For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. The Pontiac Fiero is one of the most popular donor cars to use for supercar replicas, thanks to its shape and mid-engine layout combined with its affordable price. Dont be fooled into thinking that this kit car is slow or unexciting. If I was going to drive it on the street at all, I'd buy the Elise. If you build the STR yourself, the kit and needed components will cost you around $35,000. I don't care what it looks like. Real Shelby Cobras have sold for more than $5 million, but luckily for you, a Factory Five MK4 Roadster is considerably more affordable. The top-spec build will get you 1,200 hp, a 0-60 mph time of 2.3 seconds, and a top speed over 250 mph. Funny, I had thought I read most of the threads and then stumbled upon the build logs this afternoon and read the longer ones. Though not a flashy as some of the other replica models on the market, the 270 is an understated sleeper that is decidedly exhilarating to drive. You bolt the entire sub frame with motor attached to the provided goblin frame. The Exocet cools better as well due to the open engine bay. I'll probably never give mine up. This also makes further upgrades and modifications that much easier, which is also hugely beneficial considering many of these kits are highly-upgradable. You don't take the engine out, hell, you can do everything but the fenders with the wheels installed. So, without further ado, here are ten of the best kit cars on sale right now. This way, you could divert most of your money towards an, even more, customized Goblin. The Catfish should feel exactly the same, but it doesn't. Maybe it's the amount of exposure in the Exocet that encourages it. Smyth claims that their conversion kit is simple enough that even amateurs can make the conversion with a few weekends of elbow grease. Looking for more of a hot rod? With many of these small independent outfits popping in and out of operation on a regular basis, it can be difficult to get a sense of what the current market actually entails. View the various colour combinations available for the Ultima EVO Coupe one of the quickest road going cars in the world. Car nerds will look at it and comment on it, but most people will ignore it. What I really want is an Exocet with this on top: Because it's prettier than the Elise, the Catfish, and everything else. Made in the UK, Exomotives Eco-Exo is a completely barebones, minimalistic driving machine, designed to offer behind the wheel thrills in a compact and affordable package. Is it possible to put together a supercar on your own? All rights reserved. Exomotive does offer a much prettier Miata-based kit. This is the solution for those aspiring drivers who are all in for an open cockpit race car experience but dont have the Benjamins to buy fully-fledged ones like the Ariel Atom 4 that is priced from $74,750 which frankly isnt everyones cup of tea. Penned by the great Marcello Gandini, the Lancia Stratos is without-a-doubt one of the most celebrated rally car designs of all time, though, with less than 500 examples produced across its entire production run, surviving specimens now command six-figure prices. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. All the little touches are what take this speedster from good to great with options to choose your paint and leather color as well as to accessorize the car for the classic look youve always dreamed of. Thats not, however, to say that kit cars are all show and no go, with plenty of todays kits boasting hair-raising performance that can rival that of a high-dollar sportscar. So unlike the Exocet the Goblin is a rear engine, rear wheel drive pavement pounder. Plus there's a very strong aftermarket in this country selling upgrade parts at Miata prices. . The Meyers Manx dune buggy has been around since the Sixties, but many enthusiasts don't know that the brand is still alive and well today. But Pontiac did manage to make the G5 much cooler than just asimple rebadgeof the Cobalt. MEV claims that the Exocet is one of the cheapest kits to build, as a used Miata can be found for just a few thousand dollars and the kit costs 4554 ($6071). In regards to challenges for the build. Yes, that's the cost of a whole car and not the engine alone. I want to point out that this is not an endorsement of any kind. Most kits use the engine or entire rolling chassis from an existing donor model, and sport their own unique design (which is sometimes based on or loosely-insured by a production exotic or race car). You can even get hold of a working powertrain setup from salvage for under $500. margin-left: 0; The Exocet is literally an order of magnitude easier to build. Your GM lump of choice bolts up in the rear, along with the transaxle, and the donors front suspension becomes your rear suspension. The STR offers better interior space and dependability than the original Stratos, while still being plenty peppy. To build you just remove the engine, sub frame, front suspension, among some other bits. When buying a kit car, be sure to do your homework. 2 Ultima RS Via Ultima Is this the fastest kit car on the planet? Now before you say Oh another Atom Clone or Just what we need, another exoskeleton kit car) check out the simplicity in building this car. The Caterham Seven is available in a total of five different specs, ranging from the $37.9K, 120mph, 135hp Seven 270, and going up to the $65.9K supercharged 155mph, 310hp Seven 620, though, for the price, were partial to the mid-tier Seven 360. Multiple people doing this and this is not the best looking example. Replicas can be great, but we've already written about the best ones on the market. That said the look has really grew on me (a lot in fact) also seeing one in person the car is more impresive imo. And you can choose from three different designs for your right-hand-drive kit car: a plain version, a version with rounded headrests, or a version with an iconic fin behind the driver. There are faster cars. Kit cars are sold as a set of parts that the buyer assembles (or has the manufacturer or a third-party assemble) into a functioning vehicle. Buying a crashed vehicle with a totaled body can work and save you a lot of money, providing that the essential mechanical components you need are not damaged. Pricing is not bad either. Based on my observations if you are careful with your budget you can stay under 25K. I did a lot of custom stuff to the wiring harness that I had to figure out: Mine is on the "Road" just got inspection passed today. The Catfish actually produces downforce at speed and can take a much larger tire (those are 245s in the pictures). Factory Five claims that its MK4 Roadster is the worlds best-selling replica, a claim that is hard to dispute. The abundant use of fiberglass allows for a surprisingly nimble vehicle, despite the limited power coming from the VW powertrain. With a minuscule finished weight of only 1,800-pounds, Factory Fives 818S has the performance envelope of a Lotus Elise at a fraction of the cost. Originally designed and developed by Bruce Meyers in 1960s Southern California for the purpose of desert racing, the Meyers Manx is unequivocally one of, if not the most iconic dune buggy ever built. } It really does look that simple. These figures might sound puny at first, but once you get the specs right, this machine has one of the aggressive power to weight ratios and is enough to scare you! The Excocet is a complete, lightweight sports car chassis and body designed to use 1990-2005 Mazda Miata running gear. There are so many great options out there right now. There are very very few faster, cheaper cars. Quite possibly. Interested in checking out a few easier DIY garage projects? But from 200-2010, it got turbocharged instead, which also made it the most powerful yet with 260 hp and 260 lb-ft. DF Kit Car doesn't tweak the powertrain set up as such but does work on units derived from salvage to bring it back to working conditions. Of all the vehicles on this list of the best kit cars ever made, Factory Five's second entry is perhaps the most unique. using GPS, I managed to get a 6.5s to 60 and 0-80 in 12.5s. Not get totalled in a minor front or rear hit, Not present an issue for tall drivers with a helmet. And while Factory Five does offer a regular Cobra kit, the company also produces a replica version of one of the six 400-450hp 289 Small Block USRRC (U.S. Road Racing Championship) racers Shelby built for the 64-65 season. Recognizing that every individual's motoring journey is unique, we seek to give form to both untold as well as celebrated facets of the automotive world. The Exocet is 50% lighter than a stock Miata, which massively boosts the power-to-weight ratio. All rights reserved. You remember all the kit car ads that used to say Build in a weekend with basic hand tools? Factory Fives 33 Hot Rod kit offers an expedited path to hot rod ownership at a reasonable price, including everything needed to build the car, except for the engine, which can be any Small Block Ford 4.6L or 5.0L Coyote, and Chevy SB or LS engine. Plus, with its DOT-legal windshield and working headlights and taillights, you can legally take this 917 on the street. It's a different option. For a mere $6,999, you get an all-new chassis that resembles nothing more than a roll cage with wheels, into which you can stick a Mazda Miata's four-cylinder engine and seats and then head out onto the street to terrify the person sitting beside you at the traffic light. The Meyers Manx is a classic among dune buggies, the brand that really established the category in the 1960s. There are even race kit cars that can legitimately best contemporary hypercars despite costing a fraction of the price. The base trims come with a 2.2L Naturally Aspirated Inline-4 engine that pumps out 145- 155 hp and 150-155 lb-ft depending on the year of choice. Kit cars are often overlooked by the wider automotive community, but the truth is they offer one of the best ways to create a unique car at an affordable price. You can get the Naked Kit for $4999, The City Goblin (with body parts) for $6999, and the Track Goblin (with full cage and more) for $7499 . Many of you may have never even heard of the DF Goblin. That's how Fiat/Bertone did it on the Fiat/Bertone X-1/9. Since the '70s, Caterham has been continuously improving the Seven's design without touching the original spirit of the car, which offers some of the most direct steering and handling on the market thanks to its ultra-lightweight design (nearly 1,000 lbs less than a Mazda Miata). } If you want big power but cant afford the performance upgrades today, you can start with a stock motor and upgrade later as finances allow. Not be really hard for people who've had back surgery to get in and out of (stepping over the side is easier than folding yourself in half to get through the door). Kirkham Motorsportss replica-take on the racer, however, is created in such stunning detail, that it could easily pass for the real thing when passing by you on a city street. As we got further into the project and started sharing it online and with people in our area, we kept getting the suggestion to make some kits so that other people could build their own Goblins. Our guide to the best bolt-on motorcycle kits contains over a dozen transformative bodywork packages that dont require any permanent modifications and can be installed using basic tools in just a few hours. It's friendly like a Miata, and all consumables are Miata. What flair you add from there is up to you. Cobras aren't the only vintage cars that have long attracted kit car fans seeking to put together a vintage vibe. Enjoying this fall weather! A set of replacement front hubs were machined to spec, the Ecotec's timing chain bolts needed attention, the engine was married to the chassis, and a OTTP short throw shifter met the Goblin's increasingly more complex chassis. Considering the entire kit and an appropriate donor specimen can be had for around the $10,000 mark, the all-terrain-spec Goblin is undoubtedly one of the best UTV or off-roaders dollar for dollar. There are genuine recreation kits, that go to painstaking (and wildly-expensive) lengths to reproduce each individual part and component of a classic car including the powertrain though theyre much less common (and much more expensive). Not to mention, a unique-looking vehicle will be sure to start conversations in a way that a replica car usually wouldn't. When mated with a modern engine, the compact and lightweight RT4 is sure to become your go-to daily driver. Weighing in at around 2,400lbs, the entire kit is broken down into 16 different stages (with the earlier more crucial stages consisting of the frame and bodywork while higher numbers deal with elements such as wheels and master cylinders), though even if you opt for all 16 parts, the grand total for the kit comes in at around $50,000, which is a steal considering the on-track capabilities of this street-legal machine. Like the original, the RCR D-Type has an aluminum monocoque chassis with bolt-on steel subframes and a fiberglass body. If you want to make it a little rocket ship and you have the budget, why not opt for the Cobalt SS in either supercharged or turbo form? This humble Goblin, even in its fully jacked-up configuration will not cost you even half the asking price of a base Ariel Atom. Fittingly, its based on the top-spec 08 Cobalt SS Turbo model, and the builder has turned the wick up to roughly 295 whp and 335 lb-ft. An upgraded clutch and 3.82:1 LSD were added to handle the extra power, along with Nitto NT555 tires. Keith, how does the Exocet and Catfish compare on track? Lowest Exocet prices of the year 11/25-11/30! Aldino says that constructing the car will only take between 70-150 hours depending on skill level and the complete kit is currently on sale for $10,995 from their website. The road-going Goblin gets various options on the lighting front to help in providing for a more illuminating experience. This keeps costs down and offers a huge number of aftermarket upgrade options. We invite you to get behind the wheel with us, it's certain to be an interesting drive. Heck, you can get the whole kit for about $13k if you really ball it up. Heck, you can stay under 25K a unique-looking vehicle will be sure to start conversations in a minor or! Upgrades and modifications that much easier, which massively boosts the power-to-weight ratio 's certain be. 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