Which project are you most proud of?

This comes to mind

Started as an 1986 Sport. touched every nut and bolt on it.  Ported 13b motor. Light weight forged steel racing flywheel and a semi race clutch.  Complete turbo suspension with a bunch of JDM racing bits that took for ever to show up.  Complete Turbo driveline swap (trans to wheels) including the sub frames. Titanium exhaust. It was a car that the average person would say it was a nice looking car but an enthusiast would look over and really like. The car was originally Mazda gold but I had it completely re painted while I had it down to a shell using GM gold from a 1980s corvette.   Small difference in color. Again only a car geek would notice.  Interior was stock new OE in burgundy.  I then pulled the seats in favor of a set of 85 gslse seats.  I did everything with this car from track days to cruze nights to DD to jobs all over the country.   I kept upgrading the motors. It got to the point where I could swap a motor by my self in 3 hours. 
 

I really miss that car lightness was the main objective. In final form it was just under 2400 lbs wet. 

The projects I am most proud of are not my own cars. They are all pieces I did for customers or team mates. Number one now is the EVSR body design. Tied for #2 after that are several aluminum monocoque tub rebuilds and a Lotus Elite fiberglass monocoque rebuild.

A tie between my vw and my s10. The Chevy drove way better than it had a right to and still did truck stuff very well. The VW was likely my most ambitious project and it worked! And it would pull the front wheels. And it was registered and driven. And the look on folks faces when they said I couldn't run a turbo on a carbureted engine with cast pistons and points ignition. It wasn't fast, high 15s, but it was fast for a vw on stock tires. 

I've done a lot of projects over the years, but two stand out for me.

The first one relates to an old sports car I raced, an MGA, When I switched to exclusively vintage racing I decided to build what was at the time a unique engine (a couple have been done in the decades since). I grafted the head, front timing case and ancillaries form a 3 main bearing MGA Twin Cam engine, onto a 5 main MGB block, and while I was at it, increased displacement from 1588 cc to 1950 cc and solved all the machining challenges along the way.

The second project I really enjoyed doing was refurbishing another GA that had been rebodied with a Fiberfab Jamaican body.  The good thing was that it hadn't been too badly buggered about with as many kit cars and specials tend to be, and the bad thing was that the person that did it  wasn't all that skilled.

They had found that the MGA 1500 engine that was in it fouled the bonnet by a little bit so they just bashed on the oil filler cap with a big hammer to cave the valve cover in so it would clear.

This is what it looked like on purchase:

Not bad but with cheap after market lights and such and broken fibreglass seats.

I ripped it apart, and tossed away everything except the body, and rear end.  I rebuilt it using a GM 3.4 V6 and T5 gearbox, and MGB front suspension with disc brakes instead of the original drums.

Result:

That one has a webpage at https://www.rhodoworld.com/Jamaican.html

The page refers to three magazine articles that discuss the restoration and conversion.  This one has the best pictures as they sent a writer/photographer to write the article. It was published in MG Enthusiast magazine.

http://www.rhodo.citymax.com/f/Jamaican_Article.pdf

There is also a write up with lots of photos on the British V8 site - http://www.britishv8.org/MG/BillSpohn.htm

Don't think that I have another project like that in me, so I'll just be happy with enjoying the cars I have.  I think that I have 'improved' every car I have owned, except a 69 Lamborghini which was so close to how I would have wanted it, that there was little I could do.

My 65 mustang. It was a total basket case when I brought it home. No engine or trans. Floorboards gone. I got it solid and converted it to a manual trans. It wasn't particularly great at anything, but a v8 with flowmasters and a four speed will always be cool.

A couple stand out to me, as out of the hundred plus cars in the last 40 years, these are the only two that keep coming back in my dreams as though I still own them.

First was the Daytona Spyder replica I built in '85 from a wrecked Corvette. heavily breathed on 350 engine, and did everything in/on the car other than the block machining.

and this one, my '86 Sport RX7 that ended up with a small block Ford after the 13B blew out a couple apex and side seals when the stock fuel injection ran lean while running.

And the V8 addition:

My Lotus 7 replica. Started out as a body and I fab'd the frame, all of the suspension pieces& geometry(before computers with strings, turnplates and an angle finder), fitted a Toyota 4AG & T-50, a Mazda RX-7 GSL rear, Carrera shocks, AFCO springs, Autometer gauges and more. Used it as my DD and track toy for 2 years weather pending. I miss it even though it was only 110hp.

Probably saving this from trailer park hell

searching and finding the broken or missing parts 

and doing it to a high enough standard that the biggest pre-AMG merger collector of the time has to have it. 

because it's my first car, has evolved as my skills and tastes evolve, and managed not to berkeley it up beyond use when i was young and of questionable taste and skillset.  It's almost time for it to do some more evolving.  

In reply to Colin Wood :

It has to be the house I built ( am building) my own 2 hands did most of the work. 

Not gonna lie its like trying to choose my favorite child, but I can narrow it down to 4

My $600 rescue that was infested with black widows:

My current baby:

I'd say my latest, going from this...

to this. 

The ones that run....

So many awesome builds here!!

Still has to be the 1934 Packard Twelve.

First full restoration I did from start to finish.

In reply to Chris_V :

Cool stuff.

ShawnG said:

Still has to be the 1934 Packard Twelve.

First full restoration I did from start to finish.

 

Stunning. Absolutely majestic. 

The stuff Im most proud of isnt cars, its building and renovation type stuff. Probably my favorite was my first one. It was my first house, built in 1912. The day after i closed I started demo. I was in way over my head, but did everything myself with help of friends and family.

Before

After

I have built so many cars, but for me it is probably the Lotus Elan we did a few years back. From this before picture to being on the lawn at the Amelia Island Concours in about 18 mionths.

Thinking about this more, I'm proud of one of my first builds. I call her "Ruby".   I did the body, and frame. (with help from friends).  C4 suspension, 427 Motown SBC (500hp), tremec 5 speed. Under 2000lbs. (the engine in the pictures is not the Motown.  I put that in another build.  The one in the pic is a ZZ4 short block with Vortec heads)

  A kit car magazine editor saw the car at a racing event called Run n Gun and did a feature on it.  They asked me to show it at SEMA in 2003.  When I was at SEMA it was selected to be one of 7 cars to be featured at the Hot Rod Hall of Fame inductee dinner at that event.  It was very cool to be in the same room with some of the best builders and cars in the world.  Very humbling. 

Wow,  That Packard's gorgeous!  My R-90 is only a driver, but turned out well.  My garage has given me the most long term satisfaction I think.  24 X 42 with storage above.

My neighbor liked it so much that he copied it.

In reply to 914Driver :

Thanks!

That R90 is beautiful. 

I've got an R80RT here that I'm debating about selling in the spring. Maybe it needs to be converted instead.

Of all my projects, I think I'm most proud of this one:  

Some days I wish I still had it, but I never drove it much mostly due to the roads and congestion around where I live.

My 99 Buell S3

Started as my street-ridden for a few years then I started getting into drag racing. By the end, almost literally, every single thing on it had been touched. So much was/had been modified/changed. Great bike, I miss racing. Still got it and my leathers..., just no tow vehicle