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...I don't mean your personal favourite or the most exciting, but which do you reckon is the best product?
I'm sure everyone on here has had to try and persuade non-kit car owners that they're not all dubious 'Ferrari' body conversions and the occasional Dutton Phaeton. If you wanted to showcase a really good quality modern kit car, up to the build standards of its mass produced cousins, what would it be?
That's a good point - is the Phantom Vortex still available? I must admit I didn't realise you could get an Ultima in kit form still, several of the former high end kit manufacturers (Noble etc.) have now gone over to supplying ready built cars only.
Hmm, who do you reckon were the first people to really up the standard of kit car production - Quantum perhaps? In their original incarnation they were producing well thought out, easy to assemble kit in the early 90s, if not late 80s. Being a 2+2 owner I can vouch for the fact they're almost as well screwed together (and a lot better to drive) than the equivilant Fiesta.
I think the Ultima has got to be up there. Has stood the test of time very well imo, good quality product, proven world beater, still looks spot on even though it's been around a good many years. Pricey though.
Crendon and Suffolk Sports Cars also have an excellent reputation for quality but again, pricey but up there I reckon.
Westfield should probably get a mention as they are easy to put together and are of good quality.
Kirkham for their excellent aluminium bodywork
Murtaya for its up to date use of donor and the application of said donor.
O.K. obviously biased but even though there arn't many Vortexes on the road most have remote central locking, electric windows and air con.
At least one aiming for full integrated climate control and sat nav.
At least one on the road with ABS (and probably all easilly implemented)
Mine could easily have had traction control and launch control as well.
Ok, so some good examples to tackle the kit-car-sceptics would be...
Ultima - for sheer performance
Murtaya - very well engineered, immensely useable performance
Phantom Vortex - very desirable all rounder
I think people like Westfield and GTM are also very good ambassadors for the industry (car-wise).
I am of course preaching to the converted here, but there seem to be some very unflattering stereotypes applied to kit cars by people who have no experience of them. I think any modern kit would exceeed their expectations, but just trying to think of a handful to really showcase it.
I think that if you mean to show what the kit industry can do.....
No replicas.
I don't think replicas should be discounted just for being replicas though. It's what the industry does best (and most of)
Still a heck of a lot of good quality engineering and craftsmanship can go into a replica. Suffolk Sports Cars, Kirkham/Hawk, Crendon, Nostalgia, Proteus, Westfield, NF Autos P4, GD T70, Vincent MPH, Chesil/Tygan to name a few. I think they would stand up well against an original let alone a production car.
I don't dispute that the Kit industry does some fantastic replicas, but....
If you want to judge a great kitcar then it must be judged on not only fit & finish, ease of build, manufacturer AND club support, amongst other things, but quite importantly DESIGN.
A lack of original design is what has sent the industry down a road where 'outsiders' see it as just Cobras and Sevens. Surely it's not just me who has the same conversation on a depressingly regular basis:
"What sort of car do you have?"
"A GTM LIbra, it's a kitcar"
"Oh right, like a Lotus Seven?"
"No"
"Oh, what's it look like?"
When I had the Sumo and having been asked for the umpteenth time 'Is it real?', I just gave up explaining and said 'yes'. Made life a lot simpler. Was true as well, it was real, I wasn't imagining it.
I don't dispute that the Kit industry does some fantastic replicas, but....
If you want to judge a great kitcar then it must be judged on not only fit & finish, ease of build, manufacturer AND club support, amongst other things, but quite importantly DESIGN.
A lack of original design is what has sent the industry down a road where 'outsiders' see it as just Cobras and Sevens. Surely it's not just me who has the same conversation on a depressingly regular basis:
"What sort of car do you have?"
"A GTM LIbra, it's a kitcar"
"Oh right, like a Lotus Seven?"
"No"
"Oh, what's it look like?"
At this point I want to shout as loud as I can:
"It looks like a fucking GTM Libra!!!!!!!!!"
I've have the same!
I say it's like a Elise in size but looks nothing like it. That really confuses them! Then I show them the picture on my phone.
I think in order to showcase the way the industry is moving forward an original design is vital, but some of the very best workmanship has to be on the top end replicas.
As for description - I summarised mine as looking like an XR3i convertible (2+2) and a Lotus Seven that'd been hit with the ugly stick (Leader). I've also got a part complete Locost, which is very simple.
I've had an Ultima and it's definatelly not the best kit car its just one of the most expensive... its worth the money for sure but 50k is a lot to invest and a 5k MK indy etc simply blows it out the water for performance per pound.
My vote goes to the Murtoya... its very good value, good looking, original looking, extremelly fast, handles very well, comfortable, even usable every day.... I even like the owner of the company lol.
Most kits meet one or two of these criteria, can't think of another that matches it by ticking all of them!
I can't really talk though as I couldn't find a kit car that meets ALL of my requirements which is why I am foolishly scratch building my own design.
The Phantom Vortex is my choice as it has a damn sexy body and belies the fact that underneath is a humble 800 aka Legend and gets mistaken for an exotic Italian brand as the f&f is so good
