scratch built Mazzer roadster

Pete, Mike, George and Elliot, thank you for the compliments. Wil

 

Yeah, that's what I figured. I've used fiberglass for that purpose for years already. It seems to work and we had a bunch lying around so why not use it. After thoroughly soaking the fiberglass cloth with resin we used a plastic spreader to squeeze out most of the excess resin so it wouldn't get too heavy. It's polyester resin. According to the supplier, you can't use epoxy resin with the material we laid. We're going to spray a thin coat of red gel-coat to keep out any water that may try to get in and also to help deflect rocks.

Wil

 

I posted pictures of the ground effects rear diffuser earlier but I decided this last weekend to trash it. I'm not happy with the way the fiberglass covering came out and it IS starting to get too heavy. It's not a total loss. I know it fits the car, after making several revisions, and now I can copy the dimensions and make a new diffuser out of 6061 sheet aluminum for the top surface and carbon fiber sheet for the sides and splitters. It should be way lighter.

Since we're in the fiberglass mode now though, we're going to be making fiberglass molds, soon, of the front valence/front spoiler pieces and then lay up some fiberglass copies. As I mentioned before, I don't want want these low hanging, vulnerable body parts to be too strong. If I hit a speed bump I'd rather destroy them than have the impact travel up into the aluminum nose. We'll also make them with red gel-coat, even though they'll be painted red later, so they won't look too bad when they get minor damage and stone chips.

There's going to be a little delay though because winter seems to be pretty much over and it's time to dig my 308 out and get it ready for the first local Ferrari driving event.

 

We also decided not to fiberglass the inner fender panels. They're being smoothed out and will get a couple of coats of spray-on "chip guard" on the vulnerable side before painting them. If they get dented then oh well. It was just too much extra complication and extra weight fiberglassing them.

 

George,

We did consider spray-on bed liner. It would probably help deflect flying stones but it wouldn't contribute structurally. I know for a fact that the fiberglass deflects stones and it also helps to stiffen the fender which is a good thing.

Chip-guard helps protect against paint chips so why not use it on the exposed inner fender panels? I think the bed liner material would be too rough and look ugly on the inner fender panel which is in almost full view since the wheel arch opens out like on the famous old Testa Rossa.

I WILL look into the Ethafoam you talk about. I'm not sure I've heard of that product before but It's never too late to learn something new.

Wil

 

Taz, Thanks, that's kind of you. I'm a big guy and I'm dealing with it but I knew her longer than anyone else on earth and it's still hard to believe she's gone.

I'm hitting the road in a few minutes and will be gone for a few days but I'll post some more pictures of progress on the car soon.

Regards,

Wil

 

Thanks for the interest. Unfortunately circumstances have forced me to put the project on hold again. Since my mother died in January my father, who is 89 years old, is living all alone.

He's quite capable of taking care of himself but it's just not a good situation so we've asked him to move in with us. He accepted and will move in as soon as he's sold his house (which in this market is not easy). In the mean time we've been making all kinds of changes and renovations to the house in preparation for his arrival.

We're also in the middle of trying to put up a new building for Exoticars USA. We're under contract to buy a piece of property with an existing structure onto which we want to attach a larger building. Right now we're paying for a lawyer, an engineer and an architect and we've only just begun. Pretty soon we'll be paying for the township's lawyer, engineer, etc and whatever crazy ideas the planning board will come up with just to make life difficult and more expensive.

Anyway, all my time, effort and spare money is being diverted. The Mazzer roadster will have to wait but not for too long I hope.

 

Thanks. I'm looking forward to being back soon to finish the project.

 

Thank you. I should be working now. I'm typing this during a commercial while watching the Turkish GP. After that back to work!

 

Thanks George. Same to you.

 

Thank you Mike.

 

Here are a couple of shots of the rear body section after doing pick and file (and sanding) work on the right rear quarter and then moving to the tail light area. We're making one new right rear inner fender panel and touching up the louvers and rear valence also. Next we'll apply and sand down a skin coat of polyester filler to hide minor imperfections before proceeding to primers and paint.
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Yeah, that is certainly very nice work. Thanks for sharing the pictures. That of course is a quasi-replica of a 300S and and a very nice one from what I can see. Our car is an original design that is more of a tribute to the 450S (and of course also the 300S and even the D-Type).