Kit cars

Are all kit cars based on a lotus 7, Poor copies of the real thing or hideous? Why are their no genuinely interesting, good looking kit cars? I was considering building one, but they all look poo, and ready made ones are all based on Sierras/Cortinas (I’m pretty sure 2.0l rear wheel drive cars have been made since!)

Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that, but there are some attractive things out there. Fury/Phoenix/Stylus are independantly styled.
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P2120070[/url] by rob_j_hopkins[/url], on Flickr
(Ignore the colour scheme, bit of a mongrel in terms of where the panels came from).
Then there are cobra, stratos, ferrari P4, Lola T70, GT40 replicas some of which are convincing and therefore good looking as well.
Front-engined RWD donors are thin on the ground, since the demise of the sierra there’s been 3 series beemers, the equivalent merc, MX-5’s, and thats about it. The alternative is to use a sierra / freelander diff, or mk2 escort axle if you can find one, and use the engine of your choice, litre bike units being popular. Also duratecs are well catered for with a couple of people making the required bell-housing to bolt it to a type 9 gearbox.
If you consider mid-engined then the Sylva J15 is a good option, from a designer with a history of making good cars.
But yep, there are some gopping creations out there, but then I guess it’s like calling other peoples kids ugly ;0)

I quite like these, mainly because they are shiny.

A shiny red cross on a white background?

There’s plenty of kit car variety if you look around and it depends how mechanically minded you are. The MEV Exocet is based entirely on the mx5 and advertised as one of the easiest to build. If you like the atom type exo-skeleton stuff then the MEV Rocket is based on a Focus & great fun.

The Mac1 cars are great and Sylva Riot a fantastic handling car, neither of which are “7” shaped.

“7” shapes are still holding their own with a variety of car and motorbike engines.

If you want something that’ll be hard to overtake the Dax Rush Hayabusa Turbo at 330 bhp is a giggle.

Me, I’ll stick with my Westfield for now!

There are a lot more kit cars out there than just the “7” types.
It all depends on how you want to build them. Westfield do a modular build which you get everything from the factory, either in 1 go for around £17k or as separate modules as and when you can afford to buy them. They also do a Single donor vehicle kit based on the MX-5.
Things have progressed from the sierra/ cortina era.
Its like bikes, what do you want to do with it? Just get out and ride, or do you want to get into hillclimbs and sprints, autotesting, or track racing/trackdays. How much have you got to spend. A good second hand westfield is around the £8/9k figure.

You could build an Ariel Atom, but will cost a lot of money, how about an AC Cobra replica amongst a whole host of others.
The Sierra/ contina way was the best way of keeping costs down. You can build from a donor vehicle and keep the reg from that vehicle, or biuld one and get a “Q” plate. or buy brand new components and apply for a brand new registration, but will have to go and pass SVA or IVA rule/regs, which is a pain in the neck.

Best thing to do is go and buy a few of the kit car magazines, and have a read, maybe look out for a car club near you that has regular meets, usually in a pub car park, and have a chat with the owners.
I used to have a westfield, but have been out of the scene for a few years now.
I would definately recommend building one, and hopefully when my kids are a bit older and I’ve got a bit more cash, I’d like to build another one.

Can I draw your attention to ‘Chesil kit cars’
http://www.chesil.biz/Chesil_Home.htm

Sex on wheels,and not at all like a Lotus 7 or based on a Sierra.

Qt tomcat kit based on an old disco chassis !

How about a lomax or a triking?

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Lomax 3 Wheeler 2CV Kit Car[/url] by mick / Lumix[/url], on Flickr

lancia stratos replica/kit from HAWK 😈

http://www.hawkcars.co.uk/hf3000/index.html

A choice of engines – from the willing and easily tuned Lancia 2 litre (with Turbo or Supercharged options as well!) through to the really fabulous power of the 164 3 litre V6 Alfa engine. Of course you can fit an original Ferrari 246 V6 or Ferrari 308 V8 if funds permit.

Do you strap your bike to the side of the bonnet?

I daren’t even research how much it costs…

I do love the three wheelers. I saw a nice morgan type thing the other week, only it seemed to be a canvas wrap round a frame. It looked like a biplane without wings!

Powered by Aprilia, Kawasaki, or now a Subaru engine giving 0-60 in under 3secs and a power to weight ratio exceeding 500bhp/tonne

You can build a MEV Exocet for £2000 😉

Hmmm…..

poor copies of the real thing no some improve on it..
Choose carefully there is some right shite out there

how about a dakar ? 🙂

Hmm.. I fancy a diesel kit car project…

My old man built a dutton sierra based on mk1 Mexico!
**** heathen!!!

You can build from a donor vehicle and keep the reg from that vehicle

Not unless you’ve kept the chassis/monococque of the donor, which you won’t have done. Just using running gear/suspension isn’t enough. It’ll be IVA and a Q plate.

I’d love to build a car, but lack time/money/space/patience 🙂

(Oh, forgot useful stuff: http://www.the-ace.org.uk/links-to-existing-legislation-svadvla.html)

Mike_D – Member

You can build from a donor vehicle and keep the reg from that vehicle

Not unless you’ve kept the chassis/monococque of the donor, which you won’t have done. Just using running gear/suspension isn’t enough. It’ll be IVA and a Q plate.

When I built my westfield thats what I did. And didnt have any problems keeping the reg from the donor.We didnt use the chassis at all. Maybe the rules and regs have changed since 1997.
We had to use more than just running gear though. Was based on a points system where you had to have a minimum of X amount of points. Engine was 5 points, gearbox 4 points, diff… suspension … etc.
MInd you though, if you have a Q plate, I believe you dont have to go through the emissions tests at MOT time.

Nowadays soonas you modify or deviate from the original chassis is sva city

Sucks really

Maybe the rules and regs have changed since 1997.

They have. Still a points system, but the chassis/monococque is compulsory. In theory even cutting a bulkhead to fit a different engine to a car is IVA time.

How about a Grinnall Scorpion?

Ultima were a kit car company as were noble originally

Check out Parallel Designs. They do a Lambo Muira kit with an Audi V6 twin turbo engine. Looks and sounds phenomenal.

Ultima were started by Lee Noble, before he went on to start Noble. Similar cars in layout, and both pretty capable; I think two ultima’s were used as development mules for the Maclaren F1.
The jump from only-need-an-MOT to SVA was a much bigger step than the relatively recent SVA to IVA jump. From memory its circa £500 for an IVA by the time you’ve retested (few pass first time) and hired trailers etc. It does keep the quality of kit builds higher, but has moved the locost (all started by ‘how to build a sportscar for £250’) market into a different cost bracket. Pity as people have been building ‘specials’ in this vein since Austin sevens were the donor and Colin Chapman began Lotus with a locost equivalent.
IVA does make already-registered cars more appealing; which seem to be cheap right now as people need to shift what is a luxury in hard times.