Andy Saunders is shaking his head in mild disbelief. 'It was the end of an exhibition in a London art gallery,' he says, 'where I'd been invited to debut my Stratos Zero replica. I got talking with a guy who'd also had a car on show, a full-size model of a car he'd designed. Admittedly, it looked quite good but it didn't move, it had no interior, no steering or suspension - it just sat there.
"This guy asked me "Why do you do it? The money you must spend..." I said, "Well, the Zero owes me 25 grand." "What part owes you 25 grand?" "All of it! Including tax and MoT." And it turned out he'd spent something like £400,000 having his model built. I just couldn't work it out. When I built Run-A-Ground, my three-wheeler speedboat, I bought a Reliant chassis for a tenner, the boat for 300 quid, the wheels from a council tip for a fiver, and I used some paint I happened to have on the shelf. The whole thing cost me £836.
That anecdote is telling in more ways than one. Saunders has been building custom vehicles since the late 1970s, always on a hobby basis his day job is managing the garage business started by his late father and he's always taken a DIY, use-what-comes-to-hand approach. All of his 60-plus creations have been made in an ordinary domestic garage and with simple hand tools. No expensive wheeling machines here; just a hammer and a dolly.
'I did buy a wheeling machine once,' Saunders confesses. An old panel-beater was retiring and he had several 19th Century examples, massive great things. I bought one off him but never had the time to learn to use it and in the end I sold it to a mate. When it's suggested that his method of panel-shaping is very much in the Italian tradition, using a hammer over a buck, he laughs and quips: 'More like a hammer over a bucket!'
Bu hikaye Octane dergisinin May 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Octane dergisinin May 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
The Pro route to faster lap times
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Pro 4Matic+
The power to corrupt
2024 Aston Martin Vanquish
Hyperactivate!
1967 Austin-Cooper MkII 998 by Crafted Classics Tuning Glen Waddington
De Tomaso Racing Blue Blood
IF THE MARQUE De Tomaso is mainly familiar to you through cars such as the Mangusta, the Pantera, maybe the Longchamps and, if you're next-level classic car geek, racers such as the P70, then the sheer variety to be found in this mammoth tome is going to come as something of a shock. There are literally dozens profiled here, and one or two will probably be news to even the most seasoned enthusiast.
The best watch in the world
We've been here, but it bears repeating these gems will soon be cheaper than a 1st class stamp
A star is reborn
This recently revived coachbuilt beauty made the final four at the Pebble Beach concours in August
REINVENTING THE WHEEL
The gyroscopically stabilised Gyro-X blurred the line between reality and science fiction. Sam Glover takes the prototype for a spin
SAYONARA GT-R
After a remarkable 17-year career, the supercar-humbling Nissan GT-R bows out on a high
Shiro Nakamura
Nissan’s long-standing Chief Creative Officer became architect of the marque’s style-led revival… and is also known as ‘Mr GT-R’
LIGHT SPARKS
How does the electric Tesla Roadster compare today?