Category: Kit Cars

Audi R8 Transformed into ‘LaFerrari’

Audi R8 La Ferrari

Yup, lots of work went into this Audi R8/La Ferrari mashup. But eagle-eyed enthusiasts won’t be fooled.

The Audi R8 is a wicked performance car that’d be a dream machine for many enthusiasts. In fact, some folks have even gone the fake-it-till-you-make-it route. But as cool as Ingolstadt’s supercar is? The LaFerrari is on another level entirely. Purchasing one of those beasts was an invitation-only affair, and with less that 500 made, only top-tier Ferrari collectors got the opportunity. While it’s currently possible to pick one up on the secondary market, at north of $3M a pop, that’s a big lift. Which might explain why someone had this R8 I stumbled across on Facebook Marketplace modified to resemble Modena’s former flagship. Kind of.

Now, regardless of what you think about the finished product, this project must have cost a decent chunk of change. For starters, the donor R8 couldn’t have been cheap, and there doesn’t seem to be a single panel here that hasn’t been modified. Making things even more complicated is the fact that according to the listing, this car began life as a Spyder version. Which means that the entire roof structure — which features upward opening doors — had to be completely fabricated.

That said, from some angles, particularly dead on from the front, the car doesn’t look too bad. On the other hand, while the sculpted hindquarters look decent, it only takes viewing the car in profile for the illusion to completely fall apart. The proportions are all wrong, and any Ferrari fan worth their salt will be able to tell this car isn’t real from a football field away. And that’s to say nothing of the interior, where the general architecture and beveled metal gear shift clearly betrays the car’s German heritage.

The most interesting thing about this vehicle might just be the fact that the brains and bucks behind the build appears to have unloaded it, as the R8/LaFerrari mashup is currently marked as sold. But given that it was listed (after converting from South African rand) at $42k and change, the amount of money lost in this endeavor must be truly gruesome. Because a stock Audi R8, even with 40k kilometers on the clock, would fetch far more that. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that donor car was more expensive than the final product…

Photos: Facebook Marketplace

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MR2-Based Audi R8 Kit Car is a Hard No

Audi R8 Kit Car

Who is both delusional enough to commission a terrible Audi R8 replica and flush enough to pay for it?

The automotive hobby is full of nooks and crannies, and gets stranger every day. I mean, the “Carolina Squat” is a thing, and given how stupid-dangerous it looks? I’m kind of glad it’s going to be illegal come December. That said, few corners of our world are stranger than the dark one reserved for kit cars. These bastard machines are the vehicular equivalent of Elvis impersonators, and I have to admit, I have a fascination with them. Particularly well-done, but still bad, examples like this fake Audi R8 which recently popped up for sale on eBay.

This poor thing began life as a 1993 Toyota MR2 — which, it should be noted — is already an cool car. Good looks, a mid-engine chassis, and Toyota reliability made it a darling of enthusiasts the world over. So it’s unclear exactly why someone thought it’d be a good idea to turn a great car into a bad approximation of an awesome one. Unfortunately, the listing is no help there, though it does reveal that the windshield is cracked, it’s a right-hand drive, and that you sometimes have to wiggle the driver’s window switch to get it to work.

The true shame here is that while the proportions are dead wrong and literally nobody is going to be fooled by this costume, a lot of effort went into this imposter. At least from the — admittedly crappy — photos the work appears to have been done to a high standard. That means it cost money. A lot of money. So the situation we’re left with is something akin to a doctor entering the waiting room to announce that while the surgery was a success, the patient died. Seriously, who is delusional enough to commission something, like this but flush enough to pay for it?

Now, I should be clear that I’m not against all kit cars. In fact, I’d happily rock a replica Porsche 356, Jaguar C-Type, or Lancia Stratos. I think they could be built to be far better than the originals, and still look the business doing it. But something like this R8? The only people who are going to be convinced are the automotive illiterate, and aficionados are going to snicker whenever you’re seen in this thing. Maybe the window tint is so dark because nobody wants to be seen in this thing. If you have another idea, let me know.

Photos: eBay Motors

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