Custom Cars

Man’s imagination knows no bounds and when it comes to cars, we often see some truly epic creations. Luckily, the internet makes it possible for us to see these creations, and this interesting mix of Porsche Maserati and Nissan is the latest we have stumbled upon.

Performance luxury sedans are the perfect middle ground for those seeking comfort, practicality and performance in a single package. And while we have gotten plenty of great examples like the BMW M5, Mercedes AMG GT63, Porsche Panamera, and others, there are those that came to us as concepts, but never delivered in the real world. Here are the most prominent culprits.

Toyota 1JZ vs 2JZ - Which Engine is Better?Games, set up in the dystopian future give room for some incredible designs. More often than not, they serve as inspiration to digital designers to create some truly epic stuff, based on existing models. This is exactly the case with this rendering of a Toyota A70 Supra, done by Dom Höst, also known as altered_intent, and vaguely resembles its former self.

BMW’s slogan is “Sheer driving pleasure” and in reality, most of what has come from the brand’s M-division has managed to live up to those words. The BMW 1M Coupe, in particular, was praised by many, including Jeremy Clarkson, for being one of the best driver’s cars, ever made. However, someone decided that’s not good enough and tore out the 3.0-liter, turbocharged inline-six for a much bigger V-8. Is this individual insane or is he/she on to something? Mike Fernie from DriveTribe takes it for a spin to find out.

Hoonigan returns with another “Hoonigan vs the world” episode, where Lia Block – Ken Block’s, 14-year-old daughter races some pretty epic cars, in the Hoonicorn Mustang. This time, she’s racing a 2018 Wolf GB08 TSC-LT. One relies on power while the other on lightness. One thing both cars have in common is that both cars have conquered Pikes Peak.

Hoonigan’s YouTube channel returns with another “Hoonicorn versus the world” episode and this time it’s all on the line because the mighty Hoonicorn goes up against a Tesla Model S Plaid – the bane of many high-performance, combustion-powered vehicles. So far the Lia Block – Ken Block’s, 14-year old daughter - has been crushing it, losing only to a 2,000 horsepower Nissan GT-R. Will Tesla take another scalp or will the Hoonicorn finally put it in its place?

Because of the oil crisis and stringent emissions regulations, the mid to late-1970s did not spawn many great American cars. The once-powerful American V-8 engines were choked out of their power and became shadows of their former selves. And while American cars from that era are not particularly desired, nor a preferred platform for any form of restoration, this Jaguar XJ-C by Polish tuner Carlex Design is a vision of what can be considered an epic British muscle car/resto-mod from the mid-1970s.

Hoonigan has been staging some of the craziest drag races, seen on YouTube. As part of the channel’s “This vs That” series, we now get “Hoonicorn vs the World” – a series of drag battles, where Ken Block’s teenage daughter – Lia Block – who is only 14, rocks the 1,400-horsepower Mustang, known as the Hoonicorn. In the previous episode, Lia Block raced an NHRA C6 Corvette and now, she’s going up against a Hoonicorn-inspired, 2013 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta twin-turbo.

Regardless of the generation, the Chevrolet Corvette is often the go-to platform for epic conversions. Whether you want to recreate a classic design, like the Zagato IsoRivolta GTZ, on top of a modern chassis or create something entirely new, like the Ares Design S1, it seems the Corvette is able to take it. With this in mind, Dean “Dino” Arnold has been doing Corvette conversions for decades and has created some truly epic stuff. Moreover, he’s far from done, as he is working on three, high-performance builds, based on the C7 Corvette.

The newest iteration of the Audi RS6 Avant is a brutal beast of a car with a 4.0-liter V-8 that pumps out 592 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque – enough to make it a rival for some of the world’s greatest supercars. So, you could coin the RS6 Avant as a supercar in disguise, but what if you want more? Well, you could get in touch with Pacific German and VF Engineering to have them build you a one-off like the one you see in this video from Auditography.

Social media is often the source of information on some of the most epic cars, ever made. With this in mind, the Facebook group, Exotic Cars For Sale By Owner, currently has a very interesting listing – a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport continuation car, built in 2015, by Duntov Motor Company, which also happens to be a star from an MTV music video.

Until a couple of decades ago, two-door SUVs were extremely popular. Time, as they say, is not kind to anyone, but that doesn’t stop certain tuning studios from bringing them back to life, in the form of bold conversions. That’s exactly what Flat Out Autos has done with a 2018 Chevrolet Z71 Tahoe, which was shown at the 2021 SEMA Show.

Porsche is a car manufacturer that prides itself not only with first-class engineering, but also exclusivity. Porsche Exclusive Manifaktur has recognized the increased demand for custom colors, in recent years and has introduced the new Paint to Sample and Paint to Sample Plus options. After Porsche’s Sonderwunsch program, this is the next step in exclusivity for the German carmaker.

When it comes to modified cars, the main goal seems to be high horsepower. However, having a well-sorted car means building it to send that power to the ground, as efficiently as possible. With this in mind, That Racing Channel (TRC) is giving us a YouTube video of one such car – a sinister-looking C7 Corvette, which may be one of the most well-sorted high-horsepower builds, you will ever see.

It’s obvious that EVs are becoming more and more mainstream and this even extends to project cars and various builds. Of course, an electric motor is not as exciting to look at as a powerful internal combustion engine, which is why Canadian company, Webb Motorworks has developed a way for the buzzing powerplants to look like a classic V-8 engine.

The Chevrolet Corvette has established itself as the definitive American sports car. Eight generations later, the car’s legacy is running strong and we have been lucky enough to have gotten many cool versions of the “Vette”. But some people have their own version of the perfect Corvette and Richard Smith, who was a GM technician, went to great lengths to build his vision of the perfect 1968 Chevrolet Corvette. This is the story of a 1968 Corvette named “the Beast”.

Without a doubt, the 2021 SEMA Show introduces some interesting ideas of what the future of modified cars could look like. It seems that, for better or worse, electrification will play a major role in future builds, as demand for crate electric motors is at its highest. Among the many SEMA entries, this year is a 1957 Chevrolet, dubbed Project X.

Cars from the 1980s are slowly rising in popularity, as cars like the Lancia Delta Integrale and Porsche 928 have become particularly sought-after collector cars. When it comes to American cars from that era, there really isn’t a whole lot of excitement, because of the oil crisis and severe restrictions, choking performance out of cars. That said, the YouTube channel AutoTopiaLA is giving us the tour of a 1986 Buick Regal resto-mod that has almost nothing in common with the original car.

The cinema has made many cars famous – the Ford Mustang, Dodge Charger, Chevrolet Corvette, and even imports like the Toyota Supra have achieved iconic status, due to no small part, to the movies they’ve starred in. Among these is the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am and it was “Smokey and the Bandit” that inspired this 1978 Pontiac Trans Am resto-mod, built by “Ryan’s Rod & Kustom”.

Few cars out there look as sinister as a black, 1970s Cadillac Hearse. Apparently, the people at Detroit Muscle thought it would be a good idea to bring a neglected, 1976 example back from the dead. The YouTube video from "POWERNATION" is full of subtle black humor, as it resonates with the type of project, presented here. In case you don’t want to watch the full video, here are the biggest highlights of what would eventually become known as “the Overtaker”.

Depending on who you ask, resto-mods can be a blessing or a curse. And while the purist way of keeping things in their original state is pretty self-explanatory, restoring a car with modern parts does have its advantages. The people at V8TV are no strangers to resto-mods, but today’s YouTube video is a step further from most resto-mods. It involves a beautiful, partially-restored, 1957 Ford Thunderbird, which is a family heirloom.

An engine tune is the easiest way to get more performance out of your engine, especially if it features forced induction. This goes particularly well with other modifications, such as an aftermarket exhaust and intake also referred to as “bolt-ons”. If you are wondering how much performance can be gained from such mods, the guys at “Awesome cars” give an answer in one of their YouTube videos. This time, the U.K.-based tuning specialists have brought out an Audi RS6 Avant to do some product testing and the results are impressive.

In a bid to celebrate the return of SEMA for 2021, Ford has decided to create six specialBroncos in collaboration with several partner brands, that demonstrates the endless possibilities with the SUV, as far as personalising and enhancing its capabilities are concerned. They SUV’s bound for Vegas, will feature everything from lift kits, custom wheels, racks and more from the Genuine Ford Parts bin and several other accessories all in a bid to help make it your own and add even more performance to the Bronco.