The Miata AMX07 - an Aston Martin for Mini Me
Who can afford the actual price of an Aston Martin Vanquish S? Not us, and apparently not Australian fitness instructor Michael Lebedev, who has produced a kit that transforms a garden variety Mazda Miata MX-5 into something resembling a Vanquish left in the dryer too long. Inspired by the Vanquish driven by secret agent James Bond in the film Die Another Day, Lebedev produced what appears to be a front end kit out of fiberglass using headlamps from a SMART car. He has started a company called Custom Automotive Restyling to sell his kit, which retails for AUS $7,500, or about USD $5,650.
We wonder what other cars you could make out of the Miata...
a 427 Cobra?
Lego mania?
Use your imagination (and a little Photoshop)...
Thanks Noah for the tip!
[Source: Inside Line]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
scooter 11:13AM (7/17/2006)
Ugly AND a waste of money.
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Luis Longo 11:25AM (7/17/2006)
If you already own a Miata, and you ve been loving that Aston not because its famous background, but because its a good car, you have my permission
GO AHEAD, DREAM ON, TURN THAT MIATA INTO A MEAN VANQUISH.
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Paul 11:26AM (7/17/2006)
what cars do I wish could be made out of the miata? One that doesnt suck... but that wont be possible... ever.
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Corey W. 11:33AM (7/17/2006)
HAHA.. The Miata replaces the Fiero in the Kitcar market...
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Ryan 11:33AM (7/17/2006)
"2. what cars do I wish could be made out of the miata? One that doesnt suck... but that wont be possible... ever.
Posted at 11:26AM on Jul 17th 2006 by Paul 0 stars"
No love for the MX-5? What do you not like about it?
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Giggles of Doom 11:44AM (7/17/2006)
That 427 kit looks fairly nice, and I could see myself getting it, but not this.
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naugahyde 12:01PM (7/17/2006)
gawdawful
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Tim UF 12:04PM (7/17/2006)
there was a miata that was built for one of the autoshows that had a duratec v-6... (the same that is used in the noble... so it can give you a miata with around 350hp). that could be fun...
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Paul 12:32PM (7/17/2006)
5-
Most notably- appearance. I think that all miatas for the past 10 years have looked dated, and not in a cool retro way, but like a "this was designed in 1983" way. This is closely followed by build quality and power plant.
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Brad 12:39PM (7/17/2006)
i always laughed at the kit to turn a miata (which is a fine car in my opinion) into a bmw z3. lets see, take a 10k used car, and spend 5k on it to make it look like a 13k used car. always made a lot of sense.
kits for fieros made sense, I suppose, as they turned nothing into nothing. but miatas are good the way they are, and short of the v8 conversion, i just gont get it.
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Bill 1:06PM (7/17/2006)
Who would waiste there money on that?
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verdegrrl 1:30PM (7/17/2006)
Lots of Miata body kits. I prefer the ones from Pit Stop.
http://www.moesrealm.com/miata/bodykits.html
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Phelix 1:51PM (7/17/2006)
I need to learn another language, because English doesn't have a word that sufficiently describes the rare combination of ugliness and ridiculousness that is found in that car.
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Otto Ingineer 1:52PM (7/17/2006)
verdegrrl-
I agree, though I thought the brand was "Pit Crew". Previous GRM magazine had a write-up on one known as the "blue potato", which added individual throttle bodies underhood to give a "classic sound" to match its "classic look".
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Road Tester 1:52PM (7/17/2006)
He should better have left the car as it was before. This is a catastrophe. By the way, what SMART are these headlights from? They look more like the ones from a Fiat Barchetta. I don't know any SMART that has headlight like this.
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ZoomZoomin' 2:02PM (7/17/2006)
So unbelievably terrible...OMG, that's terrible. That has to be one of the fugliest things I've seen (and I love Astons). Did I mention terrible?
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Presto 2:05PM (7/17/2006)
Was this the same guy that took Pontiac Fiero, and transformed it into a Ferrari Testarosa? Imposter.
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iQuack 2:08PM (7/17/2006)
Reminds me of the phony Rolls Royce grilles people stuck onto their VW Bugs in the '60s/'70s. Clever, but worthless.
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John B 2:15PM (7/17/2006)
#9 Build quality? Everyone I've known or met who has, or previously owned a Miata (MX-5), has always praised the cars quality.
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PJ 2:38PM (7/17/2006)
You've got to respect the time and effort that someone pu into this. Really.
Unfortunately, the end result still looks like a horribly disfigured, horribly expensive Miata.
Just to throw in my two cents, Paul, I've never considered build quality and powertrain to be Miata weaknesses. They're damn near bulletproof, as far as reliability goes, and while the M1's (1990-1997's) interior looks chintzy today, Miatas' trim fit and materials quality have always been quite good compared to cars of the same vintage. The current MX-5 is actually very impressive in this regard.
The powertrain is a weakness if you're most interested in outright power, but in terms of tactile enjoyment and immediacy, the Miata's engine/transmission combo is one of the sweetest available at any price.
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