This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.
Apologies for a complete newbie post, but kit cars have always been a great passion of mine (from a spectator's end at least) and now that time (and to a certain extent, financial constraints!) permits I am finally looking to take the plunge on a build.
Since childhood myself and my father spoke about building a car, and now that I have a son of my own we are looking to set the 'wheels in motion', but of course haven't chosen to make things easy for ourselves, and decided to build a C1.
Basically, the long and the short of the post is 'does anyone have any advise at all?'. We're both 'fairly' mechanically minded, but have never undertaken such a challenge and would greatly welcome recommendations on how to go about sourcing/ manufacturing a chasis, which engine to use....basically explain like i'm 5 if at all possible!
We're looking at the following as the basis for the body;
Welcome aboard ....thats a great car ...I love 50's Corvettes , a friend had a 57 a few years back and Glan my laminator buddy , had a 61 more recently ...gorgeous cars ...
That body price will turn into pounds by the time you get it back ...so a basic shell landed in the U.K. will take about a quarter of your budget.
Finding a good donor over here will be tricky too ...building a custom chassis or modifying a European option could lead you into dangerous IVA territory , so think carefully before you dive in ...
Are you hoping to go with the V8 engine still ?
Cost of screen , grille etc isn't cheap either ...
I build this type of stuff for a living and would struggle to put one of those together successfully in your budget , so you will need to tackle most of it yourself ...
Its a vast subject to cover on here really ..please feel free to pm me your telephone number and I can run through some options for you ...
I see many Corvettes of different ages regularly as there is a Corvette specialist nearby. Maybe a useful contact. They are called Corvette Kingdom or Corvette Uk IIRC