filipefmelo

You can buy cut-rate bootlegs of Mad Men and Chanel handbags all over the world. But if you want a fake Ferrari, you need to go to a garage on the outskirts of Bangkok. That’s where Chris Pongpitaya and his 10-man crew use scavenged and scratch-built parts to piece together ersatz Porsches, Maseratis, and other dream machines for enthusiasts whose budgets are too small to match their egos. “When you look at the car, there’s nothing different,” Pongpitaya says. “But when you test-drive it, you may notice.”

Buyers from Sweden to Dubai call on Pongpitaya, who learned his skills working for a Porsche parts supplier in Germany. He generally repurposes a chassis, taking, say, a Toyota MR2 as the base for a Lamborghini, or an Opel Carrera for an Aston Martin. Power depends on budget, but typically he’ll put Toyota engines in his Ferraris and Subaru engines in his Porsches. Pongpitaya picks up genuine locks, door handles, and other parts on the secondary market; body panels are all handcrafted in foam and fiberglass—fortified with Kevlar and carbon, with details copied from photographs and toys. Pongpitaya claims that his bodies are stronger and lighter than the aluminum and steel you’d get on a real supercar, and a Lamborghini from his shop costs about 4 million baht—around $130,000, roughly half of what a midrange (real) Lambo would set you back. It may not do 200 mph on the autobahn, but it’ll turn heads on city streets. Just hope no one looks under the hood.