your front-wheel burnouts and laugh and you can't have that! If you're going to spend the staggering sum of several thousand bucks on a Fauxrrari, it's got to be rear-wheel-drive, right? What you're looking for, my budget-minded supercar-seeking friend, is a genuine Mustrrari, built on Ford's protean Fox platform. When you've got a Fox, every junkyard in North America will seem like a comprehensively stocked superstore to you, and you want cheap aftermarket performance parts? Whooo-EEEE! You can turn a Fox into a 200 MPH deathtrap performance machine for nickels and dimes, my friend, nickels… and… dimes! "But did anyone ever make a Fox Ford Ferrari kit?" you might be asking, and it turns out the answer to that question is definitely a big 10-4, with this yellow Mustrrari (go here if the ad disappears) as the proof. We don't know the year of the chassis (in fact, it might not even be a Fox, though that's the way to bet), and we don't know the engine size, transmission type, nor anything else of any value to potential buyers, since the seller doesn't wish to divulge that sensitive information in the Craigslist ad. All we know is that "someone just needs to go over the body again, fix the engine, and 'freshen' everything up." How hard could it be?

Hi all, Here are some pics of my past works all done without garage, on my drive. I started on a bike licence back in 1980 so I built my tree wheeler ODYSSEY, a well known car around the custom scene, winning many trophies and most radical at Blackpool indoor show. It had a roof chop to the front roof gullwing doors and a 1600 type 3 VW variant engine and transaxle .

Next was my standard 8, it was a 4 door but i chopped the roof and made a 2 door coupe, it ran a 3.1 V6 with a Jag rear axle narrowed. I then built a one off V12 creation based on a hand built chassis and a bond bug body which sat in front of the steering wheels. All the running gear was out of a Jaguar.

After a long spell away from cars I got Calibra once again, so i built myself a body kit for this car. It featured in Max Power Top 100 at the NEC and got featured in Total Vauxhall. I then acquired the Nova, I intended to do a Ferrari Enzo lookalike but got somewhat side tracked. The car is still not finished, but I did enough bodywork to get the MOT to enable me to get to shows. I can't say when it will be finished as I am to reluctant to take it off the road since I am having too much fun driving it about. The car has just won Discovery Channel's Chop Shop London Garage, UK's Wildest Ride, they plan to do a write up on my work to coincide with a new series out soon.

Hope this is of some interest to you. Once again thanks for the attention, I understand people's mixed feeling about the car but it is what it is, my bit of fun, and surely that's all that counts.

Thanks, Steve