reholmes Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Yes. It has the wiring diagram for the replacement dash.Does it apply only to the Rowley cars--I've seen several different dash styles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavinsky Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Mr Mike's actually looks like a shifter from an 88 Vette. It can be added with the entire shift mechanism and work (not 100% on the year). THe car 1 shifter looks like an aftermarket shifter that was available at the time which was simply a wooden ball. It was slightly different the the black or chrome ball that was available (although the chrome ball actually looks like the actual Ferrari shifter).FYI Mark Cichetto only did the interior for Mardikian cars 3 and 4.huh that does make more sense' date=' like I said I'm not much of a C4 corvette fan. mine were some of the C2's, some C3's and the C5, along with the C6 ZR1. So with that is a version of the corvette I am ignorant about it.and I didnt know that, I thought Mark had done all 4 to 5, but that does explain why the door handle there on car 1 is like it is on the pre 77 model cars, this being from a 1969 model corvette[img']http://corvette.canney.net/webvettes/1969/1969c/0050.jpghttp://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7640&stc=1&d=1362284447which also explains the lines on the door then, wonder if someone created a door insert to go over it on the bottom and then covered the rest with thin leather and just left it at that.plus it does make more sense seeing as he was jipped for his work on the cars, you know if you were why would you work on all 4 to 5 cars then?also if you want ideas of who you could go to for interior work this showed up recently at 3:34http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XPjYoz8d5calso I can vouch for how bad mako is at car paint jobs, never go to them for anything if you can help itwith the rowley thing there I was just looking at the description of the weight of the car and it says 3,100 pounds, did rowley make the fiberglass thinner and lighter than the mcburnies as I thought the vette and the mcburine would weigh the same more or less.here's the excerpt:The Rowley GTC combines the elegance of timeless Italian styling with the time tested Corvette foundation and drive line. Our shop is dedicated to producing the best possible product using only the finest quality materials including imported German Happic cloth, Finetuft Velour carpet, and Connolly Leather hides. Superior riding comfort, uncommon to the Corvette donor car, is achieved using a specially constructed carbon fiber monoleaf rear spring, Delco gas shocks and specially fitted front coil springs. This 3100 pound sports car delivers the feel and performance of those produced in the mid 60's while exuding a unique character of its own. Track tested and featured on the cover of Petersen's Kit Car Magazine. To see the entire article reprinted click HERE. while the vette is and always seems to have weighted 3,300 pounds according to all of the literature out there save for the aluminum bodied C2 grand sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurassic narc Posted March 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 http://corvette.canney.net/webvettes/1969/1969c/0050.jpghttp://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7640&stc=1&d=1362284447which also explains the lines on the door then, wonder if someone created a door insert to go over it on the bottom and then covered the rest with thin leather and just left it at that.plus it does make more sense seeing as he was jipped for his work on the cars, you know if you were why would you work on all 4 to 5 cars then?also if you want ideas of who you could go to for interior work this showed up recently at 3:34http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XPjYoz8d5calso I can vouch for how bad mako is at car paint jobs, never go to them for anything if you can help itwith the rowley thing there I was just looking at the description of the weight of the car and it says 3,100 pounds, did rowley make the fiberglass thinner and lighter than the mcburnies as I thought the vette and the mcburine would weigh the same more or less.here's the excerpt:The Rowley GTC combines the elegance of timeless Italian styling with the time tested Corvette foundation and drive line. Our shop is dedicated to producing the best possible product using only the finest quality materials including imported German Happic cloth, Finetuft Velour carpet, and Connolly Leather hides. Superior riding comfort, uncommon to the Corvette donor car, is achieved using a specially constructed carbon fiber monoleaf rear spring, Delco gas shocks and specially fitted front coil springs. This 3100 pound sports car delivers the feel and performance of those produced in the mid 60's while exuding a unique character of its own. Track tested and featured on the cover of Petersen's Kit Car Magazine. To see the entire article reprinted click HERE. while the vette is and always seems to have weighted 3,300 pounds according to all of the literature out there save for the aluminum bodied C2 grand sport.McBurnie also said is his literature that the finished car was lighter. I don't know enough about how the fiberglass was done to be able to say how that works. It would seem that the same interior and basic body shell would be the same weight?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurassic narc Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Does it apply only to the Rowley cars--I've seen several different dash styles.All C3 vettes, as near as I can tell. Gauges are generic, and the color code for the wires may be just for 78-82 bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt5 Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Great information Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavinsky Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 McBurnie also said is his literature that the finished car was lighter. I don't know enough about how the fiberglass was done to be able to say how that works. It would seem that the same interior and basic body shell would be the same weight?!not sure either' date=' although he might have lightened the cars in a different way other than the body. As with this video of this sunbeam tiger (a car that is not my taste as it looks way too MG like and I am not a british 2 seat sportscar fan but well its worth taking some notes off of given its cobra connections) the owner mentions he rebalanced and lightened the cars distributed weight by using some aluminum parts to lighten the front end by as much as 140 poundshttp-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyqo03zmzZwfrom 11:02 - 11:42ending up with a 51/49 weight balance instead of the typical 57/43 the car usually had apparentlywhich is more or less exactly the quoted amount taken off of that rowley, and we do know rolwey used that C4 steering on his replicas so it would not be that far off to think he may have used further latter parts to lighten the car to that pointalthough back then I believe they were using heavier cast iron parts in the early 60's on the C1 and C2 so that might be a non issue in the latter ones like the C3 (and dont forget the first year of the C3 was the first year of disc brakes on the corvette too) but usually the vettes were and always have been 3,300 pounds even to this day it seems.and if you lighten the fiberglass well wouldnt we see far more mcburnies in disrepair and with broken bodies and cracks all over them? as fiberglass is not like metal in that regard or even carbon fiberonce a car like that hits something it will chip, break off or crack down the middle, vs how a steel or other car would crumple from what I've seen of the corvettes in disrepair down here under some assembly required http://corvette.canney.net/webvettes/index.htmlwhich is the price you pay for having a rustless body I guess, it was either that or stainless and well that is much more expensive, hard to work with and get dings out from what I've looked into when it came to deloreans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny-Burnett Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 McBurnie also said is his literature that the finished car was lighter. I don't know enough about how the fiberglass was done to be able to say how that works. It would seem that the same interior and basic body shell would be the same weight?!Yeah that's what my MCB literature or sales sheet says about the weight. But having lifted the hood on this car I can tell you the fiberglass used on this car is neither thin nor lightweight. So I really can't imagine where/how the weight would have come out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavinsky Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 Yeah that's what my MCB literature or sales sheet says about the weight. But having lifted the hood on this car I can tell you the fiberglass used on this car is neither thin nor lightweight. So I really can't imagine where/how the weight would have some out.hmm yeah might be one of those deals where it might not be a bad idea to weight the thing in the future to see what kind of total weight and weight balance it has at some sort of performance shop.plus with the weight balance I believe Jurrasic said that on his car and possibly other Carl Roberts made ones it had the gas tank behind the driver instead of in the trunk. Which he moved and that the vice car had had its gas tank moved as well from something along the lines of that to back in the trunk area after its run in the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny-Burnett Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 hmm yeah might be one of those deals where it might not be a bad idea to weight the thing in the future to see what kind of total weight and weight balance it has at some sort of performance shop.plus with the weight balance I believe Jurrasic said that on his car and possibly other Carl Roberts made ones it had the gas tank behind the driver instead of in the trunk. Which he moved and that the vice car had had its gas tank moved as well from something along the lines of that to back in the trunk area after its run in the show.My gas tank is mounted in the rear under the trunk in what looks to be a standard Vette configuration and I would have expected Car 4 to be the same. Can't speak to the Rowley cars and maybe I am slipping but I wasn't aware Roberts made any Daytonas. Thought JN mentioned once he planned to make them but was shut down before production. Which leads me to ask the members here, who were the primary Daytona replicar manufacturers and in what estimated volumes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurassic narc Posted March 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 My gas tank is mounted in the rear under the trunk in what looks to be a standard Vette configuration and I would have expected Car 4 to be the same. Can't speak to the Rowley cars and maybe I am slipping but I wasn't aware Roberts made any Daytonas. Thought JN mentioned once he planned to make them but was shut down before production. Which leads me to ask the members here' date=' who were the primary Daytona replicar manufacturers and in what estimated volumes?[/quote']Actually the standard Vette gas tank was mounted much higher and the spare tire hung about where the gas tank is on your car. Car 4 and the McBurnies all had their gas tank relocated down (like yours is), only Roberts cars had the gas tank behind the driver's compartment. Roberts id manufacture cars, although probably less than 30. McBurnie and Rowley both probably only produced about 75 cars, although McBurnie built kits that might bring his total progeny to about 100. Most people in the field think that less than 300-350 cars total were completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurassic narc Posted March 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 hmm yeah might be one of those deals where it might not be a bad idea to weight the thing in the future to see what kind of total weight and weight balance it has at some sort of performance shop.plus with the weight balance I believe Jurrasic said that on his car and possibly other Carl Roberts made ones it had the gas tank behind the driver instead of in the trunk. Which he moved and that the vice car had had its gas tank moved as well from something along the lines of that to back in the trunk area after its run in the show.No, Car 4 has had the standard Vette gas tank used in the show replaced with a fuel cell. It is very apparent in Tale of the Goat that the tank hangs just below the trunk. Also, the white Daytona on EBAY now is a Carl Roberts car. Notice the area behind the seat is high than normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny-Burnett Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 Actually the standard Vette gas tank was mounted much higher and the spare tire hung about where the gas tank is on your car. Car 4 and the McBurnies all had their gas tank relocated down (like yours is)' date=' only Roberts cars had the gas tank behind the driver's compartment. Roberts id manufacture cars, although probably less than 30. McBurnie and Rowley both probably only produced about 75 cars, although McBurnie built kits that might bring his total progeny to about 100. Most people in the field think that less than 300-350 cars total were completed.[/quote']Hmm I didn't recall posting a picture of my gas tank. It does look like it is in the same position as other factory cars I had owned in the past however. Some questions for you please: For some reason I was thinking yours was a Rowley, but it is then a Roberts car?Was also not aware Roberts had produced in number, I thought I had read that somewhere or inferred as much from the article you had written in the past, that he was about to do so until Ferrari shut him down? Re your number with McBurnie and Rowley, meaning combined a total of 75 cars built? I also thought we had previously discussed numbers of McBurnies built in this thread and thought you indicated only around 30 or so McBurnies were produced? So, did you come across new info on that somewhere? Did you ever compile or see a list of the manufacturers of Daytona replicars with approximate production numbers? I think I read somewhere in the McBurnie literature about 3 or 4 that he compared himself to. Finally, a question I've wondered about and that is the connection between McBurnie Coachcraft vs California Custom Coach? Thanks....I didn't quite hit 20 yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny-Burnett Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 No' date=' Car 4 has had the standard Vette gas tank used in the show replaced with a fuel cell. It is very apparent in Tale of the Goat that the tank hangs just below the trunk. Also, the white Daytona on EBAY now is a Carl Roberts car. Notice the area behind the seat is high than normal.[/quote']Fuel cell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavinsky Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 No' date=' Car 4 has had the standard Vette gas tank used in the show replaced with a fuel cell. It is very apparent in Tale of the Goat that the tank hangs just below the trunk. Also, the white Daytona on EBAY now is a Carl Roberts car. Notice the area behind the seat is high than normal.[/quote']yeah actually I think you said something about that when I brought up the mufflers, so I presume there wouldnt be much space for Noogie back there nowdays then.so I had it backwards then.but I was right that was a fuel cell behind the driver on it, the white one and I thought it did look of higher quality than some of the other cars. Namely its got a ferrari 328 momo steering wheel on it along with a really nice ferrari like center console and a leather I think its called a bucket? for the handbrake that is just a touch too long.nice to see a daytona with a roll cage though, pitty its not a speedster like one like on the VCS car though:http://www.igcd.net/vehicle.php?id=161interesting piece nontheless, wonder who put the money in it before he got a hold of it?Sonny he's refering to the rear shot of your car in the garage, the one where I mentioned it would be a good idea to blur out the licence plate from awhile back.as it plainly shows what the rear suspension of your car looked like, gas tank included as it really hangs down there on the standard vette oneso that would mean though that basically the vice car had this in 85"http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7652&stc=1&d=1362803666which plainly shows the rear suspension bits, something I noted in Tales of the goat, wonder if it would be possible to have a housing made up to hide them but not this obstructing like on this onehttp://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7654&stc=1&d=1362803889although I think Sonny's modified suspension hid its underbits abit better than the stock one if I remember correctly, might be easy enough to remedy it by switching to coil over shocks instead of leaf springs, a popular vette mod atleast on the latter ones, plus it would probably reduce underbody drag.anyways while nowadays the vice car probably looks like this from the underbellyhttp://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7653&stc=1&d=1362803669with califonia coach I think it was a licensed whole sale dealer that made them.Fuel cell is a fuel tank that that has mutiple layers for better protection I believe and can have more than one tank attached to it to feed the car, the actual daytona had two of them on it for long distance journeys in the trunk, one on either side.about 30 gallons vs 18 on the pre 80 cars to 24 on the post, after all even though it would be turning low revs at 120 to 140 on the actual car its still going to need gas to feed the 4.4 liter V12although the corvette for 1975 was the first to use a multi layered one if I remember correctly, wonder if they put the latter tank on Brian's 1971 then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reholmes Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyqo03zmzZw from 11:02 - 11:42ending up with a 51/49 weight balance instead of the typical 57/43 the car usually had apparentlywhich is more or less exactly the quoted amount taken off of that rowley, and we do know rolwey used that C4 steering on his replicas so it would not be that far off to think he may have used further latter parts to lighten the car to that pointalthough back then I believe they were using heavier cast iron parts in the early 60's on the C1 and C2 so that might be a non issue in the latter ones like the C3 (and dont forget the first year of the C3 was the first year of disc brakes on the corvette too) but usually the vettes were and always have been 3,300 pounds even to this day it seems.and if you lighten the fiberglass well wouldnt we see far more mcburnies in disrepair and with broken bodies and cracks all over them? as fiberglass is not like metal in that regard or even carbon fiberonce a car like that hits something it will chip, break off or crack down the middle, vs how a steel or other car would crumple from what I've seen of the corvettes in disrepair down here under some assembly required http://corvette.canney.net/webvettes/index.htmlwhich is the price you pay for having a rustless body I guess, it was either that or stainless and well that is much more expensive, hard to work with and get dings out from what I've looked into when it came to deloreans.Fieros were made of Enduroflex. There is no material known as "Enduraflex". This is a marketing term. Four different types of reinforced composite plastic are used in Fiero body panels:SMC Sheet Molded Compound was used for the hood, roof, rear upper quarter, and rear decklid.RRIM Reinforced Reaction Injection Molded urethane was used for fenders, door panels, and lower rear quarters. The rear lowers were later changed to injection molded nylon.RIM Reaction Injected Molded urethane was used for front and rear fascias.TPO Thermoplastic Olefin was used for rocker panels.Bexley Resin Blow-Molded by DuPont This material (not fiberglass) was used for the spoiler or "wing" on all Fieros as far as we know. The supports are made of TPO.This stuff is remarkable; light and almost indestructible. I sustained a t-bone collision which sent the car spinning over the curb, into a wall, back into the street. No body damage, well the rear bumper fell off. There was significant damage to the rear suspension and engine cradle, but the body looked great.In the Mera, except for the roof, these panels were replaced with fiberglass reinforced resin which is significantly and noticeably heavier--enough to affect performance.So, there are alternatives, but certainly not available to the hobbyist. [ATTACH=CONFIG]7655[/ATTACH] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurassic narc Posted March 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 combined a total of 75 cars built? I also thought we had previously discussed numbers of McBurnies built in this thread and thought you indicated only around 30 or so McBurnies were produced? So, did you come across new info on that somewhere? Did you ever compile or see a list of the manufacturers of Daytona replicars with approximate production numbers? I think I read somewhere in the McBurnie literature about 3 or 4 that he compared himself to. Finally, a question I've wondered about and that is the connection between McBurnie Coachcraft vs California Custom Coach? Thanks....I didn't quite hit 20 yet. SOme cars were produced with the gas tank in the original Vette position. You would open the trunk to feed the tank. THey had no trunk space. Dropping the tank requires an addition to the fuel neck that can be tricky to get to feed. Your car's fuel tank is dropped between the frame rails.All of McBurnies records were destroyed when his business burned. So any number is a guess, but I meant all the McBurnie co-op companies combined (California Custom Coach and a few others I have identified previously on this thread). Rowley did his own molds and, while he started as a McBurnie co-op, was a prolific builder. A technical school near him built several cars as money making projects. Even so, he claims he sold far less than 100--but I have never heard him give an actual number.California Custom Coach started out as a McBurnie co-op, but there are cars manufactered with the CCC logo where the McBurnie logo is on his cars. Once you had a set of molds, you could modify them as you pleased. That is what Rowley and CCC seem to have done. Roberts spent time with McBurnie to learn the business, and then he also veered off on his own. If Ferrari hadn't sued the builders, McBurnie would have ended up sueing them over the way they ripped him off.It seems to me that all the cars ever built can be traced back to the DNA of McBurnies original molds. Once McBurnie let his molds out of his control, everybody acted as though the cars were fair game. I think that McBurnie would have prevailed in a civil case over his original molds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurassic narc Posted March 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARoyq-bCrLkeh I wouldnt get to angry at clarkson for saying what he does there, he's always been firmly in the Viper camp and he always looks at pissing people off on TV as a sport it seems nowadays given how sanitary the tv landscape has become.Guess that explains why the C3 vette's never had an official trunk then as the gas cap sits right over the tank on them: which is where the trunk is on the daytona replicas.so does that mean that on the daytona in the show that the gas cap was just for show if it had the stock unit in it. or did Markadian go to great lengths to have a pipe rigged up to it fill it from below as not to cut into the trunk area?The Mardikians and McBurnies all had the fuel tank dropped between the frame rails and the gas fill was on the top left fender like a real Daytona. The fuel tank took up the space where the spare tire of a C3 hung. The fuel tank space became the trunk area. In a real Ferrari the spare tire was in a well in the trunk, with the fuel tanks split on each side of the trunk. There might have been room for Noogie in there (or Tubbs with the Taser), but the replicars had room for someone from Oz-maybe.Roberts cars had the fuel tank behind the seat to "better utilize the space". The spare was in a well under a panel in the trunk. BUt the trunk was no larger than the McBurnie cars.One of the features of the early McBurnie cars was the manual trunk release. I was not aware of that until I met Camera Daytona and saw the Camera Car. All the other cars I had seen had electric releases. Early McBurnie cars and all the Mardikians had a manual release hidden inside the drivers door opening. The chrome handle was rotated to release the trunk. Something to look for when you see pictures of a car listed somewhere. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavinsky Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 Fieros were made of Enduroflex. There is no material known as "Enduraflex". This is a marketing term. Four different types of reinforced composite plastic are used in Fiero body panels:SMC Sheet Molded Compound was used for the hood' date=' roof, rear upper quarter, and rear decklid.RRIM Reinforced Reaction Injection Molded urethane was used for fenders, door panels, and lower rear quarters. The rear lowers were later changed to injection molded nylon.RIM Reaction Injected Molded urethane was used for front and rear fascias.TPO Thermoplastic Olefin was used for rocker panels.Bexley Resin Blow-Molded by DuPont This material (not fiberglass) was used for the spoiler or "wing" on all Fieros as far as we know. The supports are made of TPO.This stuff is remarkable; light and almost indestructible. I sustained a t-bone collision which sent the car spinning over the curb, into a wall, back into the street. No body damage, well the rear bumper fell off. There was significant damage to the rear suspension and engine cradle, but the body looked great.In the Mera, except for the roof, these panels were replaced with fiberglass reinforced resin which is significantly and noticeably heavier--enough to affect performance.So, there are alternatives, but certainly not available to the hobbyist. [ATTACH=CONFIG']7655[/ATTACH]I never figured the Fiero was so durable, We had a kid in my high school who loved picking them up second hand but well the cars always ended up wrecked one way or another.think he had two that were killed by a tree falling on them. one a full tree, the second a hefty branch that fell on the cabin and then the last burned to the ground from an engine fire, he supposedly bought another one after that and that was the last I heard of him really.to say the least the guy had horrible luck with them, or rather he had horrible luck.Wonder if that's what the modern C6 corvette was made out of though, as I remember Clarkson on top gear playfully criticizing the C6 and pointing out how the back bumper was made out of some sort of thin plastic.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARoyq-bCrLkeh I wouldnt get to angry at clarkson for saying what he does there, he's always been firmly in the Viper camp and he always looks at pissing people off on TV as a sport it seems nowadays given how sanitary the tv landscape has become.SOme cars were produced with the gas tank in the original Vette position. You would open the trunk to feed the tank. THey had no trunk space. Dropping the tank requires an addition to the fuel neck that can be tricky to get to feed. Your car's fuel tank is dropped between the frame rails.All of McBurnies records were destroyed when his business burned. So any number is a guess' date=' but I meant all the McBurnie co-op companies combined (California Custom Coach and a few others I have identified previously on this thread). Rowley did his own molds and, while he started as a McBurnie co-op, was a prolific builder. A technical school near him built several cars as money making projects. Even so, he claims he sold far less than 100--but I have never heard him give an actual number.California Custom Coach started out as a McBurnie co-op, but there are cars manufactered with the CCC logo where the McBurnie logo is on his cars. Once you had a set of molds, you could modify them as you pleased. That is what Rowley and CCC seem to have done. Roberts spent time with McBurnie to learn the business, and then he also veered off on his own. If Ferrari hadn't sued the builders, McBurnie would have ended up sueing them over the way they ripped him off.It seems to me that all the cars ever built can be traced back to the DNA of McBurnies original molds. Once McBurnie let his molds out of his control, everybody acted as though the cars were fair game. I think that McBurnie would have prevailed in a civil case over his original molds[/quote']Guess that explains why the C3 vette's never had an official trunk then as the gas cap sits right over the tank on them: which is where the trunk is on the daytona replicas.so does that mean that on the daytona in the show that the gas cap was just for show if it had the stock unit in it. or did Markadian go to great lengths to have a pipe rigged up to it fill it from below as not to cut into the trunk area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavinsky Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 The Mardikians and McBurnies all had the fuel tank dropped between the frame rails and the gas fill was on the top left fender like a real Daytona. The fuel tank took up the space where the spare tire of a C3 hung. The fuel tank space became the trunk area. In a real Ferrari the spare tire was in a well in the trunk' date=' with the fuel tanks split on each side of the trunk. There might have been room for Noogie in there (or Tubbs with the Taser), but the replicars had room for someone from Oz-maybe.Roberts cars had the fuel tank behind the seat to "better utilize the space". The spare was in a well under a panel in the trunk. BUt the trunk was no larger than the McBurnie cars.One of the features of the early McBurnie cars was the manual trunk release. I was not aware of that until I met Camera Daytona and saw the Camera Car. All the other cars I had seen had electric releases. Early McBurnie cars and all the Mardikians had a manual release hidden inside the drivers door opening. The chrome handle was rotated to release the trunk. Something to look for when you see pictures of a car listed somewhere.[/quote']alright no idea why the posts are suddenly out of order though, must have been a hickup with the website.hmm makes sense that it would not be electric, given the time the cars were made. People were very unsure of modern electric fuel injection and the like back then and rightfully soI managed to out of dumb luck bump into a guy who's family had an early 1983 audi ur quattro when he was young, a rare North America based one in gold and he mentioned that it had had heavy electronical problems because of its 80's style dash cluster and things relating to ithttp-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=P88AnM3z_wInext its going to say world ending, goodbye from the sound of it!plus with the fiberglass construction of the cars grounding the wires to make that work might have been an early issue when trying to get the trunk releases to work, probably cheaper and easier at the time just to rig it up mechanically Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reholmes Posted March 15, 2013 Report Share Posted March 15, 2013 SOme cars were produced with the gas tank in the original Vette position. You would open the trunk to feed the tank. THey had no trunk space. Dropping the tank requires an addition to the fuel neck that can be tricky to get to feed. Your car's fuel tank is dropped between the frame rails.All of McBurnies records were destroyed when his business burned. So any number is a guess' date=' but I meant all the McBurnie co-op companies combined (California Custom Coach and a few others I have identified previously on this thread). Rowley did his own molds and, while he started as a McBurnie co-op, was a prolific builder. A technical school near him built several cars as money making projects. Even so, he claims he sold far less than 100--but I have never heard him give an actual number.California Custom Coach started out as a McBurnie co-op, but there are cars manufactered with the CCC logo where the McBurnie logo is on his cars. Once you had a set of molds, you could modify them as you pleased. That is what Rowley and CCC seem to have done. Roberts spent time with McBurnie to learn the business, and then he also veered off on his own. If Ferrari hadn't sued the builders, McBurnie would have ended up sueing them over the way they ripped him off.It seems to me that all the cars ever built can be traced back to the DNA of McBurnies original molds. Once McBurnie let his molds out of his control, everybody acted as though the cars were fair game. I think that McBurnie would have prevailed in a civil case over his original molds[/quote']I understand that, while McBurnie sold some kits, they were extremely difficult to assemble and few were completed. As for the original molds, I read somewhere that they were splashed from Paul Newman's 365 spyder and that is why the flares are so pronounced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameraDaytona Posted March 15, 2013 Report Share Posted March 15, 2013 I understand that' date=' while McBurnie sold some kits, they were extremely difficult to assemble and few were completed. As for the original molds, I read somewhere that they were splashed from Paul Newman's 365 spyder and that is why the flares are so pronounced.[/quote']Tom McBurnie made the original molds from a real, white convertible Ferrari Daytona that Al Madikian had in his shop at the time that Mardikian and McBurnie agreed to make Daytona replicas rather than the Cobras that Mardikian had originally wanted to make. I visitied Tom McBurnie and he showed me a photo album (about 3 inches thick) of the original Daytona disassembled while the molds were being made. I doubt that the owner of the white Daytona even knew his car was being used to make molds. I have never heard that the white Daytona was owned by Paul Newman, but it is a possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurassic narc Posted March 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 Tom McBurnie made the original molds from a real' date=' white convertible Ferrari Daytona that Al Madikian had in his shop at the time that Mardikian and McBurnie agreed to make Daytona replicas rather than the Cobras that Mardikian had originally wanted to make. I visitied Tom McBurnie and he showed me a photo album (about 3 inches thick) of the original Daytona disassembled while the molds were being made. I doubt that the owner of the white Daytona even knew his car was being used to make molds. I have never heard that the white Daytona was owned by Paul Newman, but it is a possibility.[/quote']The car has been identified previously by serial number, and I think the photos indicated it was a street car. Paul Newman owned a NART version which was for racing. The race cars did have pronounced flairs, but I recall from somewhere that McBurnie flared the Mardikians to get the necessary width for the Vette frames. Seems like he said that was the easiest way to make the car work rather than adding width to the whole body. That way the trunk, hood and overall body width were un-affected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurassic narc Posted March 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 I understand that' date=' while McBurnie sold some kits, they were extremely difficult to assemble and few were completed. As for the original molds, I read somewhere that they were splashed from Paul Newman's 365 spyder and that is why the flares are so pronounced.[/quote']Yes, the kits were and are for a real body shop to manufacture. I cannot image a DIY person or a weekend mechanic doing much with this car. Like the build it yourself helicopters and airplanes, I wouldn't undertake it. In fact, I tracked down the actual builder of my car. He worked for Carl Roberts, and he said that it took about a month to dis-assemble the Vette body from the frame, drop the body in place and make all the neccessary changes. The real challenge, he said, is removing and replacing the Vette door skins. That process is labor intensive and can make or break the look of the car.I remember one of the kits I saw for sale had the body mounted and the door skins installed. Those two processes are probably the hardest to get completed. A shade-tree-mechanic could do the rest of the process, it just takes time.My car was his fourth or fifth, and he said they took the standard 4-5 weeks to assemble. If you consider the car is 30 years old, and the conversion is over 24 years old, I have a pretty well converted car. No major flaws in the body. Most of my problems have been mechanical issues with the age of the parts, or electical (again age related). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reholmes Posted March 16, 2013 Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 Tom McBurnie made the original molds from a real' date=' white convertible Ferrari Daytona that Al Madikian had in his shop at the time that Mardikian and McBurnie agreed to make Daytona replicas rather than the Cobras that Mardikian had originally wanted to make. I visitied Tom McBurnie and he showed me a photo album (about 3 inches thick) of the original Daytona disassembled while the molds were being made. I doubt that the owner of the white Daytona even knew his car was being used to make molds. I have never heard that the white Daytona was owned by Paul Newman, but it is a possibility.[/quote']Great information--love to see that photo album! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavinsky Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 The car has been identified previously by serial number' date=' and I think the photos indicated it was a street car. Paul Newman owned a NART version which was for racing. The race cars did have pronounced flairs, but I recall from somewhere that McBurnie flared the Mardikians to get the necessary width for the Vette frames. Seems like he said that was the easiest way to make the car work rather than adding width to the whole body. That way the trunk, hood and overall body width were un-affected.[/quote']indeed about the width, I've seen some 240 Z and Jaguar XJ6 based replicas and they seem much smaller and wider than the actual car even just in the photos, even though there supposedly more accurate and closer to the real thing according to the literature. plus it does give it the mean street machine look which has grown on mewith the electronicals on your vette Jurrasic was GM using generators in 1981 still? as you might be able to solve that problem with a modern alternator for the car, although you have to be careful about keeping the wiring the same voltage and making sure the fuses are set up right given how much extra power a modern one would put out.also were the doors originally steel on the corvette C3 like here on this 68?:http://corvette.canney.net/webvettes/projects/p0003/index.htmlthat might explain how mcburnie may have made the cars lighter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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