This is the humble beginnings of the Manta Mirage (it's not a McLaren F1 if you noticed, but CarDomain does not have a listing for the Manta. This car is based on the McLaren M8B Can-AM car, which is why it's listed as a McLaren (closest catagory I could find).

The car was recieved in grey primer condition with a VW front suspension and a Corvair rear suspension with a Corvair transaxle mated to a SBC. The front mounted radiator was a copper unit what had the inlet and outlet tubes connected to the frame tubing as a conduit for coolant to and from the engine in back.

The front swing-arm VW suspension and odd-ball angles for the steering rods. Kinda scared me just looking at it. The SBC was in pretty good shape, but I've got some lofty goals for this car, so it will probably go along with everything else but the frame and most of the body.

The rear framing and suspension were no better than the front design. The previous owners coil-over modifications in back didn't even hold up during a trailered trip cross country without failing. Also notice the none-square framing in the below right photo taken from over the top of the rear end. 

The fiberglass panels attach to each other and then to the frame. Not robust, but good enough to get one down the road.

I'm not very large, so even a small car looks big compared to me.

So now you've seen the original purchase. Not even a roller being the rear suspension failed during the trailer ride home. But I'm going to fix all of that. So without further delay...