Alfa Romeo Carabo Inspired: 1977 Fiberfab Aztec 7
Another day, another gull-wing door equipped fiberglass oddball on the front page of the DailyTurismo…because that is how we roll around here. This isn’t a place to take things to seriously, but I’m serious when I say that I’d never pay the princely sum of money needed to own the actual one-off Marcello Gandini of Gruppo Bertone designed Alfa Romeo Carabo…but I would consider owning a Fiberfab Aztec 7…because it brings some needed style to the oft neglected word “fab.” And fiber is good too. Find this 1977 Fiberfab Aztec 7 offered for $5,900 in Chino Hills, CA via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
From the seller:
1977 Aztec 7
condition: good
cylinders: 6 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 22000
paint color: red
size: compact
title status: missing
transmission: manual
type: coupe
Please Read the Ad.
1977 Alfa Romeo Carabo inspired 70’s wedge! Hand built. A very loved and well cared for endangered species. Fiber Fab originally produced these rear engine cars called the Aztec 7. There were 400 produced. Possibly as few as 150 are left out there today. This Aztec 7 Kit car, has a running Ford 6 cylinder engine, manual transmission, it will need a new or rebuilt clutch. Body is in very good condition, interior needs work. Perfect candidate to turn into an electric car. This car is sold as is, with a bill of sale only, and a original service manual, car is not in the DMV system. If the ad is up then it’s still available. Cash only. Serious buyers only.
do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers
See a better way to drive something that looks like a million bucks, but only costs a million Sri Lankan Rupees? tips@dailyturismo.com
Fiberglass kit cars seem to be everywhere… except on the road. I can’t recall the last time I saw one in the wild. I think there’s a finite amount of kit car owners in the country and these cars just end up getting shuffled from one garage to the next. They’re all in a perpetual state of disrepair.
Every fiber(xxx) example seems to wear an exterior aesthetic that suggests the designer began drinking when they sat at the drafting table, with the first glass of JD marinating the nose and cowl-not bad but a little too pedestrian in the exoticar lexicon. The roofline and doors are drawn next, after round 3 or 4, where it starts to get sloppy (tumblehome? Well, I’m too drunk to drive anyway) and aggressively cliche (no,no,no…dude, it HAS to have Lambo doors). Of course, by the time they get to pencil out the rear end, this is when the artist looks at the bottle, and, finding it empty, just needs to lay down before they fall asleep on the toilet. So they scribble in a pair of off the rack rectangular pieces and call it a day with their last cogent thought.
I’m gonna politely disagree with you on this one, doctordel…
Having lived in CA during the crazy 80s kit car days, I was amazed by some of these designs, specifically those based on concept cars or unobtanium– things like McLaren Can Am cars, Bertone designs, and low-production Lamborghinis (like the Miura).
I think Fiberfab did a remarkable job capturing the Carabo’s silhouette. Sure, it needed tweaking and some details, but that’s the fun of building a kit car, right?
https://driventowrite.com/2016/12/08/carbon-clauds-christian-2010-the-cycle-of-preference-car-design-aesthetics/1968-alfa-romeo-carabo-side-view/
An example of a Miura kit:
https://www.rcnmag.com/garage/ferocious-bull
And my favorites, the LoVette brothers Manta Mirage and Montage, both made from molds taken from the McLaren M6GT (Bruce’s personal road mule, when Denny Hulme sent it back to New Zealand after Bruce’s untimely death), and the M8, taken from an actual racing McLaren M8 (because the LoVettes were the body shop for McLaren in LA):
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/anybody-ever-seen-driven-or-owned-a-manta.283063/
A real M8 at the McLaren factory. The LoVette’s designed/built a cowl around their version, but some Mirage owners cut it off, put in a roll cage, and worked at bringing the kit back to what the original M8 looked and performed like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfOAe7_NyW8
I agree that many kit cars are poorly constructed, or (like the VW Dino and stock wheelbase Fiero Lambo replicas), they look terrible. But….
The Pontiac Aztec looks ugly, too. And anyone who has ever owned a classic British sports car (and had to rebuild the clutch/trans or spend years troubleshooting the electrical) will tell you, some kits are put together a whole lot better than some production cars!
-The (ever curmudgeonly) Stan : )