Just saw this- great shop!
Seeing the pics of the Grasshopper took me a trip down memory lane: My first new car was a 72 510, with most of the then-current stuff. It had a close ratio 5-speed from a 2000, a 4.38 rear and LSD from a 240, Venolia pistons, the L16 SSS head, twin SUs (Yeah, carbs. That's how we rolled in those days), alloy wheels and recycled race tires from my older, well-heeled buddies who could actually afford new tires. It had the BRE "spook" and a 6-point cage. Since it was my only car, and I drove it everywhere, I got lots of looks while driving a caged car. The cage kind of ruined the idea of putting anything back there, including the seat which was jettisoned to save weight.
It was an autocross terror, built to the letter, if not the spirit, of the rules. Eventually the local clubs found a way to reclass it to a non-competitive class, and I went to an SCCA driver school at what was then called Palm Beach International Raceway, where I found what it was like to thunder down the straight next to a Ferrari 365. Actually, he was doing all the thundering, I was just revving the lungs out of the Asian impostor I was driving....
But that is another story...
Thanks for the digression. So much of that car is so familiar.
