View Single Post
  #10  
Old 1st May 2013, 08:54
WorldClassAccident WorldClassAccident is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,558
WorldClassAccident is on a distinguished road
Default

I woke up early this morning so spent some time thinking about my build plans.

I want an A352 to look more like a Maserati 300S and have a BMW Z3 as the starting point. There are a few fundamental constraints that cannot be broken. One of the biggest constraints has been put in place by MrsWCA and therefore is unviolatable – The car must be comfortable, easy to get in and out of and have a roof. The second constraint is that it mustn’t cost a fortune to get finished. The definition of a fortune hasn’t been fully defined so I do have some wiggle room there.
The biggest challenge is un-Jaguarising the A352 and Maserati-fying it. I am not sure if those are words but you know what I mean. I will try to think of the issues with fitting the result onto the BMW on a different posting.


Let’s spot the differences and guess what we can do about them. Clearly Chris will need to cost the different options to decide what we do.
The Maser nose protrudes further forward from the lights and is lower with a bigger aperture.
Option A – Graft a new nose on the S352
Option B – Just reshape the aperture and lose the side lights ignoring the circular vents on the Maser
The Maser has various vents in front of the front wheel, in the bonnet, behind the front wheel etc.
Option C – Try to replicate all of these vents based on the pictures
Option D – Accept that pretty much every Maser photographed has a different configuration of vents and just put the ones I want it – Between front wheel and door, at the front of the rear wheel arch, possibly in the bonnet
The Maser has side exhausts
Option E – Replicate this with custom exhausts and risk burning MrsWCA’s beautiful legs
Option F – Lose the side exhausts but possibly fit a more fruity sounding exhaust to replace the existing one
The Maser has humps
Option G – Add fixed humps to the A352. This will severely impact the ability to open and close the roof which breaks the first constraint so is unlikely to be possible.
Option H – Add removable humps to the A352. Not sure if this is possible but perhaps a removable panel going over the folding roof with a couple of humps on it could be made. This would be only fitted if there was no possibility of rain when MrsWCA was in the car or if it wasn’t going to rain much and I was in the car.
Option I – No humps. There are some Masers around without humps so again, like the vents, this could be considered correct
The windscreen and doors are different sizes and shapes.
Options J– This is going to be taken straight from the Z3 unchanged
Option K – This is going to be slightly modified but is still dictated by the Z3


My current thoughts are:
Option A or B is totally determined by the cost involved. I want A but suspect it will be pricey
Options D & F
Option H if it is cheap enough, otherwise option I
Option J or K are really down to Chris and what is required to make it work.

Last edited by WorldClassAccident; 1st May 2013 at 14:53..
Reply With Quote