Greetings,

What do you get when you combine influences from an SR71 Blackbird with styling cues from classic American muscle cars and classic European sports cars - yet modern?

My name is Nick and I would like to share with the members of this forum an all steel vehicle that has taken over 7800 hours to bring to fruition. The goal was to create a vehicle that would appear to be a factory prototype released in the late 60's. We call her 'Rhythm'. She has been built entirely from scratch - flat sheets of sheet metal pounded and rolled into what you see - and licensed as a fully functional custom car.

Its a V6(soon to be a reverse rotation V8) mid-engine 2 seat cruiser. The chassis is a one off DOM tube frame with the coolant flowing within the frame for additional cooling capacity(when I get around to dropping a SBC V8 into her this coming summer). All the running and marker lights are retrofitted with LEDs and are sequentially controlled on the rear deck when the turn indicators are on - just as the Ford Cougars had back in the day.

Here are some photos of Rhythm.

Attention to such details as the overall proportions were crutial to achieve a classic, yet modern appearance. Being mid-engined, modern supercar proportions had to lead the design while front and rear overhangs were increased to bring a classic look into play. This theme also influenced the type of wheels chosen for Rhythm. The intial design had 18's in the front and 19's in the rear but where changed to the smaller diameter rim and larger sidewall. While they appear small compared to today's standards anything larger didn't fit the classic theme. Paint was one of the most difficult decisions as I'm a huge fan of blues and the choice came from a most unexpected source. One evening while finishing off a bottle of wine I looked through the bottom of my glass and knew that the Merlot would be the final colour. Creating the actual colour is a story in itself.
http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/INVRTM5095-2.jpg

With an overall height of just over 46" and a width of 80" at the rear it makes for a very interesting ride for the occupants. The closest thing I can compare it to is 'fighter vision' (as in fighter jet) and you really need to use your side mirrors to maneuver in traffic. It's a real head turner.
http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/INVRTM5101-2-1.jpg

The interior is finished with a mat finish on the paint and trimmed off with brushed stainless panels inset into the dash that flow into the doors. The handcrafted foot pedals are shaped like a one sided teardrop to resemble the exhaust tips thereby completing the theoretical flow of power from the foot to the exhaust. Although not in the picture, a heads up display is located above the rear view mirror indicating vehicle vitals in addition to the gauges. Cruise control and A/C are also fully functional. Hey you need to be able to drive in comfort.
http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/INVRTM5092-2-1.jpg

First time out at the Last Chance Car Show in Welland, Ontario was a lot of fun especially when the sun hit the paint. Ohh..and the cross hairs in the top hood scoop are NOT functional - just another one of those fighter jet influenced details. The mirrors are mounted on extention brackets - again with no visible fasteners. The extention brackets were handcrafted to appear as if the scoop was a tapered tube that had sections ahead and behind the bracket cut away to leave a trough.

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/INVRTM5153-2-1.jpg

Rhythm is not everyone's cup of tea if you will...but, in all, was a great exercise in design and fabrication. Some have refered to her as 'rolling art' - hence the title.

Cheers,

Nick

WOW Nick! That is an amazing car! You did all of that metal bodywork yourself and built a custom frame underneath it!!!!? I am totally amazed. The car has some really cool lines too. I like the way you mimic some of the 60's jet design that was used by the big studios, yet you've taken those ideas and explored them in even more dramatic fashion. It's a real work of art.

I would love to see some of your build photos sometime.

I'm a regular on the sketching portion of the site, and when I ran across your sketch, I noticed the link to an actual car. I've never been over here, but I may visit again. This is awesome. I like seeing concept become a reality. Obviously your sketch came first, but I very rarely see sketches get built into real working cars. This is a really cool concept. I would upgrade the rims to something a little bigger, but other than that I kind of like it. Although, the curves seem overexaggerated a bit. It reminds me of the first Batmobile, yet it still retains a feminine flair. You should be like George Barris and design customs for movies. Perhaps it would make a good transport for a superhero female from that era. Might I ask how much materials and fabrication would cost on a project like this, and I was also wondering what possessed you to do this? It says design school final exam all over it. You should post it on jaylenosgarage.com. He might have you come on his show. *G*

http://www.geocities.com/onemodelcitizen

...and I was also wondering what possessed you to do this? It says design school final exam all over it.

Thanks very much, really appreciate that. This vehicle started out in two ways...by my father suggesting that I take a more serious approach to go-kart building and the fact that I couldn't find a decent classic car to restore for the right $$$.

So I began design and fabrication of Rhythm when I was 20years old ... as a fun hobby and intentions to be driving it within 2 years. Well 8 years and over 7800 hours later here we are. The only design lessons I've had were from my father on perspective, proportions, elements of fabrication - so no actual classroom lessons. I learned everything on my own...from design, chassis fabrication, sheet metal work, bodywork, paint and finishing.

My initial goal was to design a vehicle that would appear factory produced...from the late 60's - early 70's...yet have a modern twist. Through research, I stepped into the heads of old school american and european designers and developed the features accordingly. So far, it's been quite a success. People have come up to us on the street thinking it was a factory released prototype...and actually argued with me when I mentioned that we are the ones that built it. It's all fun in the end!

With respect to cost...I have yet to add up the pile of reciepts, tho I can say...it cost quite a bit... and with time...I can't really put a price on "hobby time".

Regards,

Nick

Here are a few shots of creating the front facia. Thousands of hours...yes I did say thousands...have gone into forming, hammering, rolling, plenishing, welding the sheet metal to fabricate the all steel body...and that was just the sheet metal work. A few more hours went into the actual body work to give Rhythm that deep wet shine.

Metal pieces being prepped for the front facia.
http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/Facia1-2.jpg

The front facia roughed in awaiting final detailing. Cardboard mockups are prepared for other pieces to be created.
http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/Facia2-2.jpg

Front left tire was low in this shot.
http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/Facia3-2.jpg

After many hours of body prep before paint(paint only takes 4-5 hours) followed by assembly and detailing the front came to be.
http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/INVRTM5222-np2-1.jpg

Cheers,

Nick

Well I finally found a few moments to start mocking up the SBC350/Trans which will be mounted in a reverse rotation longitudinal fashion. Will be posting pictures soon as I get my camera back. Weight gain will be approx. 150lbs and Rhythm's 'handlability' won't be adversely affected.

Check back for updates as I will try to post on a more regular basis.

Cheers,

Nick

Well I've got some exciting news! The V8 transplant is complete...managed to squeeze it into 3 weekends and around 200hours of work.

The V6 was replaced with a period correct 325HP 350ftlbs of torque Chevy 350 mated to a TH325-4L(caddy) transmission and mounted in a reverse rotation manner - ie. pulleys facing the back of the car. This moved the entire trans and 85% of the engine ahead of the rear wheels for an improved weight bias compared to the transverse V6 and trans. For this to work.. the diff was flipped...otherwise would have ended up with 4 reverse gears and 1 forwards gear - great if u love driving backwards.

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/INVRTM5562.jpg
In about an hour everything was stripped out and clearanced for the new engine.

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/INVRTM5567.jpg
Trimming out the old mounts...

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/INVRTM5599.jpg
At the gas station, when people looked into the engine compartment while I was fueling up...they kept asking where the trans was :P... All they saw was an engine. Trans is basically mostly hidden under the rear deck.

With everything set up I took her out for her first road test!
http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp53/invisionprototypes/Rhythm-CherryBlackTone.jpg

All I can say is that I wish this was done sooner. The power is out of this world. Merging onto the HWY was a snap...literally. The added weight of the V8 was marginal and is hardly noticeable.