The Jaguar E-Type has been given a new life as the Eagle Speedster, the Ford GT40 by Ford, and now the Porsche P/904 Carrera by Gullwing America. These 3 cars are very beautiful and bleed the lines of a "fast car" through and through. I think we are beginning to see the best of the old designs re-created as modern road cars now that we have ~100 years of automotive design to draw from. The new Lancia Stratos would have been a great addition.
Is Ford the only major manufacturer to re-release one of their own? I know Nissan restored a few Z cars, but that was a straight restoration without any changes. What else is out there?
bmw did release a concept based on the M1
When you say 're-release', do you mean a new car that looks sort of like the original (Ford GT looks like GT40 but shares nothing) or do you mean a restrored/modified car like the Eagle Speedster (they're based on actual E-Types).
FYI, these guys tried to do a new Stratos based on a Ferrari, but they have dropped the project. http://www.new-stratos.com/en/#/article/a0
Mercedes has done the SLS that is supposed to look like the original gullwing cars, there's the retro-styled muscle cars from the big 3, VW's New Beetle, etc. Then there's the companies that revived other companies cars, like Dodge "copying" the Cobra to get the Viper, the PT Cruiser reviving an old Ford design, the HHR reviving the PT Cruiser, etc.
Bob
Ian F
SuperDork
3/11/12 3:38 p.m.
Many would argue the 05 Mustang, and the Challenger and Camaro are re-releases of past designs...
Wouldn't the Lotus/Caterham 7 qualify? Caterham, or one of the other companies building 7s now (or recently) built it with a carbonfiber body with a V8 engine.
T.J.
SuperDork
3/11/12 5:18 p.m.
BMW built a new 2002 out of parts not too many years ago. It was a one off and not for sale.
How about Morgan? They haven't stopped building their old classics.
There is a company in Poland which reproduces w113 280sl mercedes.
Did Nissan buy back a few original Z-cars and rebuild them back to new spec for resale? Is that a re-release?
Ian F
SuperDork
3/11/12 7:37 p.m.
In reply to Mazdax605:
Yep. IIRC, they did it to help promote the introduction of the 350Z
