250 California Spyder Modena body modifications | FerrariChat

250 California Spyder Modena body modifications

Discussion in 'Special Projects & Concept Cars' started by Mattie69, Nov 21, 2016.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #1 Mattie69, Nov 21, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Hi
    A few months ago I bought this fiberglass 250 California Spyder replica made by Modena back in the late 80s,the car has a full tube chassis,ford 302 (350hp)with weber IDFs,5speed,9" rear, and the only set of Dayton aluminum rimmed wheels I have ever seen,runs out like a 289 cobra,surprisingly well built car and has 54k miles on it( that says a lot for a production assembled kit car), I have been modifying the body and interior to give it a more authentic look, I have been able to find a lot of reproduction Ferrari California Spyder parts to facilitate the transformation, I'll post some pictures of the car when I purchased it and as we have been modifying it, please email with any suggestions,the only real info I seem to be able to find is from pictures online ,and I would assume you would have to go thru a background check to actually sit in a real one lol, ..also please email me if you have any parts available for my [email protected] can't seem to put more than two pictures up? What am I doing wrong?
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  2. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #2 Mattie69, Nov 21, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  3. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #3 Mattie69, Nov 21, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  4. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #4 Mattie69, Nov 22, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  5. PAUL500

    PAUL500 F1 Rookie

    Jun 23, 2013
    3,136
    Good to see you found this section :)

    Do you know how many of these kits were built?

    Was the FB one exactly the same as yours, pre mods that is?

    Any plans to fit a Ferrari drivetrain?
     
  6. pcelenta

    pcelenta Karting

    Nov 1, 2003
    216
    You weren't kidding about heavily modifying it. Wow. That rear section alone made a huge difference. Look forward to seeing the other mods.
     
  7. 88MONDIAL

    88MONDIAL Formula 3

    Apr 13, 2005
    1,052
    Racine, Wisconsin
    Full Name:
    Jim Smith
    I would love to own one of these replicas! Good luck with everything, looks great!
     
  8. any_1

    any_1 Formula 3

    Sep 6, 2006
    1,072
    Sweden
    #8 any_1, Nov 23, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  9. Mang

    Mang F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Jul 11, 2007
    5,911
    ta HO
    Full Name:
    Mike S.
    #9 Mang, Nov 24, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2016
    Everyone's thinkin it, I'll say it. Wheels are hideous, rest of car looks presentable, so re think that wheel application and would be pretty cool overall. Just my 2 cts.

    real k/o Borrani's ftw, and more tire, less wheel, and lift that car up!

    to the op, these Modena spiders are cool, I remember when they were first borne. Pretty sure they employed one for a role in Ferris Buellers day off.
     
  10. any_1

    any_1 Formula 3

    Sep 6, 2006
    1,072
    Sweden
    The wheels are not pretty, but they are modern Borranis. The owner said he could not find spoked wheels that would fit the brake discs....
     
  11. Mang

    Mang F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Jul 11, 2007
    5,911
    ta HO
    Full Name:
    Mike S.
    I reckoned they were Boranni's - why I edited in the k/o part. Too bad a better 'look' can't be achieved.
     
  12. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #12 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts,the wheels look very close to borrani,but they have Dayton hubs and aluminum rims,I called Dayton and apparently they made such a wheel for a couple years about 25 years ago,I believe Modena Made about 50-100 cars before Ferrari sued them and forced them to stop production,my main goal with a lot of the modifications is make it more look and feel more vintage, I just started modifying the headlight tubes and going with a vintage headlight assembly and trim ring...ill get some more pictures up
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  13. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #13 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I seam to be having trouble loading more then one or two pics at time,in the previous post picture we modified the rear section by raising the the rear body panel to fit the reproduced Spyder taillights...we have to enlarge the surface area on the dash to get the larger reproduced Ferrari veglia tach and speedo in,I have collected all the old Ceam switches,lighter and ignition switch
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  14. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #14 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Replaced the GM steering ,a reproduced steering column pieces,Terry at GTO engineering in the Uk has been very helpful in supplying a lot of these parts
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  15. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #15 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    We are eliminating all the dash vents except defrost and running the heat&a/c out of sight under the dash,added a glove box door and there is nothing like a vintage Ferrari steering wheel
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  16. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #16 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    We eliminated the vent window assemblies and changed out the window regulator,we had to go power to make it work( but the switches will be the correct window cranks,)we also raised the the inside door handles and window cranks to correct height on the doors,we also fit the correct reproduced outside door handles....the mock up door glass is too tall it will be about 3" shorter,we are installing the correct Ferrari reproduced windshield and the frame which is made out of modified Alfa guilietta windsheild frame parts as were the originals...we added an enclosed track to forward area of the doors to get the single piece of glass in,fortunately it has a fiberglass cover so you can't see the modifications
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  17. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #17 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  18. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #18 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    The molded in headlight tube tampered back to about 7 3/4" ,buy cutting it out and going with a 9" non tapered headlight tube that will fit behind the headlight cover lip it will really give it the alloy body look and allow us to put in the correct size headlight assemblies and rings which are 8" in diameter....
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  19. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #19 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    These are the wheels on my car ,I am not sure how close to the borrani they are in appearance ,they are 15", I havent really thought about wheels yet ,although I have seen many pics online of the spiders with a wheel that looks to be about an inch wider and they look good, I bought this car from a guy back east it had a antique license plate on it and the car is registered as a 1965 Ferrari ..not sure what the California dmv will do? , kinda hard to lie about sales tax when your registering a 1965 ferrari lol....ill post more pics as I progress,thanks for your interest...sorry about the multiple post ,I can only get one pic per post..
    Regards
    Matt
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  20. pcelenta

    pcelenta Karting

    Nov 1, 2003
    216
    Wow! Looking forward to seeing the windshield fitted.
     
  21. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #21 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I believe all the cars Modena built were the same fiberglass bodies,I believe they built about 50 cars including the 3 used in the movie " Ferris buellers day off",I don't believe Modena sold many cars in the kit form, they are currently being produced by Calspyder in Arizona they purchased the molds and jigs, I actually have damaged 1995 Ferrari 456 available for parts with a good drivetrain ,but I am not planning on changing the drive train, I don't believe it will improve the performance or the value enough to warrant the exspense,if the car was an alloy body with a more period correct frame etc. I probably would ...small block fords have a great sound and mated with Ferrari type exhaust tips it sounds good and vintage Ferrari like
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  22. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #22 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    These cars come up on every so often,I saw 3 over the coarse of 6-9 months available forsale on eBay ,and one on Craigslist in Hawaii, I really wanted one with webers and aluminum rimmed true knock off spoked wheels , I wasn't really concerned with interior condition because I was going change most of it anyway,the one thing that was consistent with all 3 of the owners was they had owned the cars for 15-22 years and two of the owners were were selling them because they were in there 70s and felt it was time ....it really just made me believe they were well built cars
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  23. Mattie69

    Mattie69 Karting

    Aug 26, 2016
    147
    #23 Mattie69, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Me to ..it should look great with the vintage shorter windshield..the Modena spyders have a fiat 124 windshield frame and folding soft top,the fiat frame actually doesn't look that bad if you get rid of the vent window assembly,but the fiat top assembly looks doesn't look up,I am going to be using a Austin Healy 100 removable folding soft top fitted with the Alfa guilietta top header ,in the picture it's mocked up on the fiat windshield frame
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
    MikesFirstFerrari likes this.
  24. pcelenta

    pcelenta Karting

    Nov 1, 2003
    216
    What's the plan with the rocker panels? Are you going to square them off to make them look more like the original spyders?
     
  25. pcelenta

    pcelenta Karting

    Nov 1, 2003
    216
    #25 pcelenta, Nov 27, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Have you seen this one? I think the windshield is too high. I believe this car was made in China and was briefly available. It looks like they modified a Modena as well. But the car overall looks tiny. I am not sure if they kept the wheelbase. but it just looks off.
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     

Share This Page