Superformance LLC (Superformance Replicars) is an American

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

company that builds, designs, develops, engineers and markets

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

s, related performance components and full replicars. The company was founded as "Superformance International Inc." by

Hi-Tech Automotive Hi-Tech Automotive is a low volume car builder and design house located in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Most of the vehicles produced are exported, notably to the US and UK. The main distributor of the cars built by Hi-Tech is Superformance. ...

Ltd. in 1996. Today, Superformance has 15 authorized dealers in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and 6 international dealers. SPF cars are sold as "turnkey-minus replacers". In December, 2005 Hi-Tech Automotive transferred the ownership of its subsidiary, Superformance, to American Hillbank Automotive Group, which is a privately owned business of American entrepreneur Lance Stander. Hi-Tech Automotive continue to build Superformance cars at its plant in

Port Elizabeth, South Africa Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

Current models

As "Replicars", all models sold by Superformance are complete factory manufactured "rollers", only missing the engine and transmission. Individual Superformance dealers will install selected engines in the cars after the customer has bought the roller.

Superformance MKIII

Shelby Superperformance 427-435hp Driveable Chassis

The Superformance MKIII is a replica of the third generation 427

Shelby Cobra The AC Cobra, sold in the United States as the Shelby Cobra and AC Shelby Cobra, is a sports car manufactured by British company AC Cars, with a Ford V8 engine. It was produced intermittently in both the United Kingdom and later the United ...

and is available in both semi-competition and street roadster body styles. The SPF MKIII makes up the bulk of the company's sales. The SPF MKIII is also one of the few Shelby Cobra replicas built under license from

Carroll Shelby Carroll Hall Shelby (January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012) was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur. Shelby is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company, which he modified duri ...

. When the Customer purchases a MKIII they receive a complete rolling chassis that only requires an engine with accessories, transmission, drive shaft and various hoses, nuts and bolts to complete. The car is complete with suspension, rear differential, wiring and instrumentation. In this way a MKIII can have a stable "factory" build quality and also be personalized by its owner/completion company. While most MKIIIs are powered by 351 Windsor-based Ford engines, options for 289/302 blocks and big block FE or 385 family Ford engines are possible. The MKIII differs from most other Cobra replicas as being of 100% new parts and not decades old rebuilt items. The current MKIII (late 2007+ production) uses Wilwood disk brakes and a Dana rear end assembly. Other major components are off-the-shelf parts of various new OEM manufacturers. The MKIII enjoys a loyal and helpful owners network that communicate in various internet forums/clubs providing user-to-user technical support and suggestions. The MKIII car was featured in an article in the September 2008 issue of

Classic Motorsports ''Classic Motorsports'' is an American periodical devoted to classic cars, classic car restoration and vintage racing. It was established in 1986 and is published six times a year. The magazine's parent company, Motorsport Marketing Inc., based in ...

magazine. The Superformance MKIII is built under license from Carroll Shelby.

Superformance MKII Slab Side and FIA

The newest models, the Superformance MKII Slab Side and FIA are designed to emulate the great Cobra 289 street cars from the golden era of racing in the 1960s. Unlike most competitors, these Supeformance replicas of the Slab Side and FIA are built on the successful Tojeiro-styled round tube chassis and features an authentic transverse leaf spring suspension. The MKII Slab Side and FIA are the latest licensed Shelby product in the Superformance lineup.

Shelby Daytona Coupe – CSX9000 Series

The Shelby Daytona Coupe or CSX9000 Series, originally known as the "SPF

Brock Coupe The Brock Coupe (also known as Superformance Coupe or Superformance Shelby Daytona Coupe) is the only licensed continuation of the original Shelby Daytona coupe racing cars of the 1960s. The car has a front mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, wi ...

", is a continuation of the 1965 FIA GT World Championship-winning Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. The SPF Coupe was designed by Peter Brock, the designer of the original Daytona Coupe for Shelby American. Production of the SPF Coupe ran from 2003 to 2009. Several modifications were made to the car and it is now being sold as the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (CSX9000 series) through authorized Shelby Automobile dealers. Unlike other Superformance replicars, the CSX9000 coupe is available with either a fiberglass or aluminum body. The Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe is licensed by Carroll Shelby and each vehicle and owner is recorded into the Shelby registry.

Superformance GT40 continuation series

The first Superformance GT40s to be built are replicas of the famous Ford GT40 MkII A that finished first, second, and third overall at the

Le Mans 24 Hour Race The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

. The Superformance GT40 differs from other

Ford GT40 The Ford GT40 is a high-performance endurance racing car commissioned by the Ford Motor Company. It grew out of the "Ford GT" (for Grand Touring) project, an effort to compete in European long-distance sports car races, against Ferrari, which wo ...

replicas in that it is the "only one to be built with a

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

chassis that is an exact replica of the original". In fact, over 90% of the SPF GT40's parts are interchangeable with the original MkII A. The Superformance GT40 is so close to the original that it is currently being evaluated for historic racing eligibility. Some major differences between the two cars include the addition of a hidden

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

unit, modern brakes, and a conversion to

left hand drive Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes referred to ...

layout.

Right hand drive Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes referred to ...

, non-airconditioned versions are also available, marketed as the GT40/R. The Superformance GT40 has the " Gurney bump" which can be ordered as an option for taller drivers. The Superformance GT40 is an authorized continuation series, licensed by Safir Spares LLC. Upcoming versions will include the MkI and FIA versions.

Corvette Grand Sport continuation series

In January 2009, Superformance and the Duntov Motor Company LLC of Farmers Branch TX announced a partnership to create a continuation series of the street version of the legendary 1963 Corvette Grand Sport (Duntov will produce the racing version under the agreement). The Superformance Corvette Grand Sport is being built true to the original body shape and configuration, and is available in both coupe and roadster body styles. All new precise modern production molds have been produced to assure consistent and correct bodies. Superformance built street cars feature the original Grand Sport round tube style frame. Superformance Corvette Grand Sports have power brakes, power windows and locks with all the amenities needed in a modern high-performance automobile. As with its other cars, the Superformance Corvette Grand Sport is offered as a complete turnkey-minus unit ready to accept the customer’s choice of engine and transmission. A continuation of the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport is built by Superformance under license from General Motors Company.

Former models

Superformance S-1 roadster

The Superformance S-1 roadster is a modern rendition of the Lotus Super 7. The S-1 was specifically conceived to accommodate “6-foot 4-inch, 250-pound Americans,” a feat that few Lotus 7 replicas could accomplish. Apart from the increased size, the S-1 has several aerodynamically beneficial features, weatherproof soft top, windows, adjustable foot pedals, heated front windshield, primitive interior heating, as well as a lockable trunk. Front suspension uses double A-arms, while the rear uses a solid axle controlled by a "Mumford link" with bel-crank operated coil-over shocks. The SPF S-1s are generally powered by a version of Ford's 2.0L

Zetec Ford Motor Company used the Zetec name on a variety of inline 4-cylinder automobile engines. It was coined to replace "Zeta" on a range of 1.6 L to 2.0 L multi-valve engines introduced in 1991 because Ford was threatened with legal acti ...

inline-4 A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...

and are usually

naturally aspirated Naturally may refer to: ;Albums * ''Naturally!'', an album by Nat Adderley * ''Naturally'' (Houston Person album) * ''Naturally'' (J. J. Cale album) * ''Naturally'' (John Pizzarelli album) * ''Naturally'' (Sharon Jones album) * ''Naturally'' ...

although a few supercharged examples were produced. A Ford Type-9 5-speed manual transmission is usually installed. The production run of the S-1 ended in March 2004 after a total of 56 cars had been produced.

Caterham distribution

Caterham Series 3 Super Seven - Flickr - exfordy (1)

As of the start of 2014, Superformance is the official distributor for

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...

in the United States. International demand for Caterham Sevens have increased dramatically in part due to the addition of a F1 Race team and the changes in Caterham's structure focusing on the distribution of the Seven worldwide. Caterham has since introduced a new model line up and focused on their production and production times to better suite their new international market, making their partnership with Superformance possible. Superformance will stock a range of Seven variants, primarily the higher-power incarnations of the car, which have traditionally been more popular in the American market. The range will include the Seven 160, Seven 280, Seven 360, Seven 480 and the new Seven 620R. Sevens will be shipped to the USA in part-built form and sold as rolling chassis via Superformance’s nationwide dealer network for customers to then complete the build personally.

References

External links

Superformance LLC
- Superformance's official website
Superformance Distribution
- exclusive distributor of Superformance vehicles, the Shelby Series II and the Foose Coupe
Shelby Distribution USA Inc.
- exclusive distributor of Shelby continuation series Cobras
Superformance U.K., aka Le Mans Coupes Ltd.
- U.K. dealer
Second Strike
- the Superformance Owners Group
PR Newswire
- ''"Carroll Shelby and Superformance International Settle Infringement Dispute"''
GT40-Tech.com
A wiki for sharing builds and information for Superformance GT40s
US.CaterhamCars.com
(US- Superformance distribution)

External links to test drives of Superformance cars

Superformance GT
tested by

Fifth Gear ''Fifth Gear'' is a British motoring television magazine series on Discovery+. It is a continuation of the ''Fifth Gear'' format originally broadcast on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011, afterwards moving to Discovery Channel in 2012, and then in ...

.
''Road&Track''
Magazine reviews the SPF Coupe (3/2006).
Fast-Autos.net
road test of the SPF GT.

reviewed. {{Lotus Seven Kit car manufacturers Lotus Seven replicas Car manufacturers of the United States Sports car manufacturers Motor vehicle manufacturers based in California Companies based in Irvine, California