Exciting stuff from Autocar today as we try some modernised classics - restomods, if you like. This isn't a conventional group test, because the three cars we've assembled all do very different things.
The Alfaholics GTA-R is an Alfa Romeo 105-series coupe that has seen the mother of all makeovers. With 240bhp and weighing just 840kg, its power-to-weight ratio is some 290bhp/tonne (hence the name) and fully seam welded, with carbonfibre panels and bespoke engine and gearbox internals and suspension, it's a true track car.
The Jensen Interceptor R by Jensen International Automotive is more road car than track car. But don't think that this reworked Interceptor is slow: JIA has squeezed a supercharged Chevy LSA engine under the hood, making more than 550bhp. But, as we'll see, it may be more cruiser than sports car.
Sitting somewhere between the two, in ethos, is a Porsche 911 modified and modernised by renowned specialists Tuthill. They'll do almost anything you want to a 911 but here they've taken an early 70s 911 E and made it all-round lovelier. It's a terrific blend of road and track performance.
The base for our test is Llandow circuit in Wales so join our testers James Disdale, Matt Prior and Matt Saunders as they try these three brilliant reimagined classics.
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Great story ravon
Thats still a good £40k MG. I also love the Alfa but my wild guess was 60k or worst case 90k. Everyone cashing in on the Singer approach.
Great video , thank you !
Realy enjoyed this video, this sort of car has been in my mind for some time, and indeed I've actually put my money down and built/with professional help a resto-mod of my own ! The Alfaholics car is simply fabulous, clearly the one to have for the track driver, the Jensen is a lovely touring car, I'd say other people build better Porsche's, but I've had a very bad experience with these suppliers so I'm biased . The cost of all three cars is staggering, but completely understandable, they are expensive base cars and they all look superbly finished, hundreds and hundreds of hours of labor . I took the classic car cop-out route, a base car that is still cheap and has almost every part available next-day. An MGB GTV8, a rusty doner original car, a brand new Heritage shell at about £12k, a hand built 4.6 litre Rover motor, less than £10k, a five speed gearbox £3k, Hoyle independent suspension all round, with a Scorpio/QuaifeLSD, about £8k, ( including dampers and rear disk brakes ), other bits, probably £5k. It's clearly not as good as the featured cars, but it is huge fun to drive on road and track, simple to play with at home with simple tools and appears to "upset" no one on the road, just a nice old car with an old man at the wheel living out his last days ! I should add that if I'd known more about MG's and MG specialists I could have saved a lot of time and money by going to the right people first time around. Another new expensive crazy fast GT for me, I think not ! Next project - a 968 engine and transaxle in a a 924S, while they are still cheap ( I already have the engine and transaxle ) !!