Frank Killam is at it again!
Now most of you will know Frank
as either the USA National Champion or by his body shells. In fact
a great many of you will be using his BMW 320 shell. It is hardly
surprising as Frank works in the design area of BMW USA. However,
his first shell was the Honda Accord, another one a lot of you bought
and raced.
(See the PS at the end)
His third shell was eagerly awaited and it was a.............Lexus!!
What was that all about? Obviously Lexus has a greater
presence and meaning in the States than over here. In Europe it is
certainly not raced but it is also seen as a safe Mercedes look-alike.
The Japanese are well known at taking a design and improving it hence
the Lexus an up-market Toyota. We all know Toyota make great cars.
If you want good build and bullet-proof reliability then Toyota is your
man but passion? Design? Petrol-head appeal? Sorry,
the marque is a million miles away. In fact the last car with any
flair or passion to come out of Japan was the Datsun 240Z which was part
Mustang and Part E-Type. The later understandable as the designer
of the car was originally taught in the UK and did a stint at Jaguar.
Since then it has been ugly, boring but reliable cars. Have you
ever seen some of the stuff running round Tokyo? Straight out of a
comic book which is why they are never exported. If you still
don't agree then let us take the Prius. You would think that in
launching a hybrid car they would give it looks (if not design passion),
flair etc., but no. Someone at Toyota must have said 'Your brief
gentlemen is to design the most ugly and boring car in the world'.
They sure succeeded!
So as most of you beat-up the motorway and roads to work and back each
day in either a Eurobox or Repmobile what does flair, design, passion in
a car mean? The obvious answer is Ferrari. As none of us are
idiot footballers then one has to lower ones aspirations somewhat.
A six year old Maserati can sell for 23k to 30k. In fact let us go
further. Unless you are thinking classic Brit Sport cars or
Italian wheels the above description does not apply.
OK I hear some of you say BMW - BMW a drivers car. Yes but what
about the Z3 and the even uglier Z4? BMW's now look so boring and
unstylised except for the wheels! Think CSI beating up the Sierra
Cosworths in the Touring Car series. Think BMW Series 9 that was
so beautiful you salivated! The last time I saw a 9 Series
was three years ago they are so rare but gorgeous. Mercedes lost
it's way as well as it's reliability (now getting better). Notice
I am not including any French cars which are built to be smashed into
and therefore not look good! The UK car industry has long gone so
what are we left with? Italian metal. Yes I know, some have
been dogs but even as dogs they looked bloody good.
So if you wanted a second car, maybe a classic, to use at weekends when
not in the Eurobox what would you go for? 6K would buy you a
tidy Alfa Guilia Spider (Graduate car to you if you saw the film).
3-4K gets you an iconic near supercar acceleration Fiat Coupe Turbo
(poor mans Ferrari) 2-4K gets you a tidy Alfa GTV and so on.
I am discounting E-types as these motors that have been re-furbished are
or can be as much as 50K so we lower our sights. Austin Healey
3000-maybe if looked after. Triumph TR4 (brother-in-law has one
and adores lavishing money on it) Triumph TR6 (had one in red and boy
could it pull. A quick blast on Country roads and the passenger
was nicely prepped with damp undergarments) but you do need one
converted to electronic fuel injection. Something more modern?
Obvious choice is the well sorted Maxda MX5 sport scar but do consider
the latest stuff coming out of Italy.
The Alfa 159/Brera/Spider series. Discounting supercars, show me a
car that looks as good as this, oozes flair and passion and is drivable
to boot. Ah you say but Alfa's are notoriously unreliable.
Yes and no. If looked after previous models are reliable.
These new ones are bullet-proof. Those that know me also see I
have a 159. From new 3 days old and a creaking windscreen (fixed)
1 month old the alarm sounder failed (fixed) since then and 24K miles
nothing. Like I said bullet-proof and I drive it hard as the car
asks for it. Has been re-mapped to give 210hp and 420newton meters
of torque from a 1.9! It's front wheel drive you say! Yes but double
wishbones and a well sorted chassis and the back never steps out and the
front just keeps turning in. Good second hand ones are 12-16K.
Think about it.
One Country we have left out is the USA. Well known for cars that
cannot turn corners, with suspension so soft you get sea-sick and
massive bonnets requiring a map to find the engine. Oh and muscle
cars! YES! The most iconic are the Bullitt Ford Mustang.
(Even I wet my pants thinking about that one and the exhaust noise?)
Pontiac GTO and Corvette Stingray. All three eventually lost their
way but the Corvette is back on track and how! I can only think
they got some European chassis designer over there as it handles like a
true supercar and all that torque! In the UK you can pick up
second hand 2 year old ones for about 30K. So has Frank Killam
finally had his blood exchanged for petrol? Yep. Frank has
finally done it with the
C6R Corvette.
The first picture shows Frank with the base mold and he says the
finished shell will be available later in 2009. Get your order in
as if you don't drool over this shell you do not belong in the red
blooded male club. (I have included some full sized car pics
afterwards so you can see what it will look like).
Remember Frank how the Alfa 156 walloped
the others in the DTM Series? Could you be persuaded to make an
Alfa 159 racing shell perhaps? Maybe the Brera for the SWB Porsche
chassis? Alfa's are being re-launched in the US this year.
Frank may be contacted at
Frank.Killam@designworksusa.com
PS. After publication of this page Frank
corrected me thus...............
In response to you
article in Rev-up (thank you by the way) the Lexus is actually my
5th body, the BMW e46 was 1st in 2003, followed by the Honda Accord
in 2005. A NASCAR cup body (2006) and the e90 BMW in 2007. Now we
have the Lexus and soon we will have the new C6R Vette (2009).
In the planning stages
(making drawings) we have the new Chevy Cruze WTCC car and a Lexus
Riley Daytona Prototype. After that a new Honda and the next
generation BMW 3 series, so get your paint ready!
I feel suitably admonished :-))
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