Why???

When I was a kid I used to obsess over these kit cars. I would dream of getting the white Lamborghini Countach. I would buy all the magazines and always imagined I would get one.

Now that I'm a grown man I couldn't imagine anything other than the real thing.

For 18k it could just be a good car and it seems well made but it's hard to tell with just photos.

I can't remember the name of the company but I remember they are in England and they made a very impressive 355 replica with a peugeot 205 (I think) The wheelspan is identical and made it look very real.

 

I've seen worse kits. I also used to dream of building a kit 355, would have been a heck of a lot cheaper to maintain than the real one.

 

To answer your question...

The reason someone would buy this monstrosity is that 99% of the public would not be able to tell it isnt a real Ferrari...so the driver gets Ferrari street cred from the majority of people (girls) he meets, and simply has to endure some laughter when encounters a car guy.

 

What he said.... it's the "Majority won't know and I'll look cool" factor. The few that
know he doesn't care about. Not the worst of fakes - I've seen far worse. But still
a fake to ANYONE who knows the "real deal"

Jedi

 

I think this was the company. They have now moved onto the 360 and 430 replicas:

http://www.dnaautomotive.com/home.html

 

This was my story exactly as well. The white Countach from Prova replicas. I would read those kitcar mags all the time just dreaming of building every piece of it. I must say that now that I have my Ferrari, it is so much more than just having the look. It is the entire experience. I get just as excited rolling out at 2 am by myself to go run around on the empty streets as I do driving through a crowd of onlookers in the afternoon. It is about your response to the car, not the response of others to you.

 

There's a 328 replica around me that I see daily on my drive home.

I can see that it's a joke, but it's close enough that most wouldn't know. I can also hear the V6 exhaust note, but the resonator setup he has goves a sound that can fool so long as he stays low rpm. I can see the note being totally plastic if he revved up the "beast".

He even has the license plate surround with "Ferrari of Beverly Hills" to help in the deception. lol

Also, there's a thread in the TR section where a 512 owner posted pics of a kit that his bank didn't approve (to finance, lol) in the early '90s. It was titled, "Life before exotic cars" or something similar.

 

The answer to the OP: Why not?

That is one of the better looking replicas, including good replica seats including piping, like my 355F1 GTS, and a 308 Momo steering wheel.

Could be a good buy, properly disclosed.

 

An automatic? That's the worst part about it, at least put some paddle shifters in if you're going to use an auto. The rear of the car looks like it's tweaked, look at the shot where it's sitting in the driveway, the roof is level but the bumper isn't and you can see some twist in the hood. Could be the way it's sitting and that the rear of the car just isn't very stiff...

All that being said, it's one of the better looking kits I've seen. Proportions look right and the interior isn't standard Fiero, but still easy to pick out as fake. The fog lights and rear quarter windows jump out as completely wrong. For that kind of money, I'd pick up an accident damaged real one or spend an extra 5-7k and get a 348 with some 355 lower door panels.

 

Tell me whyyy............ ain't nothin but a faaakeee...

Tell me whyyy............ ain't nothin but a mistakeee....

Tell me whyyy, I never wanna see a fake....

I wanttt it that-a-way.....

 

I cannot speak for replica Ferraris but a lot of the high quality replica Lamborghini Diablos and some of the Countachs are made/bought by individuals that use to own the real thing. I have had many conversations with Replica Diablo owners and it seems the overwhelming argument was that they loved the look and sound of the Diablo but the steep maintance prices and overall design was so flawed that creating a replica made sense to them. I rather save for the real thing, but the fact remains that it was not a lack of money that pushed many of them to make high end replicas, it was the belief that they could make a car that had many of the great things about the Lamborghini without all the faults.

 

I've always hoped the replica companies would take all that car making talent and make a car that is an attempt at an improvement over the original.

Imagine if that 355 replica company would make a slightly longer and wider 355 styled car and put a Ferrari 550 V12 engine in it mounted mid-engine with a 6-speed stick-shift.

Now that's the kind of "replica" that would be intriguing to see and drive.

 

Here is a car local to me:

He only posted one picture but it's a 1992 Toyota MR 2 with Ferrari shields and a Mitsubishi 3000GT rear end.

http://boise.craigslist.org/cto/2812771161.html

 

So what if someone walks up to you and calls it a replica, its not a big deal. A lot of people do not change the oil in their car, let alone have the skills needed to build a vehicle themselves. I do not see why some strangers opinion matters, its not like driving a real Ferrari or Lambo does not come with its share of condescending remarks. There are posers everywhere, it does not matter whether they are driving a 458, LP 640, or a replica of either one. A car does not make one "cool", the car is cool, the driver is just that...a driver. The last time I was out in a Diablo Roadster the car stopped traffic everywhere it went, and it was not because the guys in the seats were that interesting.

However there is a difference between cheap fiero junk and a custom tube chassis replica that is basically a street legal race car. The replica NAERC I looked at was a fantastic car and for 45k was an absolute bargain, the only thing that kept me away was that a Vette V8 does not sound nearly as good to me as a the original V12. In a race, the replica would have blew the doors off all but a few Real Diablos. The seller also owns a 2003 Murcielago and a 2005 Viper, and builds Diablo Replicas as a hobby.

For 45k a V8 NAERC Replica is a pretty good buy.
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Dang...looks real convincing...

 

The 355 in the link is a pretty decent copy too.

 

That car sold for 45k dollars?

 

Yup - the passenger side of the dash looks way better than any of the real 355s!

 

Why 18,500.00 / Used 355 on e-bays average 55k
plus insurance / maintenance / fear of damage to the real deal etc..,

 

And took a bit of work to stretch the frame...

I think it would be a fun car to throw around. However, it needs a V-8 and that's not too difficult to do. One can even do a longitudinal install as well.

http://www.fieroaddiction.com/SBCLa.html

Personally, I prefer Fieros as Pontiac intended...

 

I keep going back and forth on that. Looking at my notchback standing out in the street (when the other cars need to be worked on) I tend to think it does look quite nice after all. Then a few days later I'll look at it from a different angle and think the design could be improved upon.

 

For 45k you can have a C6 ZO6, a 997, or be within spitting distance of a 360 in the next year or so, and have an excellent performing respectable car, rather than driving around trying to be someone that you aren't.