Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

[alpina-ferrari Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close alpina-ferrari]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

hey i once listened to a great analagy................."the way to guage a persons wealth is not by the automobile he drives....but how often he drives it"...

kinda makes you think

[FunnyWheels Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close FunnyWheels]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

More than likely the homebuilt (kit car) will disappear due to legislation requiring the vehicle to pass crash tests, safety tests, smog tests, fuel useage tests and require some engineer to certify the modifications, etc. etc. etc.
The point being the paper work will become so expensive and so deep you will not get the vehicle registered or insured,,,

Not if we get a new Republican President in 2012.

Dave

[VF1Skullangel Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close VF1Skullangel]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

I think the newer automatic Exotics are a lot more reliable. If you can afford the gas you can pretty much use them as daily drivers! Now my stick shift genuine needed about 10k of maintenance off the bat! Do yourself a favor and dont get stick shift.

It would really depend on how to drive it really. If you take it to weekly track meets and run it frequiently sure its gonna cost you money because its stick but the same thing could be said about the automatics to.

The only way you'll get perfect reliablity is if you change the oil ever 3k and drive exactly the speed limit. ;D

It is true that exotics are getting cheaper to maintain. According to my local Ferrari dealer the 355 needed a $10k 15k mile service. That was without any additional work like water pump or exhaust manifold. The average 15k tune up usually broke $15k before you were done. Then the 360's 15k service started at $1,600 and usually did not brake $2k. But if you break anything on an exotic, the part is going to be 10 time more expensive than a Toyota part, and the labor is not only more per hour, it takes more time to replace.

My buddy who owns a real Testarossa and Diablo was spending on average of $44k a year to keep both of his cars on the road and this was before the economy tanked back in 2008. I haven't seen him driving those cars since. Every six months they were in the shop but keep in mind he also allowed his employees to drive them and man those cars are beat!

If there's anything I've learned and that is you'll probably spend more keeping an exotic on the road than you would buying it off the lot.

I figure with more engine swaps out there these days there's plenty of options out there to compensate for a V12. Why not go pickup a fire salvaged car were the engine and tranny are done and put in a V8, BMW V12 or whatever? It would save you the time and frustration of building the car from the ground up.

[Faker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Faker]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

More than likely the homebuilt (kit car) will disappear due to legislation requiring the vehicle to pass crash tests, safety tests, smog tests, fuel useage tests and require some engineer to certify the modifications, etc. etc. etc.
The point being the paper work will become so expensive and so deep you will not get the vehicle registered or insured,,,

Not if we get a new Republican President in 2012.

Dave

Rephrase that to if we get a Conservative in 2012.

[CARBUILDER Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CARBUILDER]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

More than likely the homebuilt (kit car) will disappear due to legislation requiring the vehicle to pass crash tests, safety tests, smog tests, fuel useage tests and require some engineer to certify the modifications, etc. etc. etc.
The point being the paper work will become so expensive and so deep you will not get the vehicle registered or insured,,,

Not if we get a new Republican President in 2012.
Dave

Rephrase that to if we get a Conservative in 2012.

Oh come on guyz - name the number of manufacturers that sell and supply a complete kit to build a car -- this is a industry built on supplying fiberglass parts to the 99.9% of wanna be builders that never finish not to mention the scamming. A couple of completed kit cars a year is not going to keep these vehicles alive. A "Republican/Conservative" president - ohhhh you mean Sarah Palin.

[darkprince Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close darkprince]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

I my opinion, it seems like the kitcar/replica industry has been falling from the outside perspective. However, from an insides perspective I feel it has become stronger. Yes lots of people have left the industry but those who have left was only making the industry less valuable. What do I mean by this? Yes, we have less places to go to for kits, but they are reliable and we now have the opportunity to make a replica that is not a "dim-o-dozen" kit and try to pass it off as a $200,000 supercar. majority of the homebuilders who left the industry were not really contributing as well as some of the kit makers who were not making a quality kit or were charging way to much. All these people and businesses moving away from the industry has left room for all of us to make the advancements in our kits and innovations in our building processes that have made our build more valuable. I believe this speculation of the industry beginning to fall should be an opportunity for us all to step it up once again like we did when the LP640 and Enzo was release. I saw a Aventador in person at a local dealership and I said to myself; "Self!".... and myself said; "hm!"... and I said; "We can build this thing!" Legislation laws for vehicle requirement only apply to present and future manufactured vehicles. Homebuilds are not effected by it.

With all that said ladies and gentlemen. I feel it's time to (again) grow with the supercar industry. Lets not only achieve the full build of the Adventador but lets start attempting to make full scale builds of others!

I've been in this industry since I was 10 and watching my dad do it. Seeing how far we've come in the last 17 years keeps me inspired and I believe that we have an opportunity on our hands now to show the car enthusiast of the world what we can do!

[darkprince Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close darkprince]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

Sorry for the long post guys, I'm just passionate about this industry.

[dratts1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dratts1]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

Once again like car builder I resist the name "kit car". As he said who sells a "kit"? No one. Although I was ready to rename the forum, WTF "mad mechanics". I'm not angry and I'm not insane. In conclusion as long as someone offers a "body" whether it is accurate or not, people will buy it. Some will modify it, some not, some will finish it, many not. Custom cars whether "replicas" or not will always be with us. When I was a kid, it was 32 fords with ohv V8s. Now we have a mid engine chassis to swap our engines into and rebodys to cover them with.

[dratts1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dratts1]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

Although I don't like the rename and I'm not always in agreement with the moderators and don't understand many of the things that they do, I haven't been able to find another forum which addresses my current projects. Kit Central doesn't have nearly the info that I get here. I watch it too, and any other forums (pennocks) that I can get information from.

[riki430 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close riki430]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

The real killer for kitcars and even more replicas, is the drop of prices in real deals. I was thinking in a 430 but at the end i bought a real Porsche 996 turbo, maybe cheaper, more power, better car than any kit or rep.

[slipondajimmy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slipondajimmy]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

I do not think kit cars are going to be a thing of the past. BUT I do think donor cars as we know it will. Companies like Factory Five have the right idea. Build a reasonably priced "Kit" with a tube chassis and a almost single donor. The GTM is about 20k and uses all Corvette parts (minus the trans) The newest idea they are working on is the ''818" using a WRX donor and they even got the grassroots builders involved with the design.

If I was a kit builder/Designer and I wanted to stay in business. I would move away from hacking up an old fiero, mr2, etc, and design a package that had a tube chassis. I would also get original and design new and exciting kits. At the end of the day the guy who spent 50k on his fiero based lambo still has a fiero

[stevep914 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevep914]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

After owning 8 Porsches, and a vintage Maserati, I am having a blast fiddling with, and driving my Kit Car. 90% of the fun is knowing you had a hand in making it what it is. Not to mention how proud we feel when someone gives you a thumbs up on the road, or has the camera in the cell phone going. I think the industry will be around for a long time! Steve (F40)

[496fe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 496fe]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

I think we are confusing terms here. Kit cars and replicas are not the same things. The Meyers Manx didn't look like anything else, but was easy to assemble for an average guy with home tools (maybe except stretching the frame). You could have a fun car like nobody else's for a few thousand dollars. Meyers sold thousands of them. No side windows, no heater/air conditioning, no doors... That was a kit car. Where the terms got confused was with the Cobras - still no side windows, not many heaters, no A/C, just the basics.

I think the company that can produce a truly modular car wins. Provide front suspension, rear suspension, dash, console, seats, windshield, etc. from donor cars, together with various length chassis, various track widths, and bolt it all together in the garage. Add a couple of bodies that bolt on to the different chassis configurations.

The reason people are paying outrageous prices for unproven cars from "boutique" builders (SSC, Plethora, Mosler, Falcon, Hennessey, Kepler, etc.) is because of the exclusivity, not the performance.

[Austrian Import Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Austrian Import]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

I'm betting the future lies with companies such as Factory Five.
Those kits are actually being finished, as opposed to most DIY kits, where one tears apart a perfectly working '88 Fiero, only for it to sit unfinished in a garage, or worse yet, a junk yard.

I'm also betting the upcoming 818 by Factory Five may be a Meyers Manx type kit car revival. (with smaller numbers of course)

[slipondajimmy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slipondajimmy]

Re: Are Kit cars going to be a thing of the past soon?

Kit cars and replicas are not the same things.

I believe we have had this discussion several times on this board. In my mind they ARE in fact the same thing. Here is my take on it. You are buying a lambo , cobra , ferrari replica from XYZ company. It arrives at your door in a crate and not assembled. You have purchased a "Kit" A Manx is really no different. A kit or crate of parts was sent to someone and they assembled it.

I consider all of the Factory Five Cars to also be kit cars. They come to you in crates and you build them.

One more thing to point out. How do you come to the conclusion that Mosler or Hennessy build unproven cars? The Mosler cars have race championships. They were so good they were banned several times from racing. Hennessy has been around for years. as well. Now I will agree these are not kit cars or replicas