Our Fake Ferrari 250 GTO Lusso Berlinetta

[Bladecutter]

View attachment 314509
Ive made mention of this project before. Its Alpha One GTO glass body kit on a 280 Z. Joe Alphabet was the creator, HB, Cali in 1983, Hebuilt two cars for himself, a SB chebbie with inglese weber stack of 48 downdrafts, & other car had Ferrari v12 init.
The kits were to be made using Real Lusso trim......my Friend bought the first two kits(bought 3 z cars, i worked on all 3)kits Alphabet sold, with the OEM Ferrari hardware including competition alloy gas neck & cap w/ brass latch. Hot Rod did an article on Alphabets sb car, & shortly afterwards Enzo sued the **** out of Him for badging fakes witj *Ferrari* and ended the deal....what i didnt know until recently....these are the ONLY kits Alphabet sold b4 **** hit fan. Petersen Publishing is taking photos in Tucson of car & hopefully my Partner Paul, who is buying car, will be in Tucson by Tuesday, and He'll be featured making pick up. Car will be here in so-cal in less than a week. That engine/trans is a Toyota V-12, what is going in car, so basically, we're building a 'Japanese GTO'. All the GTO Z replicas out there,one having BMW V12 are fakes of the fake.....none sport real Ferrari gear. So Paul bought a magazine article, build follow, for the price of admission.......considering what He got......pennies. everybody paints them red, look at a Black one....which this certainly will be.....with the blue & red BRE stripes running diagonal down sides of front fender.....remember Pete Brock(cobra daytona coupe body)campaining the Datsun 510 & Z cars in trans am, scca? Pete Brock penned out the cobra coupe body by gut, But also directly off the GTO, even though they dont look alike, the space they displace is very close, there are comparison angle shots on web. The GTO was a 180 mph car, the cobra coupe 185 mph...5mph margin for 24 hours.....thats fukin[IRacin! Brock said of cobra, " yup we squeaked past on top end, but it was like road racing a pick up truck for 24 hours"[/I] We were going to build a cobra clone motor, complete w webers & dry sump, but then this toy v12 came to our attention from our Guy here, Photon 440. Toy makes these engines currently for their domestic mkt, do not export....outfit we're getting unit from in Texas that does JDM motors, guarantees motor/trans to be less than 50k miles.....after looking inside one of our toy v8's with 125k miles & no visible wear on cam lobes.......this will be a seriously fast car. Engine is 5.0 ltr/300 ci, 300 hp w 350 tq stock, but this wont be stock......whole ball of wax is around 2500 lbs finished......power to weight on this & the chop bug will both be about 5 to 1, GTO might edge the bug a little.....Z's have a hell of a racing history, very good platform.....this aint no bradley gt.
(one pic is toy/lex v8 in Z car)

 

[FU64RY]

I bought one of these back in 1988 from the Leak auction in Either Washington or Oregon state. Brought it back to Pa and enjoyed it for a while and sold it at the Manheim auction in Pa. I do not know where it got to since then.
It was black with a small block chevy v8.

 

[MarPar]

It's not a fake Ferrari, it's a recreation! :headbang:

 

[Photon440]

Hey Bladecutter, that is going to be a fun project to watch! I can't wait to see it come together. Not that the Bug project isn't fun to watch as well.

 

[fwi]

Or a "tribute".....:yes:

 

[Bladecutter]

Hey Hey My My......mornin' All. Good news from publisher.....asked for bios on Paul & myself, plans for car, my previous involvement orifinally etc. Hell of a bonus in top of an already smokin deal. The V-12 got Their attn, remarking "a Japanese GTO!" The car will be shod with authentic repop, 2 piece Halibrand real *knock off* wheels, same style as Cobra 427 SC.....have to add Shelbyesque to the mix somewhere, since the cobra coupe was the first one to deThrone the GTO @ Le Mans. & a set of Boranni wires would probably cost same as whole turn key project...lol. Boy, my Life is sure not boring......2 car projects, and the sculpture snowballing......retirement? Im anxious to review my work of 35 yrs ago, see if its acceptable, redo what might not be. Plan right now is to run pipe throughout, @ least a 10 point hook-up......the Datsun rear susp geometry is solid, they stick, may reengineer the front some, cant know until im looking at it again, which will be soon now.......ironic that my Art hooked me up with not only another artist, but a doggone car designer as well?

 

[Photon440]

Anyone not sure what Bladecutter is talking about for engines, in Japan the Toyota Century is a luxury car/limo way above their own Lexus in status and price. Sized like a Bentley, Benz or Caddy, it's the car of choice over there if you have status.


A set of carbs like this would fit pretty well, don't you think?


Sticking with the automatic, Bladecutter? With an adapter, you could be running a R-154 5 speed, or better yet a V-160 six speed which will laugh at the 1000 hp. you get after the twin turbos come on...

 

[Bladecutter]

Hey Photon! Yeah, i dont know, the stock trans is 4 spd auto, later models are 6 spd autos. There is also the combo You sent me before, the Guy using a turbo supra manual(i think 6spd) with that trik double plate clutch, & i think He said there was a 3 plate that could also be used. It's going to take some thunk, and money is already hemorahging. The magazine has already asked an ETA of having engine sitting in car. Hopefully Paul is out of here mon nite. Picking Car & trailer up as pkg, so His drive over will be unencumbered. It's going to be a very busy year between the two cars & sculpture. Gotta map out the chassis/cage mods before we think about eng/trans resting spot...but like in both GTO & Daytona Coupe, probly trim and resectuon cowl/firewall to get driveline as far back as can. I think We can get close to a 55ft/45 rr bias. And even may be able to get the V12 behind frt xmember,& down. The plan right now for both cars is dry sump/remote oil. Machine some flat billet plates with crank/rod clearancing, approx inch plate will do it. For the bug, it's important for ground clearance ossue alone, eliminating pan & sump frame will make the engine ground clearance consistent w rest of car again.....6 " less in height w/o it......and Who wouldnt feel better with 12-14 qt system, six finger, six finger man alive, how did i ever get along with just Five? Going to be a long haul with a buckload of head scratching & anger management at intervals, but getting there is the adventure, i cant wait to See the GTO. Ida never thought......Thirty Five Years....God Is Good, has Always covered my ***.
Oh yeah, that sidedraft setup is so f-in ***** looking! I dont know yet if we have the width needed, plus moving eng down will make width limitation too, if its possible, but its more dough than down draft. Kinsler ball parked 10-12k for V12 dwndrft efi, if that is Who we choose, i really like Their stuff & the vibe, Quality simply costs.....& its all USA gear.....Patriotism Babee, dont care if overseas is cheaper, its not custom machined port matching & spacing, not billet fuel rails, not a lot of what i looked at of Kinsler, aerospace toleranced hardware...pay to play, buy USA. This week is smokin so i wont be around much. All the Best to All!

 

[drj72602]

Pretty cool.

 

[Bladecutter]

John broke down the v8 w/issue today...what i figured when isaw shredded, burnt cam belt, engine overheated & driven until it quit, oil burnt but still viscuous. The sleeves are in great shape, the cam bearings are fine, see a touch of wear line but cant feel ****. Notice the Six bolt main caps? Both v8's are 125k mile motors, mine has no issue, run, leakdown tested so i think mine is good to go with trik induction & exhaust. The v12 bottom end i would guess is similar, additional 4 holes. Heads are different...v8 is hemi & v12 is squish wedge.
Photon440 just informed me that the stock rods are good for 500 beans..car should be around 2500 lbs. turn key. Should work well.
Front end on chop sure is cake to r&r, learning to tune it wont be as easy. Rollin, busee week churning........Peace...bc

 

[petieg383]

Subscribed! This is fantastic.

Aside from our beloved Mopars and my general affinity towards Muscle Cars in general, if money was no object a Ferrari GTO would be in my garage and be driven hard. They are pretty much the most beautiful piece of automotive artwork every created (Hell even art in general), and the v12 really could sing. A lot of videos of them on Youtube. A truly wonderful sound at high rpm. I sometimes come across the 280z clone/tributes, and really contemplate owning one someday. But what you're doing is kick ***.

Good luck with the build and enjoying it once she's roadworthy!

 

[Bladecutter]

Thanks Everyone.....after 8 mos of dancing, prep, heart attack, committing Old Friend, money out on trailer & tires, it died. No use drivelling out semantics, but **** went 180 in one day. Too bad, the publishers were smoked by the idea with the toy v12. Mt aet engagemenr us this wkend, so nothing else matters. Later, regroup & beat the bushes some for anither calu buyer, so i can stay hooked up with it. Theres already a party that was outbidding us, but My Friend was being a Friend, honoring us as first in line......the other Friend.......i dont know......2000 hrs that wont be stressin me now is my best resolve, but i really wanted to finish something left undone 35 yrs ago......somebody will end up with a stand alone soon enuf......the car spent an entire day @ Az DMV being assigned its Own vin #.....Every single DMV worker did walk arounds, some were old enough to remember it........and the consumers were a constant flock around GTO Z
*correction* to previous statement: there were 5 kits sold in 83-84 before Enzo shut Joe down...i stated two previously. Cant always get what you want

 

[Photon440]

Wha? Are you saying the project is shelved and isn't going to happen now?

 

[Bladecutter]

Wha? Are you saying the project is shelved and isn't going to happen now?

Yes Photon, heartbreak,Marty wa revved about me finishing, as i was......other party lost interest. Im not done, i know lots of moneyed car nuts in LA basin, maybe figure out how to buy myself......this weekend may change my horizon enough to squeak a possibility in that direction.....love to have it for myself!

 

[Photon440]

What a let-down. I was so looking forward to seeing that baby v12 sing in the new body. Hey, nice selfie. I guess you never paid attention to George Thorogood singing 'Get A Haircut And Get A Real Job'. Glad you didn't!

 

[Bladecutter]

What a let-down. I was so looking forward to seeing that baby v12 sing in the new body. Hey, nice selfie. I guess you never paid attention to George Thorogood singing 'Get A Haircut And Get A Real Job'. Glad you didn't!

I Love Thorogood, but i identify w/ the Sinatra tune......i did do it my way pretty much, but like Dylan sez, makes no difference, You're gonna serve somebody. My nephew sent the hat, said to trade it in for the tin one.lmao........tomorrow holds something.....ill soon have a better idea.
All is not dead with car, just cant worry it right now.....bigger ducks to row up. Peace cialsd

 

[Bladecutter]

https://g.co/kgs/g8Eum
"history again & again points out the folly of man"
Making comeback..... fingers x-ssed.
Note last statement by Raymond* Believe it, no stopping this, we're back on track

 

[Photon440]

Wait a minute...is the an April 1 joke?

 

[Bladecutter]

Wait a minute...is the an April 1 joke?

No, real deal far as i know for now, see if next week produces a car. Did You watch the video?
That's my Boy there, always a favorite M8. Now He'll meet HYDE..........a twisted dynamic duo will be born

 

[super-bee_ski]

"history again & again points out the folly of man"

GODZILLA!