http://www.thunderranch.com/550.html
So you want cup holders, do ya? Something to keep your double decaf cappuccino from splashing on your linen pants? Well, you came to the wrong place. The cars they craft at Thunder Ranch don't have cup holders. Get over It! They also don't have pollen filters, electrically adjusting rear view mirrors, or other wussified gadgets.
What do they have? Pure driving excitement! Excitement which comes from high power-to-weight ratio, excellent balance and handling, and the rush and roar of an air-cooled engine pushing from behind your seat. And I mean right behind your seat, with twin air cleaners right behind your ears!
We're talking the 550 Spyder!! That's what they build at Thunder Ranch, which is the name of the custom auto building shop of designer Tom McBurnie, located in El Cajon. Aren't we lucky to live in California! Tom and his team of 7 employees build beautiful, low, sleek, silver recreations of 550's with those perfectly balanced lines, retro gauges and minimal seats and cut-down windshields. This is a proven mid-engine design, modified slightly so normal people can fit in (2 inches in length has been added to the cockpit), built using Fiberglass instead of aluminum, with 1990's German engines instead of 1950's engines.
Thunder Ranch! Is that a great name, or what?! It connotes the muscularity of the no-frills sports cars of the '50's. Things were less complicated then. No computer modules to adjust the mixture. No fly-by-wire "e-gas" technology connecting your toe to the computer. No computer! Hot damn! Those were the days to be a young racer. Just high-octane fuel and high-octane noises and smells and excitement. Spyders were raced on weekends in towns up and down the length of California, by guys with seat-of-the-pants knowledge of the laws of physics, driving hard to get around the hay bales ahead of their buddies. Things were simpler. There is beauty in simplicity.
And Tom McBurnie's cars are beautiful! You know the shape the 550 Spyder defines the look of a classic sports car. The construction and finish of Tom McBurnie's creations are flawless. These cars are gorgeous specimens of the genre. One of these cars would look great in your garage. And, of course, you would look mha-va-lous driving one of these cars! But they are not just for show; they really perform.
You can toss them around with confidence, with their responsive performance and mid-engine poise. You can play with the throttle and make this car dance. You can launch this car and drive it sideways for the first half a block, and then straighten out and flv right, when the screeching and blue smoke get to be a bit much!
Depending upon how much adrenaline you like, Tom will have his engine builder, Steve Johnson, put together a motor of from 120 hp (standard model) to 150 hp, or even up to 200 hp, if you really want to smoke. Since these cars weigh in at only 1150 to 1175 lbs (less than the aluminum Spyders of the 50's) they really rocket. Zero to 60 times are in the mid 5 second range. Even lower times are achievable with the right engine (less than 5 sec!) The car can produce 0.96 Gs on the skid pad.
The primary engine used is the VW (with appropriate souping), but Tom has also shoe-horned Porsche 911 engines into about a half a dozen of the approximately 40 Spyders he has built. He has also produced about 100 kits for aficionados to assemble themselves. Tom has his engines and transaxles built locally, but he procures some parts for these cars worldwide, including the retro-looking gauges from VDO Brazil.
His cars use special wall thickness tubing for the frames, so he has to order a partial mill run to get what he needs. Right now he has enough frame material on hand for a couple of dozen cars, so go ahead and tell Santa what you need! It typically takes around 3 or 4 months for him to build a car after the order is received. The basic price for one of these beauties is around $23,500 with 120hp. A more fancy car (upgraded brakes and engine) would add around $5000. Go look at them. You'll enjoy it. They are works of art. Take your checkbook. Life is short! This is not a rehearsal.
Tom McBurnie has always been a car nut. He developed an appreciation for Porsches early in life, and even owned and raced a 904 during one period (he said he wished he had kept that one!). Although he studied art in college, his fascination with sports cars has led him on an interesting journey. If you watched Miami Vice in the mid-80's, you no doubt saw the heroes, Crockett and Tubbs, styling around Calle Ocho and Flagier Street in Miami in what looked like a perfect Ferrari Daytona. Guess what - Tom McBurnie built that car! Unfortunately, some corporate lawyers objected, and the car was subsequently blown up in a dramatic episode, which caused grown men to cry (for the car). Tom dropped that model.
McBurnie has also had rave reviews for another car he builds in addition to the 550 Spyder. This is a roadster, which looks like a customized '34 Ford until you look closer and ask a few questions. Then you find out that it is all composite construction, no frame, weighs less than 2000 lbs, and will do 130 mph with its rear-mounted Aurora 4.0 liter V8. He has built 8 of these to date, and one of them is going to the Oakland Roadster Show for judging this year. The car is called the Lightening. Itís a quantum leap ahead of older technology hot rods.
Well, after a very interesting evening touring the shops, and looking at the cars in process, we finished up the evening, with a door prize of a model Spyder, and polished off the test of the chicken wings and veggies and brownies and beer, and gave a rousing round of applause to Tom McBurnie for showing us what life is like at Thunder Ranch. Thank you. It was great.
So you want cup holders, do ya? Something to keep your double decaf cappuccino from splashing on your linen pants? Well, you came to the wrong place. The cars they craft at Thunder Ranch don't have cup holders. Get over It! They also don't have pollen filters, electrically adjusting rear view mirrors, or other wussified gadgets.
What do they have? Pure driving excitement! Excitement which comes from high power-to-weight ratio, excellent balance and handling, and the rush and roar of an air-cooled engine pushing from behind your seat. And I mean right behind your seat, with twin air cleaners right behind your ears!
We're talking the 550 Spyder!! That's what they build at Thunder Ranch, which is the name of the custom auto building shop of designer Tom McBurnie, located in El Cajon. Aren't we lucky to live in California! Tom and his team of 7 employees build beautiful, low, sleek, silver recreations of 550's with those perfectly balanced lines, retro gauges and minimal seats and cut-down windshields. This is a proven mid-engine design, modified slightly so normal people can fit in (2 inches in length has been added to the cockpit), built using Fiberglass instead of aluminum, with 1990's German engines instead of 1950's engines.
Thunder Ranch! Is that a great name, or what?! It connotes the muscularity of the no-frills sports cars of the '50's. Things were less complicated then. No computer modules to adjust the mixture. No fly-by-wire "e-gas" technology connecting your toe to the computer. No computer! Hot damn! Those were the days to be a young racer. Just high-octane fuel and high-octane noises and smells and excitement. Spyders were raced on weekends in towns up and down the length of California, by guys with seat-of-the-pants knowledge of the laws of physics, driving hard to get around the hay bales ahead of their buddies. Things were simpler. There is beauty in simplicity.
And Tom McBurnie's cars are beautiful! You know the shape the 550 Spyder defines the look of a classic sports car. The construction and finish of Tom McBurnie's creations are flawless. These cars are gorgeous specimens of the genre. One of these cars would look great in your garage. And, of course, you would look mha-va-lous driving one of these cars! But they are not just for show; they really perform.
You can toss them around with confidence, with their responsive performance and mid-engine poise. You can play with the throttle and make this car dance. You can launch this car and drive it sideways for the first half a block, and then straighten out and flv right, when the screeching and blue smoke get to be a bit much!
Depending upon how much adrenaline you like, Tom will have his engine builder, Steve Johnson, put together a motor of from 120 hp (standard model) to 150 hp, or even up to 200 hp, if you really want to smoke. Since these cars weigh in at only 1150 to 1175 lbs (less than the aluminum Spyders of the 50's) they really rocket. Zero to 60 times are in the mid 5 second range. Even lower times are achievable with the right engine (less than 5 sec!) The car can produce 0.96 Gs on the skid pad.
The primary engine used is the VW (with appropriate souping), but Tom has also shoe-horned Porsche 911 engines into about a half a dozen of the approximately 40 Spyders he has built. He has also produced about 100 kits for aficionados to assemble themselves. Tom has his engines and transaxles built locally, but he procures some parts for these cars worldwide, including the retro-looking gauges from VDO Brazil.
His cars use special wall thickness tubing for the frames, so he has to order a partial mill run to get what he needs. Right now he has enough frame material on hand for a couple of dozen cars, so go ahead and tell Santa what you need! It typically takes around 3 or 4 months for him to build a car after the order is received. The basic price for one of these beauties is around $23,500 with 120hp. A more fancy car (upgraded brakes and engine) would add around $5000. Go look at them. You'll enjoy it. They are works of art. Take your checkbook. Life is short! This is not a rehearsal.
Tom McBurnie has always been a car nut. He developed an appreciation for Porsches early in life, and even owned and raced a 904 during one period (he said he wished he had kept that one!). Although he studied art in college, his fascination with sports cars has led him on an interesting journey. If you watched Miami Vice in the mid-80's, you no doubt saw the heroes, Crockett and Tubbs, styling around Calle Ocho and Flagier Street in Miami in what looked like a perfect Ferrari Daytona. Guess what - Tom McBurnie built that car! Unfortunately, some corporate lawyers objected, and the car was subsequently blown up in a dramatic episode, which caused grown men to cry (for the car). Tom dropped that model.
McBurnie has also had rave reviews for another car he builds in addition to the 550 Spyder. This is a roadster, which looks like a customized '34 Ford until you look closer and ask a few questions. Then you find out that it is all composite construction, no frame, weighs less than 2000 lbs, and will do 130 mph with its rear-mounted Aurora 4.0 liter V8. He has built 8 of these to date, and one of them is going to the Oakland Roadster Show for judging this year. The car is called the Lightening. Itís a quantum leap ahead of older technology hot rods.
Well, after a very interesting evening touring the shops, and looking at the cars in process, we finished up the evening, with a door prize of a model Spyder, and polished off the test of the chicken wings and veggies and brownies and beer, and gave a rousing round of applause to Tom McBurnie for showing us what life is like at Thunder Ranch. Thank you. It was great.
