Inspired by classic Grand Prix racing cars, Darren Collins has created a model that faithfully recreates the originals, but with a twist – it’s actually a kit car based on an MX-5
Ever fancied channelling your inner Fangio or Farina? You know the vibe. A short-sleeved polo shirt, leather flying helmet and goggles, sitting bolt upright fighting with the wheel of a blood red fifties Alfetta or Ferrari Grand Prix car. It could be Monaco or Monza. The glamour, the noise, the danger. Those were the days…
And they still are, here in Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, in March 2022. Don’t laugh. I may not be resplendent in Fangio-style polo and headgear – it’s too bloomin’ cold – but I am certainly bolt upright behind a four-spoke, Titanic-sized steering wheel, with a gearbox between my legs, staring down an impressively long and sleek, blood red bonnet, out of which an exhaust manifold sprouts, suggesting an eight-cylinder powerplant, ready to wrestle with a single-seater GP car from a bygone era. Well, sort of, because not all is quite as it seems.
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Welcome, to the Tipo 184 kit, a homage to, and an evocation of, the Grand Prix Alfetta and Alfa Romeo 158 from the 1930s to the 50s, as raced by aforementioned heroes like Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio. Welcome also to one of the best and most well thought out kits that we’ve seen for some time. A kit? Yes, a kit!
Outrageous – and perhaps for some, it gets worse. The long and the short of this magnificent machine, part-created by Dowsett Classic Cars, is Japanese, rather than Italian. Underneath the evocative exterior is the beating heart and running gear of a perhaps slightly less evocative Mk2 Mazda MX-5. So, no straight-eight then.
The longer bit involves TV ‘Wheeler Dealer’ and ‘Master Mechanic’ Ant Anstead. He is co-owner of Dowsetts and inspiration for the Tipo 184 came from his Alfa 158. It was built firstly for a charity classic face- off between Anstead and his Wheeler Dealer colleague, Mike Brewer, and then a rather more bespoke replica for his Master Mechanic show on the Motor Trend channel. That build involved an MG TD chassis packing a contemporary 2.0-litre Alfa engine, and was sufficiently authentic to sell for $100,000 (£75,000) at Barrett Jackson’s Scottsdale auction in America last year.
Neither was built with a kit car application in mind, but with so much of the hard work and inspiration nailed – including bodywork mouldings – it seemed rude not to create a buildable version, for the home spannerist.
Anstead’s partner in crime at dowsetts classic cars is engineer Darren Collins, and he is on hand to talk us through the whole build, with the aid of a fully built-up chassis and the blood red prototype, which has just gained full SVA approval, so is now road-legal. Imagine that. And plans for a race series are afoot, too, but more of that later…