While I have nothing but the deepest possible respect for the Davids and Stephens Walters Gossin and Mercedes (Streeters, not Benzes) of the world who will happily toil on the rustiest, crustiest conveyances and convert them into driving expressions of their automotive taste, I absolutely cannot with wrenching on the sort of well-hammered hardware they get up to. I won’t even do it with project bicycles, let alone cars.
My wrenching zen comes from assembling and installing new or at least not-neglected pieces and parts, and when I used to while away my Sundays (was it Sundays?) with The Power Block, I was always much more envious of the guys who got to build up a fresh small-block with a flotilla of parts from JEGS than I was the poor souls doing their best to get a piston to budge in some lump rescued from the dump or possibly the bottom of a lake.
Extending that all-fresh-parts engine build into a whole car is the real dream, and I’ve been fascinated with the concept of kit-cars since kid-dom. This was due in no small part to Dad having a Beetle in the garage that, in five-year-old me’s imagination, could become an exotic sports car in, what, a weekend? How hard can it be? At least order the FREE pamphlet Dad, come on.
Lola Marauder? Let’s see how lo-la we can go-la. Fiberfab Jamaican? Ja-makin’ me crazy. How about a Sterling with the trick roof? Imagine dropping me off at school in that! What happens if the car rolls over? I dunno, just don’t roll over, problem solved.
Of course, one may want their fast-and-powerful-looking kit car to actually be fast and powerful, or at least faster and more powerful than the thrust and velocity a Beetle engine can provide – though I kind of like the silliness of it all, to be honest. But I get it, most people want show and go. Suppose we do that, but keep things Beetleish? I give you the Doyle Motor Works VeeDub ReDub:
“Looks great. What is it?” I’ll let Doyle Motor Works explain:
The VeeDub Redub Platform replaces the Beetle’s antique torsion spring suspension with modern double wishbone suspension.
Say goodbye to carburetors, distributors and valve adjustments. We’re using a modern VW engine now. The VeeDub Redub Platform is designed specifically to be powered by a Mk7 GTI engine and DSG transmission. Stock power is decent but throw a stage 2 tune at it and you’ll be over 300 horsepower.
​And you can build your own in just three steps!
Step 1 – Order a VeeDub ReDub Chassis
Step 2 – Obtain and Strip Mk7 GTI Donor
Step 3 – Obtain Beetle Body & Exterior Parts
Note, there may be more steps within each step. Probably definitely more steps.
Hey man, whatever it takes, it’ll be worth it. Building a VeeDub ReDub looks like it would be a lot of fun, and I gotta believe driving it is a hoot.
While I would certainly be satisfied with hot-Golf output in that rad (and no doubt featherweight) chassis, some of you may be scoffing at mere GTI-level power. Thankfully, there are ample kit offerings for those who want big cubes for their bespoke build. And all the better if it looks like you’re driving a spectacular piece of history, hence the proliferation of Shelby Cobra replicas. Factory Five has the whole Cobra thing dialed:
Gorgeous indeed, and the thought of uncrating all kinds of fabulous parts, spreading them out across four stalls’ worth of epoxy floor, and tucking into them with the entire contents of a Snap-On truck is the stuff dreams are made of … but if I’m doing the dreaming, I think I would can the Cobra in favor of another Factory Five, the GTM Supercar:
Man, that looks sweet, right?
OK, your turn! You’ve Got The Tools, Time, Cash, Space, And Skill To Build Your Own Car – What’ll It Be?
Top graphic image: Bring a Trailer
All the space, tools, money, and time?! Wow, we’re way out there in fantasy land, ain’t we?
Sadly, even though you’ve removed all the practical limitations, the one limitation I’m stuck with that keeps me from going big is nostalgia.
I dream of a sleeper 81-86 Regal with 40 year old oxidized paint and dingy white landau top, plush velour interior, period correct stock steel rally wheels, the big bench seat so my girl can sit beside me, a 454 up front, a nice quiet big bore dual exhaust system tucked away behind the bumper, and a streetable cam that won’t make the car move around like an antsy 3 year old in church when sitting at a light. Tame, but when I open it up she’s ready to go. It’ll take some engineering and compromises, but that’s the ideal.
Solar ev rv that is aerodynamic, 4 season, can sleep 4, reverse osmosis h2o recirculating pop up bathroom/shower, tiny kitchen, pop top, And can be used as a truck/cargo van w/ability to carry at least 1 full pallet while also carrying 4-5 people
The Stella Vita, of which 1 has been made is closest
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1135876_stella-vita-electric-rv-aims-to-get-the-most-miles-from-solar.
Set it up w/ability to seat 7 people like a Eurovan westfalia 2-3 people in front and 4 (1 middle side +3 in 3rd row) in back, w/2nd and 3rd seats w/club config. possible.
Pop top would be full and for sleeping two, bottom back sleeps 2
I just want a Mongoose Grand Sport and a Superlite Coupe. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aMg9FYLh1As&pp=ygUUbW9uZ29vc2UgZ3JhbmQgc3BvcnQ%3D
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mvzAGO4zr3w&pp=ygUJU3VwZXJsaXRl
Import a Malasian new WWII Flat Fender Jeep and put it together, sourcing a local powertrain. Then register it as a side-by-side.
Factory 5 818, mainly because it’s small, and can have an amazing power to weight ratio, they aren’t 80,458,594 of them on the road, and the Subaru donor parts I know all too well
There are many random ideas I get for vehicle builds/mashupus, so I’ll just stick to one. I have the desire to buy one of the ridiculously fast side by sides and essentially put a Yugo body on top of it. The result would be a a Yugo that could be driven just about anywhere, on the road, on the trail, on the dunes.
I would love to obtain a Porsche 944 and swap in a 2.5 5 cylinder out of late model VW. Mostly just for the sound, but that engine is more reliable and more powerful than the base 944 mill. It also has decent after market support if I wanted to add more power.
The ideal situation would be finding a 944 that is in good shape but with a blown engine.
Honestly, I’d build a Zenith CH 750. The airframe kits are under $30K and the engines are maybe another ten grand. Plus, you can fly them with a sport pilot license.
Lest anyone think this is playing fast and loose with the term “car” – these planes earned the nickname “Skyjeep” in Africa.
http://zenithair.com/misc/7skyjeep.htm
Ford Flux.
Take a Ford Flex, swap in an electric powertrain, bag it, chop the roof (unibody I know…)
My perfect family vehicle.
Starting with the engine: 2.0 litre straight six, NA, 250bhp thanks to a 10,000rpm redline.
Designing this engine has been my retirement plan for years. Unlike modern engines it’s going to look pretty too, which is important as you’re going to be able to see it.
Rear mounted 6-speed manual transaxle gearbox driving the rear wheels, with a locking diff.
Mount the powertrain assembly longitudinally behind the driver in something very like an S1 Elise chassis made from bonded extrusions. No steel subframe at the back though, it’s all aluminium. I’ll be routing the exhaust high up away from the chassis, into the space where the Elise has a boot. Two fuel tanks, one on each side of the car either side of the centre of gravity so the handling balance doesn’t change with fuel load (like an Elise, but the longitudinal engine stops you doing it with one tank). Two seats, both fixed (no need for adjustment in a car only I will drive). Tilt steering wheel to help with ingress-egress.
Double wishbones all round, unassisted steering, ABS is the only driver aid.
The body is going to be a coupe
Ram-air through a roof scoop over the driver’s head, so you can still see out of the back.
It’ll have a generous greenhouse, with good visibility. Especially of the engine when looking in from the back. Body shape engineered for minimum drag with modest downforce, but critically the same downforce at large yaw angles. This thing is going to be stable at a 45 degree drift angle with no rear wing. The main engine rad is rear mounted, partly to reduce mass, and partly to allow the rad fans to drive active airflow to control downforce at weird angles. It’ll use the exhaust silencer and the heat shielding around it as ducts for this, as they are in the right place.
It’ll weigh about 900kg.
The frunk will take a weeks worth of food shopping, or a weeks worth of clothes. It’ll get 60mpg touring, and it’ll rip sideways round a track all day. I might need mounting points for external racking to carry a couple of pairs of spare wheels.
It’s my ultimate daily-driver-drifter.
An S1 Exige would be a good starting point for the chassis, and is a good reference for styling too. Although I want to be able to see out of the back.
Cobra chassis, but with a twist: Use a first-gen Ford Fiesta body instead of the replica Cobra body.
The two cars have the exact same wheelbase and very similar track width. Pick some unassuming rims, and you’d have a front mid-engine RWD chassis setup with modern suspension geometry so you could take it to the track if you want to, disguised as a lowly 1970s hatchback.
The catch is that the Fiesta is very much not front mid-engined, so this will need an engine doghouse like a van, and that V8 is going to need some unusual engineering if you want to have any legroom, but I think it could be done. Some Ford 351 V8s will fit cylinder heads from an LS V8, but the intake and exhaust ports are reversed, so the resulting chimera would be a hot-vee configuration with the exhaust exiting through the area formerly occupied by the intake manifold. Then if we add a custom dry-sump oilpan, we can tilt the whole engine 45 degrees away from the driver (like a slant six but V8), sacrificing the entire passenger side front seat area for exhaust routing to make room for the driver to sit next to the engine doghouse without being too crowded. Or you could just sit where the back seat of the Fiesta originally was, but then it’s not really a sleeper anymore.
As a bonus, it would be easy to give it 180 degree headers, which allows for very interesting exhaust shenanigans: Without an x-pipe, 180 degree headers make your V8 sound like a big 4-cylinder. With an x-pipe, they make it sound like a flat-plane crank V8. You could totally add exhaust valves to switch between the two, so it sounds like a crappy unmuffled 4-cylinder while you’re preparing to race, then switch to what sounds like a supercar engine while you blow your opponent’s doors off.
I call this theoretical build the “Ford Siesta,” the ultimate sleeper hot hatch 🙂
Move the engine to the back seat. Discuss…..
Thought of the possibility, but it does require major chassis modifications which is getting into structural engineering territory I’m not sure of.
Coyote X. ’80s action show vibes.
I’d be fine with a Caterham honestly.
A Bill Thomas Cheetah, modified just enough to be street legal and to not roast the driver (the footwell is beside the engine and the headers go over and around the footwell). Not sure I’d get lots of enjoyment out of it though – I’d either drive it too gently to be really fun, or rapidly spin into a tree and die.
There are FAR less radical ways to punch one’s time clock. This would be a chariot worthy of carrying a warrior’s soul to Valhalla and telling Yggdrasil it best watch it’s back.
Insofar as the World Tree even has a back to watch, at least
The Cheetah is such a cool-looking body that I wonder how hard it would be to make it FWD instead so it doesn’t kill you as eagerly?
Manually adjustable biased Awd + aws (all-wheel-steer) for added fun would certainly help. Though the latter is unnecessary
AWZ P70 kombi