Want a ’67 Mustang convertible?

New 1967 Mustang shell.

Ford has just revealed yet another body shell for their favored muscle car, but this time, it’s for the 1967 Mustang Convertible. The price for the beginning part of your 1967 Mustang rebuild project stands at $15,995.

This new ’67 convertible body shell was manufactured by Dynacorn International who worked not only to replicate the original ’67 convertible, but make it better. For this, the body panels were made from modern automotive-grade virgin steel and, for better strength, the panels were assembled using modern welding techniques. There are also newly engineered reinforcements in known stress areas to add strength and rigidity to the body.

“These days, the chances are fairly slim of finding a restorable, rust-free ’67 Mustang that has never been wrecked,” said Dennis Mondrach, Ford Restoration Parts licensing manager. “As the value of classic Mustangs has increased over the years, garages, barns and scrap yards have been picked clean.”

Unfortunately, the cost of shipping a body shell out here, on top of the almost half a million baht purchase price for the shell, makes this a not very practical project, but it sure is attractive!

Want to join the E30 race club?

BMW E30 racer like this one.

The yellow E30 4 door that runs in the Retro Nitto 3K F5 and F6 classes is for sale. Fitted with a 3 liter Toyota 2JZ (normally aspirated) it certainly has a powerful engine. Those who have looked at it closely say the car is a little rough, but nothing that some TLC won’t fix.

It laps Bira around the 1min 14’s and normally in the top three in its class. Opening bids for this E30, ready to go with wheels / tyres etc., is only 300,000 THB. Difficult to beat this for performance at the price. Contact Gavin Charlesworth for more details [email protected].

Shocking road toll figures (again)

Four helmets out of five ain’t bad, I suppose.

165 lives were lost and 1,782 people injured from 1,605 road accidents in the first three of the New Year Festival’s “seven dangerous days” according to the Road Safety Centre.

Places to avoid during any holiday period are Buriram with the most deaths with 14 people killed, while the most accidents were recorded in Chiang Rai (61) and Nakhon Sawan (56). These provinces also had the highest number of people injured, with 62 and 57 respectively.

On Saturday Dec 31, there were 650 road accidents nationwide, which was 34 cases fewer than last year, with 71 people killed (one less than last year) and 731 injured (15 more than last year), Probation Department deputy chief Chalong Atikanit told the media.

Here’s the important statistics - most accidents - 81 percent - involved motorcycles, she said, and most resulted from drunk driving - 44 percent - or speeding - nearly 22 percent.

Over half (59 percent) occurred on straight stretches of road and about a quarter (27 percent) took place between 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Over half of all casualties were of working age.

To attempt (not very successfully) to halt the bloodshed, police set up 2,463 checkpoints, and stopped 754,068 road users. Some 105,144 motorists were found to have broken traffic laws - mostly for failing to wear helmets (32,659) or not carrying a driver’s license (29,644), she said.

The total of 1,605 accidents in the first three days was 91 fewer than last year, while the cumulative 165 deaths was an increase of 14, although total number of people injured - 1,782 - was down by 29, Chalong said.

One does not need tertiary qualifications in statistics to see that the people most killed ride motorcycles, probably under the influence of alcohol and are young adults. Those are exactly the same causes as last year. What are the police going to do? Checking for driving licenses has not worked. How about using their speed guns on the straight roads? Breathalyze the motorcycle riders at their checkpoints. Insist on helmets that meet international standards. Those three items will produce a decrease in deaths over Songkran as well. But will they try it? What do you think?

Proton to sell Lotus?

Tesla “Lotus”.

No wonder the world is in a penurious state, if the example of Proton is anything to go by. Proton, the Malaysian automaker that bought control of Lotus in 1996, has not made any profit from the British unit for 15 years and guesstimates are that it probably will remain in the red to at least until 2014.

Just to complicate that, now it is rumored that Proton itself may be sold off by the government, with investors such as Gan Eng Peng saying Lotus Group International is ripe for a sale.

“It will make sense for them to sell it,” said Gan, adding, “Proton and Lotus are not a good fit. They are in different market segments, both in terms of geography and product.” Now that may be so on the surface, but let us not forget that Tata owns Jaguar these days, and that is an even greater disparity with trucks and pick-ups and luxury sports cars.

Lotus, which has struggled to compete against Porsche and Ferrari in Europe, has hung on to relevance in the auto industry partly because of its decades-long expertise in designing lightweight frames, However, the company may need the backing of an automaker more global (and more cashed up) than Proton to survive in an industry where carmakers such as Saab Automobile are filing for bankruptcy.

Two months ago, Proton denied a report by the Star newspaper that it was selling its Lotus stake to Luxembourg-based Genii Capital. That is interesting as Genii Capital was the main sponsor for the Lotus Renault F1 team.

Phil Gott, an IHS Automotive analyst specializing in powertrain research, agrees that Lotus technology is excellent. Expertise in making lightweight frames, a defining area of strength since its founding in 1952 by British engineer Colin Chapman, has allowed Lotus designs to be a popular option for electric cars, Gott said.

Tesla Motors has relied on Lotus chassis designs since 2008 for its $US 109,000 electric Roadster sports car. The Lotus Elise weighs 912 kilograms, making it the lightest performance car sold in the US, according to Santa Monica, California-based Edmunds.com. The 2012 Porsche Cayman is much heavier while the Mazda MX-5 Miata sports convertible also weighs much more.

Proton’s stock has gained 44 percent in Kuala Lumpur trading as speculation on its sale heated up. State-owned Khazanah Nasional Bhd., which holds a 43 percent stake in Proton, has since confirmed it has received offers. Khazanah officials have declined to comment on Proton’s sale, however, beyond saying it received proposals of interest. Sime Darby Motors, Naza Group, Hyundai-Berjaya, DRB-Hicom and UMW Holdings are reputedly candidates, though Sime and UMW have said they are not interested, but they might just be playing their cards close to their chest.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who founded Proton in 1983, said in December that billionaire Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary’s DRB-Hicom, an auto assembler, is the best candidate to buy the government stake and that Proton shouldn’t be sold to a foreign company. Recently, Proton has been looking at joint ventures with other manufacturers, such as GM and VW, but nothing was ever signed, sealed and delivered. For Proton, whose profit tumbled 76 percent in the last quarter, unloading Lotus may give it money to invest in production facilities as Malaysia’s national carmaker faces mounting domestic competition from Toyota and Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua (Perodua).

To be a viable entity, Lotus will have to sell 8000 vehicles a year, but last year the total was 1985 units, according to its annual report. Compare that with Ferrari, whose chairman said in September that it will probably post record sales of 7000 cars this year.

So who wants to buy a company which has lost money every year for the past 15 years, and no sign of that changing this year or next? You would have to be very brave.

An interesting vehicle

1991 MR2 automatic in pearl white. This car was imported from Japan and has a Thai registration. Designed by Lotus with the original Celica 2000 twin cam 16 valve 163 hp engine.

Bodywork and engine in very good condition with regular services and replacement parts all fitted by Toyota specialists. Optional T-bar roof, electric windows and mirrors, electronic alarm system, 2-way adjustable steering wheel, Bazooka sound system with pioneer radio and CD player.

This car is the only Lotus design and model in Thailand. The owner is 73 and has a genuine but reluctant reason for parting with his pride and joy.

For a quick sale and a bargain for any purchaser the price is THB. 450,000 o.n.o. Please no time wasters. Alan 083 753 6782.

Another reason you don’t see many Honda Brios

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the floods which hit Honda so hard was the reason the cute little Honda Brio was not the sales leader in the eco-class. However Ron Lister, one of the readers in Chiang Mai contacted me with the following additional information.

“There is another reason why Honda Thailand failed to get Brios onto Thai roads. Well before the floods hit Chiang Mai and then southern regions I was ‘in the market’ for a Brio, having tested it alongside the March and Mazda 2.

“Before the floods Honda Chiang Mai (2 dealers) informed me there would be a 6 month wait for my vehicle if I ordered it and paid a 5000 baht deposit.

“I wasn’t prepared to wait that long and considered the delay to be because of inefficiency, so I bought a Mazda 2 and only waited one day!

“At that time there was a wait of 3 months for the March!”

Thank you Ron, and if Honda is lucky they will have read this item and smartened up their delivery system in 2012.