Clear alloys???

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Look great on a bike.

Look great on a super polished custom car that is all race parts and polished. Look crap on a street car with steel (rusty) body/suspension/brake parts. How do you clean the brake dust off the inside? How well do the brakes cool?

Oh my, I like the way that looks.

OTOH when they get all muddy...

I actually think they look pretty good. What's the transparent bit made from? Some sort of strengthened perspex?

If I was designing these, I would use that low weight, high strength, optically pure plastic they use for fighter aircraft windscreens, the stuff that is still transparent when a foot or two thick and deflects bullets.

Mind you, that would be dead expensive, and someone else would use simple thick but clear plastic to undercut me.

Do you mean Polycarbonate......?

Dunno. I've seen it first hand, but not bought any.

I thought 350Z got tasty big red Brembo brake calipers not those cheap crap sliding calipers. 300ZX and Skyline GT-R have 4 pot fronts and twin piston rears. Looks like you can get poverty spec Z's in the USA and then spend the cash you save on pimping them. I suppose it means you don't have to do what RUF do on Porsche and throw some good brakes away to fit better ones.

The GTRs had Brembo 4 pots, but the 300ZX only had stock Nissan 4 pots same as the Skyline GTSt's, if you want to be picky ;)

But I am suprised the Z's done have them in the US as standard...

Made from

Revolution split rims with a one off turned centre. Plastic bit is probably 20mm or thicker cheap clear perspex as used in all kinds of stuff. Not sure its a good plan on a road car.

I can't decide if I love them or hate them. I imagine they would look like total shit if they weren't totally clean. And what would red hot brakes do to them?

Fraser

Lexan.

Fraser

It depends if you get the track or touring pack. Track has good brakes and wheels, touring has nice leather seats and toys.

Fraser

That's probably it, yeah.

Looking at the GE website, I'm struck by the possibilities of designing a Lexan-based kit car with an enclosed plastic bubble roof like the Thunderbirds Rolls, except with a modern shape. Rigid chassis, very light, meets modern rules for roll cages, etc.

I wonder what it costs, though...

Shitloads. And it weighs a ton.

Fraser

Pivco were going to make a small car called TH!NK with translucent coloured plastic body panels. I think they were translucent rather than transparent so they didn't have to put a high finish on the panel molds. Polycarbonate = generic Lexan which is Dupont's tradename for the stuff.

But this was the first organic plastic car Ford made. Maybe he had been using some other part of the hemp plant as well and become a hippy.