Has that Septic at Icon Derelicts gone too far now?

[Felly Magic]

I've just spotted the latest gratuiotous plug for overpriced hipster vehicles on Jay Chin-o's Garage, and that Jonathan Ward tosspot has gone and given that treatment to a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, he has really crossed the line in vulgarity, ruining a 1958 Rolls, and he does talk such utter bullshit, I wanted to punch the screen when I saw it. I laughed a while back when he said he fitted a premium 'Pioneer' stereo to a project car, he meant a $50 special from 'Wally World', an LS crate motor (cheap) in a classic waftmobile. Turns out the car is going to 'Stralia' which explains a lot, it was even too vulgar for American tastes 

 

Time to point the nukes at his 'workshop'

[chaseracer]

I like it.

[AlabamaShrimp]

As has been said by me a million times "I don't get engine swaps" or brakes, suspension etc in an old car.

 

If you want to go faster, stop and have a different ride then just buy a newer/different car.

 

Old table a bit tall? Chop the legs down, people will go nuts.

Old car a bit slow*? Change stuff, they say 'it's mine I'll do what I like' and some people suck their cock as if they're a genius.

[Mr Laurence]

I like it.

Agreed. It's not exactly how I'd do it, but it's still pretty nice. I definitely think that the stuff Icon do is far better than the half-baked efforts a lot of other custom car places put out

[New POD]

As has been said by me a million times "I don't get engine swaps" or brakes, suspension etc in an old car.

 

If you want to go faster, stop and have a different ride then just buy a newer/different car.

 

Old table a bit tall? Chop the legs down, people will go nuts.

Old car a bit slow*? Change stuff, they say 'it's mine I'll do what I like' and some people suck their cock as if they're a genius.

 

I understand people putting a standard XE in an old SRi130 mk2 cavalier whilst upgrading the brakes to Mk3 GSi spec, because interchangeable, parts. But Never understood the bloke who took what must be the LAST 2 door 1.3 mk2 cavalier in the UK, and added a 250 BHP LET, 5 stud hubs, mk3 cav v6 rear beam and discs (for the 5 stud hubs) and a CalibrE Kit, and painted it in white and put Astra VXR "Nurburbring special edition" decals on it.

 

The LAST 2 door FFS

[Felly Magic]

The thing is, ICON are a rip off, it's largely cheap off the shelf bits nailed in badly, and going by his track record, many buyers very quickly dump their cars back on him as they simply do not like them, and he often forces things he likes but they don't onto the spec, a very pushy salesman. It's a Silver Cloud, a car built to waft in near silence & comfort, not something with a horrid, cheap GM V8 bark and shakes every time you go over a pebble, he clearly doesn't get what Rolls Royces are about, or any car really, as he seems to be one of those typical Yanks that thinks the Americans make the best things in the world, when in reality they are very near the bottom, and by the time this jackass has finished with it, the cost will be the same, or even higher than a brand new Roller

[dollywobbler]

I saw a Beacham E-Type the other day. It was bloody awful. Modern door handles, mirrors and interior crammed into an old E-Type. It was like catching your grandma in fishnet stockings and a basque. Or even worse. Your grandad.

 

Might still have been better than the Mk2 though, where the entire lovely interior has been replaced by modernity. Which doesn't fit.

[MrDuke]

Autoshite in 'Car Modifiers Are C*nts' shocker.

 

[barrett]

The first post here was gibberish to me, so I've just looked this up and watched the video. It's great! A Cloud has to be one of the least desirable cars of all time in standard form but I would love to drive around in this one. What would have been truly vulgar is what 99% of other Americans would have done, which is strip off that beautiful original paint and give it a nasty resto. Even the redone interior is beautiful, one of a tiny handful of retrimmed cars I've ever seen that actually looks nice. You can see where the money has gone, it's clearly not a corner-cutting exercise and has obviously been created with a certain amount of love and great attention to detail.

If it was some rare, interesting car that had been chopped about I might think differently but these things are (comparatively) ten a penny and dull as hell.

[STUNO]

But Beecham did do a wonderful RR Phantom  for a German client who wanted an Autobahnstormer. Kept the V12 and improved the cooling, as apparently they overheat at speed. The car has all the modern comforts and looks entirely 1930's. The interior is mind blowing , done with 30's fabrics supplied by the owner.

 

The only photo I could find after restoration...

 

 

I know it went to UK from here and that looks like a UK plate!!

 

Strangely I saw the vid of the US Cloud last night and could appreciate that they started with a car only fit for the scrapyard and about all that is left is the body in it's pretty well original state sitting on a new chassis and drivetrain.

Edit... I agree the interior is lovely, just what it should be like .

[AlabamaShrimp]

Autoshite in 'Car Modifiers Are C*nts' shocker.

 

Is she gobbing off the invisible man?

[cort16]

I really liked it too. They could have put in a chequer plate dash and fitted 20" chrome wheels but they didn't.

It still looks like it did but it's got a modern drive train.  It didn't look pop riveted together when it was on that lift it looked all pretty well screwed together.

[alcyonecorporation]

I've just spotted the latest gratuiotous plug for overpriced hipster vehicles on Jay Chin-o's Garage, and that Jonathan Ward tosspot has gone and given that treatment to a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, he has really crossed the line in vulgarity, ruining a 1958 Rolls, and he does talk such utter bullshit, I wanted to punch the screen when I saw it. I laughed a while back when he said he fitted a premium 'Pioneer' stereo to a project car, he meant a $50 special from 'Wally World', an LS crate motor (cheap) in a classic waftmobile. Turns out the car is going to 'Stralia' which explains a lot, it was even too vulgar for American tastes 

 

Time to point the nukes at his 'workshop'

 

The lithium is in the post. 

 

Breathe, famalam. 

[alcyonecorporation]

Also: rant promotion is a thing. 

[trigger]

Why can't people write posts on here so that other people can actually understand them?

[alcyonecorporation]

Why can't people write posts on here so that other people can actually understand them?

 

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Tayne]

The design brief on that Rolls Royce was for the vehicle to annoy the Rolls Royce Classic Club people.

I think on that basis it probably has succeeded, and the only man who can judge is the chap who commissioned it.

 

Personally, I think a less traditional interior would have pissed off those people even more.

If it were mine, I'd make it quieter.

And paint it.

 

Whilst I don't always agree with Icon's aesthetic I often notice very poor detailing on their vehicles.

The wiring on this one seemed messy and Jay picked up on the brake lines however the welding/fabrication on the suspension arms looked very good.

[Felly Magic]

The thing is, the price of classic Rollers are on the up in a fairly big way, and restoring this to concours would have people beating down his door with open chequebooks, but no, he turned it in to something loud, shouty and vulgar, which he does with everything, and the end product is worth less than a restored car in the real world, He doesn't understand subtlety and elegance, which is what these cars are all about, his attitude is put an LS in everything, even Toyota Landcruisers that are mint condition! He is also being very narrow minded when it comes to propulsion, especially in California where he is based, he really should be taking a leaf out of Dollywobbler's philosphy, especialy as rich folk love to show off tech, and an electric powered classic gets them shedloads of ecopoints to their wealthy friends.

 

All the heavy fabrication work is done by outside contractors, and his staff just bolt things together Airfix kit style, often without the best of care, and he even has moaned about things not being right or not working properly when he's done reviews of his 'products'. Over the years he has ruined lots of potentially valuable classics by giving them the 'slammed V8 YO!' treatment, build quality does seem to be something no US company can crack either, even Tesla are prone to serious build issues. 

 

The problems start when this mongrel starts having issues, and having rubbed the club up the wrong way, he will find himself pretty much on his own, and the car will be sold at a thumping loss. I think that is the reality of Icon products

[Tayne]

The problems start when this mongrel starts having issues, and having rubbed the club up the wrong way, he will find himself pretty much on his own, and the car will be sold at a thumping loss. I think that is the reality of Icon products

 

 

 

 

Rich enough to commission a modified Rolls Royce in the USA and then ship down under, not rich enough to pay an Ozzie spanner monkey to work on it?

[Felly Magic]

It's when it comes to actually needing parts for it, they are often unique and have to be custom made in the US, and shipped over, and he will get laughed at, as it just looks like a scruffy, down at heel Rolls. and sounds like it has no exhaust on, the owner clearly thinks it is being ironic, when it is simply being somewhat moronic, and in many places down under, they can be so funny when it comes to modified cars. Ward did belly ache about all the red tape involved dealing with the Aussie Feds too, I suspect this won't even venture out of his garage, like many Icon products, they are supercar expensive, which often makes owners paranoid about actually using them, just incase anything breaks, and their 'toy' ends up broken until several months later repair parts arrive, broken toys mean sulky owners. If Jay Leno can spot shonky bits from a mile off too, well that doesn't look good for Mr Ward, I bet he crapped his pants when Jay spotted that booboo

[vulgalour]

Shocking bit of information here for you, but Rolls Royces aren't that special.  Expensive, yes, well engineered, definitely, but they're not that special once you get into the late fifties.  A right hand drive car in America is generally not worth a lot, comparatively, and old British cars over there don't command as much as you might expect.  Over here that same car would likely have festered away under a tarp or, at best, seen a short drive around an oval once the valuable bits had been punted on.

 

What Icon have done, whether you like the end result or not, is turn something unwanted into something fun.  They've also done it without chopping the body around and making a surprisingly well matched interior for the exterior.  It sounds like it meets the customer's brief, which is to upset the sort of people that think RRs are somehow better than everything else (they're not) and what they've built is a reasonable toy.

 

I can't speak for their construction methods or finishing since I've not seen them in person, though there are some obvious issues on that one as highlighted in the video.  Chances are this will get resolved before delivery or by the new owner.  It's going to be worth more in Australia than it ever was in the US, it's a better fit for their market and there will be better options to improve the drivetrain and all the rest of it.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a rare classic of my own to continue ruining.

[chaseracer]

So, Felly... you don't like the modified Cloud, ICON kit in general, or the bloke who runs the company.  

 

I think we've got that message now.

[djoptix]

[dollywobbler]

I'm watching the Jay Leno show now. That seems a nice motor, bar that dodgy brake line routing. Given how most Rollers are entirely factory, I enjoy seeing modified ones. 

[alcyonecorporation]

The problems start when this mongrel starts having issues, and having rubbed the club up the wrong way, he will find himself pretty much on his own, and the car will be sold at a thumping loss. I think that is the reality of Icon products

 

Club support isn't the be all and end all, Felly. 

 

The bloke who wanted the car commissioned clearly isn't short of a few quid, and there are plenty of fabrication workshops in Oz. 

 

And jesus fuck, calm down. Please. 

[DaveDorson]

gr8 post, would read again.

[tooSavvy]

Was it on here... mebbies RR ... anyhow, those US import classics ripped apart by Customs OZ for 'asbestos clarification/rectification'.

 

TS

[Louise2cv]

Have I entered some kind of parallel universe: toosavvy's post I understand. The rest? Not so much.

 

In fairness though, I haven't tried hard. I may Google chin-o ward tosspot silver cloud and see what comes up, when I get a minute.

[djimbob]

Any chance of a link that I could follow to properly understand what on earth is going on??

 

 

Ta.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yo Felly, you're certainly well qualified to call out the guy who built this Rolls over his prices and workmanship eh. If only he had the skills to replace his Mondeo's fuel pump over the course of several weeks with a fucking axe.