Murican trucks are pavement princess short-bed towtrucks rather than haulers and offroaders now, sadly. I'd love an affordable open-bed hauler with some modern creature comforts (good AC, heated steering wheel, defrosting windshield/rear-window, ventilated seats, android auto, relatively low bed-height for easy loading)
real pity GM killed off Holden. not really in the know but the last utes should be quite recent if expensive for a Murican to get hold of in left hand drive.
if back to the future was made today Marty would go back to 1994 and play Smells like teen spirit at the dance
you know, I've been making that joke for so long the timeline doesn't line up properly anymore, wasn't Kurt already dead? who was big in the LATE 90s ... Limp Bizkit?
Yeah but the guitar solo in the movie was more 70s/80s metal. I can’t really think of a good equivalent in terms of what people in early 90s wouldn’t understand. Maybe something like mumble rap.
Between the Ford Maverick and especially the Hyundai Santa Cruz, the US market is closer to having utes than it has been in a long time. I shopped them both, but ultimately decided I would replace my 10 year old Subaru Outback with a needlessly upgraded Subaru Outback in the "Wilderness" trim. I tell my wife I had the most boring mid-life crisis ever.
Depends on the model. The Colorado and Ranger are both excellent off-road vehicles. The Colorado won truck of the year last year, even beating out the Toyota Tacoma. It's a 4x4 with great off-road handling, but it still drives nice on the road, and it can pull 7000 lbs. It's a really nice all around truck, for people who want a truck to do truck stuff with.
It shares its L3B engine with the full-size Silverado.
Despite being a mid-size, in some dimensions it is somewhat bigger than the full-size Silverado, being built around the same chassis and frame while sharing the same L3B engine.
One of my neighbors jacked up an old school VW bug. The thing is the same height as my sprinter van, or 96" / 8' tall. It's totally ridiculous and awesome at the same time. He normally has it parked at his shop, since he built it as an advertisement of what he can do, so I can't provide a picture right now, but I will try to remember to post a pic when I can.
There's two ways: Modify a Miata; Make something look like a Miata.
Most would think it's easier to modify a Miata. That's sorta true. One could relatively easily replace the suspension, rims, and tires to make it look like the OP. But, the first time it's off-road it'll likely bend the frame.
The frame needs to be reinforced to function off road. That's generally a huge pain in the ass. It's much easier to shorten the frame of an existing SUV or light truck then attach the Miata's body and panels to it. It's much easier to make a truck look like a Miata than make a Miata into a truck.
But, this particular vehicle is very lightweight. Frame reinforcement might be much easier. A Miata hobbyist or Mazda mechanic would know because there's likely only one way that makes good sense for this specific model. My best guess is that because the Miata frame needed very little it was chosen for this purpose. I'd guess it's a modified Miata.
Next time ask the owner anything. Everyone who owns something like this is dying to tell others all about it.
I mean, the "full roll cage" part would definitely put the total well over $1k. But I suppose you might be able to get away with just the butterfly brace alone if your goal was solely to stop it folding in half when it hit big bumps and not, you know, being safe or good in general.
(Also if you didn't have a roll cage then you probably really ought to have at least a hardtop -- for both rigidity and safety reasons -- and I believe that alone is over $1k at this point, too.)
And between "my buddy cleetus PAID me to take trash off his hands and I turned it in to a sick off-road Miata" and "I have mortgaged my home twice, my wife left me, and I owe 350,000 dollars to some shady Iranians on top of that"
The "easy" way is to take a truck chassis, and swap the body. The hard way is to swap the rear axle with a live axle, put lift spindles on the front, adjust just about everything so it's remotely drivable, all the little bits and bobs associated with it
It's such an incredibly scuffed build, though. Matt is a madman.
He shoved a ham sandwich and a bunch of other shit in a carbon fiber mold to make a point about arbitrary it is what you put in them (and I think he was running low on chopped carbon tow), then he had to dig out the sandwich later and fix it because that one was too much.
That wasn't for the Dodge, though. That was for a custom built salt flats speeder. Fucking wild dude.
I don’t know if folks still do it, but when Miatas first came along, some people dropped v8 engines into them (the nickname for those cars was “monster Miatas”)
On the one hand I love battle Miatas, on the other hand I would much rather see NAs being kept as original as possible at this point. If I were going to do this I would start with an NC for sure.
Exactly, clean NAs are just gonna get rarer and rarer because of people fucking them up like that, sort of like it's been with BMW E30s or any of the Skylines.
There's a company called Exomotive that sells conversion kits to turn them into dune buggies, so I assume the drivetrain must be good for that sort of thing (or at least good enough plus cheap and common) and
if only the Miata was a mass produced, affordable vehicle, regarded highly by car enthusiasts, with a thriving aftermarket for modifications and upgrades. Maybe there might be some ways to increase the engine power.
I am no expert, but I think that it's more off road than most of the M'rican tanks (especially the Cybertruck)
Murican trucks are pavement princess short-bed towtrucks rather than haulers and offroaders now, sadly. I'd love an affordable open-bed hauler with some modern creature comforts (good AC, heated steering wheel, defrosting windshield/rear-window, ventilated seats, android auto, relatively low bed-height for easy loading)
real pity GM killed off Holden. not really in the know but the last utes should be quite recent if expensive for a Murican to get hold of in left hand drive.
gotta be 25 years old or older to register an imported car here sadly
tho 25 years ago is a lot more recent than it feels to my ancient ass
because they're just chevys you can do a conversion to side step that. I think I saw a youtube video about it once
Yah, lpoks like that's a thing.
Fucking coooool. An EV swap in one of those would be rad as fuck too.
Jebuz, down here 20 years is considered a classic and qualifies for Historic registration
It's crazy to me that 2004 was 20 years ago. The numbers add up but feel wrong
if back to the future was made today Marty would go back to 1994 and play Smells like teen spirit at the dance
you know, I've been making that joke for so long the timeline doesn't line up properly anymore, wasn't Kurt already dead? who was big in the LATE 90s ... Limp Bizkit?
Yeah but the guitar solo in the movie was more 70s/80s metal. I can’t really think of a good equivalent in terms of what people in early 90s wouldn’t understand. Maybe something like mumble rap.
Between the Ford Maverick and especially the Hyundai Santa Cruz, the US market is closer to having utes than it has been in a long time. I shopped them both, but ultimately decided I would replace my 10 year old Subaru Outback with a needlessly upgraded Subaru Outback in the "Wilderness" trim. I tell my wife I had the most boring mid-life crisis ever.
Too bad the bed length is dogshit. They need to start making single cabs again.
If GM had brought back just one Ute and called it the new El Camino they would have made bank.
Or probably not because I want one and nobody buys cars I like.
Depends on the model. The Colorado and Ranger are both excellent off-road vehicles. The Colorado won truck of the year last year, even beating out the Toyota Tacoma. It's a 4x4 with great off-road handling, but it still drives nice on the road, and it can pull 7000 lbs. It's a really nice all around truck, for people who want a truck to do truck stuff with.
The Colorado is a mid sized truck in name only.
That's should read Yank Tank or Emotional support vehicle
That's the word I was looking for!
There’s a mini cooper on my local Craigslist that is modded like this and I think it rocks
I don't have the skills to do this kind of thing, but I would.
Found the mini
That's wild. Off-roading with a spot of tea.
Honestly if the mod is done well I’d drive the hell out of either of these
I usually don't like most kits, but I agree, this just looks fun.
Would this be a Maxi?
Citroën DS body on a Toyota 4x4 chassis:
https://aventure-citroen-min.forumactif.com/t79-citroen-ds-4x4
this one makes me sad, because the DS is so mechanically clever and sleek looking... they've ripped out the neat innards and offset all the panels :(
I like the concept, it’s hilarious. I say go bigger
One of my neighbors jacked up an old school VW bug. The thing is the same height as my sprinter van, or 96" / 8' tall. It's totally ridiculous and awesome at the same time. He normally has it parked at his shop, since he built it as an advertisement of what he can do, so I can't provide a picture right now, but I will try to remember to post a pic when I can.
As long as they’re safe, outrageous car mods are awesome
keep the suspension but put low profile wheels and tires on it so that it looks like it is up on its tippy toes
You think these proportions are hilarious?
I think they're super fitting. The Miata's proportions, not the Monsterlada.
That Miata absolutely fucks.
Were I a dragon I would take it in a dragonsfuckingcars-ly fashion
i hate that was i born too late to use "fucks" as adjective of estimation.
And I was born too early :(
Man, how do you accomplish something like this? And how much would it cost?
There's two ways: Modify a Miata; Make something look like a Miata.
Most would think it's easier to modify a Miata. That's sorta true. One could relatively easily replace the suspension, rims, and tires to make it look like the OP. But, the first time it's off-road it'll likely bend the frame.
The frame needs to be reinforced to function off road. That's generally a huge pain in the ass. It's much easier to shorten the frame of an existing SUV or light truck then attach the Miata's body and panels to it. It's much easier to make a truck look like a Miata than make a Miata into a truck.
But, this particular vehicle is very lightweight. Frame reinforcement might be much easier. A Miata hobbyist or Mazda mechanic would know because there's likely only one way that makes good sense for this specific model. My best guess is that because the Miata frame needed very little it was chosen for this purpose. I'd guess it's a modified Miata.
Next time ask the owner anything. Everyone who owns something like this is dying to tell others all about it.
My favorite Miata mod
I'm no expert, but I'm guessing that something like https://flyinmiata.com/products/flyin-miata-butterfly-brace-v2-0 + a full roll cage would probably do the trick.
I've enough expertise to be certain that would do the trick. That bypasses the frame modification for not even $1k.
I mean, the "full roll cage" part would definitely put the total well over $1k. But I suppose you might be able to get away with just the butterfly brace alone if your goal was solely to stop it folding in half when it hit big bumps and not, you know, being safe or good in general.
(Also if you didn't have a roll cage then you probably really ought to have at least a hardtop -- for both rigidity and safety reasons -- and I believe that alone is over $1k at this point, too.)
No one's roll caging a lightweight, underpowered toy. If it was on the track or was an actual Jeep, then sure.
I do not know. I was at Silver Lake State Park sand dunes in MI and there were a TON of crazy homemade and custom vehicles flying around the dunes.
When there's a drill there's a way.
And between "my buddy cleetus PAID me to take trash off his hands and I turned it in to a sick off-road Miata" and "I have mortgaged my home twice, my wife left me, and I owe 350,000 dollars to some shady Iranians on top of that"
The "easy" way is to take a truck chassis, and swap the body. The hard way is to swap the rear axle with a live axle, put lift spindles on the front, adjust just about everything so it's remotely drivable, all the little bits and bobs associated with it
That is a Makiata
I'll raise you my matrix lol
Matrix: Reloaded
Black metal.
Anyone interested in this should check out superfastmatt (YouTube) he has a video series where he converts a Dodge Viper for offroading.
Not bolting a viper body onto a dune buggy frame.
It's such an incredibly scuffed build, though. Matt is a madman.
He shoved a ham sandwich and a bunch of other shit in a carbon fiber mold to make a point about arbitrary it is what you put in them (and I think he was running low on chopped carbon tow), then he had to dig out the sandwich later and fix it because that one was too much.
That wasn't for the Dodge, though. That was for a custom built salt flats speeder. Fucking wild dude.
My buddy is in the process of building an offroad Exocet which is based on the Miata subframes. https://exomotive.com/exocet/off-road/
I don’t know if folks still do it, but when Miatas first came along, some people dropped v8 engines into them (the nickname for those cars was “monster Miatas”)
See also: Superfast Matt [and the result]
That's badass.
I'm not mad at the concept of a sporty v12 off-road vehicle.
Is there a Lemmy equivalent to /r/Battlecars, because if there is they’d love this.
I honestly like these "small car, big feet" style. It reminds me of dune buggies. Does this style have a name?
Maybe in 2 more lifetimes I will be born rich enough to entertain a car hobby
I might be in the minority here but that's a fucking travesty right there...
Beauty is subjective, friend. I take no issue with your views.
Me neither; there wasn't any offense intended with my post, sorry if you took it as such.
I just like Miatas and I think that people who also like Miatas (should) treat them better than that.
Ah. The Miata purist. I like it.
On the one hand I love battle Miatas, on the other hand I would much rather see NAs being kept as original as possible at this point. If I were going to do this I would start with an NC for sure.
Exactly, clean NAs are just gonna get rarer and rarer because of people fucking them up like that, sort of like it's been with BMW E30s or any of the Skylines.
Mighty car mods did a similar project with a Nissan Silvia rather than a Miata, if anyone is interested.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp0KnUFYB--g_NcNczfkXW_T7izPjMHcI&si=4P77qrv9FgxNjoSE
GTA modded
Someone in my HS back when put some small car body on a lifted Jeep frame. I think it was a Gremlin or something
Mad max vibe
Great related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND7jqbGwHUI
Now I want to play some Forza just for a chance to race Miatas with the creator of Miatas!
Do they rally that thing?
This is at Silver Lake State Park Sand Dunes. They probably just go muddin' in it and take it on the dunes.
Bout half looks like an early 60s camaro
Let's take a car that's awesome due to how light, low and agile it is – and remove all these things.
How dare they ruin such a rare and pristine car
There's a company called Exomotive that sells conversion kits to turn them into dune buggies, so I assume the drivetrain must be good for that sort of thing (or at least good enough plus cheap and common) and
Yeah, but it shreds.
I bet it couldn't even break traction if you dumped the clutch in 1st at full throttle.
if only the Miata was a mass produced, affordable vehicle, regarded highly by car enthusiasts, with a thriving aftermarket for modifications and upgrades. Maybe there might be some ways to increase the engine power.
Oh well..
They're not really affordable anymore because they all got trashed by people doing stuff like this.
It would be a lot cooler without those moronic tires.