Owners of Noble M12s have today been presented with the chance to breathe new life into their cars. Bristol-based Salica Cars is offering a conversion service for M12s that brings an overhauled engine, a new body and – for the first time on a Noble M12 – a convertible roof into the mix.“Salica Cars exists because there’s a gap in the market for Noble owners,” explains company founder Steve Rubie-Todd. “I’m an M12 owner myself, and have for a long time been waiting for a convertible version. When Noble announced that it had canned the M12 GTC (pictured), an opportunity arose to make a convertible M12 ourselves.”As an outfit, Salica is totally unconnected with Noble Automotive, but its conversion has been brought about with the help of several ex-Noble employees, notably ex-Noble body designer Paul Bailey and former parts designer Ashley Gaunt.
Opening up the M12
For £20,500, Salica Cars will take your existing M12, replace its body panels and refit its cabin with new components designed by Bailey, fit a new intercooler and new radiators to the car engineered by Gaunt, and repackage the front end to accommodate a luggage compartment. It will also replace the car’s roof with a one-piece lightweight removable option that stows under the rear clamshell.Salica has so far only released sketch images of the finished conversion: see them by clicking here.“Most of our custom will probably come from M12 owners who have crashed their cars and are looking for a professional re-build and re-engineering service,” says Rubie-Todd.For more information, click here.
The next step: Salica GT
With conversion work in full swing, Steve Rubie-Todd’s next objective is to offer new build cars, based on modified Noble M12 underpinnings, but using the same bodywork as the converted cars.“The new-build car will be called the Salica GT,” he explains. “It will use our own chassis mechanicals, and a longitudinally mounted, twin-turbo V6 producing around 460bhp.” Salica expects to offer them for sale from around £65,000, but has yet to find a UK engineering base for production of the car.
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