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An enjoyable day this year . The whole place had a better feel to it this year , Stoneleigh as a venue is getting some investment at last , it was going down the pan.
There was more of a buzz this year in the trade halls and it was quite busy. Some really outstanding exhibits on show , standards do seem to be rising year on year.
Great to meet up with those going to the LeMans Classic. I think WCA was on commission to sell as many kits over the weekend as humanly possible !!
Should have stayed the extra day, I sailed past yesterday's emergency road works at 90, I mean 70, or is it 50 at that point? They didn't let us out the hall until 5pm and I was home by 6:30 so I count that as clear roads
No commission beyond the occasional beer. It is just a tarts car and I am an old tart who likes talking about it. :-)
I don't think I'm being generous at all - if you had seen the DNA in real life and compared it to the Tribute 250 you'd see they do not compare.
No worries regarding the lenses - I was probably just not being very clear. Likewise, I wasn't comparing the lines of the DNA 250 with Tribute's offering, but to the original. There's a lightness to the original flowing, curvilinear form which, in my admittedly rather unsophisticated opinion, is wanting in DNA's (still quite pretty) offering. Compare this:
with this:
The donor's wheelbase and track are sufficiently larger than that of the 250 SWB that it tells its own tale by comparison.
No offence intended to DNA whatsoever, but frankly, your SWB, pictured in a couple of posts made from Stoneleigh (Tribute's design, unless I'm mistaken?)
goes rather a long way toward preserving - or replicating - the original bodyform and linear balance, no doubt owed to the fact that it's built on a donor of slightly more suitable proportions.
As ever, the usual caveats regarding my eyesight and sense of composition apply.
I can see where you are on that ...trouble with car design is its all copied or influenced by ...I can see shades of Spitfire in it too ...not obviously but its along the lines of ..problem is any 60's era sports car is going to share similar qualities ...
look at the rear light angle , hipped rear quarters , wheel arches , even the bumpers !!
59-64 Maserati 3500 GT is similar too ... the list goes on and on ...
My old Sammio gets referenced to Lancias ..mostly because I quoted that as an influence on my 'storyboard' but there is equally comparable lines to Maserati , AC , Ferrari , Kurtis 500 , Mercedes etc etc etc... its all generic .
It looks like a good job well done to me and they will have a market for them ...you basically pays your money and makes your choice !!
I said years ago Retro and going backwards was the way forward ...makes me smile to see major players taking that path now classic cars have soared in popularity and price ...how many will follow ?
I agree with Lancelot.
Its a pretty car and it was well presented.
The trouble arises with the word "replica" as soon as its mentioned everybody expects a millimetre perfect reproduction.
Albeit they don't want them to be unsymmetrical.
Which makes me laugh as all early specialist cars were hand formed and varied greatly.
The cobra is inches different on both sides. no less pretty but hard for people to accept.
More modern cars like the MGF are also twisted as standard. the first batch especially so.
So the wording evocation or inspired by is much safer and will not encourage people to look for the differences.
Just a quick post to say a massive thank you to everyone who took the time to bring their cars along to Stoneleigh and display them on the Tribute Stands. Thank you also to all customers, old and new, for the words of support.
I will have some time later today to post up a few pictures and more words.
Thanks Geoff, it was good to put a face to the name. Fired up from the show I was down at Wilfs body shop I removed both front inner wheel arches to give a better view of the bottom of the bonnet / bulkhead for when we cut the inner box section to try and pull the bonnet in. still not decided what to do about the small bonnet ie keep the pins at the back or fasten it down permanently to get a nice clean bonnet line. My mate ordered the chrome trim that goes round the wind screen form BMW very surprised £84 (trade) One thing Wilf did comment on was although the DNA is quite a bit more expensive due to the finish of the mouldings and general fit, if he was doing the prep and spraying it would be about £2 to £2.5K less in prep time. But he still preferred the shape of the SWB again all down to personal taste.
