Building Your Own Kit Car

Owning a car is great but to own one that you built with your own hands is just stupendous. Find out what it takes to build your own car in your own home.

A kit car is one of the newest forms of automobiles that allows customers to buy and build their own car from a set of parts. A relatively new fad that’s picking up amongst automobile enthusiasts, kit cars are all about building your own car with your own hands. Most enthusiasts, looking to build kit cars, need to have a complete set of tools that can help them manoeuvre across all obstacles. That, and an excellent knowledge in cars may help you build your very own car, in your own garage.

THE KIT CAR STORY

The primary definition of a kit car is an automobile that has picked up spare parts from a particular manufacturer and put them on sale. Most manufacturers tend to sell off a complete set of spare parts required to build a complete car. These models can be built at home, with the help of a detailed instruction manual. That can guide you through every step of the process.

Kit cars, by nature, are almost as good as production cars however, they are never considered in the same bracket as their safety and efficiency is largely dependent on the person putting them together. While the first kit car was one designed by Englishman Thomas Hyler White, in 1896, the format took a while to get started.

By the 1950s, kit cars finally went into second gear and production was considerably increased. As rust-proofing was yet to take a complete hold of the car-making industry, many old vehicles, with fully functioning parts, would be sent to the scrap-yards. Working components, from these cars, were taken out and placed on brand new chassis and bodies, especially sports cars.

Therefore, kit cars were still in production, although sometimes as normal production cars.

In the 1970s, UK began a revolution by providing semi-assembled cars to avoid purchase tax as kits were not considered to be vehicles, but merely components. Thus came models like the Lotus Elan, cars that could be taken home and built over a weekend, without paying any purchase tax.

If you are thinking, “This is insane?”, then think again!!!

Every year, thousands of kit cars are sold around the world and that means as you read this article, some bloke is sitting in his garage, after work, burning his midnight oil and building himself his very own car. Kit cars are cheap and under $3,000, you can usually find something that can be made road-legal within a couple of weeks or so.

Most kit car companies expect you to come and collect the kit car on specific collection days. This can be anywhere between 1 to 10 days in a year, depending on the company you are buying from. While most people love to come in long transit vans, you might need something big as well, if you are to take your car pieces back home with you.

Irrespective of the model you end up buying, you will end up with a chassis, body work and the under-bonnet parts like the engine, the radiators, the transmission, the clutch assembly and the brakes & shockers. The kit comes with a huge bag of nuts and bolts as well as other parts that are dependent on the type of car you buy. There are too many parts that look similar to each other so unless you have the manual, it could be hard to figure out what goes where, just by looking at it.

Once you have all the parts and pieces lined up, you need to start with the instruction manual. The manual will help you get through each and every step, to the smallest detail, as kit cars carry people and it is important for them to not fall apart due to the laziness of some technical writer or manual designer somewhere. Most kit cars also come with their own video instructions where you can watch someone put the car together, right before you, in real time. 

If that is not enough for you to get your car together, you can always consult with other kit car makers over the Internet or, better still, in your own city. Chances are, you will find the task more enjoyable if you have people to share it with. This is the recommended option if you are looking to make a kit car for the first time ever in your life.

GETTING IT ONTO THE ROAD

Assuming you have built your own kit car and are raring to get onto the road with it, you will have to wait a bit longer. It isn’t so easy for someone to just pick up a kit car and head out onto the street. First, you will need to get it validated by the local road transport authorities, to ensure that the car is road-legal.

The process is quite simple, since many countries do provide provisions for kit cars. You need to take your car to the local authority who will give it a thorough test. If your home-made Do-it-yourself car does manage to qualify through these tests, you are still given a special license plate that marks your car as an “Unknown”.

However, that shouldn’t keep you from building it. In fact, standing out of the crowd with your own hand-made car should make you feel proud of yourself. The primary issue standing against it is that kit cars cannot be crash tested. In countries like Sweden, kit cars were immensely popular before car-manufacturing regulations made it mandatory to have crash tests, starting 1970.

Today, you have a host of companies that provide kit car supplies and depending on the part of the world where you are, you can get your hands on some amazing kit cars. Here are some of the major manufacturers listed according to their countries.

Australia

• Alpha Sports

• Bolwell

• Pellandini Cars

• PRB

• Purvis Eureka

• Elfin Sports Cars

• Bushrangie

These companies are amongst the most popular in the world, producing some incredible kits for on- or off-road models. However, compared to the UK, there are very few companies around the world. The UK is one of the best places to be in if kit cars are your thing. Not only do you get a lot of variety, you find a huge number of manufacturers offering you a wider range of kit cars than ever before.

UK

Some of the major manufacturers from the UK are:

• Arkley SS

• Banham Conversions

• Burlington Cars

• Caterham Cars

• Dakar 4x4

• Diva

• Ginetta Cars

• GTM Cars

• JEB Cars

• Lomax

• Marcos

• Marlin

• Midas Cars

• Onyx Sports Cars

• Peerless/Warwick

• Quantum Sports Cars

• Robin Hood

• Spartan Cars

• Tornado

• Ultima Sports

• Westfield Sports Cars

There are many more manufacturers although listing them all here would not be possible. In the UK, there is a 200 car limit on the sale of kit cars as that is the safety limit for vehicles that do not have regulation or testing requirements like regular production versions.

Robin Hood are the most popular kit car manufacturers, providing partial or complete kits to over 700 customers a year, from across the world. If you are looking for a reliable source for kit cars, you might want to check them out.

United States of America

• Blakely Auto Works

• Bradley Automotive

• DDR Motorsport

• Factory Five Racing

• Fiberfab

• Frese Motorcars

• Sterling Sports Cars

• McBurnie

• Brunton Automotive

• Superformance

In the United States, the Shelby Cobra is one of the most popular models that are replicated by kit car manufacturers. One of the most popular models is the Bernardi Roadster, manufactured by Bradley Automotive. The car is truly one of the most impressive pieces in the American kit car industry.

If you are looking for something that can truly make your love for cars come alive, kit cars are the thing for you. They are beautiful to look at, powerful to drive and carry your signature on every single part – what’s not to like? So the next time you feel like going out there and getting yourself a car, think about how much fun it would be to build your own and get a kit car instead!

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