Remember the days when you could divide every car model into small, medium and large? Noways, there are way too many niches, so many the Germans who decided to turn an old Opel Corsa into an SUV were trying to make fun of that.
With 250,000 kilometers on the clock and without a valid MOT, this early Corsa 3-door was on a one-way track to the scrapheap. But the guys at Auto Bild decided to do something crazy with it and turn the supermini into an SUV, a convertible SUV no less.
Land Rover is currently working on such a model, Evoque Convertible which is expected to debut towards the end of the year and could cost upwards of €50,000. But the Corsa tries to do the same job on maybe a hundredth of that.
To make room for 19-inch wheels from a Porsche Panamera, the mechanics strip down the front and rear suspension, replacing the shocks and springs. Because the Corsa has a 4-nut wheel and the Porsche has a 5-nut one, the use special aluminum adaptor flanges which also widen the track of the car significantly. Another problem is that the wheels don't fit, so the arches have to be chopped.
Auto Bild admits the turning circle is as big as the earth's orbit and the ride is really weird and unsafe. But who cares when you've got the wind in your hair a the driving position that towers over bus passengers.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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