marlin Sportster build costs
 

hello ive been looking at a few cars now and i think ive finally found the car ive looked on there site stateing its £6000 plus vat for everything but donor parts and about £500 - £1000 for donor bmw i was worried though when i saw one on youtube and they said it cost £20000 + if that true and anyone who's built one if you could give me a total on costs overall that id be looking at i have about £7000 - £8000 on the push.

I spent about 10k plus the paint job. It wasn't a budget build as such but I was careful with costs. And that was nearly 10 years ago. I think you would struggle now to build one for less than 10k.

Robin

Mine was similar at about £11.5K plus paint which cots me about £2k.
My donor car was only £550 inc MOT and tax!! (but I bought a few engines along the way :shock: )
My advice is to download a copy of their price list and add it all up to see the total cost. You'll be surprised but you will end up up needing nearly everything on the list either from Marlin or somewhere else. You can save money by not having a windscreen and hood but then you limit the days in a year you can take the car out. You can always save money on things like second hand seats but you'll end up wanting to upgrade to suit the quality of this car.
The Sportster is not a budget build kitcar or quick to build but I have no regrets and really enjoyed my build and I was very pleased proud of the car when it was finished.
It really is great sports car to build and drive. Every passenger who has been in it has been equally impressed :madgrin:

If you use a lot of new parts then you could easily push to £15k without paint.

Ultimately it depends on the finish / spec you aim for, I put a few things on like a stainless manifold that pushed the price up when the cast iron manifold that comes with the donor works without costing extra.

My experience of building a Marlin Cabrio is that the guide figures given by Marlin are hopelessly understated. As Peter suggests, try adding up all the "extras" on their list, most of which you will need, and you'll find your budget is exceeded, and you still have to dress it inside, and paint it.

A secondary note of caution - Have you asked Marlin if they are still making the Sportster? My understanding was Mark Matthews has not been well and they suspended taking orders for any new kits: but do check with them to confirm.
If you do go ahead, be sure to order the entire kit of Marlin parts to complete your car, as they are very difficult to get small parts from once you have paid for your kit!

On a much more positive note, if you can find an un-finished Sportster kit, it will have a significantly lower cost, and may well come with a load of bits with it - then your budget would certainly work.

Or buy a complete oned, and save yourself even more - (money and time!)

I agree with Mike and Peterux. The numbers Marlin give are extremely optimistic. I kept a detailed log of (just about) everything I used to build the car and put it on the road with separate columns for additional tools I needed, the services I used (which included the IVA test) and consumables.

I reckon the total cost was around the £23K mark but I also reckon it was worth every penny.

If you PM me your Email address I'll be happy to share the spread sheet with you so you can see where the costs were and perhaps where you can make savings (like I bought the interior trim kit from Marlin and then hardly used it!!).

Nigel

Christ Nigel - you have upset me now!

I gave up counting the cost long ago, then you go and put a figure on it!


.............perhaps I can carry on kidding myself it cost a lot less!!!

^this !!!

Not built a marlin but for all my other builds I work out what I reckon it will cost then double it. It's been pretty accurate so far ;)

i have stupidly high standards and ive realised the money wise is to high for me am not priceing up the mev sonic 7 as thats in my budget nice style and totally useable every day aswell as the main events on weekends :) so id like some feedback on the mev sonic 7 if possible ive worked it out total job with everything at £8000

Could be wrong but don,t think this is the place for advice on the Mev Sonic 7 as this site is almost exclusively for Cabrio's and Sportsters.
Try this site :-http://www.mevsonic7.co.uk/index.html

My Cabrio cost 11k, including 2k for the paint job. I started 10 years ago and finished 7 years later.

I too have kept track of every last penny and I've just passed the 16K mark and still have to get seats, custom exhaust, interior, mirrors, aero screens, seatbelts, IVA...