Overclocker

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Pagani of Italy must be very flattered by this Japanese tuner car, the PZR (Pagani Zonda Rabbit). Go ahead, guess what the donor car was? If you guessed a Toyota MR2, you win.

Date posted: 08-01-2006

TOKYO — Each year, visitors to the Tokyo Auto Gallery face some of the most bizarre wheels in Japan.

This tuning show has previously showcased a 6-wheeled Nissan microcar and Subaru minibus dressed up to look like a 1960s Volkswagen van, among other eccentrics. This year, a small-scale tuner called Rabbit Corporation introduced its Toyota MR2 rebody, which looks remarkably like the Pagani Zonda Italian exoticar.

Tokyo-based Rabbit has been known until now for its Porsche models, but a photo of the Pagani Zonda inspired the firm to turn a Toyota MR2 roadster into a look-alike. Body panels of the MR2 are easy to detach. So it took just a couple weeks to finish the body conversion, which was christened the PZR for Pagani Zonda Rabbit.

No one would mistake the Rabbit version for the original, either engine-wise or aesthetically, but enough people may be intrigued by it to enable production of a limited series. More details are available at the Rabbit Web site.

What this means to you: Japanese auto enthusiasts love classic and exotic machinery, and nobody could accuse that country's tuners of lacking guts or imagination.

Source: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...cleId=116350#2