Anyone done a kit car before?

[Kaido]

Curious if anyone has some experience making a plastic illusion Got inspired after seeing a beautiful Fiero-Lambo conversion on Youtube using what appears to be a former Triangle-G G-28 kit (now appears to be sold by Car Kit Inc. as the Mercy-2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFNmWBLNRRA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZYgf89g_Q8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNFF-UsQc5o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw6a8lMoS28

Overall the whole "industry" of selling body kits for clones seems pretty shady, and the quality of the kits seems to be lacking, but it appears that if you put enough time & effort into it, you can make something pretty fun. From what I've read, it takes 6 months to a year to complete and typically runs upwards of $20k for a good conversion (body swap, rims, glass, lights, etc.).

The Fiero chassis looks neat - stretch it out and use it, with plenty of engine mods available - 6-speed Pontiac G6 conversions, turbos, V8's, etc. Sounds pretty good with a Borla system on the stock V6. However you don't get any airbags...although I don't know how safe a fiberglass body conversion is to begin with :biggrin: The MR2 is another nice donor car and has driver/passenger airbags starting in 1993, although even used is quite a bit more expensive to use as a base chassis and doesn't seem to have the huge assortment of aftermarket power upgrades that the Fiero enjoys (I know there's some MR2 fans here, so please feel free to speak up on that subject, haha). Could always do an electric conversion too :awe:

Discussion welcome!

 

[jlee]

If I were to build a kit car, it wouldn't be a fake-exotic I'd shoot for a FF 818 (or one of their other kits), Locost 7, etc. Rolling around in a car that looks like a Lamborghini but has a V6 in it..I couldn't do it.

Passenger airbag started in '94 for the MR2, btw (and if you turned a (rare) 94-95 MR2 into a kit car I might have to hurt you ).

 

[ponyo]

beyond tacky and ugly.

If you're going to do kit car, do it right, e.g. Noble.

 

[Kaido]

If I were to build a kit car, it wouldn't be a fake-exotic I'd shoot for a FF 818 (or one of their other kits), Locost 7, etc. Rolling around in a car that looks like a Lamborghini but has a V6 in it..I couldn't do it.

Passenger airbag started in '94 for the MR2, btw (and if you turned a (rare) 94-95 MR2 into a kit car I might have to hurt you ).

Ah, is the late 1993 model considered the '94? Read the passenger airbag tidbit on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr2

Not very familiar with MR2's at all. I'll skip the 94/95's out of respect

I wouldn't mind a fake Lambo with a V6 in it. It's more about aesthetics for me. Plenty of cool stuff to look at in the kit-car world though. And I'd imagine if you wanted to get really serious about it, you could roll a DIY kit from your own design out of fiberglass...

 

[Kaido]

beyond tacky and ugly.

If you're going to do kit car, do it right, e.g. Noble.

Do you really think the black Lamborghini kit car in the OP is ugly? I think it looks amazing.

And that Noble looks pretty cool!

 

[Viper GTS]

I simply don't get the appeal of kit car in the OP sense. The experience of owning a car like that is far more than other people thinking you have one.

$40k is well into truly special car territory, why would you blow it on something that is just posing as something else? Buy something that stands up on its own.

The sole exception I would make to this rule is something like a FF Cobra. Using a donor vehicle as a source of a collection of parts to then make into something new is OK, throwing a sexy skin around a Fiero is not.

Sometime in the next few years I'd like to fly my brother out and do the FF build course with him. After going through the whole process if we then think it would be fun to do our own I could be convinced to fund something like that.

Viper GTS

 

[HarryLui]

That's a kit car.

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/cto/3181600824.html

 

[Kaido]

I simply don't get the appeal of kit car in the OP sense. The experience of owning a car like that is far more than other people thinking you have one.

I think for me the appealing aspect would be building something neat, rather than owning an original. I don't really care much about the original, but I think it would be cool to custom-build something out of something else.

 

[jagec]

I will probably do a kit car at some point in my life. The Ultima GTR has caught my eye, and of course there's always the Caterham.

 

[alfa147x]

MK4.

 

[hanoverphist]

there was an old cop drama with a rich guy funding a PI or something, he drove a coyote kit car. cant remember the show name

and i do like this vw'maro

hardcastle & mccormick! i think thats what the show was called...

 

[compman25]

I built a Manx dune buggy.

 

[Imported]

If I were to build a kit car, it wouldn't be a fake-exotic I'd shoot for a FF 818 (or one of their other kits), Locost 7, etc. Rolling around in a car that looks like a Lamborghini but has a V6 in it..I couldn't do it.

Passenger airbag started in '94 for the MR2, btw (and if you turned a (rare) 94-95 MR2 into a kit car I might have to hurt you ).

So want an FF 818.

 

[Doppel]

Those knock-off exotics are really humanity at its worst, most depraved. The automotive equivalent to a stuffed bra.

 

[weadjust]

About 30 years ago I helped my dad build 52 MG replica on 69 VW chassis. I took it out for a drive today.