I was talking with a friend over lunch yesterday – another car guy – and the conversation rolled around to his having seen a guy at a car meet who owned a righteous Porsche Speedster. The car was burgundy over biscuit and he said that the owner was rather enfeebled by age and almost couldn’t get into the car when it came time to head home. Of course a real Speedster is a quarter-million dollar car these days and so it’s both out of my league as well as not something I would drive regularly due to the potential loss in value owed to chips, dings or possible accidents from road use.
That’s why I’ve given serious thought to buying one of the many Porsche Speedster replica kits that are presently on the market. Just don’t tell my wife. With one of those you could potentially be on the road with a VW-based car that’s almost indistinguishable from the real deal, and a tenth of the price. Home builts run the gamut from weird-ass kit cars to faithful replications of great cars, and even – such as in the case of the Caterham – a continuation of that greatness.
The benefits of doing so are many, first and foremost being the satisfaction of driving something that you built with your own two hands, and extending to the ability for those of lesser means to enjoy a good percentage of the experience of the real car should you choose something like a Caterham, Speedster or Cobra replica. What about you, have you ever experienced the pangs of want for a car created by your own hands? If so, what would be your choice?
Image: My.Voyager.net
Hooniverse Asks: If you Were Going To Build a Kit or Component Car, Which One Would it Be?
By Robert Emslie
Jul 3, 2015
Jeff Glucker
Not exactly a kit, but I like the idea of finding a late-model stripper Ranger, removing the body, turboing the four-cylinder, and tossing something swoopier back on, build a budget Rally Fighter.
dude, i have the same dream, but my ranger is a ’95 so it still has the twin I-beam. not a good place to start, go with ’98 and later, its basically the same from then until its death.
but i can still get suspension kits and found one set up for 20″ travel on all four corners, prerunner/trophy truck kinda thing. 2.3L, add a turbo, has a 5-speed, but will need to regear the rear end most likely. would be a nice freshen up to what has been a bit of workhorse with 230k miles on the clock. also thinking about the new 2.3L ecoboost that they have in the 2015 mustang, that would be a good fit. sorry rambling again….
A nice copy of this one would be nice, obviously:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Porsche_904-6.jpg/640px-Porsche_904-6.jpg
Probably with a simpler engine… I heard there are kits out there, but I don’t know the base or price.
A 7 replica with the 3 cyl ecoboost is at the top of my list now.
A lowcost 7 is something I would like to try. I would go for a little bit roomier 442 with a BMW 318 as donor car to strip out components like engine, steering rack, gearbox, differential and drive shafts. I would take of electronic injection and go for twin Weber.
This doesn’t exist yet AFAIK, but something like that Suzuki Samari/1936 GMC mash up featured here yesterday could be a lot of fun with just enough practicality to justify/rationalize the project.
A Track T, with some kind of wild four cylinder mill and a 5 speed. As cool as a shiny one would be (like in the pic below), I’d make mine a bit more on the scruffy side, as I’d rather drive it than polish it.
Perhaps without bias-plys.
Oh, without a doubt, no bias ply tires. It’d be a mix of new and old: radials, disk brakes, fuel injected, but with with that lovely, primitive front suspension and a live axle out back. An efficient, lightweight and modern drivetrain all wrapped in old tech. Call me crazy.
I would absolutely love to drop a fiberglass 300SL body onto a tube frame with an M104 straight six from the nineties. Same configuration, similar displacement (2.8L/3.0L/3.2L), similar power output but at what I presume to be lower weight, and that’s not considering the more powerful albeit rarer 3.4L and 3.6L AMG versions and further engine and chassis modifications. A modernized sporting tribute basically.
However I expect even these replica bodies to be prohibitively expensive, and it would be a torture like none other to get through German inspections, if at all possible.
I would absolutely love to drop a fiberglass 300SL body onto a tube frame with an M104 straight six from the nineties. Same configuration, similar displacement (2.8L/3.0L/3.2L), similar power output but at what I presume to be lower weight, and that’s not considering the more powerful albeit rarer 3.4L and 3.6L AMG versions and further engine and chassis modifications. A modernized sporting tribute basically.
However I expect even these replica bodies to be prohibitively expensive, and it would be a torture like no other to get through German inspections, if at all possible.
Does a Rally Fighter count if you go and build it at the factory?
Too many to list:
– Beck Spyder
– Se7en of some sort
– Arial Atom
– Factory Five 818
– some sort of Cobra facsimile
– or a D-Type
– all the way with a full-on homebuilt brown manual wagon
Knowing my skill at building things, three wheels means there’s less of a chance one will fall off right?
http://peter.xciv.org/albums/JZR-Trike/trike_10.jpg
I put 70,000 on my Honda Silverwing GL500 with that 500cc v-twin engine. The bike was slow…can’t imagine it pulling a car around with any enthusiasm
But on the other hand, given the build quality inherent in me putting something together, that might be a good thing.
No doubt. Power isn’t everything.
For us lazy cheapskates:
http://bgwspectre.com/imagescars/Z-6Large.jpg
It is a short list, but it a list.
XJ13
550 SpyderFactory Five GTM
Cobra
Se7en
Never Mind. I’ve winnowed it down.
Easy , Factory Five Racing 818 is my first choice. Or any of the Se7en kits. I also like the ute conversion for an early 2000’s Jetta (billed as a weekend project) and a good way for me to try to attempt this.
Cape Advanced Vehicles GT
I think I can fit in it, maybe , and not hit two/three pedals with one boot,
I don’t think I can afford it though …these aint cheap.
Has anyone come up with a kit to turn m f150 into a replica of the Mars Express?
I think I’ll be obsessing about that for a few days. . .
it’d have to be a dune buggy, always wanted one, you can still buy all the stuff to build one (see appropriate episode of Wheeler Dealers), and who could say no to a purple metalflake SWB buggy, I just can’t get the image out of my head of Elvis hooning one round on the beach with a great dane in the back in one of his films (live a little, love a little), and as a happy co-incidence i happen to have a great dane already, so i’m half way there
[URL=http://s1147.photobucket.com/user/spotty666/media/cars/4wWX3BD_zpsh96ub2f0.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o549/spotty666/cars/4wWX3BD_zpsh96ub2f0.jpg[/IMG][/URL].
Alternately, Jamiroquai used a quadbike to build a replica of the moonbuggy and used it in one of his filmclips (including driving it round in a full space suit, cool)
[URL=http://s1147.photobucket.com/user/spotty666/media/cars/JayRunaway-1_zpsgrjvah5v.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o549/spotty666/cars/JayRunaway-1_zpsgrjvah5v.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Schwimmwagen would be cool, there are a couple of places making the kits now…
check this out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTcIJpJV1M
Way cool – I want one!
I quite like the idea of recladding a Miata. Something like the Simpson Design Italia but not quite. I think it’s something I’ll have to come up with by myself. Fibreglass is easy to shape.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/02/img_7763_580op.jpg
Have you seen Bauer Catfish? It’s a rather extreme recladding in that it takes the Miata drive train and suspension and drops it into a tube frame with new bodywork. Looks like a lot of fun.
http://bauerltd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/20141101_132747_RichtoneHDR1-e1418026755632.jpg
http://bauerltd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/20140717_195334_RichtoneHDR-e1405695401915.jpg
It’s certainly striking, but, for me, it discards too much of the original MX5. I like to drive on the road as well as the track and appreciate more than just four wheels and an engine.
Of course another option is the Miatastang with, of course a 4.9 l/302 installed just to mess with Ford fans
http://www.miata.net/skidmarks/images/MiataMustang.jpg
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–dhywVOvJ–/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_320/885209170396770735.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FoXyvaPSnVk/Rjj3Gc0o7II/AAAAAAAAJV8/N1CYzpctOyA/s1600/CSPMYSTANGG12.jpg
The design firm that did the industrial design work for Bauer is here in Columbus and I’ve been been to their shop. It’s my understanding that the entire front and rear subframes of the Miata bolt into the tube chassis, suspension and all. It’s perhaps not as far from the original as you think.
It looks great, but I like those little extras like opening doors, wind-up windows and roofs that seal quietly and don’t leak, and enough refinement and security to use the car as a daily driver. 😀
I’ve been harbouring a secret desire for a Daytona Coupe kit.
Factory Fives is probably the cheapest/best, but I’d need an engine more special than a 5.0L/302. I’d settle for anything from a 2.3L turbo (SVO or Ecoboost), to an authentic 427.
http://www.factoryfive.com/wp-content/themes/factoryfive/images/slideshows/type-65-coupe/coupe_1.jpg
http://www.factoryfive.com/kits/type-65-coupe/
Actually, now that I think about, a Bristol engine, like one used in the original AC Ace, would be the ultimate hero engine.
Money no object, a Caterham, and then if money really wasn’t a problem, I’d get Caterham to build it for me!
However in the real world, kit cars come down to affordability of the overall build and availability of a donor vehicle . Lots of the Se7en type cars sold in UK/Ireland used things like Ford Sierras as the donor, at a time when it’s hard to find even a MK1 mondeo. There isn’t the same abundance of RWD family cars out there any more when anything family and four cylinder is usually FWD. Thankfully there are kit car companies who are more forward thinking. Westfield and others do single vehicle donor sevens based almost entirely on MX5 mechanicals
..or even more cost effective, and what I think I’d most likely go for, the Riot which is a Sylva design, but now made under license by a different company and allows you to use an old early 00s fiesta, which is convenient because there’s loads around with decent engines but utterly rotten bodyshells. (this was from the period when Ford of Europe didn’t take rustproofing seriously, no reflection on the current fiesta). The FWD transverse running gear is still installed transversely but in the rear. Sort of a poor mans Ariel Atom.
http://www.riotcars.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/Castle_Coombe_1_web.jpg
Money no object, a Caterham, and then if money really wasn’t a problem, I’d get Caterham to build it for me!
However in the real world, kit cars come down to affordability of the overall build and availability of a donor vehicle . Lots of the Se7en type cars sold in UK/Ireland used things like Ford Sierras as the donor, at a time when it’s hard to find even a MK1 mondeo. There isn’t the same abundance of RWD family cars out there any more when anything family and four cylinder is usually FWD. Thankfully there are kit car companies who are more forward thinking. Westfield and others do single vehicle donor sevens based almost entirely on MX5 mechanicals
..or even more cost effective, and what I think I’d most likely go for, the Riot which is a Sylva design, but now made under license by a different company and allows you to use an old early 00s fiesta, which is convenient because there’s loads around with decent engines but utterly rotten bodyshells. (this was from the period when Ford of Europe didn’t take rustproofing seriously, no reflection on the current fiesta). The FWD transverse running gear is still installed transversely but in the rear. Sort of a poor mans Ariel Atom.
http://www.riotcars.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/Castle_Coombe_1_web.jpg
A Factory Five Cobra with a 302 running dual quads. Call me boring if you must.
I have had a Model A dream since about 1976.
http://www.sensethecar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1929-Ford-Model-A-Roadster-Shop-1.jpg