Home » You’ve Got The Tools, Time, Cash, Space, And Skill To Build Your Own Car – What’ll It Be?

You’ve Got The Tools, Time, Cash, Space, And Skill To Build Your Own Car – What’ll It Be?

Aa Bespoke Car
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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.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

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.

Kit Car Mag
Kit Car magazine via eBay seller; Fiberfab Jamaican advertisement via eBay seller

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.

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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:

Screenshot 2025 02 21 At 1.38.02 pm
Doyle Motor Works

“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.

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Doyle Veedub Redub
Doyle Motor Works
Screenshot 2025 02 21 At 12.44.58 pm
Doyle Motor Works

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:

Img 0204 E2
Factory Five

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:

B2
Factory Five

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?

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Top graphic image: Bring a Trailer

 

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TheNewt
TheNewt
1 month ago

Teenage me has always wanted a 365 GTB/4 Spyder. Corvette base with a modern V8. In black of course. Probably a Porsche 365 replica after that. Only question there is which engine.

ChefCJ
ChefCJ
1 month ago

If I’m building a kit, then I guess it would be a Beck 356 coupe, and also holy shit when did those things get so expensive?

If I’m building a car from an existing platform then it’s a 1974 Alfa 105 GTV with a 3.2 litre Busso V6 in it and pretty much every part that Alfaholics makes.

But really I think if anything I’d just want an old Ford truck, maybe an early 70s f100 that I could just keep running forever

Edward Hoster
Edward Hoster
1 month ago
Reply to  ChefCJ

Beck’s cars in particular for the 356. The 550s’ always get a premium as well. Then again, they were a well produced kit and they easily performed as well as the originals if not better.

MeirdaCaja
MeirdaCaja
1 month ago

The Ford Shogun 2.0, but instead of that junk Yamaha SHO engine, drop in a 2JZ, source an AWD system. The hardest part is going to be finding a Ford Festiva in good condition to be the donor for this project.

Kuruza
Kuruza
1 month ago

My longstanding kit car dream is an LB STR Stratos stradale replica, probably with a Busso drivetrain from an Alfa but possibly with a Volvo/Yamaha B444s V8 if that engine could be paired with a suitable 6-speed.
In the Ultimate Sacrilege category, finding a Lancia Fulvia coupe with rusty floors and putting it on a skateboard EV chassis would be fun.
But if money and materials were no object?
Bring forth the sacrificial F430, because it’s New Stratos time.

Kevin B Rhodes
Kevin B Rhodes
1 month ago

One of the better Cobra kits or a Porsche 356 kit I suppose.

Though reality is I am too busy, too lazy, and have too much money to bother with building a car myself, either from a kit or from scratch. Just restoring a car is WAY too much like work, BTDT, probably never again until I am retired.

Danny Zabolotny
Danny Zabolotny
1 month ago

I’m a simple guy, I would just build a wagon with no sunroof, cloth seats, a 6-speed manual transmission, a RWD drivetrain with an LSD at the back, and some kind of a high-revving straight 6 or V8 at the front. I’m obsessed with practical cars that can go fast, the ultimate sleepers. Because dammit, I want to have all my stuff in the car while I comfortably do triple digits and then go carve some canyon roads. And an occasional track day.

Oh wait, that already exists if I just import a euro-market BMW E34 touring, haha.

Kevin B Rhodes
Kevin B Rhodes
1 month ago

Good luck finding one with cloth seats and no sunroof, even in the old countries. Better luck with a 3-series wagon of whichever generation floats your boat. Though personally, I am just fine with the leather and sunroof in my RWD, 6spd ’11 e91 that I ordered new and plan to be buried in. Brilliant car.

Also, having owned a number of cars with LSDs, they have very little place in a street car. A modern e-diff is worlds better for a daily driver. If you are driving on the street such that a limited slip matters, slow the fuck down, and when the going gets slippery they will bite you in the ass given half a chance, even if they slightly lessen the chances of getting stuck.

Hondaimpbmw 12
Hondaimpbmw 12
1 month ago
Reply to  Kevin B Rhodes

I remember my grandfather driving his 57 Chevy 4 door 6 cyl w/ overdrive & positraction down a muddy driveway. He was creeping along in 2nd gear and you could feel the drive shifting from side to side as the traction varied down that 1/4 mile driveway.

Danny Zabolotny
Danny Zabolotny
1 month ago
Reply to  Kevin B Rhodes

The spec I described exists in the E34 generation, as well as the E39 generation, but in Europe and not in the US. I like the 5’s more than the 3’s generally, they have more room for passengers in the back and larger cargo areas which I do use quite a bit. Plus better highway manners at triple digit speeds. Not having a sunroof helps with wind noise too.

You’re right, LSD’s aren’t particularly needed with normal street driving, but on the track and on curvy mountain roads it’s really nice to have, because you can power through a slide and control the car a lot better at the limit. I’ve done track days with an open diff and you certainly notice the limitation, especially once you have some horsepower.

Kevin B Rhodes
Kevin B Rhodes
1 month ago

They *exist*, theoretically – they are NOT common at all. Good luck finding one worth buying. I can assure you that an e91 is perfectly happy on the Autobahn, BTDT. https://flic.kr/p/dSNzvp

If you live where road conditions turn slippery, you will probably regret having a traditional LSD. What works on a track is rarely much good in the real world, and LSDs are an *excellent* example of that. BTDT, have the brown undies that resulted. As I said, if you are driving such that it makes a difference on a public road, slow the F down before you hurt somebody. Modern e-diffs are a much better solution in the real world.

Squirrelmaster
Squirrelmaster
1 month ago

I have always wanted to build a 4-seat, Manx-style, VW Beetle-derived dune buggy with a Subaru EJ257 swap. Sadly, my free time, budget, and spouse prevent that from happening.

VanGuy
VanGuy
1 month ago

With battery tech still evolving and of uncertain long-term relevance of current tech, I wouldn’t want an EV. A hybrid could still have usefulness, though.

So: completely custom van; not just conversion interior (6 plush captain’s chairs and bench seat that folds into a bed; high roof; all the charging ports you’ll ever need; TV up top), but not based on an existing body. Give it a longer hood similar to the Nissan NV so it’s more serviceable, and give it something like an L8T engine (NA V8) but also give it a hybrid battery. Perhaps raise the floor under the driver or something. It’s a small battery. Even using the one from my Prius as an example, four times that wouldn’t be much size or weight, and would only add about 240 pounds.

And then, of course, the taillights would be proper with amber turn signals, and extra redundancies–4 of each kind of light (2 per side), including separated flashers and turn signals.

Hopefully the transmission could be something like a planetary gear eCVT, unburdened by changing gears.

The best of a van and a Prius in one package. If it could get 23 mpg reliably, I’d be ecstatic.

Torque
Torque
1 month ago
Reply to  VanGuy

The Prius V was sold in markets outside the US with a 3rd row of seats and w/2 rows of seats in the US averages 40-45 mpg w/o the advantage of any plug-in only ev range too

VanGuy
VanGuy
1 month ago
Reply to  Torque

Oh yeah, I would know, I have one. But obviously it’d be difficult to try to translate ~67 cubic feet of space behind the front seats to 240+ without cutting into that fuel economy considerably.

Nic Periton
Nic Periton
1 month ago

I have built numerous kit cars, and over many years have learned one useful thing, human language has a finite quantity of swear words.
Which is annoying.

Yanky Mate
Yanky Mate
1 month ago
Reply to  Nic Periton

you can always make your own.

Someday, English classes all over the world will teach kids about Nic Periton, the 21st century William Shakespeare, and his indelible (if rather NSFW/NSFS) contributions to the English lexicon.

Nic Periton
Nic Periton
1 month ago
Reply to  Yanky Mate

Oh fendingbobble prout nut.

Yanky Mate
Yanky Mate
1 month ago
Reply to  Nic Periton

you wet tile

Taargus Taargus
Taargus Taargus
1 month ago
Reply to  Yanky Mate

I just yell “VOLKSWAGEN” in pain, like Happy Gilmore.

Kevin B Rhodes
Kevin B Rhodes
1 month ago
Reply to  Nic Periton

When I owned Peugeots, I found adding French swear words to my vocabulary balm for the soul.

Nic Periton
Nic Periton
1 month ago
Reply to  Kevin B Rhodes

Ronart W152 btw.

Kevin B Rhodes
Kevin B Rhodes
1 month ago
Reply to  Nic Periton

Well that certainly looks like a fun way to scare yourself silly.

Torque
Torque
1 month ago
Reply to  Nic Periton

I’ve found swearing in foreign languages helps expand one’s choices plus expands your cultural knowledge too 🙂

Nic Periton
Nic Periton
1 month ago
Reply to  Torque

faen! helvete! My distant Viking forebears would understand, I am also remarkably fluent in Welsh. “Oh Fuck” in English translates to “O Fuck” in welsh.

Torque
Torque
1 month ago
Reply to  Nic Periton

I <3 'faen!' And 'helvete!'
In predominantly English speaking countries it let's you swear w/o anyone else likely knowing… and those that do, are likely to smile

To reciprocate I often use 'Fonculo Stronso' (Italian for F*off piece of $hit') 🙂

Last edited 1 month ago by Torque
Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
1 month ago

I’m making a modern, Miata-weight, rear mid-engined sports car. Raid the GM parts bin and call it the new Fiero.

6MT standard
1.5T powered (maybe 2.0T if it fits)

The sub-Camaro sports car we deserve

Klone121
Klone121
1 month ago

I just want to put a 2000’s Cobra R crate engine (DOHC 5.4L V8 385hp) into a Town Car and mate it to a T56 6 speed. I think that would make me happy.

Rippstik
Rippstik
1 month ago
Reply to  Klone121

Same, but with a last gen Thunderbird. I am odd, I know.

Klone121
Klone121
1 month ago
Reply to  Rippstik

You mean the one with the 3.9 V8 and the Lincoln LS based chassis? You’d have to pull the rear out of the Cobra or something else with an IRS that could handle the power. The Panther platforms had a solid rear axle so you can really put some power to the rear wheels without shredding the diff.

Eggsalad
Eggsalad
1 month ago

I’m building an “El Camino” out of a Corvair Lakewood wagon, with the powertrain of an air-cooled 911.

Torque
Torque
1 month ago
Reply to  Eggsalad

Nice!
Corvairs are so often overlooked
Personally I think they are one of the most interesting GM cars from the 1960s

ExAutoJourno
ExAutoJourno
1 month ago

There was a time when the OG Lotus Elite was available in kit form, complete with Coventry-Climax engine.

Nothing else could come close. Well, except maybe a Lotus Elan kit, with a Lotus-Ford engine.

Otherwise, nothing.

V10omous
V10omous
1 month ago

With unlimited time, skill, and money, I’m building the Cadillac Elmiraj concept car in my garage powered by that LS-based V16 from a few years back.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
1 month ago
Reply to  V10omous

Damn, stole my idea!

Dennis Ames
Dennis Ames
1 month ago

I have always wanted to build a Cateram 7 or the STR Lancia Stratos kit cars, At my age, I am not sure I can handle being in either of them, am I am more likely going to see if I can fit in either of them. I am also enamored with the Westfield Lotus 11

Rippstik
Rippstik
1 month ago

I think it would be so much fun to build a Cobra.

That being said, I have 5 dream cars and one of them is a MK1 Austin Mini Countryman (original mini wagon with barn doors and wood paneling). Saw one for sale in Seattle recently that had the restoration started but needed paint, to be assembled, and a new interior installed…about as close to a kit car as I could want. Bummed it sold, even though I don’t have the funds or room for that type of project.

Last edited 1 month ago by Rippstik
StillNotATony
StillNotATony
1 month ago

I would build a street legal, fully road drivable WWII halftrack. Whatever it takes to make those tracks live and work on pavement AND operate at highway speed. Full convertible top, but also having AC.

And, of course, quad mounted .50 cal machine guns in the cupola.

When I’m driving and a brodozer starts tailgating, it would be a real shame if something happened to that entire area.

Gubbin
Gubbin
1 month ago
Reply to  StillNotATony

OK but how about a Kettenkrad replica? If you count each track as a wheel, it’s a trike, right?

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
1 month ago
Reply to  Gubbin

Ummmmm… I think I’ll avoid anything with any Nazi connotation.

Gubbin
Gubbin
1 month ago
Reply to  StillNotATony

Good point.

Vee
Vee
1 month ago

I’ve had a few custom designs kicking around in my head for a long loooooong time. But honestly the one that’s pulled the hardest at me would be the Bounce Minitruck. I designed it a few years ago as just a throwaway traffic vehicle to be placed in the background of something. A little bit of Opel Frogster, a little bit of Plymouth Backpack, a little bit of Renault Zoom all combined into one happy little trucklet. I disregarded it when I was originally modelling it, but the further I got into it the more I realized I just missed happy fun “useless” little cars and the more I came to love it. It might suck as an actual truck, but does that really matter when it looks so cheery? A little blurple Bounce might brighten your day.

https://imgur.com/a/Z99iEw8

Dan Parker
Dan Parker
1 month ago

Man, I dunno… Maybe a Trans-Am tribute 1st gen Camaro built from a dynacorn shell with a dz302-esque small block?

Klone121
Klone121
1 month ago
Reply to  Dan Parker

The chevy 302 is one of the coolest engines ever. Thing would’ve dominated if they kept developing it.

Hondaimpbmw 12
Hondaimpbmw 12
1 month ago
Reply to  Klone121

Destroke an LSX 5.3 all aluminum modern small block w/o Siamesed exhaust ports. W/ modern fuel injection it could be quite the rager. Although the DZ302 cross ram, 2-4bbl carb setup was one of the coolest intakes ever.

Max Headbolts
Max Headbolts
1 month ago
Reply to  Dan Parker

Yeah Dynacorn is my dream build, but with a 68 Mustang fastback. I can’t afford a good old one, and ones I can afford need too much work to be nice, might as well start from scratch… My OCD wants to spend weeks doing all the little things like brake and fuel lines, suspension a ride height tuning, stitch welding the unibody, excesive levels of sound deadening and modern touches to build something from the mid 2010s but inside a 1968 design.

I don't hate manual transmissions
I don't hate manual transmissions
1 month ago

Lister Bell Stratos replica. In street trim, not decked out like the rally car.

Cerberus
Cerberus
1 month ago

My own designs. Basically, open wheel cars with old aircraft-like fuselages and sliding canopies.

Torque
Torque
1 month ago
Reply to  Cerberus

Reminds me of Chris Runge in MN
Very much hand pounded aluminum skins built off of old school wooden bucks and hand built chassis originally lots of 1950s European (especially Porsche) influence
https://rungecars.com/

Urban Runabout
Urban Runabout
1 month ago

I’d take my 2009 Mercedes-Benz CLK350 – do a complete restoration and make an EV out of it – the way Monceau are doing with R107s and W111 coupe/cabriolets – but I’d use a Lucid electric motor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roytbtGsV2w

John Metcalf
John Metcalf
1 month ago
Reply to  Urban Runabout

Yes, the electrification of classics needs to become more prominent. I imagine the batteries (and other electronic pieces) can be updated as the tech develops.

Brandon Forbes
Brandon Forbes
1 month ago

Caterham. Money is always an issue, but I am trying like hell to make this happen in 3-4 years and build it with the kids. Youngest will be 10, oldest 17 so in 4 years they’ll all be at good ages to get involved and have fun and remember it.

Fineheresyourdamn70dollars
Fineheresyourdamn70dollars
1 month ago
Reply to  Brandon Forbes

I had the same dream. Woke up one day and the kids were teenagers, I wasn’t getting younger, a Caterham was still out of reach, and I had a Miata with serious track rash. So I’m halfway through an Exocet build.

Brandon Forbes
Brandon Forbes
1 month ago

That’s awesome! I’ve thought about doing a Miata based 7 style kit, but my Miata is in too good of shape for that.

Dan Parker
Dan Parker
1 month ago
Reply to  Brandon Forbes

If I was going to do a kit it would be one of these I think, I really love the idea of a 7… Probably Miata powered, something mild with webbers for the noise.

No Kids, Just Bikes
No Kids, Just Bikes
1 month ago
Reply to  Brandon Forbes

I think the key is finding one someone else has built. I have a homemade, as-titled 1968 Lotus 7 with Miata suspension and brakes, an RX-7 diff, and a fire-breathing SR20DET. Builder SCCA raced it (“Just leave it in third, second is too rowdy”) so I have full faith in it.

And I am in for $15k.

Brandon Forbes
Brandon Forbes
1 month ago

That would be awesome but building it is definitely non negotiable for us. I think it’ll be amazing to do that with the kids

Live2ski
Live2ski
1 month ago

I’d build a flying car! should be done in 2 years.

LMCorvairFan
LMCorvairFan
1 month ago
Reply to  Live2ski

Wector v2 here. Same time frame, plus minus a couple of decades. Bye the way, I’ve got an interesting investment opportunity I’d like to show you.

Musicman27
Musicman27
1 month ago

I would make a sporty, but durable and highly repairable, Convertible.

That way I could daily it without worry.

Last edited 1 month ago by Musicman27
ChefCJ
ChefCJ
1 month ago
Reply to  Musicman27

Maybe It’s Always The Answer

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