The original plan with the Mantas over here was to turn the orange car into a narrow body 400 replica (silver, of course) and the new bodyshell into a LHD Starmist Black Exclusive, but without a rear spoiler. This worked well for us, since we both like both of those styles and it gives us something a little more modern (1989-style instead of 1979) to drive on a daily basis.
The revised plan came about because of Louis. Rather than have so many cars, we would cut the orange Manta shell into spare parts and build the bodyshell into a Manta, giving us one Manta over here rather than two. Nice idea, but what should we make now? Will it be the 400 replica or the Exclusive or something entirely different? And what colour?
So there's the problem... What do we make? Here are the candidates so far:
1) A clone of my silver Manta in the UK. I love the look (not surprisingly) and Jo loves it too. For both of us it's probably our favourite look. We have a nice 400 interior here, with new door panels and other bits, so rather than the blue interior we have in the UK car we'd use the 400 interior.
2) A Starmist Black Exclusive without rear spoiler. Yup, one possibility from our original list. We know we like the colour and the look of the car, but I think I'm getting a little "greyed out" and again, we'd probably end up using the 400 interior since it's so nice. The only problem here is that it's a black car with a dark interior. I'd need to find some way of turbocharging the A/C for use in California!
3) An Exclusive, possibly in a different colour. Jo suggested this one and the colour she thought of was a darker metallic grey, more blue-ish than yellow, much like the BMW in this picture. Interior colour TBD. Not bad, and at least it's not straight silver or black (it's a bit inbetween...). I'm just not sure I can handle a car that isn't black or silver. Of course, the other possibility is an Exclusive in the same colour as my silver Manta, maybe the best of both worlds.
4) A silver narrow body 400 (don't have a pic so the white one will have to do...). The other possibility from our original list and the one I'm happy to dismiss. Everyone and his brother has done a 400 clone (even spawning the "400R" fake model type) and I really don't want to do one unless I can make a totally convincing clone, complete with 400 engine, correct rear axle and 5-stud hubs. Just looking at what's involved to do that "properly" is putting me off and I think I'll just enjoy everyone else's copies rather than making another one myself.So there we go. Other things we've decided:
- Neither of us particularly likes chrome bumpers, so we're not likely to start looking for them
- No 400 spoiler
- No matt black bonnet (Andy)
- No orange
Other than that, we're still thinking about it. Not sure on the engine either - I've got an XE here that I could use and of course it has a 2.4 at the moment. I'm not going to put a 6-cylinder in it as it would never pass smog (even the most stupid testers can count to 6), even though that would probably be ideal for the type of car we want.
Ideas / votes on email to the usual address... :-)
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