Classic Motorsports Car Catcher: Cool or Terrible?

This one's interesting. What you see here is a 1964 Triumph Spitfire. According to the seller, "The body has been heavily modified—part aluminum, part steel, part fiberglass—to resemble a vintage race car." In our book, no extreme bodywork is required to make a Spitfire look like a vintage race car, but to each their own. Underneath, it's a 1964 Spitfire …

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I'm going with "mostly terrible" at anything closer than 100' viewing distance.

While I appreciate the passion and (assumed) craftsmanship, I'm going to lean towards "mostly terrible". If he had reproduced the look of the first racing Spitfires, then it would be a "mostly cool".

Like these:

-Rob

A third for mostly terrible, but as always, styling is very subjective.

It looks like he was headed down the Macau car path with his build.

I'll clarify - I think the driver's faring is cool. The useless roll hoop is meh, but the recessed side-pipes is what pushes over the edge of "nope" for me.

I like the color.

I agree with T.J.

Bit too much.... every bit

Here's another butchered Spitfire that was originally offered as an "unfinished customized Spitfire" for $1,000 a couple months ago. Apparently there was little interest so now it's being parted out:

WWMAGA

"Double side pipes recessed into the body on both sides -- a feature I've never seen on any other Triumph."

And I hope never to see this feature again on a Triumph, either. It really doesn't work visually or mechanically. Still, it doesn't look too hard to remedy (particularly if it's not functional), and the rest of it is kind of interesting.

In reply to MadScientistMatt:

I agree. Double side pipes recessed into the bodywork worked well on the Big Healey factory rally cars of the sixties because their undercarriage exhaust was so low and would otherwise have been torn off in competition events. I suppose that's what the builder of this gem was trying to emulate. But it wasn't necessary with a Spit. None of the other stuff either, really. Spitfires, especially the early round tail variety, are pretty pretty as they are (I own one, so of course I'm biased). I personally don't appreciate any modifications to the basic design. But I suppose people have their own ideas of "good taste" and think they can improve it.

In reply to Gary:

I like his comment "As you can see. I started to restore this Triumph, but other things came up." Those other things being a cut off wheel, sense of style and good judgement?