Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Where do you stand re kit cars? Some people love them, others are less keen. These could be models in their own right, or replicas (close or otherwise) of cars once in mainstream production.

RJ
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[ukdave2002]

I think kit cars work, when they don't look like a kit car!

I have seen some really good replica's and equally shoddy ones. The original kit cars were promoted as a way of getting round Purchase Tax (old fashioned VAT).

I must confess I'd like to build a nice GT40 replica, there are some good kits available or perhaps even fabricate an old racing car from scratch..... one day

Dave

[peter scott]

Like quite a few kit cars at that time my Ginetta G15 used Triumph Herald front suspension but the nearside stub axle was drilled to take a right angle gearbox for the speedo drive. This was attached on the inner end of the stub axle and if you hit a particularly large bump then the right angle gearbox used to get sheared off.

Despite grinding away parts off the clashing metalwork it was normally an annual replacement prior to the MOT.

The car used the Sunbeam Imp Sport engine but instead of the rear mounted radiator it ran the coolant to and from a front mounted radiator through quite large diameter pipes. I can't remember whether mine was missing its thermostat but the car was normally rather overcooled. It had no fan.

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Keith D]

No thanks! I'll stick with cars designed, developed and built by professionals!

Keith

[Riley Blue]

Having looked through Motorsport magazine from the 1950s and 60s many times there are a lot of kit cars I wouldn't have minded owning from those decades. I've driven some of the more modern ones: home built Lotus and Caterham 7s and Chesil Speedsters and they're really great fun, the Lotus and Caterham in particular.

The Lotus 7, it should be remembered, was designed by Colin Chapman, I think he knew a thing or two about cars and could be considered 'professional'.

[peter scott]

....and if you meet a slippy patch and hit a tree side on....you can be lucky and get away with just a broken car!


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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Riley Blue]

Which only illustrates that lightweight kit cars don't have the structural integrity and safety features built into saloon cars - something everyone already knows.

[Ellis]

There is a forum member on a Land Rover site I belong to who once showed photos of a Jaguar XK 140 roadster he owned. I was shocked when he revealed that the car was a replica, it was that good.

A garage owner I know showed me the C type Jaguar replica he had built. It was built from aluminium on a space frame chassis and sold to him by a firm called Proteus who specialised in C and D Type replicas.

Both the above had cost many thousands of pounds - tens of thousands actually - and the end results were superb, recreating classics which only the very wealthy can afford in original form.

I am open minded about kit cars and like many others I suspect we all would like a huge American engined AC Cobra replica. I had a chat last year with an Irishman from Eire who was staying in the village and he had a Cobra replica which he was using on his holiday. His car was magnificent but when I asked him how much it had cost to build he shook his head with a wry smile and admitted "far too much".

Therein lies the lesson - you get what you pay for and the end result depends on your own skills.
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Scotty]

I was completely sold on buying a Madison Roadster in the 1980's, did lots of research, sourcing places I could get the parts, even chose the colour.

I was ready to buy and visited the Scottish distributor in Springburn, Glasgow, however they were a right Mickey Mouse bunch constructing cars in a manner that their lack of skills was very evident, so I walked away.

Still love the shape of the car and often wondered if I could still get one - checking ebay there's one for sale right now.

[clan chieftain]

Not a kit car lover. Pilgrim Bulldog is marina based but you would need to be a deformed dwarf to fit in it.
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The Clan Chieftain

[badhuis]

Imp specials are nice - Clan Crusader and the Ginetta G15 Peter mentioned.

In general kit cars usually lack proper styling. Details spoil most kit cars.
I would not mind building a Seven kit from the ground up, just for fun.

[52classic]

Somewhere in our 'round tuit' queue there's a GTM.

Essentially a restoration of a road registered car with some extra 'donor' bits thrown in. Reached the point last year that it was a drivable chassis, even the gear linkage was operational (apparently something of a miracle on these) My son's work regime changed so we haven't had the time to progress it much further.

Rear engine, mini based space frame seems a good formula for a kit car but I think there's a lot of work (and cost) ahead if we're going to get a standard comparable with a production sports car. Incredibly IMHO many people DO seem to finish kit cars nicely these days and I look forward to seeing them on our car show rounds.

[BigJohn]

About 40 yrs ago a friend bought a Cooper S engine Cox GTM rally car. It had a full cage with side bars. Once I got my 6'6" frame into the passenger seat, he promptly demonstrated how quick it was. I have no idea what it went like as I was rolled into a ball and could only see my groin. It took far longer to extract me than to get in, and I swore I would never try such contortions again. He quickly sold it for the sum of it's parts and made a good profit. It wasn't much bigger than a Scalectrix car.

[Rick]

My uncle built a Cox GTM and ran it until the early 1980s, when someone in a Carlton rear-ended it. The remains sat around for a few years gathering moss then disappeared from his driveway. All I have of it is one of the centre wheel caps from its Dunlop alloy wheels, and an MOT for HTU 880K.

RJ
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[Peter_L]

The ugly image are the remains of a Westfield SE.

I know that modern cars now incorporate designs and features that do the job of protecting the occupants much better than, say 10+ years ago.

However, as tires get better, suspension improves and a hold host of gadgetry begins to take over from driver input, new drivers, no longer feel they need the skillls of feel and perception that kept so many of us on the "black bit"

I have remainded safe, not only to myself but to others for fifty years and well over a million + miles. I do, infrequently drive with others and it makes me feel that I may have forgotten more than they know. Over here, (Canada/US) the mandatory requirements before being allowed on the road are minimal. With each generation, the skills are diluted as the morons pass on their deficit to the idiots. When more time and effort have to be used to become an accomplished electrician, plumber, carpenter etc, than to become a person who drives a car, maybe one day, a very unpopular politician will decide that things need to change.

That sad Westfield may have come to rest due to an unavoidable accident, or it may have been driven by someone who ran out of skill.

(Edited to include " feel they ") Thanks to Penman .