Hopefully this will not turn into a bad topic...be civil !!!!!

I've noticed that when it comes to building Hot Rod or super customized badass European cars, none of them seem to come from America.

I've seen Volvo T5 and T6 motors stuffed into early 240 series Volvos...not a small feat, both of these turbo motors are originally installed tranversly and for the 240, the motors must be turned 90° to drive the rear wheels instead of the fronts.

The have killer Mercedes and of course the dopest Porsches ever made come from overseas.

I guess seeing the supposedly Boxster powered 914 got me thinking that we lag behind when it comes to cool or different conversions..

Just a thought...........

Hey Mike,

Not sure if you're right...
I'd say it's pretty much equal

I guess it would make sense that the big Porsche tuners are here (Ruf, Gemballa, TechArt, etc). It's the same with tuners for 'murican iron and the rice-cars...

cheers,

Jeroen

Mike..

Its pretty simple.

We build what we have... they build what they have.

They have more Euro built cars and we have more Detroit iron..

How many full on street rods do you see coming out of Europe ?

Oh.. smog laws. I'm sure most of the governments in Europe dont tell them what they can and cant build... they just tax the shit out of them based on what they built.

B

Plus when you do a Porsche hot rod, people on the internet make fun of you. How did US Porsche owners get so sanctimonious? It's like the whole flat six vs. V8 914 debate.

My take? It's because we have allowed the proliferation of stupid laws (as opposed to smart laws). The other thing is somewhere along the line we lost the spirit of ingenuity and creativity. We are turning into a culture of people who feel that everything has to be picked from the menu. We let society tell us what to buy, how to dress, where to eat, what to listen to, and what to drive.

Now, just the fact that we are interested in 914's says we're trying to shake that trend a little, and there are especially atypical people like you, Mike (that's a compliment), that buck the trend and actually use their brain and energy to come up with solutions that fit their exact need/want. You don't let anyone tell you what wheels to buy, what EFI to use, and when it comes to bushings you just make your own because the ones on the menu suck. That's cool. The rest of the population is content to be like sheep and buy what they are told to buy and shuffle along with the rest of the drones, or THINK they can customise their life by ordering off the "stand out from the crowd with these approved accessories" menu. The second crowd are just sheep with bling bling (I finally had to ask a teenager the other day what the @#$% that meant).

Once you start ordering exclusively from the menu it gets easy to become lazy. Then these lazy people raise kids who know no other way. And here we are.

I think these people building these unique custom cars still have some independance left in them and I seriously respect that.

-Ben M.

"Excuse me young lad. I've noticed the kids today have a new phraseology in their vernacular that I am unfamiliar with. It is the term, bling bling. Is this something that has been gleaned from the popular culture such as the Mad Magazine?"

I have thoughts on what's going on in America too, Ben; but it's not 914 related and I don't want to give this board another bruise so soon. *sigh*

It's simple.
Fat, happy, prosperous people don't have much of a drive to compete. They construct happy, safe, little sandboxes in which they can pretend to compete (like NASCAR - or any one of a zillion other typical "American" institutions).

On the other hand, starving, poor, uneducated people don't have the resources to compete - their drive is taken up by bare survival.

I guess it's good to be somewhere in the middle. And if you're a dictator, keep your people polarized. They stay better sheep that way.

Nope....bling,bling is ghetto talk for money or something expensive and flashy.....


It's funny, my boss/co-worker is very white-bread-sheltered-from-MTV-rap-and-BET-TV...I throw him off once in while with slang and he just stares at me not having the slightest clue as to what I am talking about

smog laws are just as bad (or good) in germany. i think brad is dead on. much more US born cars are hot-rodded (sp?) here and more of the european cars overseas ...

Yup, go to the Goodguys car show if you want to see hot rods.

Or, maybe some of us just want a nice, clean example of an original 914.

I've noticed something similar in another hobby of mine. It seems that in europe there are a lot more people doings really exotic things like building their own really hi-fi speaker systems and tube amps, building jet engines, kinda like this guy
http://www.technologie-entwicklung.de/Gast...s__project.html

Not to mention a lot more activity in the amateur radio microwave bands (above 10 GHz). I'm not sure if its really true that there are a lot more techno-hobbyists in europe, or if they are just more visible.

I agree that with cars, there's a lot of hot-rodding here in the US but its centerd around V8s, or more recently imported Japanese 4 cylinder cars.

-Tony

Young folks crack me up.

Tho I'm slowly drifting towards senility, I can still remember when I was 30ish and had all the answers.....now, I have nothing but questions....like:

Which is more worrysome, global warming or the next ice age? Can we burn enuff fossil fuel to keep the ice at bay?

Bling bling, eh? It'll never catch on.....

Gack! Sooo hard ... must resist ...

Sorry JP.....bling,bling has already caught on....in fact on KCBS, the news radio station already has ads featuring this lingo....


Holy sh!t...that flying suit is too cool...there is no way that guy has life insurance, or his policy holder does not know about it !!!!





Hey Ben....talking about this concept of not using OTS components, like Brad once mentioned, most of the stuff that you and I and lot's others are doing have already been done by someone else....I guess we just bring it back into the limelight for others to see again
(I might not look like you, but we sure do think alike, LOL)

Now that I think of it, nothing personal, not that I'm glad to not look like you, I'm just really glad I don't look like Jon

Brad, can we revoke Mueller's posting priveledges until he

• puts his mill back together and makes more than 1 set of rear roller bearings
• finishes his wheel project
• puts his engine together so his car runs again
• turbocharges and re-megasquirts his type IV
• loses 20 pounds himself

Mike, I think the europeans have more cool cars because they have less ADD.

Mueller,
So, what the bling blink is that? New form of OP art?
Don't shine me on, now... tell me "what it is"!
bruce

Its a 'jet-pack.' Some guy named Andreas who I believe is from Germany is building it. Its a home built jet propelled flying machine to hold a single person. If you take a look at this web page http://www.technologie-entwicklung.de/Gast...s__project.html it outlines the project up to this point. Its really amazing what this guy has done to build this thing. The materials he's using and the techniques are really sophisticated and expensive. For instance he's made turbine blades himself by laminating carbon fiber in molds that he made on a CNC wire electrical discharge machine.

The guy who hosts the web page has a lot of crazy projects of his own. For instance, he built his own turbine shaft balancing tool that uses piezo-electric sensors which interface to a computer for sensing imbalance. And he did this on his CNC milling machine at home. I am jealous.

-Tony

those crazy germans

http://www.technologie-entwicklung.de/Gast...rbocharger.html

They did that on Junkyard War's - turbine/jet dragsters.

Now Jeff, I wasn't calling you sheep. I mean you own a 914 for crying out loud. How not-sheep is that? And there is absolutly nothing wrong with a bone-stock 914. I wasn't trying to say you have to modify your 914 to be a non-sheep. I was talking about things like people using television as their guide to life, convinced that they have to buy an Old Navy performance fleece beause Morgan Fairchild said to. (excuse the pun).

-Ben M.

hey, I actually have a turbocharger from a Subaru something or other sitting in my garage waiting to become a jet engine. After I get my 914 running again thats one of my projects I've been meaning to work on for a long time. There's another guy in New Zeland that actually put a home built jet engine to a good use : http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/

I plan on using mine as a combo beer cooler and charcoal starter

-Tony

Well, If Morgan Fairchild were standing right here in front of me, I might be inclined to do whatever she told me to do.

But I don't see that happening any time soon...

I guess it's hard for me to define what is a "sheep"

I often shake my head in dismay, particularly around where I live, and the dozens and dozens of super-tricked-out monster trucks I see. These guys have trucks with 36" of ground clearance, and they use them as daily drivers. (I wonder where these guys get the money - not just to build them, but to maintain them, and keep the gas tanks full ?!?!)

I mean, in one sense, these guys are rebels - because they refuse to drive what the American car industry shoves down their throat. In another sense, they're just members of a different flock.

Another amusing thing is the Calvin-pissing-on-the-Ford|Chevy-logo thing. . .

But you 914 guys (and we Ghia guys). You're just plain stubborn. Not accepted by the Porsche community, rejected by the VW community, and still forced to pay Porsche prices for parts. . . .
yet. . . I want one.

baahhhh.

about the "not accepted by the Porsche community" I personally don't feel that anymore.

When I had my first one 15 years ago that was probably more true.
I think our cars will go through a similar movement as the 356 did.
I don't think the final value will end up as high as theirs, but I think
we'll still see them go up.

AND, how many tail draggin' guys do you see buying sixers and 2 liter cars?
Quite a bit, i would guess.

Sorry it took me so long to reply, but here are some pics about my friend Matti Ayravaine´s latest project, Mercedes 220 SE Coupe with super charged small block Chevrolet.

He have done dozens of own billet parts. He have design and done the wheels for example himself.

And yes, he is quite a guru here in Finland.

Pic 1.

Pic 2.

Pic 3.

Last weekend we had here in Helsinki American Car (Hot Rods) and Tuning Car show. One of the most wildest creations was this Volga (!!!!! yes, russian car that used to be 4-door sedan). It is totally hand built in Russia with modern BMW V12 engine.

And I have to tell you, this was first time I saw here something like that done in Russian. I have never before seen any custom car built in Russian. I dont know which was more amazing, the car itself or the knwledge it was done in Russian.

If you like to read more about this Volga, see THIS

And if you like to see Matti´s previos creation

pic 2

page 3

and 1 more, page 4.

ohh... I am sorry sending so much pics. I hope nobody using modem line get angry. I just wanted to show you something what we have here in North Europe.

It is funny, I heard hear all the time why you there build the most finest cars..... I think the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.....

Suh-weet!

I understand there's also quite a huge hot-rodding scene in Australia - but they apparently tend towards American Iron?

Mad Max is still one of my all time favorite movies. . .

That Volga car is nice...I could see myself cruising around it that

Agreed.
I was working from home yesterday morning waiting for Rich to roll in. Madmax was on. Caught the first half or so before work got in the way.

The Merc is really nice. Nice project for someday?