EVO500 Replica

[020 Brad]

I have a spare 24 valve motor that I have been playing around with. And I also have a couple of spare Toyota 20 valve throttle bodies

I'm getting all sorts of bad ideas about building some kind of Opel EVO500 Replica eventually.. bearing in mind that I have a house to buy and so many other things on the go already, but pipe dreams are free... or something like that

What I am wondering is, is it possible to buy aftermarket EVO500 Replica body kits? In all honesty I'm not too fussed about getting the rear spoiler as I know thats a complex unit and unless it is identical, it just won't be right. Also, us Opel nuts would be all over it but my missus, and the general joe bloggs will look at me like I'm a fucken idiot for putting a big wing on my "commodore thats not even a vee-ate maaaate" so I can't really be bothered with that. I already get bombarded by "is that a try hard commodore" etc etc statements and I can't really be bothered with all that.

I'm just thinking that with the EVO500 kit it will have the look to match the engine and will be something truely different, not to mention it will also take the styling even further away from that of the Holden Commodore.

Also, sorry for any possible Holden slandering, its just that I like my cars to be something different to what you see every other 5 seconds..

[001 Neville]

You'll always get the die-hard Holden enthusiasts who don't rate anything but the Holden models I guess we're the same to some extent, favouring our own cars, but some people are so ....... focussed!

I know what you mean about wanting something a bit different from the two-a-penny Commodores which look very similar for all the alloys, wheelarches, etc etc. Dare I say it, they even look similar to some of the F*rds!

[028 Sean]

You can do it Brad but you would have to buy genuine Irmscher parts mate as no one does a Replica kit. As you can imagine, lots of the Irmscher Evo 500 parts are no longer serviced by Irmscher Classics anymore and what is available is truly expensive!

Here below is a complete list of part numbers and UK £'s prices written beside them from Irmscher's 1998 price list....



When i joined the Autobahnstormers in 1997, i was very VERY tempted to build myself an accurate RHD Evo 500 Replica and thats when i seriously looked into what exactly was required to do the job properly. Sadly the £10,641.34 cost of the body kit parts & wheels (thats $27,665.80 NZD and that price is 11 years old now) put me off as i still had to find and buy a tidy manual GSi 3000 24v (Around £6k then) and then fit and paint the kit (another £4 or £5k) for the vehicle and buy four tyres at £880. What then put me off even further was the massive cost involved to buy the correct Recaro CSE seats....



and correct material required for the interior to complete the vehicle i had pictured in my head!



So for me, it worked out that it was actually cheaper to buy a genuine Evo 500 (around 38,000DM at the time which worked out around £12,700 or $33,048.29 NZD) and live with LHD rather than to try and build a RHD fake that would cost almost three times that amount (£32,521.34-ish = $84,807.99 NZD - Serious Lotus Carlton money then!) and would be worth nothing afterwards because it was not an authentic Evo 500.....

Anyway, Irmscher Classics still sell some parts of the Evo kit from time to time on Ebay!

Like these bare but Genuine Evo 500 doorcards....A bargain at 649.00Euros = $1,483.81 NZD ??



There is also the "BABY" Evo kit available...





It did cost £3,047.29 = $7,940.44 NZD & you still have to buy 235 45 18 tyres, fit the kit plus paint it!

Lastly Brad, you could try Brazil! They raced Cheverolet Omega's with 4.1L six cylinder engines that had a very similar Evo 500 style body kit fitted to it.





HTH!

[028 Sean]

So when i thought seriously about doing something unique with my Omega 3000 24v again last year.....I took the cheapest option available using just some subtle yet different body mods......









and paint!





Its not as in-yer-face evil looking like an Evo 500 but it sure does get you noticed.

[020 Brad]

Damn!

My other idea was taking in as many detailed pics as I could get, perhaps even with approximate deminsions calculated from them, to a body kit maker here and get them to throw something together. It would still be pricey but would be but a fraction of the cost of doing any of the above options.

Cheers again for the great info there Sean!

[028 Sean]

No problem Brad!

I have a few detailed pics of Evo 500's, if you still want to go and make your own kit.....pm me your email address and i'll send you some so you can guess-ti-mate approximate sizes!

[020 Brad]

I won't be doing this for many many years, but yes. Pictures would be fun just so I can go through and imagine the best ways of doing everything. I got a whole lot last night but none in real good res.

email addy pm'd. Thanks again

[028 Sean]

email addy pm'd. Thanks again

Email sent Brad.....let me know if the pictures came out ok mate!