
I transformed £2,000 Ford Ka into ‘Ferrari' with racing-style seats & digital dashboard – now it's SOARED in value
KA-RRARI I transformed £2,000 Ford Ka into 'Ferrari' with racing-style seats & digital dashboard – now it's SOARED in value
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A SUPERCAR fanatic has stunned car lovers by turning a battered £2,000 Ford Ka into a show-stopping 'Ferrari' lookalike — complete with racing seats, a digital dash and even scissor doors.
Businessman Daniel dos Santos, from São Paulo, Brazil, bought the tired hatchback at auction for just BRL 16,000 (around £2,123) and set out to turn the humble motor into his dream machine.
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Picture shows the transformed 'Ferrari'
Credit: Newsflash
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Businessman Daniel dos Santos, from São Paulo, Brazil, bought the tired hatchback at auction for just BRL 16,000
Credit: Newsflash
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He's dubbed the vehicle the 'Ka-rrari' — styled in the same distinctive font
Credit: Newsflash
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, Daniel proudly revealed his unique creation, a bizarre mash-up of budget car and high-end flair
Credit: @daniel_graxinha/Newsflash/NX
After hundreds of hours of painstaking graft, Daniel proudly revealed his unique creation, a bizarre mash-up of budget car and high-end flair.
But he's taken care to avoid upsetting the real Ferrari makers, whose legal teams are known for cracking down on copycats.
Instead of badging his car with the famous Ferrari logo, Daniel came up with a tongue-in-cheek twist.
He's dubbed the vehicle the 'Ka-rrari' — styled in the same distinctive font — and swapped out the iconic prancing horse for a grinning donkey.
The outside of the car now features dramatic Lamborghini-style scissor doors, while inside he's fitted sleek racing-style leather seats and a modern digital dashboard.
Despite the flashy upgrades, the engine under the bonnet remains the original one-litre Ford unit, pushing out a modest 72bhp — a far cry from the 199mph Ferrari SF90 XX he took inspiration from.
Still, Daniel reckons the unique build has sent the car's value soaring, claiming it's now worth around BRL 190,000 (around £25,194).
He said: 'The idea is to transform an ugly car into a beautiful one.'
Daniel isn't the only one breathing new life into tired Fords.
Iconic 1965 Ford Racer that starred in Top Gear is so rare only two in the world exist - but could be yours at auction
Another car enthusiast in the UK who revamped his rusting 2004 Ford Fiesta with luxury leather interiors, LED lighting, and a booming sound system — claiming it turned heads everywhere he went.
Another car lover proudly showed off his Ford Focus that he transformed into a replica rally car — complete with a bold wrap, racing stripes, and a custom spoiler.
He admitted the car cost more to modify than it was originally worth, but said, 'it puts a smile on people's faces, and that's priceless.'
Meanwhile, a DIY mechanic on a tight budget managed to craft a convincing Aston Martin replica out of an old Ford Mondeo, using second-hand parts and plenty of ingenuity — proving that with vision and patience, even a family saloon can become a head-turner.
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The outside of the car now features dramatic Lamborghini-style scissor doors, while inside he's fitted sleek racing-style leather seats and a modern digital dashboard
Credit: Newsflash
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Still, Daniel reckons the unique build has sent the car's value soaring, claiming it's now worth around BRL 190,000 (around £25,194)
Credit: Newsflash
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Scottish Sun
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BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
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When Lauda took part in the race, he was the reigning F1 world champion, having won his first title the year before. The 1976 season was shaping up to be a dramatic one, as Lauda and his rival, British driver James Hunt, battled it out for the top spot. (Their friendship and rivalry would become the subject of the Ron Howard film Rush in 2013, starring Daniel Brühl as Lauda and Chris Hemsworth as Hunt.) Lauda had already secured five wins going into the German Grand Prix, and was on course to clinch the world champion title again. But the sport was shockingly dangerous. By 1976, 63 drivers had been killed in Grand Prix motor racing, and on average one to two drivers were dying every season. "The circuits were not safe, that's undeniable now," American F1 driver Brett Lunger, who also took part in the 1976 German Grand Prix, told BBC's Sporting Witness in 2016. "In the '70s, the money was going into cars to make them go faster. 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"My lungs nearly gave up after the accident and the doctors just gave me life because I had a lung collapse… and I just made it, and the burns and the other problems we could fix. But the lungs were my life danger," Lauda told the BBC podcast I Was There in 2015. The scarring to his head was so extensive that he needed skin grafts. His eyelids were rebuilt using skin from his ears. Yet despite the pain he was in, and the damage to his lungs, Lauda willed himself to stay alive. More like this:• The first men to conquer Everest's 'death zone'• The greatest sailing rescue ever made• The US tennis star who told the world he had Aids "And then you just fight with your brain," he told the BBC in 1977. You hear noises, you hear voices, and you just try to listen to what they are saying, and you try to keep your brain working and to get the body to fight against the illness. And I think that it was very good that I did that because in that way I survived." Despite the nature of his injuries and his brush with death, Lauda was still desperate to win the World Championship. He had only missed two races while recovering from the crash and, although he was terrified of driving again, he believed that sitting behind the wheel would be the best thing for his mental wellbeing and recovery. Just six weeks after his horrific crash, he stunned everyone by turning up, still bandaged, at the press conference in Monza for the Italian Grand Prix. Back behind the wheel "I said then and later that I had conquered my fear quickly and cleanly," Lauda wrote in his autobiography To Hell and Back. "That was a lie. But it would have been foolish to play into the hands of my rivals by confirming my weakness. At Monza, I was rigid with fear." In his first race back, on 12 September 1976, Lauda needed to wear a specially adapted helmet so he wouldn't be in too much pain as he drove. His vision was affected by his eyes watering excessively due to his fire-damaged tear ducts. Blood from his head wounds seeped through their bandages, sticking them to his fireproof balaclava. But despite everything, he still finished fourth in the Italian Grand Prix. As he got out of the car's cockpit at the end of the race and tried to remove his balaclava, his skin grafts were ripped off, opening his wounds again. Three-time world champion Stewart, who was doing the racing commentary for the Italian Grand Prix, told the BBC in 2019: "I will never forget him putting his helmet on and he was suffering so much pain. When he came out from driving at the end, I was there, and the blood was running down out of his helmet." Lauda would ultimately lose the 1976 world champion title to Hunt by just one point. In the final race in Japan, although he was ahead in points, he pulled out after two laps because he was unable to see properly in the torrential rain. He would win the world title back the following year. The injuries that he sustained in 1976 would continue to contribute to health problems, leading to a double lung transplant in July 2018. But Lauda won 25 Grand Prix over the course of his career and is renowned as one of the most remarkable drivers F1 has ever seen. When he died at the age of 70 in May 2019, his former teammate at McLaren, John Watson, who had also taken part in that fateful German Grand Prix, told the BBC: "Racing 40 days after that accident was the most courageous act of any sportsman I've ever seen in my life." -- For more stories and never-before-published radio scripts to your inbox, sign up to the In History newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
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The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
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'I've sat with the head of our car development, with Loic [Serra], but also with the heads of different departments, talking about the engine for next year, talking about front suspension for next year, talking about rear suspension for next year. 'I've sent documents, I've done [that] through the year. After the first few races I did a full document for the team, then during this break I had another two documents that I sent in and so they would come in and want to address those.' Quite aside from the somewhat amusing hypothetical image of seven-time world champion Hamilton sitting astutely at a desk, hunched over a laptop firing off emails to decision-makers and engineers, his words speaks volumes as to the current state of the once-great Italian outfit. Because the Brit, having spent 18 seasons at McLaren (one title) and Mercedes (six titles), knows a thing or two about successful motor-racing teams. And it goes beyond the simplicity of a quick driver in the cockpit or rapid machinery at his fingertips. It is the whole organisation, working in perfect harmony, towards a common goal. Hamilton spoke of 'structural adjustments' within the Ferrari F1 team, alongside issues with the car which need to be changed for 2026, when new engine and chassis regulations come into play. An era in the sport which is likely to be Hamilton's last. And one in which his former team Mercedes – alongside their engine partners McLaren and Williams – seem best-placed for a revival, in contrast to Ferrari. Of course, 13 races into a 2025 season dominated by McLaren, Hamilton already has all his horizons set on next year. Ferrari brought their last major upgrade of the season to Spa – a new rear suspension – and while Charles Leclerc salvaged a respectable podium in Sunday's grand prix, Hamilton had a torrid few days in the Ardennes Forest. In practice, he impeded a number of drivers at the top of Eau Rouge. Then, in sprint race qualifying, he spun on his final lap, at the final chicane, due to a rear brake issue. Hamilton, baffled in the media pen afterwards, insisted that such an issue had 'never happened to him before' in his 19-year F1 career. Lewis Hamilton's results in 2025 It meant the Saturday sprint race was a write-off, finishing 16th, before an error in qualifying, taking his car outside the remits of the white lines, meant he was eliminated in Q1 for the second day running. By this stage, Hamilton was already writing this one off as a 'weekend to forget.' But on Sunday, sparks of life. Starting in the pit-lane, Hamilton stormed up the field, as the first driver to make the correct call and switch to dry tyres, and made up 11 places to finish seventh. He was voted driver of the day. But calls from the pit-wall to 'lift and coast' – curtailing his ability to go full throttle on straights – highlight more issues for this SF-25 Ferrari car. All of this has placed Vasseur under immense pressure at the start of this season. Asked by The Independent about the morale of the team and Hamilton on Sunday evening, Ferrari's team principal replied: 'It's not the result we were expecting with Lewis, but it's part of the life of a racing team to react collectively very well. 'It was a good recovery for him. For sure, we have to do a better job, to score podiums or wins you can't let one session get away. We have to make a step next week, but we are all pushing in the same direction.' The numbers, however, make for grim reading for Hamilton. In his first year in red, it is his worst-ever start to an F1 season. While Leclerc has picked up five top-three finishes this year, Hamilton's best-result remains fourth. In the 11 remaining races, Hamilton will be desperate not to become the first Ferrari driver since Kimi Raikkonen in 2014 not to record a podium all season. It is not just about the car, either. Hamilton admits his qualifying displays, much like his final season for Mercedes, have not been up to scratch. Yet the bigger picture – as is the consensus up and down the paddock for every team other than McLaren – is that this season no longer matters. Next year will give the first indications of who will dominate the next generation. And as Hamilton acknowledged pre-race in Spa, in something which amounted to a rallying cry for the thousands of Ferrari personnel in Maranello, it is 'crunch time' for the Brit in his deep-rooted quest for an eighth world championship. 'I feel that it's my job to challenge absolutely every area,' he said. 'If you look at the team over the last 20 years, they've had amazing drivers. Fernando, Sebastian, all world champions. However, they didn't win a world championship and for me, I refuse for that to be the case. I'm going the extra mile.' But beyond that call to arms, his most telling statement was as follows: 'I'm very fortunate to have had experiences in two other great teams and things are for sure going to be different. 'I think sometimes if you take the same path all the time… you get the same results. So, I'm just challenging certain things.' And as a headline in Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport read three weeks ago, it's now time for Ferrari to listen to Lewis Hamilton.