The first customer orders for the retro-styled, V12-powered RML Short Wheelbase have entered production.
Each car takes approximately nine months to build, with a painstaking level of attention to detail and personalisation applied throughout.
Following completion of the prototype ‘Car Zero’, RML is now building the first three cars destined for customers. Only 30 examples of the £1.62 Short Wheelbase will be made.
Perfect paint
The Short Wheelbase clearly resembles a classic Ferrari 250 GT SWB, but its backbone chassis comes from a (1996-2001) 550 Maranello.
RML creates a two-piece carbon fibre body that weighs just 42.5kg before painting. Some 99 percent of the body is constructed to a tolerance of 2.5mm, with 60 percent at just 1mm.
Multiple layers of primer, combined with a silver base coat, are added to the car before the final paint. Even elements that remain unpainted, such as the carbon-composite door shuts, receive several layers of lacquer.
Hand-built with modern tech
Once the body is complete, RML installs the 550 Maranello-sourced 5.5-litre engine. The unmodified, naturally aspirated V12 develops a healthy 479hp, and is combined with a six-speed manual gearbox. Zero to 62mph takes just 4.1 seconds.
As production continues, the RML Short Wheelbase will be on display at next month’s Goodwood Members’ Meeting.
“Each Short Wheelbase is hand-built,” explains Michael Mallock, CEO of RML, “but we also use the most advanced technology to make sure that the quality of its build meets the very highest levels. All parts are laser-cut to minimise deviation from specification, and the jig we use only allows a maximum 0.25mm tolerance, meaning that all 30 cars in our production run will be produced to a consistently high standard.”
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