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I bought this Gazelle kit car after the owner spent $16,000 building it and put 15 miles on it and put it in storage. Everything is in really good shape but I was not thrilled with the overall look. Also not thrilled in the beige body and brown fenders that they all seem to come with.
So first order of business is to get rid of that ugly and not very authentic looking grille and put a real Mercedes grille on it. It will take a little bit of fitting to the front fiberglass but that's all work I can do pretty easily. Other plans are a complete red paint job, flip top gas cap in the center of the cowl (was under the fake radiator cap), eliminating the ugly rear bumper in favor of W116 Mercedes front bumper over riders and several other little details. Since I only paid $1,500 for it running and driving, I won't be upside down in it even with the additions.
I have to say that I REALLY love the way this 1959 Mercedes grille makes this car look already!
More progress. Chopped off the entire front cap of the fiberglass body. Reattached the front hood drip rail and used that to attach the grille to. Had to pull the body narrower by about 3/4 of an inch using a threaded bolt with nuts and washers on each side while I replace the inner reinforcement.
Well there is no getting around the fact that it is a VW based Gazelle. But it will have a very unique look when I'm done. Coming down the road it may make a few people go WTH is that! lol
Another update. Got all of the bodywork done fitting the grille. Added a pair of vintage spot lights from an old firetruck as fog lights. The pattern on the glass lenses matches the pattern of the grille mesh perfectly. They were $50 and I think they look great. Going to use hot rod headlight stands and put the headlights back on too (on order), but no silly horns or grille cross bar. Shaved the turn signals from the top of the fenders to keep the clean and simple theme going.
Painted and now starting to reassemble. Rear bumpers are 1973 Mercedes 450SEL front bumper over riders. I moved the gas cap to the cowl and used a 1967 Plymouth Barracuda flip top gas cap. I will be installing the headlights tomorrow on hot rod stanchions so it will have four lights in front when I am done.
