The Ferrari Daytonas of Miami Vice

[Kavinsky]

Yes was wondering if this is the look JN is trying for with the door panels or something else?This is almost identical to my door panels though mine are in the tan color. Who is the manufacturer? thanks. I'll have to check into these though my power antenna mast is pretty long when extended and I need to try and replicate the same length. Not sure what length these go to. It has a power connection and then a lead from the Sony radio system that raises it when the radio is turned on and lowers it when the radio is turned off.

rowley corvette with there GTS are the ones who made the ones the vice car has now but I think the arm rest was rewored and recovered in new leather for a reinforced grab handle[url">

http://rowleycorvette.com/gtc.html

Vitaloni windshield mirror? How can you tell?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alfa-Romeo-Spider-Interior-Rear-View-Mirror-Vitaloni-/290701823784?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessorie s&hash=item43af2dcf28&vxp=mtrwell its smaller and its got that distinct shape to it that the normal vette mirror doesnt have and it looks like its mounted in two places which it kinda looks like on the alfa mirror there except thats the night driving tab on it

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1o-NWNmQLM

meaning it looks like its been mounted upside down' date=' with the tap facing the top of the windshield which could still potentally work for night driving

The door panel is built up at the bottom and has a courtesy light. It covers the arm rest and allows the neck of the arm rest to be used to pull the door.

thing is though that it seemed like they always rested their arms on the top of the door and just grabbed the top of the door to open and shut it and well atleast once or twice PMT didnt even bother grabbing the door handle and opted to open it from the outside making me wonder if that was just easier for him to do or if the door handle brokeprobably easier to open from the outside as the door handle is so far forward as long as the glass is down

I actually think it is the GM mirror rolled inverted and pushed up out of the way for the scene. It doesn't sit nearly as high in the rest of the scenes.

I dont know it looks too short for that and too narow which got me thinking it wasnt a GM mirror to begin with hence why I looked for a vilatoni rear view mirror that matched the shape

It is actually no different then when it had the standard Vette dash. The hardest thing to see are the turn signal indicators--which I could not see before.The first shot is taken just to the right of the driver's head. Gives you an idea of how the gauges look. THe second one is a comparison of one of my favorite shots from "Florence Italy".

If I remember the old dash correctly the turn signal indicators are where the leather hangs down right? and you mean you couldnt see them to begin with?

[jurassic narc]

yeah pretty much looks like what the vice car has doorwise minus the black trim (which is actually more acurate to the actual car) and a stock corvette inner door handle

Right, Rowley's door panel is the most accurate to the Ferrari. The panels on the Camera car were made by Marc Cicheitti and were unique as far as I can tell. They use the stock vette door handle but are wrapped in such a way that they seem difference than a Vette. In all the MV shots the door pull looks like it is missing.This is one I got from Cichetti before he took everything off line. And the Camera Car during "Tale of the Goat".

[Sonny-Burnett]

Right' date=' Rowley's door panel is the most accurate to the Ferrari. The panels on the Camera car were made by Marc Cicheitti and were unique as far as I can tell. They use the stock vette door handle but are wrapped in such a way that they seem difference than a Vette. In all the MV shots the door pull looks like it is missing.This is one I got from Cichetti before he took everything off line. And the Camera Car during "Tale of the Goat".[/quote']Still trying to visualize where the armrest is. Looks like an open cutout in the door panel. So the handle must be leveled out then if it is in the opening and I would guess then that the lower half of the door panel must protrude to allow an arm to rest on it?

[Kavinsky]

What car is this one?

Still trying to visualize where the armrest is. Looks like an open cutout in the door panel. So the handle must be leveled out then if it is in the opening and I would guess then that the lower half of the door panel must protrude to allow an arm to rest on it?

and actual daytona coupe' date=' they sometimes have the door trim rigged up to match the color of the daytona striping which based on what the owner ordered can be a bright color as well[img']http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5888&stc=1&d=1335651856http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5889&stc=1&d=1335651857yeah the top down to about midway down the door panel is level with the stock door and then the lower half prodtrudes about a half an inch or so not unlike the pre 1978 door panel in a way:and I kind of figured it was missing a grab handle and he had all of his stuff online then? what else did he have besides that?

[Sonny-Burnett]

and actual daytona coupe' date=' they sometimes have the door trim rigged up to match the color of the daytona striping which based on what the owner ordered can be a bright color as wellyeah the top down to about midway down the door panel is level with the stock door and then the lower half prodtrudes about a half an inch or so not unlike the pre 1978 door panel in a way[/quote']Thanks but what I meant was where is the armrest in the screen caps of the show car that JN was showing?

[Kavinsky]

Thanks but what I meant was where is the armrest in the screen caps of the show car that JN was showing?

thats car 1 in the red' date=' the beat up 76 car they used as a prototype that they aquired and repainted for the second episode and the other shot is from tales of the goat with car 4 at 1:37

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCJoYoN7TuE

[jurassic narc]

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCJoYoN7TuE

No that is Car 3 in red. It had the same dash and seats as Car 4, but in red trim. The door handle is inside the door panel.The dash and doors on Car 1 and 2 were done by an upholstery shop in Huntington Beach California. The shop is still in business, but they have no records of what they did for Mardikian.

[Sonny-Burnett]

No that is Car 3 in red. It had the same dash and seats as Car 4' date=' but in red trim. The door handle is inside the door panel.The dash and doors on Car 1 and 2 were done by an upholstery shop in Huntington Beach California. The shop is still in business' date=' but they have no records of what they did for Mardikian.[/quote'']Ok so the angled part of the armrest then is visible in your circled picture and then the horizontal part of the armrest is hidden below the panel of the door just below the open cutout area? So again the lower part of the door panel must come out further than the top, to allow a horizontal surface for resting your arm?

[Kavinsky]

Ok so the angled part of the armrest then is visible in your circled picture and then the horizontal part of the armrest is hidden below the panel of the door just below the open cutout area? So again the lower part of the door panel must come out further than the top' date=' to allow a horizontal surface for resting your arm?[/quote']basically yeah and I swear all it looks like it someone combined the 78 - 82 door panels with the pre 78 ones and then cut a hole in it, wrapped it in leather and then put a grab handle at the end.didnt know that was Car 3, I thought that was car 1 then, so what did car 1 have then actually?

[jurassic narc]

Ok so the angled part of the armrest then is visible in your circled picture and then the horizontal part of the armrest is hidden below the panel of the door just below the open cutout area? So again the lower part of the door panel must come out further than the top' date=' to allow a horizontal surface for resting your arm?[/quote']Right so it gives the impression that a small black panel with a black armrest is then covered by a tan wrapper that clips to the door.

[jurassic narc]

basically yeah and I swear all it looks like it someone combined the 78 - 82 door panels with the pre 78 ones and then cut a hole in it' date=' wrapped it in leather and then put a grab handle at the end.didnt know that was Car 3' date=' I thought that was car 1 then, so what did car 1 have then actually?[/quote'']With the few clues that exist, it looks like a slightly modified 78-82 door panel. It has an inset (it appears) to reach into and pull the door closed. It may be something you can shed some light on, as you seem to love research. In "Whatever Works" you can see the door panel for a few seconds, and there are probably some other times, but I have never seen a good picture of the Car 1 door.I got lucky to get Cichetti to hook me up with the photos of Car 3. He didn't have any of Car 4 or of the unique headrest that you see in the pilot that has the Mardikian M embroidered in it.

[Kavinsky]

With the few clues that exist' date=' it looks like a slightly modified 78-82 door panel. It has an inset (it appears) to reach into and pull the door closed. It may be something you can shed some light on' date=' as you seem to love research. In "Whatever Works" you can see the door panel for a few seconds, and there are probably some other times, but I have never seen a good picture of the Car 1 door.I got lucky to get Cichetti to hook me up with the photos of Car 3. He didn't have any of Car 4 or of the unique headrest that you see in the pilot that has the Mardikian M embroidered in it.[/quote'']hmm alright ill see what I can do although I get the feeling my best bet would probably be in S1 as car 1 seemed to see much more use in that seasonand the more I look at the pilot seat I think all he did was basically double the top of the seat and the sides to make the seat look more balanced and wide at the top, not unlike the fiero seat hence why it looks like theres such a gap between the headrests and the daytona striping.

[Kavinsky]

looks like its got the same style pocket as car 4 but no light and no boom box speaker plus the door handle seems to be in the pocket itself judging by the reflection of the chrome from the lightlike right around where the grab handle is on Car 3 and the inner door panel seems to be an insert of some sort judging by the line around itactually jurrasic while I think of it does car 4 have power door locks or just power windows that are connected to the two switches on the center console by the handbrake as I know with the 1981 vettes they did just add that option of having both power locks and windows

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4aePWsaKQI

[Sonny-Burnett]

Right' date=' Rowley's door panel is the most accurate to the Ferrari. The panels on the Camera car were made by Marc Cicheitti and were unique as far as I can tell. They use the stock vette door handle but are wrapped in such a way that they seem difference than a Vette. In all the MV shots the door pull looks like it is missing.This is one I got from Cichetti before he took everything off line. And the Camera Car during "Tale of the Goat".[/quote']On a more broad based note one thing that has always puzzled me is what are the major differences between a McBurnie and a Rowley? We talked about grills and some door panels but wondering about body panels and other things.

[Sonny-Burnett]

looks like its got the same style pocket as car 4 but no light and no boom box speaker plus the door handle seems to be in the pocket itself judging by the reflection of the chrome from the lightlike right around where the grab handle is on Car 3 and the inner door panel seems to be an insert of some sort judging by the line around itactually jurrasic while I think of it does car 4 have power door locks or just power windows that are connected to the two switches on the center console by the handbrake as I know with the 1981 vettes they did just add that option of having both power locks and windows

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4aePWsaKQI

These door panels are still hard to visualize for me. Still can't quite understand what that opening or cutout looks like or where your arm would rest on the door.

[Kavinsky]

On a more broad based note one thing that has always puzzled me is what are the major differences between a McBurnie and a Rowley? We talked about grills and some door panels but wondering about body panels and other things.

these are both rowley's:http://corvette.canney.net/webvettes/customized/c0072/index.htmlhttp://www.photos-automobiles.com/shootings/ferrari_daytonaspyder/index.htmfrom what I can tell the front flares are heavily trimmed down on the rowley so there only just above the wheels and dont cover the nose and the area behind the front wheels and sometimes the rear is just as trimmed down like on that blue onethe rowleys all have circular headlights' date=' replica dashes, replica seats that Jurrasic are very uncomfortabile and look like a rack that someone would torture you on given its bumpyness and replica door pannelsand the easy to remove grill and ferrari style leather covering for the handbrake other than that its pretty much just the same car as the mcburnies just a bunch of minor little details are different, personally I think the only thing thats worth keeping from the rowley is the door panels and the ferrari style leather sheeth for the handbrake, the rest I dont care for and want to do something different with

These door panels are still hard to visualize for me. Still can't quite understand what that opening or cutout looks like or where your arm would rest on the door.

you remember what I said about the doors being widened on the replicas to balance out the body?theres probably enough space to put a pocket mixed in with the arm rest below it as the glass is further out in the doors and it would probably start right here where the pink line starts and then pull out the base below the cut out by half an inch to an inch to give it an arm resthttp://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5896&stc=1&d=1335738489http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5895&stc=1&d=1335737087and the arm rest would sit at about the middle of the seat right where the joints are to fold it forwardhttp://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5887&stc=1&d=1335650691http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5886&stc=1&d=1335650680the door handle is a little higher than on that rowley one with the custom ferrari like door handle but its more or less where it would be and as you can see the lower half of the door sticks out more than the higher bit, its probably just like the dash actually, pulled out and lowered with certain areas matching up with the stock profile but in a different way.hell just narrow the top half of this and have the thing split in the middle and it would be a good basis for it

[Sonny-Burnett]

Right' date=' Rowley's door panel is the most accurate to the Ferrari. The panels on the Camera car were made by Marc Cicheitti and were unique as far as I can tell. They use the stock vette door handle but are wrapped in such a way that they seem difference than a Vette. In all the MV shots the door pull looks like it is missing.This is one I got from Cichetti before he took everything off line. And the Camera Car during "Tale of the Goat".[/quote']Can you pls post M Cichetti's website info? Would like to look into this some more.

[jurassic narc]

Can you pls post M Cichetti's website info? Would like to look into this some more.

He took all his car stuff down a couple of years ago. Now only has stuff related to his custom made violins. He was helpful, but said he got screwed by McBurnie when he did the interior on the two cars. Had nothing good to say about the experience.I was able to get some of his pictures captured before he took the site down. He wrote me a long email about his recollections, but not many details of any use to me.JN

[jurassic narc]

On a more broad based note one thing that has always puzzled me is what are the major differences between a McBurnie and a Rowley? We talked about grills and some door panels but wondering about body panels and other things.

The Rowley body was much closer to the real Ferrari (particularly as far as the rear wheel flares). The Rowley cars were generally re-done from the ground up and were of extremly high quality. Rowley actually was dropped from litigation by Ferrari after he made a concerted effort to brand his car with a unique logo and to caution poeple who built the cars not to add Ferrari branding.Rowley cars were most often built with enhanced handling packages and EFI engines. You seldom see one on EBay, and when you do they are in good shape and asking a premium price.But all those cars started with the original molds that McBurnie made to start with. If not for him and the 365GTS that he molded originally, none of the cars would have been made (arguably).

[Kavinsky]

The Rowley body was much closer to the real Ferrari (particularly as far as the rear wheel flares). The Rowley cars were generally re-done from the ground up and were of extremly high quality. Rowley actually was dropped from litigation by Ferrari after he made a concerted effort to brand his car with a unique logo and to caution poeple who built the cars not to add Ferrari branding.Rowley cars were most often built with enhanced handling packages and EFI engines. You seldom see one on EBay' date=' and when you do they are in good shape and asking a premium price.But all those cars started with the original molds that McBurnie made to start with. If not for him and the 365GTS that he molded originally, none of the cars would have been made (arguably).[/quote'] any idea what the specifics of the handling package is? as I remember the kit car article being oddly specific about the engine and gearing but it mentioned nothing of the suspension mods

[jurassic narc]

any idea what the specifics of the handling package is? as I remember the kit car article being oddly specific about the engine and gearing but it mentioned nothing of the suspension mods

Really depends on the year it was built, but they generally took the car down to the frame and added rack and pinion steering and the latest and greatest to get the C3 to handle like a C4. I think in the later years you could convert the entire C3 suspension to a C4 if you had the cash available.Rowley cars are by far the best driving, due to the attention paid to details (so many companies just threw a body on a car and sold it). They are also, and justly so, the most expensive.

[Sonny-Burnett]

from what I can tell the front flares are heavily trimmed down on the rowley so there only just above the wheels and dont cover the nose and the area behind the front wheels and sometimes the rear is just as trimmed down like on that blue onethe rowleys all have circular headlights' date=' replica dashes, replica seats that Jurrasic are very uncomfortabile and look like a rack that someone would torture you on given its bumpyness and replica door pannelsand the easy to remove grill and ferrari style leather covering for the handbrake other than that its pretty much just the same car as the mcburnies just a bunch of minor little details are different, personally I think the only thing thats worth keeping from the rowley is the door panels and the ferrari style leather sheeth for the handbrake, the rest I dont care for and want to do something different with[/quote']Interesting comments on the Rowley. It seems from the pics that the Rowley is closer in appearance to the actual Ferrari with narrower flares, the grill and some other cosmetics as well as the interior design, though my interior is pretty Ferrari-like as well given that is was made later on in McBurnie's manufacturing stages, including the dash and the headlight covers on the exterior. I was flipping through some McBurnie Coachcraft literature today and did find where McBurnie took some jabs at other Kit makers including Rowley. I do need to take some time and scan in a lot of pages I have from the previous owner that includes assembly instructions, marketing literature including photos, invoices to the owner, and detailed descriptions of the manufacturing process. May make for interesting reading here.

you remember what I said about the doors being widened on the replicas to balance out the body?theres probably enough space to put a pocket mixed in with the arm rest below it as the glass is further out in the doors and it would probably start right here where the pink line starts and then pull out the base below the cut out by half an inch to an inch to give it an arm rest

Wow, my doors are not that wide. Who is the manufacturer?

and the arm rest would sit at about the middle of the seat right where the joints are to fold it forwardhttp://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5887&stc=1&d=1335650691http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5886&stc=1&d=1335650680the door handle is a little higher than on that rowley one with the custom ferrari like door handle but its more or less where it would be and as you can see the lower half of the door sticks out more than the higher bit, its probably just like the dash actually, pulled out and lowered with certain areas matching up with the stock profile but in a different way.

Yeah I can see that now. Thnx

[Sonny-Burnett]

Really depends on the year it was built' date=' but they generally took the car down to the frame and added rack and pinion steering and the latest and greatest to get the C3 to handle like a C4. I think in the later years you could convert the entire C3 suspension to a C4 if you had the cash available.Rowley cars are by far the best driving, due to the attention paid to details (so many companies just threw a body on a car and sold it). They are also, and justly so, the most expensive.[/quote']I think McBurnie Coachcraft may have something to say about that claim about being the best. From what I read in the specs and manufacturing literature McBurnie Coachcraft also built a very high quality car and used similar high-end materials in construction of the interior, body panels, and the engine/suspension components. Options would have added significant cost as well for the interior, wheels, suspension, and engine upgrades. And at a turnkey price of just under $50,000 in 1988 dollars that translates to around $76,000 in today's dollars. Big bucks in 1988 for any car.

[Sonny-Burnett]

He took all his car stuff down a couple of years ago. Now only has stuff related to his custom made violins. He was helpful' date=' but said he got screwed by McBurnie when he did the interior on the two cars. Had nothing good to say about the experience.I was able to get some of his pictures captured before he took the site down. He wrote me a long email about his recollections, but not many details of any use to me.JN[/quote']Ah, ok and good that you tracked him down and got some photos. Can you post them?I'll be interested to see the door project that you are doing then and how it turns out. Out of curiosity are your doors the same width as that one photo from Kavinsky? That door width in his pic seems way out of proportion. [ATTACH=CONFIG]5901[/ATTACH]

[jurassic narc]

I think McBurnie Coachcraft may have something to say about that claim about being the best. From what I read in the specs and manufacturing literature McBurnie Coachcraft also built a very high quality car and used similar high-end materials in construction of the interior' date=' body panels, and the engine/suspension components. Options would have added significant cost as well for the interior, wheels, suspension, and engine upgrades. And at a turnkey price of just under $50,000 in 1988 dollars that translates to around $76,000 in today's dollars. Big bucks in 1988 for any car.[/quote']Well, I guess I should put that in context. McBurnie stopped production in 1988. His cars were never produced with many of the features Rowley because Rowley continued production in some version as late as the early 2000s. Some of the last cars were not built by Rowley, but by others who excelled at the production and had made the suspension competative.McBurnie might have made some improvements on the design as time went on if not for the lawsuit. I think what he has done with the cars made at Thunder Ranch are testiment to the fact that he would have produced a high quality car had he stayed in that business.