Hi Kidge,

Just seen a sneaky shot of yours at stoneleigh on the Tribute owners stand. Cmon you can’t give us a tease without the full service? You got piccies to share? The car looks stunning in the sunshine from what I can see.... Great to see it back out of the shed and on the road. Well done that man!

Saw "Kidge's Car" at Stoneleigh - looks really good. The quality of the body (if that hasn't had masses of work done to it?) is the the best I've seen from Tribute. What is the news on this product reaching the market? It's a shame Tribute/Old No7 didn't have a stand at Stoneleigh, and I think a lot of potential customers were disappointed.

Hopping about . . .
 

The car was collected from the grp finishing and painting shop on April 28th and delivered to the Rustbusters in Spalding on Monday 30th. The underbody was epoxy coated and waxed in the cavities, as we hope to keep the car for some years . . . my son has ambitions to drive it after I stop !

For Stoneleigh I got it back on the road, but still well short of finalised. When it is finished, then lots of photos will be posted.

At Stoneleigh it was notable that 30% floor space in the main halls was empty. Fewer people everywhere. Some stands packed up and went home on Sunday evening.

Modern cars are so good / reliable / long lasting / cheap after 6 - 7 years, such that most people never learn car diy. Might this mean kitcars are on the wane ? 'Kitcar' went under a year ago. Two magazines left.

DNA out of business, but the top end market looks ok. Tribute probably missed Stoneleigh due to the expense and time, spent on publicity, not being rewarded.

But if you desire something special, you can still do it.

If one of these so called new DB5 Astons is £500,000 - how about a grp body on a 3 series bm ?

I was there on the Sunday. A lovely day with plenty of owner/ kit drivers in the club areas. Yes, the show as far as traders was down in numbers again, even the mainstay of Lotus 7 style cars were few and far between in the halls.
Blame SVA / IVA plus the lack of skills and inclination out there. I think the rebody scene and IVA exempt cars will do well. Also the market for second hand ready built cars will continue to do well and prices will climb. We are seeing that now with the " Classic " replicas fetching big numbers which wouldn't have been the case even just a few years ago. There are plenty of people with plenty of money.

I guess it's the economic 'squeeze' (blame Brexit?) but it would seem financial suicide as a seller to ignore the biggest show for your product where you have a captive market.
Reading 'between the lines' and if rumours are to be believed they had a product which was selling well, and a horses head on the doorstep halted sales of a profitable product!

If people (generally on other forums) talk the industry down, that doesn't help. I admit to not having put a car through IVA (did SVA), but if the guidelines are followed I don't see why it should frighten some people so much - I'd prefer a well tested car on more modern running gear than one using a 50 year old chassis that doesn't handle as well (for the sake of a few hundred quid extra)

I was there on the sunday so unfortunately didn't see the 275 on the monday - but in the photos it looks very good.

DNA were 'there' on sunday - just not officially - they seem to be still working on their speedster project for Boxsters. and had a few pics to show the work to date.

Nearly there . . . . .
 

]GRP work done; painting done; epoxy & waxing done; a few little jobs still to do, but a good bright day and we got the camera out:





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The undertray is made out of 3mm abs type plastic. It is hung from the arb and the valance. There is a small lip on the trailing edge and a bulge to accommodate the steering pipes on the left side. The aim is to smooth the airflow under the car, keep some of the water and road dirt away and so protect components a little. Nice shiny surface for a day or two.



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The headlight cover rims are made from a 3mm brass sheet, which has now been chromed. These seem to really make the front aspect of this curvy car look great. The badge is 33 x 60mm and needs replacing, because the enamel is cracked and lost in places.

Hope to complete in a couple of weeks and find a good location, here or in France perhaps, for more photos and a running report.

The car looks the dogs Kidge. Icing on the cake would be some wires but hey that just takes it from premiership to champions league shoe-in

Dave

Really nicely done, congrats!

It's like seeing the neighbours daughter with acne but potential turn into a stunner from one year to the next. Well done Kidge.

Excellent finish but agree with DaveP, needs wires in sparkling chrome.
You must be pleased with the finished result.

Paint
 

Very nice Kidge. All the pushing, angst of trying to work it through from concept to production has definitely been worth it. Enjoy the spoils of your hard earned cash and labour and your unique car. Some very nice touches in this build and good solutions to problems so feel very proud. Big thumbs up!

Exterior completion . . .
 

Found a more interesting location for photos:

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Here is the radiator grill. The stainless vanes were cut to size, shape and curvature by Lasermaster in Cornwall. Then I formed the outside frame [stainless] to shape and to fit the aperture. The vertical and horizontal vanes trimmed and fitted. Then all welded in place.

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Next came the right side exhaust. I cut down a spare box and fitted a couple of brackets. We welded on the 50mm stainless tailpipes and cut to length.

To give a realistic look, I burnt some oil & petrol mix to give the 'straw' pipe colour and 'blacked' the insides of the pipes.

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Finally we dealt with the boor lid, by adapting a strut to a shorter length, painting it black and bolting it in place [only one strut needed] from CBS 'BNSTY'. Action is: lift to latch and lift to release.

To ease the opening we used a couple of oem' sprung openers'.

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A 12 inch long white led illuminates the boot and activation is by a non mercury tilt switch from 'blueskycomponents' on ebay; good quality, but not cheap.

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This last weekend I supported the KitNet 'relay' - carrying a token stick of rock - Land's End or Dover, to John O'Groats run - LeJoG / DoJoG - by joining in from Bishop's Stortford up to Glasgow and coming home on Sunday.

Ian Cider had put a huge amount of work in to this event, not just the route, but also arranging some secondary events for local supporters at each rest stop. Seriously impressive.

Read more here [there is a free two week membership]: https://kitnet.uk/community/threads/lejog-live.2128/

A good 800 miles in two days.

Car was a delight; not too much traffic and no problems.

Great work Kidge, that car is looking superb in the sunshine. Again some clever little touches to solve the needs. Thumbs up fella.

Stunning car, great colour and terrific detailing. I love it.

Wicked looking car - my compliments.

Loving that grill....

Dave

new photos
 

a bit more access to an unusual location near Hertford.

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Your car looks great. :cool:

As I'm based near Wembley, we can't be too far away from each other.

If you were interested, perhaps we can meet up one of these days?

Cheers, Paul. :)