Some Assembly Required: Are Kit Cars Underrated?

30 Jul 2017

I’m willing to bet that a lot of car enthusiasts grew up playing with Legos, building the spaceship or car that the kit was about being half the fun. Now that they’ve grown up, it seems as if a lot of them have grown out of building things from the ground up. There are a lot more gearheads that put new rims on a GT86 than build an entire car from scratch. A lot of times there are car enthusiasts that do things in between the two, rebuilding engines and restoring cars being some good examples. If you live and breath by the mantra “built not bought” than a kit car may be right for you.

Kit cars are often modeled after desirable and rare vehicles like the Ford GT40, Shelby Cobra and Ferrari P4; you can have yourself an affordable car that’s just about identical to a 1960’s racecar, you’ll just have to assemble it yourself. If you feel so inclined, you can add some modern parts and technology to your kit car. The combination of the style of a ‘33 Ford coupe and the reliability and fuel economy of a Ford Coyote V8 appeals to many car buyers, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering the shear amount of restomodded classic cars in the media right now. Owners of real Cobras and GT40’s may frown on these kit cars because it may devalue their cars. It seems as if replicas of Shelby Cobras are more common than the real deal. If you ever buy a replica Cobra, expect to have this exchange a bajillion times…

“Cool car, is it a replica?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”

The Caterham 7 is another popular kit car on the market and offers one of the most unfiltered driving experiences out there; Top Gear even built one in their office building. As an American car enthusiast, I’ve been rather tempted to add it to the list of my favorite cars. What the Caterham 7 lacks in top speed it makes up for in driving fun and track capability.

Do you like kit cars or would you rather own cars that already come fully assembled?

Comments

I think there pretty cool

It’s just that it’s a small part of the car community, with a very narrow consumer base. A lot of kit cars are made for track racing, and that in and of itself scares off a lot of potential buyers and owners that need something to daily drive and enjoy on a track or when the street is clear and the cops aren’t looking. Also not to mention that kit cars aren’t vehicles like a Miata or a corvette that are put together by machines on an assembly line, meaning that issues are often one of things that have to do with how the owner puts it together, as opposed to a design flaw or common mistake that you can find instructions on how to correct on one of the many forums online.

There are probably forums dedicated to certain kit cars…

Pretty cool, but if i’m not wrong, they’re illegal here

Do you know why they’re illegal?

Waaaay underrated

What is that?

You can buy a g35 kit car?

Ive always wanted to make a car from the ground up. As in all made by me.

A big problem with kit cars is that you need all the tools, time, knowledge, and space necessary to put one together, which is offsetting for most.

In most cases, I’d take the real car or something similar over the replica, but in other cases like with the Factory Five 818 Coupe where there’s no official equivalent, I make exceptions (so long as they’re quality kits that also don’t suck your savings dry).

Absolutely.
Underrated is euphemistic, I’d say downright ignored.
And it’s quite unfair to them.
They’re practical too!

a Caterham with a bike rack, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle…

I’m tempted to start something with a Mazda RX8 running gear, suspension and brakes, and make a more lightweight and more balanced chassis, one day…..