Pontiac GTO Judge Resurrected…Sort Of: Tuner Prepped Model Based on the Camaro

The makers of the fire-breathing Phoenix T/A that we saw at the 2009 SEMA show in Las Vegas are back with yet another proposal for a Pontiac model based on the latest iteration of Chevy’s Camaro pony car. This time the people over at Trans Am Depot will give birth to a modern day interpretation of Pontiac’s famed 1969 GTO Judge. The tuner named its creation “The GT9 Goat”.

The teaser renderings and photos of the faux-Pontiac reveal a bespoke front end with a split grille and a revised hood with air scoops, while at the back we find new tail lamp and bumper designs as well as a restyled trunk sporting a prominent wing. The characteristic profile side stripes, quad tail pipes and the newly styled alloy wheel options round off the exterior changes. There’s no word yet if there will be any kind of upgrades to the interior and the mechanical hardware of the Camaro.

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Yugo…Grale Replicates Lancia’s Iconic Delta HF Integrale [with Video]

If you grew up in the late 1980s or early 1990s and were an avid automotive enthusiast, chances are you fondly remember the great Delta HF Integrale, arguably the last super exciting (from a driver's perspective) Lancia model.

And while Lancia has turned a new page in its history, tending to the needs of customers enamored with fashion catwalks instead of rally courses, there are plenty of drivers out there who cherish the original spirit of the Italian brand. Some, however, have taken their love of Lancia to the extreme turning mundane Yugos, itself a by-product of the Fiat 127, into Integrale replicas.

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It Came from eBay Hell: Porsche 959 Speedster Replica

In 1986, the Porsche 959 was the world’s fastest street legal product car. Some 337 of these road-going monsters were built but not one of them was a factory-finished convertible. Regardless of what you may have heard or seen on forums, such a vehicle was never sanctioned by Porsche. There was a one-off “Speedster” built by Auto-Becker for the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show but that’s about it.

So is this done and dusted? Of course not; this is the internet we’re talking about. 959 Speedsters are sighted by Porsche enthusiasts as much as Elvis Presley or the Loch Ness monster. If you believe what you’ve read, these things are everywhere. And I do mean everywhere, even in New Zealand.

So our seller throws in the usual platitudes we’ve come to expect from this sort of posting like, “This is one very rare and special car,” and that it was “professionally built”.

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It Came from eBay Hell: Thunder Ranch Riot with Scat Crate Engine

If Geo had asked Isuzu to design them a car that would appeal to California’s surfer crowd in the mid-1990s, chances are it’d look a lot like the Thunder Ranch Riot. A fibreglass bodied, Volkswagen Beetle-based turnkey kit car, the Riot looks like a Geo Storm that’s been cut, shut and had Dodge Viper parts tacked on to its exterior. And it can be all yours for the low, low price of US$12,000.

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Find of the Day: Infiniti G35 Dressed Up as a Nissan GT-R

Usually, it’s Nissan owners that want to upgrade to a model from sister company Infiniti, but in this case, it’s the other way around. Found for sale in Quebec by Carscoop reader Caroline is this Nissan GT-R wannabe based on the Infiniti G35 Coupe. From what we can tell, the owner’s budget dried out after he or she finished the front end that now resembled the R35 with a bespoke grille and front bumper assembly. Read more »

Brilliant…BMW’s China Partner Brilliance Working on X1-Lookalike A3 SUV

There is no question that when it comes to automotive clones from China, history repeats itself. Following in the footsteps of Mercedes-Benz’s China partner BAIC, which came out with a five-door hatchback closely resembling the Stuttgart firm’s B-Class, Brilliance Automotive, BMW’s associate in China, is working on a compact SUV model that looks very much alike X1 crossover.

According to Chinese news site Auto Sohu that broke these scoop photos, the new Brilliance model with the Audi name and BMW looks will be officially revealed at the upcoming Shanghai Auto Show in mid-April. It is reported that the Brilliance A3 SUV will be offered with a 1.6-liter gasoline engine sourced from Mitsubishi’s local division.

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Is the Cougatti Just the Purtiest 2002 Mercury Cougar you ever did see?

Sure, most people would love to have a Bugatti Veyron; sadly, at over a million bucks a pop we're talking a vehicle that's slightly out of reach for most consumers. Thankfully, one man and eBay have rectified this issue with something we'll call a Cougatti (or Bougar).

Based on a 112,000-mile 2002 Mercury Cougar with a V6 and automatic transmission, this one-of-one Cougatti has a starting bid of $89,000 and no takers as of this writing. Potential buyers get all the body work, 20-inch wheels, angel eye HID headlights, LED tails, two gas caps (one functional), and power windows/mirrors.

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A Nissan Silva Coupe with a Schizophrenic Personality

In October of 2010 we brought you a Toyota Soarer / Lexus SC that had been transformed into an abomination with a Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM front end and a Nissan 200SX rump. It was bad, but I still liked it better than the snooze-mobile that was the ‘91 Soarer / CS.

Well, from the same website that brought us that automotive mullet comes yet another creation that’s been refashioned into something else. This time its a Nissan Silva. This particular freak of coach building features a Mercedes-Benz rear end (or at very least the taillights) and Nissan 350Z front end. The result is less than impressive.

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It Came from eBay Hell: ‘80s VW Golf Stretch Limo with Mercedes Nose

So you want your own limousine? Sure, I can dig that. Who hasn’t thought of trading in their daily commute for something that’s chauffer driven? And what better place to start your search than on eBay, where you’re sure to find something both unique and affordable, if not exactly well built or driveable.

Here’s one such find, based on a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit (Golf for the rest of the world) with a Mercedes-Benz nose piece. The seller’s description reveals that this vehicle has new brakes, struts, a new exhaust, new wheels and tires, new windshield and gas tank. And it still has its original motor and transmission, with a twin barrel carburettor with aluminium intake and header which the seller assures us makes it, “Fast for what it is.”

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Russian Customizer Turns a Jaguar into a GAZ-21 Lookalike

Previously on Carscoop, we’ve seen Pontiac Fieros turned into “Fierarris”, Toyota Soarers adorned with Mercedes-Benzes off cuts and some others too hideous to even mention. For the most part, it’s a case of turning a boring, mainstream car into something that resembles a high-priced exotic if you’re squinting through grease paper with the sun in your eyes and have lost a lot of blood.

What you rarely see is something exotic transformed into something that some people would call mundane. That’d just be silly. Never to be one to shy away from a challenge, the Russians have done just that: taken a Jag and turned it into a GAZ.

Originally this car was a 1993 Jaguar XJ40 with an automatic transmission and a 3.2 L V6. Its exterior has been adorned with the grille, head- and taillights, unique side vents and boot emblem from a ‘70s Volga. It’s not quite in the same league as the BMW 6-series derived Volga V8 Roadster or the Porsche Cayenne-based “Lenin-mobile”, but it’s still an impressive transformation.

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Japanese Students craft a Dodge Ram Truck out of a Mazda MPV

We received some e-mails asking us if the green-colored Ram truck hiding behind the Chrysler-ized Prius 300C we showed you earlier today was a tricked out Dodge, or if, like many other project cars shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon, this too was a replica. The answer is it's a Ram Truck clone based on the Mazda Bongo Friendee, which is a Japanese domestic market MPV with seating for eight, offered between 1995 and 2005. Like the Prius 300C, the Ram Truck Friendee was built by a team of students from the Saitama Institute of Automotive Technology.

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No Really, this is a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spider and it's Powered by a Subaru Turbo Boxer!

Don't let the Nissan 350Z snout and the Infiniti G35 Coupe (JDM Nissan Skyline V35) rear end design fool you; the glitzy painted roadster model you're gawking at is in fact a JDM Mitsubishi Eclipse Spider - possibly a third generation model. But before you try to digest all that info let us quickly add that Paint Star's Tokyo Auto Salon project car also hides a Subaru-sourced 2.0-liter turbocharged flat-four engine under its 350Z-shaped hood. See the rest of the photos in our image gallery after the break.

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Nissan 350Z Poses as a Porsche Panamera Convertible...

[Updated gallery] The Tokyo Auto Salon is always a blast featuring all sorts of unique tuning proposals, like this here Porsche wannabe. When our Tokyo show man Phil e-mailed the above photo, we assumed it pictured a Porsche -possibly a Boxster- modified to resemble a Panamera Convertible. We were quickly proven wrong, however, when he sent over an image of the interior and some video footage revealing that the Porsche Panamera tune was actually a...masqueraded Nissan 350Z Roadster. More photos after the jump.

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Toyota Prius blossoms into...Chrysler 300 with Custom Makeover

From our 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon "Strange But True" files comes this custom creation of what appears to be a second generation (judging by the interior door panels) Toyota Prius hybrid wearing a...Chrysler 300 front end. The show car also features sliding rear doors, lowered suspension, larger five-spoke alloy wheels, Chrysler 300-style tail lights and a high-end audio-visual system that replaces the rear seats. More pictures after the break.

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Embarrassing Replica of Rolls Royce Phantom Built on BMW 750i V12 E32

This custom monstrosity of a Rolls Royce Phantom replica is based on one of the last elegant BMW 7-Series models, the late 1980s-early 1990s E32, and was found for sale on a Polish used car website. There are so many things wrong with the build that we don't know where to start, but the flashy Rolls Royce sticker on the steering wheel could take the prize for being the worst item on the car...

The Phantom clown clone is built on a V12-powered 750i with the seller asking a laughable €56,653 (around US$75,500 at today's exchange rates) for the car. More photos after the break.

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A Chrysler Sebring-Based Bentley Replica that could Actually Pass for its Inspiration

Here’s a scary admission for you: I actually don’t mind the first generation Chrysler Sebring. It was sort of “Mustang-lite” in the styling department and is still a lot better looking than the latest incarnation of America’s middle-age spread, the almost universally despised third generation Sebring. And, as you no doubt know by now, here at Carscoop we love us some eBay-found Euro reskins of fifteen plus year old American cars.

Today’s entrant is this, dare I say it, rather convincing replica of a 2009 Bentley Continental GT convertible or GTC based on a ’96 Chrysler Sebring Convertible. Fashioned in ghetto / Saudi Arabian sheik white with the typical, so-not-a-Bentley blinger rims that’d make even Lil’ Jon a lil ill, our wanna-B (you see what I did there?) comes complete with 175,000 miles on the clock and a full fibreglass body.

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China's BYD Debuts Lexus RX-Inspired S6DM Dual-Mode Hybrid at Detroit Motor Show

Chinese automaker BYD marked its fourth consecutive appearance at the North American International Auto Show with the world premiere of the S6DM hybrid, with the DM in the name standing for "Dual-Mode".

The gasoline-electric hybrid is based on the Chinese firm's S6, a mid-size SUV model first introduced at the Shanghai Auto Show in 2009. And no, you're not the only one to find the overall styling of the S6 reminiscent of the previous generation Lexus RX.

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Find of the Day: 1982 Rover Ventura with SD1 Face and Chevy V8

Found for sale in Johannesburg, South Africa, by Carscoop reader 'SamuraiJack', is this strange creation called the Rover Ventura. We're not sure if it's actually based on the Rover SD1, but judging from the photos, it appears to sport the same front end as well as dashboard and door panels as the British saloon. The seller or the vehicle says it is powered by a new Chevrolet 350 c.i. V8 engine. Check out the full gallery after the jump and if you happen to know any more details on the car, feel free to share in the comments section.

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Mercedes' Chinese Partner BAIC Blatantly Copies B-Class with New BC301Z

Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp., commonly known by the acronym BAIC, is one of Mercedes-Benz's partners in China. However, that didn't stop the Chinese automaker, which has acquired the intellectual rights for Saab's older 9-5 and certain 9-3 models, to rip off the design of Mercedes' B-Class for its new BC301Z five-door hatchback and to a lesser extent, the BC302Z sedan.

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