Most kit cars offer a simple concept, at least on paper: Buy this kit, and you can build the car of your dreams from scratch.
From there, the sky is the limit. Three wheels? Sure. Make it look like an airplane? Why not? Want your modern sports car look like a much older version? We can work something out.
Of course, some of …
Bill Thomas Cheetah.
What's that? You wish your fourth-gen Camaro looked more like a Bel-Air?
Easyrods has you covered with its Belaro kit:
I can't explain it, but there's just something about this kit that makes me smile.
In reply to Colin Wood :
It certainly looks better than the 4th gen came from factory.
Thank you for putting me on to this, I was looking at 3rd gen Camaros because I want a mullet mobile but 4th gens are more prevalent and cheaper. This kit will help the looks department quite a bit.
I'd love to see a Catfish-maro with this kit run in a CAM class.
My favorite kits have to be:
Superlite SL-C. Supercar looks for new 'vette money (though the C8 may change this opinion because it is quite literally supercar looks for new 'vette money).
The Factory Five Daytona Coupe replica (with wing, of course). Affordable way to get into a racing classic.
And I'm unsure if this counts but:
4 wheel Slingshot
The original Fiberfab had some pretty good ones in the looks department, like this Avenger GT:
Thunder ranch riot. This is one I actually built. At least I think it is. Not a lot of gen 1 riots in silver with those wheels so likely my old car.
I want it back. If you have one for sale I will take it.
hunter47 said:In reply to Colin Wood :
It certainly looks better than the 4th gen came from factory.
Really? My hideous 4th gen gets more love from my neighbors than just about anything I've brought home recently.
I started modding cars with a thirdgen firebird so the Evoluzione kit always sparked things for me.
Meyers Manx
Bradley GT
Every Fiero-based kit car. Yes even the Enzo one. I love the idea of showing up to a car show with one of these bad boys and parking in the exotics section.
Least favorite: those tacky Gazelle Mercedes kits.
Definition of "kit" needs to be nailed down, since I tend to look at most interesting cars as a kit car. My current fleet is an amalgamation of several cars: 1973 Porsche 914 with 302 whp Subaru engine & modded Suby transaxle, a 1985 BMW 524td getting an M54B30/5sp manual swap (on the lift right now!), and we recently swapped a Tiburon 2.7L V6 into our 2005 Hyundai Elantra 24 Hrs. of Lemons car. The latter finished the grueling/hot race at T-Hill in late-May. My buddy's 2003 BMW 325it wagon is in my yard awaiting a M54B30/manual swap, too. Living and swapping in CA can be tricky, but I've become quite familiar with Bureau of Air Resources referees over the years.
I've sold two recent swapped cars to fund subsequent ones (S52 swap into 1996 BMW 318ti, and a juiced AHU tdi & 5sp manual into 1993 VW Eurovan Westy), and really wished I still had the Sidekick-swapped Suzuki Samurai rock-crawler that I built in the 1990s, the GTI-swapped 1981 VW Vanagon Westy (ex-diesel, built for Burning Man in 2000), and the now crazy $$$ Suby-swapped 1986 VW Vanagon Syncro Westy that I sold for $9k (!!!) in 2006.
Of course, I had a wheel-standing Meyers Manx clone that I built and drove to high school in San Francisco in the early 1980s -- prolly the only "true" kit car I've owned, and obviously the least practical one, too.
Deserter GS (essentially a mid-engined Manx), very capable car:
Some of these I do not consider oddball.
And wow is that Fiero ugly.
maschinenbau said:Every Fiero-based kit car. Yes even the Enzo one. I love the idea of showing up to a car show with one of these bad boys and parking in the exotics section.
That car did just that 2 years ago in Monterey. It was at the Quail. Everybody understood the joke but I don't think anyone thought it was particularly funny. I can't imagine paying a near $1000 entrance fee to have it go over so poorly.
I've always been partial to the Fisher/Sylva Phoenix/Fury (the company has sold a few times) which is a gorgeous body on a Clubman/Lotus Seven-like tubular chassis. Options included live axle or Sierra-derived IRS, and folks typically installed British Ford four cylinders, Fiat twincams, Toyota 4A-GE, and the like. I'm not sure they are "oddball" in the UK, but never seen one Stateside. Definitely scratches some of that Lotus 11/Lola Mk1/Elva/Ginetta itch for a lot cheaper.
In reply to ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) :
I like this one.
Another vote for the original Meyers Manx dune buggy.
In reply to noddaz :
I agree that I gave some rather pedestrian options compared to the others.
First and always in my heart will be the Meyers Manx, but I've been thinking a lot about the Factory Five 35 Pickup lately, because it actually kind of makes a lot of sense to me. I could probably justify building one of these.
I still hold onto the slim hope the Abarth SP1000 kit will happen someday....
Otherwise, I still casually want for one of the somewhat-kinda-close Countach kit cars you see from time to time.
Mini Marcos
Beck 550 Spyder!
I've been fascinated with Kit Cars since I was in High School. That was in the early 70's. I love building cars. The first kit car that I built was a Beck Lister. That was in the late 90's. Since then I've built a number of cars. Mostly scratch built. Here are some of my cars.
I love the looks of the SP1000. At one time I owned the molds but the car is so small that I would never fit in it. Because of that I sold them.
The mini Corvette car pictured in the thread is on a VW bug platform. One of those bodies is on Albany, NY craigslist for sale right now.
This is my Cheetah inspired build. It's my favorite car. I drive it a lot! I'm working on a coupe version of this one now.
I built an aluminum tub to which C5 vette cradles bolt to. lS6 power. T56 trans to the C5 diff which was converted to take a driveshaft. This and the Tbucket inspired body are interchangabe.
I only have Ruby and my Cheetah in my possession now. I'm not rich and can't afford to keep all of my builds. :(
Having fun
K1 Attack because you can use a 4th gen Accord as your donor.
Also Stirling because of the top of course.
How can i post a pic in here?
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