The Bull in the Basement

Why is this article called “The Bull in the Basement” you ask? Well it’s because Ken Imhoff of Oxford, England decided to build a dream car in his basement which took 18 years….. this is probably the majority of most of CIB reader’s lives…. The build started in 1990 and finished in 2008. Upon finishing the car, he realized that the only way to get the car out and enjoy his creation was to knockout the wall in his basement

and extract the car….. seriously guys/girls. You’ll enjoy this one =) ENJOY, -Nater Tots! “The project as it started in 1990. A wooden forming buck to shape the body panels to. I made it from the combination of a 1:16 scale model and measuring a real car. I spent a year on that wooden buck… I started at the back and worked my way to the front, hand forming the aluminum on an English wheel…” “Here are the pictures of the chassis. A full tube frame supporting the aluminum body. Hand built stainless steel 180 deg. headers with 12″long racing mufflers. All Corvette design suspension replaced with steel tube and rod ends for adjustments on caster,chamber and toe. Aluminum radiators with 2400cfm puller fans set to turn on at 180 degs or an override switch on the dash. 4 piston Wilwood calipers on 12″ rotors. Full adjustable front and rear sway bars, and coil over shocks.” “This is the construction page where the upper frame was mated to the body to offer support as well as safety. It was challenging to hold the body which at this point can be a little flimsy. Time and care were used to measure and cross measure to properly hold the body at the right location. The supporting frame was 2″ round tube with .093″ wall. The tubing on the bottom was a mixture of 2″ and 1.5″ square.” “Countless hours of body work will take place to make sure the body is perfect before paint. It was painted with a self-etching primer first, then sealed with an epoxy primer, body work, a second coat of epoxy and finally topped with a high build primer that was block sanded to perfection.I spent 25 hours in the booth on all 33 separate pieces. Each piece was carried out of the basement and brought back down carefully.” “Here are some shots of my wheels being machined. My friend Dale, who was a very good machinist, worked off my blueprints. They started out as 2″ thick aluminum T6 billet and 10hrs of machining to make the centers. BBS rim shells and ARP fasteners finished them up. It was a shame in a way to cover up that beautiful finish with black powder coat but I think they turned out pretty good.” “Here are the pictures of that fall day in 2008 that tested my sanity. The complete excavation before it was safe in its garage. It took only 1 1/2 hours! Yes, I said garage. So why didn’t I build it there? I can’t give everything away….” “He powers it with a bored and stroked 351 Ford Cleveland, topped with 48IDA Webers running the burned racing fuel at 12/1 through stainless steel 180 deg. headers referred to as the Ford GT40 “Bundle of snakes”. The 515hp mid-engine power is being transferred through a ZF transaxle 5 speed. Yes, it’s eclectic, old school and 100% built by hand.”