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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Oh fendingbobble prout nut.
I just yell “VOLKSWAGEN” in pain, like Happy Gilmore.
When I owned Peugeots, I found adding French swear words to my vocabulary balm for the soul.
Ronart W152 btw.
Well that certainly looks like a fun way to scare yourself silly.
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
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.
Same, but with a last gen Thunderbird. I am odd, I know.
I’m building an “El Camino” out of a Corvair Lakewood wagon, with the powertrain of an air-cooled 911.
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.
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.
Damn, stole my idea!
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
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.
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.
OK but how about a Kettenkrad replica? If you count each track as a wheel, it’s a trike, right?
Ummmmm… I think I’ll avoid anything with any Nazi connotation.
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
Man, I dunno… Maybe a Trans-Am tribute 1st gen Camaro built from a dynacorn shell with a dz302-esque small block?
The chevy 302 is one of the coolest engines ever. Thing would’ve dominated if they kept developing it.
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.
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.
Lister Bell Stratos replica. In street trim, not decked out like the rally car.
My own designs. Basically, open wheel cars with old aircraft-like fuselages and sliding canopies.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
I’d build a flying car! should be done in 2 years.
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.
I would make a sporty, but durable and highly repairable, Convertible.
That way I could daily it without worry.
Maybe It’s Always The Answer