Kit Cars

This is a thread that should elicit some nice pictures and lots of information for those who don't live in England.

The British kit-car market is a well-established thing, Lotus started out that way and many others, with cars that the owner could simply assemble himself using bits from a donor car that had had its day but still had a reasonable mechanical package.

Early on the Austin 7 and Ford 10 were very popular (as the Ford's name implied...), with side valve fours that gave some power, and were better off in a car weighing half what the original did. Later, of course, the Anglia and Cortina supplied most of the motive power, but other cars had sensible power units, including Volvo, Ford V6, etc.

What is available now in this line?

There's quite a wide variety of cars available now, with most of them being of a much higher standard than, say, 20- or even 10 years ago. Back then, in the heyday of Duttons, Eagles, Nova etc, building the kit could end up becoming a complete nightmare (With Duttons, the nightmare can continue for many years after the build- I'm the 8'th owner of mine, and it's only 17 years old....)
Kit sports cars arn't the cheap option they used to be with competitipon from the likes of second-hand MX5's MGF's and the new MR2 etc, but I still think they have a good 'Fun Per Pound' ratio.
Have a look at www.kit-cars.com to see what the UK market offers.
We currently have two kits- a Vincent Hurricane and a Dutton Sierra, both bought second-hand, the Hurricane was bought eight years ago from the chap who built it.- would anyone like to see pics of these two?
My main gripe with the kit industry at the moment: too many replica's, not enough origional designs.

Originally posted by Bluebottle
would anyone like to see pics of these two?


Yes, Yes.

Ok, here's one of the Hurricane shortly after it was built in 86:

And here's my faithful Dutton Sierra series 1- and it's for sale....

I used to have a Dutton - bought it for £2000 and 2 years later sold it for £150. I changed gearboxes 3 times, had constant electrical problems - broke down so many times, my breakdown service refused to cover me. vandals attacked it - but apart from that it was fun!

That sounds all too familiar! Do you have any pics of the car? -I'll see if I can find one of my Melos....

...This is an almost artistic photograph by PaulC of me in my Melos sometime in the 1994(?)

Bluebottle - I had a Melos, your pic looks just like my car

:)
Probably the best looking of all the Duttons!
I only had mine for around three years. The electrics were a nightmare- all the wires behind the dash were red and joined by those little blue snap fit connectors, but the car really was a whole heap of fun. It had to go because at the time it was my only car and I needed something to carry lots of stuff- hence the Sierra. Maybe someday I'll have another....
Condor, were you ever in the Dutton Owners Club?

Yes I was - and used to go to all the kit car shows as well.

If that was any time after 1991, I've probably met you.....
The show scene has changed a bit lately, even Stoneleigh seems smaller these days.
Maybe someday another Dutton will decide to make it's home with you!

There must be more that two of us into kits around here!!

Picked up some old Motor Racing mags the other day, lots of ads for kit cars, some you wouldn't reckon were real...

But that's a part of their attraction. I just don't think I could live with side valve Ford Popular engines!

Have you ever come across one of these?
It's a Nota Fang, an Australian kit sold sometime between 1969 and 1972. It had a mid mounted Mini engine and used Hillman Imp front end bits in a spacefrape chassis. Apparantly it sold quite a few in Australia and there were also two made in the UK

"Space frame" is being generous. The frame is a multi-tube frame with some triangulation and some bays stiffened by the aluminium sheeting riveted on to cover them.

Most if not all were built with 1275cc Cooper S engines, and I think the production period was significantly longer, perhaps twenty years longer. I'm not sure they qualify as kit cars, either, as it's possible they were all sold complete. There must have been a reasonable number build, as they have raced in Production Sports Car racing in Australia.

The question is: are kit cars legal in Australia nowadays? If so, are any available to be built?

Check out Mal Evans at Chermside, he's finished off a Westfield a couple of years ago... not bad for a bloke of 82! PRBs are available, of course, and I'm sure there are others. They need to be engineer-certificated for registration, but it can be done, one of the few nice things left in the world of motoring.

I don't think you can do much better than the Banham Sprint (A replica of the Austin Healey "Frogeye" Sprite.

That's quite an interesting replica. I saw the prototype at one of the shows and it does look good. It uses Mini parts, including the transverse engine layout whereas the origional was rear wheel drive, the replica has no propshaft tunnel and more legroom!
There was an approved replica built by the Frogeye Car Company- they started out by making fiberglass panels for Sprites.
Banham also make a replica of Fords RS200- using MG Maestro bits!