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Greatest car transformations of all time… from Aston Martin's glitzy DB4 revamp to Fiat's whole new look

Greatest car transformations of all time… from Aston Martin's glitzy DB4 revamp to Fiat's whole new look

The Irish Sun28-04-2025

HUMANS aren't the only ones to go under the knife for a makeover.
Plenty of motors have also undergone dramatic
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The Fiat 850 was given a noticeable makeover
Credit: Getty
Cars can often change body,
Below are five of some of the most breath-taking motor metamorphoses, featuring everything from Aston Martin supercars to the basic VW Beetle.
Aston Martin DB4 → Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato
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The DB4 became iconic for its role in the James Bond franchise
Credit: Getty
"No Mr Bond, I expect you to change you car's bodywork" doesn't quite have the same
This iconic
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Even this classic underwent some changes, however, as it lost more than 85kg in a bodywork diet, got an engine
The result was 19 hugely rare models of the DB4 GT Zagato, which are both eye-catching and eye-wateringly expensive - one sold for $9.52 million at an
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One of these GT Zagato models was sold for nearly $10 million
Credit: Getty
Citroën 2CV → Citroën Mehari
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The 2CV was produced over five decades
Credit: Getty
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Back to basics we go.
First drawn up in the
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Its body was bolted onto its chassis, which made conversions very easy, and resulted in a number of cousins being produced including the British-built Bijout - but none were quite as striking as the Mehari.
But the Citroën Mehari was built for the optimistic buyer.
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It was mechanically identical to the 2CV, but had a
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Citroën Meharis didn't come with a roof
Credit: AFP
Fiat 850 → Fiat 850 Coupe
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The Fiat 850 had a functional look
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Who doesn't love a
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The
The
This was a feature someone at Fiat clearly took issue with, as they redesigned the 850 and produced the much prettier coupe and
The cute coupe was described by one car reviewer as 'one of the handsomest, best-balanced designs ever seen on a
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The coupe version of the Fiat 850 was widely lauded as beautiful
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Volkswagen Beetle → Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
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The Beetle has quite the story behind it
Credit: Getty
The most produced car in history - first commissioned by arguably the worst person in history.
The Beetle did indeed start life as a cheap, functional car for Germans under
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But it was resurrected by the
The Beetle was then given a sporty, Italian makeover by
This stylish cousin of the Beetle debuted in 1955, and has since been regarded as one of the most
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The Karmann Ghia was hugely stylish
Credit: Getty
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Mercedes-Benz SLK → Chrysler Crossfire
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The original SLK was released in 1996
Credit: Getty
First produced in 1996, the
The SLK had many incarnations before Mercedes changed its name in 2016 to the SLC, with one even having a different badge...
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Enter the Chrysler Crossfire, the product of a corporate merger between Mercedes and Chrysler, who became DaimlerChrysler and discontinued the original SLK model.
Well, not quite. They gave it an American-style body and badge, and sold it as a Chrysler Crossfire.
Sales of the model started well, but soon tanked, and the Crossfire was pulled in 2007, the same year its parent companies divorced.
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The Chrysler Crossfire had an American badge but was manufactured in Germany
Credit: Getty
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