Category Archives: Restomod

Restomod

La Cinquecento Fiat 500 Restomod Blends Classic Charm with Modern Engineering

A British company has transformed a 1970s Fiat 500 into a carefully engineered restomod, combining the charm of the original 1957 icon with a more powerful engine, upgraded chassis and modernized mechanical systems.

The modern Fiat 500 may be one of the most successful classic-car revivals of recent decades, but the original remains difficult to beat when it comes to character, simplicity and compact dimensions. Now, British company La Cinquecento is taking that formula in a new direction with a unique restomod project designed to make the legendary city car faster, more precise and more enjoyable to drive—without sacrificing its unmistakable personality.

The prototype made its first public appearance at the Tutto Bene mountain race in Italy, offering a glimpse of what could become a limited series of numbered cars.

A Classic Fiat 500 with a More Focused Attitude

The exterior design comes from BorromeodeSilva, the Milan-based studio known for its work on projects such as the Eccentrica Lamborghini Diablo restomod and the Automobili Atmos Futurista/Safarista, inspired by the Lancia Delta.

Rather than turning the Fiat 500 into an entirely different car, the designers have kept the original’s proportions and visual identity intact. The result is a restomod that looks familiar at first glance, but reveals a more purposeful character through a series of subtle modifications.

The red bodywork is complemented by:

  • Rally-inspired lights mounted on the front bumper
  • Wider fenders that give the car a more planted stance
  • Deeper side skirts
  • Matte-finish disc-style wheels
  • Cream and body-colored interior accents
  • Retro upholstery and saddle-colored leather on the bucket seats and door panels

The design approach is restrained, but the wider bodywork and additional lighting give the classic Fiat a distinctly motorsport-inspired appearance.

A Fiat 126 Engine with Twin Spark Ignition

The donor vehicle was a 1970s Fiat 500, purchased by La Cinquecento founder Max Kindersley after spending approximately 25 years in storage. Under the hood, the original engine has been replaced by a two-cylinder unit sourced from the Fiat 126.

The engine features a Twin Spark ignition system, although La Cinquecento has not disclosed its power output. The company says the modifications improve throttle response and torque, suggesting that the focus is not simply on adding horsepower, but on making the car more responsive and engaging in everyday driving.

That approach is particularly appropriate for a lightweight classic. In a car like the Fiat 500, a modest increase in performance can make a significant difference without overwhelming the character that makes it appealing in the first place.

Upgraded Suspension, Brakes, Steering and Electrical Systems

The engine is only one part of the transformation. La Cinquecento says the restomod has received a thoroughly reworked suspension, braking, steering, cooling and electrical systems.

These upgrades are intended to improve the car’s precision, reliability and overall driving experience while retaining the light, approachable nature of the original.

The company has not released detailed technical specifications, but the extensive mechanical revisions indicate that this is more than a cosmetic restoration. The goal is to create a classic Fiat 500 that feels better engineered and more capable without losing its essential identity.

“I’ve always loved what the Fiat 500 stands for. It’s simple, light, full of character and brings a smile to your face. The idea was never to change that. We wanted to take everything that made the original so special and see how much we could improve it, make it faster, more precise and better engineered, without losing the reason you wanted a 500 in the first place.”

— Max Kindersley, founder of La Cinquecento

Limited Production Planned

Following its debut at the Tutto Bene mountain race, La Cinquecento confirmed plans to produce a limited series of numbered cars. The company is already accepting applications from interested buyers through its website.

However, the price of the Fiat 500 restomod has not yet been announced. Production numbers, final specifications and delivery details are also expected to become clearer as the project progresses.

For collectors and enthusiasts who appreciate classic Italian cars but want something more refined and mechanically capable, the La Cinquecento project could offer an appealing alternative to a conventional restoration.

The Fiat 500 Restomod Formula

The appeal of this project lies in its restraint. Instead of chasing extreme performance or dramatically altering the original design, La Cinquecento has focused on improving the elements that matter most in a lightweight classic: responsiveness, precision, braking, reliability and driving enjoyment.

The result is a modern interpretation of the original Fiat 500 that aims to preserve its charm while making it better suited to enthusiastic driving. If the production cars remain faithful to this prototype, the La Cinquecento could become one of the more interesting small-scale restomod projects in the classic-car world.

Source: La Cinquecento

Restomod

Totem Euforia Debuts as a 640-HP Carbon-Fiber Alfa Giulia GT Restomod

Some restomods chase nostalgia. Others chase performance. Totem Automobili’s latest creation somehow manages to chase both while wearing a custom silk suit.

Called Euforia, this one-off interpretation of the 1960s Alfa Romeo Giulia GT is the latest handcrafted masterpiece from the Italian specialist, and it arrives with an unexpected collaborator: legendary Neapolitan fashion house E. Marinella. The result isn’t simply a modified classic—it’s an automotive couture piece that happens to launch to 62 mph in 3.2 seconds.

Totem has built its reputation by reinventing the iconic Giulia GT from the ground up, wrapping a thoroughly modern machine in unmistakably Italian lines. Carbon-fiber body panels, dramatically widened fenders, and obsessive attention to detail have become the company’s signature, and Euforia raises the bar even further.

Finished in a vibrant Oro di Capri orange inspired by the golden sunsets of the Amalfi Coast, the coupe made its public debut at the latest Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. It’s impossible to ignore. The color alone turns the elegant shape into rolling Mediterranean artwork, while every curve reflects the painstaking craftsmanship hiding beneath.

Open the featherweight doors and the fashion influence becomes impossible to miss.

E. Marinella, a name synonymous with handmade luxury accessories for more than a century, transformed the cockpit into something resembling a bespoke Italian lounge. Hand-dyed silk—the same material the company uses for its famous ties—appears throughout the cabin alongside rich blue leather that covers nearly every visible surface.

The matching blue Sabelt bucket seats strike a balance between race car and luxury grand tourer, while a custom hand luggage bag finished in the same leather reminds occupants that exclusivity extends beyond the dashboard.

Fortunately, Totem didn’t forget the analog driving experience while dressing the cabin for Milan Fashion Week. A classic three-spoke aluminum steering wheel sits directly ahead of the driver, and the exposed aluminum gated shifter provides the tactile satisfaction that modern performance cars increasingly lack. Every shift becomes an event rather than a necessity.

As beautiful as the interior may be, the real centerpiece lives under the sculpted hood.

While Totem also offers an all-electric interpretation of its carbon-bodied Giulia GT, Euforia embraces combustion in spectacular fashion. Power comes from the company’s in-house developed ITV6 Gloria, a 2.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engineered in collaboration with Italtecnica Engineering.

The numbers tell only part of the story: 640 horsepower and 483 pound-feet (655 Nm) of torque sent exclusively to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission.

Even more impressive is what those figures have to move. Thanks to extensive use of carbon fiber, the entire car tips the scales at just 2,601 pounds (1,180 kilograms). The resulting power-to-weight ratio places Euforia firmly in supercar territory, with a claimed 0–62 mph sprint of just 3.2 seconds.

The soundtrack should be every bit as memorable as the acceleration. Totem turned to Capristo—the exhaust specialist whose reputation was built supplying systems for Ferrari—to create an open exhaust setup that promises to transform every tunnel into a private concert hall.

Keeping all that performance under control are lightweight 18-inch wheels wrapped in Michelin’s highest-performance rubber, backed by an electronically controlled adaptive suspension featuring multi-adjustable dampers. It’s a thoroughly modern chassis hidden beneath a silhouette that first appeared more than half a century ago.

Pricing remains as exclusive as the craftsmanship, with personalization ensuring buyers can easily exceed €600,000 before adding their own touches. Yet that almost seems beside the point.

Euforia isn’t attempting to be the fastest restomod or the most faithful recreation of an Alfa Romeo icon. Instead, it occupies a category of its own, where automotive engineering meets Italian fashion, carbon fiber replaces nostalgia, and a manual gearbox serves as the finishing stitch on a hand-tailored masterpiece.

Some cars are built to be driven. Others are built to be admired.

Totem’s Euforia was clearly designed to do both—preferably on a winding coastal road where the orange paint glows in the sunset and the Capristo exhaust echoes off the cliffs of Amalfi.

Source: Totem Automobili

Restomod

This BMW E9 CSL Restomod Is the V8-Powered M Car BMW Never Built

The BMW E9 CSL occupies a sacred place in the brand’s history. Lightweight, elegant, and instantly recognizable thanks to its dramatic “Batmobile” aero package, it remains one of Munich’s most celebrated performance cars. Yet for all its motorsport pedigree, the original CSL never enjoyed the kind of power modern enthusiasts crave.

That’s where this remarkable one-off creation comes in.

Built roughly a decade ago by German workshop MKO, founded by BMW enthusiast Michael Oberhauser, this machine answers a question nobody at BMW ever officially dared ask: What if an E9 CSL had been developed using the heart and soul of an E39 M5?

The answer is sitting before us in steel, aluminum, and hand-crafted ingenuity.

Rather than performing a simple engine swap, MKO essentially merged two generations of BMW performance legends into a single cohesive package. The project reportedly began with an E39 M5 and components sourced from two E9 CS coupes. What followed was a painstaking transformation that blended 1970s styling with the engineering of one of BMW’s greatest modern sports sedans.

The surgery went far beyond cosmetic alterations. According to details from the original build story, the upper structure of the M5 was removed, the wheelbase shortened by nearly eight inches, and an E9 roof grafted onto the modified chassis. The goal wasn’t simply to recreate the look of a classic coupe—it was to preserve its delicate proportions while retaining the mechanical sophistication underneath.

Achieving that balance required extensive bodywork. The front fenders were widened by roughly 2.5 inches, while the rear arches gained around four inches of additional width. Much of the custom fabrication was completed in Romania, where craftsmen hand-formed bespoke body panels to create a seamless blend of old and new.

The finished product looks as though BMW’s skunkworks division secretly built a restomod decades before the term became fashionable.

Visual cues pay tribute to the legendary 3.0 CSL “Batmobile,” including a roof-mounted spoiler, small front-fender aero fins, classic Hella driving lamps, and period-inspired badging. The body wears Porsche-sourced paint and now rides on 19-inch Alpina-style wheels wrapped in sticky Continental SportContact 7 tires. Early versions reportedly wore standard E39 M5 wheels, but the current setup better suits the car’s muscular stance.

Inside, the modern underpinnings become more apparent. A modified E39 M5 dashboard remains in place, accompanied by heated Recaro seats, dual-zone climate control, power windows, and a Pioneer touchscreen infotainment system. It’s an unusual mix of classic grand tourer and modern sports sedan, complete with creative engineering solutions such as relocating the driver’s window switch to the center console.

The real star, however, lives beneath the hood.

Power comes from BMW’s legendary 4.9-liter S62 V8, the naturally aspirated masterpiece that made the E39 M5 a performance benchmark. In this application, the engine has been reworked to produce 432 horsepower, all sent exclusively to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission and a limited-slip differential.

Considering the E9’s significantly smaller dimensions and lower visual mass, the combination borders on outrageous.

Handling upgrades include adjustable KW coilovers and the M5’s braking hardware, giving the car the stopping power and chassis control needed to keep pace with its muscular powertrain. The result is less a restoration than a BMW hot rod—one that combines the analogue charm of the 1970s with the mechanical confidence of one of the greatest M cars ever built.

It’s the sort of machine that could only exist outside BMW’s corporate walls: too expensive, too complicated, and perhaps too niche for production. Yet that’s exactly what makes it so fascinating.

Now, after years of turning heads and challenging conventional BMW history, this singular creation is looking for a new caretaker. Listed through Bring a Trailer Germany, the hand-built CSL-M5 hybrid had attracted bids of €42,225 at the time of writing.

For BMW enthusiasts, that’s a small price for a glimpse into an alternate universe—one where the E9 CSL never stopped evolving.

Source: Autocar