An astute reader solved the mystery of the Mercedes SLR copy we uncovered a month ago. The story behind the replica can finally be told in its entirety. It truly is an amazing tale of mad skill, ingenuity and perseverance.
A man in Poland, Robert Furtak, had the brilliant idea of using a scale-model SLR as a template to build a replica of the full-sized model, which will likely be rarer than the Holy Grail for years to come. Furtak measured out the dimensions of each part in the kit, and multiplied them by 18. That done, he and master body fabricator, Feliks Ciask, formed each piece to the full-sized dimensions and assembled it. That's the short version. The long version, apparently translated to English using AltaVista, requires a bit of close reading to decipher. The details on the finished product are amazing, and the result is spectacular. [Many thanks to Damiaan for the excellent tip.]
Das MB-Portal Special!: The first SLR with road permission from Poland [MB Portal]
Build Your Own Mercedes SLR [internal]