Those that know Scott, know, that his is not the most “mechanical” soul alive on this planet today … while more than willing to get his hands dirty, more often than not, that’s about all he accomplishes when tinkering with his toys, so …. Challenge number two.

When the time came to acquire his Mirage the challenge was to find a candidate motorcar that was, in its basic form, fit and trim …

“What I wanted, was a car that we could rebuild to fit our needs, a car that we could customize from top to bottom then utilize as a company show car to promote the various aviation events we produce. If a car ever looked like it could fly, a Mirage would be a prime example. People look at unique cars, and if we could capitalize on that basic interest to promote our company, our aviation events and our clients then owning this car could become a real bonus for us.

Here in Boise, we have some very talented folks working in the custom car business, all we need to do is find the right folks from three basic categories and we’ll be off and running, engine and drive train, a glass man and a paint man”.

In early January of 2002 three potentially acceptable cars were located in Southern California. A quick trip from Idaho was planned to view the cars and attempt to make a deal for one of them. Spencer stopped looking after he viewed the second car.

It’s important at this point to answer a nasty rumor going around about Spencer’s purchase of this car where his wife is concerned …

“It has been suggested that I told my wife that a Mirage was important to me because I was concerned that my Corvette C-5 was lonely and needed a roommate, let me set the record straight for our web site quests …Hell yes, that’s exactly what I told her … I was desperate for a good reason to justify buying it, that seemed to be as reasonable an excuse as anything else I could come up with. Did she buy it ? You’ll have to ask her, I really don’t know. I do have the car though, so apparently she did.”

The car lived in Glendora, California, was licensed in the state Of California as a 1960 Manta Coupe and had been professionally built. The car has an interesting history that Spencer is, as time allows, trying to verify. Spencer made his deal and arranged for a transporter to bring his newly found promotional tool (toy) to Idaho. 

The images below will guide you through the customization and restoration of this Mirage. You can click on the thumbnails below to view a larger image. On behalf of the Spencer’s we hope you enjoy this process …

This first series of images are of the Mirage’s body as it arrived in Boise. As you can see, it was in pretty good shape and for the most part, fit together pretty good. There were several bad spots including cracked body parts, warped body parts and partially repaired areas, again, in general, not a leper by any stretch :
 
 

Off To The Engine Shop !

First things first … off to the engine shop for a make over, upgrade and general repairs. The old air ride bags, radiator overflow and battery needed attention as well … it should be mentioned that NO protective “skid” plate existed under the cockpit of the Mirage. From a safety standpoint, Mr. Spencer felt this was a high priority in the process. 

“As low as this little girl sat to the ground, a small stone, not to mention a bolt or other road debris would become a ballistic missile to the driver and passenger and certainly provided the potential for bringing new meaning to the words ‘Up Yours’ when speaking of driving ….”
 
 

Old battery location behind engine.

New battery location in left lower side.

After several weeks of tinkering, work, and more decisions than anyone should need to make with regard to a toy, the engine work was completed.

Our special thanks to Chris Teague and Brice McDonald of “Intimidator Customs” in Boise for their efforts and imagination with the Mirage engine, headers and drive train.  It should be mentioned that Brice hand painted all the etched flames.

Body and Paint!

As you can see from the images below, the Mirage needs some sincere TLC. The body was found to have many fractures and breaks. The rear deck mounting, under both lower center pods, the nose and passenger side rear deck to name a few. The roof mounting brackets and center positioning fiber glass divider were broken. The rear deck, roof, light buckets and door ‘fit’, don’t. Our body man has his work cut out for him!

Interestingly enough, our ‘gel coat’ body … isn’t. That’s right, this machine is painted which fuels additional speculation as to the actual age of this Mirage. That’s not a bad thing. It is rumored, and we stress, this is only a rumor, that three cars were built early on by the brothers LaVette prior to actual Mirage production, that were simply hand laid glass without the colored ‘gel’.  We’re wondering if this might be one of the three???

On to the body shop…

The images below show the Mirage in a pretty sincere state of disrepair as the car undergoes preparation for painting. The body was in much worse shape than we had earlier assumed, and, not to its credit, very, very thin. For example, and you’ll see in the pictures below, joints in the front fenders were so thin and weak that they had literally pulled away from each other at the  'fender well' joints.  Sean Nyquist, our glass and prep man felt strongly that they should not only be repaired, but beefed up as well.
 
 

Doesn’t look quite as good as it did in the beginning at this point. Note the sanded areas in the front hood area (two spots). In the Mirage, the radiator lays at a severe angel in the nose of the car. Over the years (and bumps in the road), it had rubbed against the body to the point that it very nearly wore through. 
 
 

In the picture above, left, note the rear end body change from the traditional. Vents on the rear deck lid were badly ‘stress’ cracked and repaired. The picture above, right shows the fender vents now opened. Sean and his Dad Rusty, engineered a new, functional access cover to the radiator and brake reservoir in an attempt to help with the age old ‘heating’ problem that attacks most all Manta’s … the new cover is designed to actually create a low pressure area (the top of a wing in reverse) and draw air into the space.
 
 

As mentioned, both front fenders have been rebuilt, as have the headlight buckets and their mounting supports. The picture at right, clearly demonstrates that this was not ever a “gelcoat” vehicle.

The hinge point for the rear deck is found to be severely cracked and broken and in need of an immediate and complete rebuild.

As all the repairs and restructuring are completed the next big challenges will most likely be realigning all the body parts to as tight a fit as possible, refitting the top and fitting the rear deck wing.
 
 

As you can see from the photos above and to the right, the Mirage is getting close to being ready for paint. Above, it sports its new look on the rear end, complete with the addition of the rear wing.  The picture above and to the right shows that the doors have gotten the rebuild needed and now open to a full 90 degrees, making it easy, (now) to climb in and out of the car. This shot is the first wheels on, daylight, outdoors shot of the car in several months.
 
 

In the image above and to the right, you get your first hint at the Mirage’s new base color.  With the interior done, that area will be masked and sealed prior to shooting the exterior.

With the primary color in place its time to add some flames.  You just can’t have a toy car these days that doesn’t have flames.  The picture below shows the car masked and ready for the “air-brushed” addition of flames and the blending of colors in the front end.  To trim the flames, the hand painted addition of a blue highlight around the edges.  That’s right, hand painted.  Incredible craftsmanship from Signs By Smith in Boise.
 
 

And now … after nine months of blood, sweat (and not a few tears) and (an absolute boatload of cash …) Sean Nyquist delivers the restored Mirage to Scott Spencer.