Kit car - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A kit car, also known as a "component car", is an automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

that is available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then either assembles into a car themselves, or retains a third party to do part or all of the work on their behalf. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine

Engine

An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...

and transmission

Transmission (mechanics)

A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...

are sourced from donor vehicles or purchased from other vendors new. Kits vary in completeness ranging from as little as a book of plans to a complete set with all components included.

There is a sub-set of kit cars, commonly referred to as a "re-body" in which a commercially manufactured vehicle has a new (often fiberglass) body put on the running chassis. Most times, the existing drive gear and interior is retained. These kits require less technical knowledge from the builder and as the chassis and mechanical systems were designed, built and tested by a major automotive manufacturer can also lead to a much higher degree of safety and reliability.

The definition of a kit car usually indicates that a manufacturer constructs multiple kits of the same vehicle which they then in turn sell. This should not be confused with 'hand built cars' or 'Special' cars, which are typically built from scratch by an individual.

History

Kit cars have been around from the earliest days of the automobile. In 1896 the Englishman Thomas Hyler White developed a design for a car that could be assembled at home and technical designs were published in a magazine called The English Mechanic. In the United States the Lad's Car

Lad's Car

The Lad's Car was an American automobile built between 1912 and 1914. A 3 hp air-cooled, single-seater with belt drive, it was made by the Niagara Motor Co. of Niagara Falls, New York, and was advertised as "more a real working toy than a go-anywhere motor car".The car was also available in a...

of 1912 could be bought for US$160 ($3000 equivalent in 2006) fully assembled or US$140 ($2600 in 2006) in kit form.

It was not until the 1950s that the idea really took off. Car production had increased considerably and with rust proofing in its infancy many older vehicles were being sent to breaker yards as their bodywork

Coachwork

Coachwork is the body of a horse-drawn coach or carriage, a motor vehicle , a railroad car or railway carriage. Usually reserved for bodies built on a separate chassis, rather than being of unitary or monocoque construction...

was beyond economic repair. An industry grew up supplying new bodies and chassis

Chassis

A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...

to take the components from these cars and convert them into new vehicles, particularly into sports cars. Fiber reinforced plastic (aka "GRP," or "fiberglass") was coming into general usage and made limited-scale production of automobile body components much more economical. Also, in the UK up to the mid 1970s, kit cars were sometimes normal production vehicles that were partially assembled as this avoided the imposition of purchase tax as the kits were assessed as components and not vehicles. The Lotus Elan

Lotus Elan

Lotus Elan is the name of two convertible cars and one fixed head coupé produced by Lotus Cars. The original Type 26, 26R Racing version , 36R Racing version , 36 Fixed Head Coupe, 45 Drop Head Coupe, and the "Type 50" +2 Coupe, circa 1962 to 1975, are commonly known as the '60s Elans...

, for example, was available in this form. It was often claimed that the kits could be taken home and completed in only a weekend.

During the 1970s many kits had bodies styled as sports cars that were designed to bolt directly to VW Beetle chassis. This was popular as the old body could be easily separated from the chassis leaving virtually all mechanical components attached to the chassis and a GRP-body from the kit supplier shop fitted. This made the Beetle one of the most popular "donor" vehicles of all time. Examples of this conversion include the Bradley GT

Bradley Automotive

Bradley Automotive was created by Gary Courneya and David Bradley Fuller and sold the Bradley line of kit cars from their facility in Plymouth, Minnesota....

, Sterling

Sterling Sports Cars

Sterling Sports Cars is an American automobile company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that designs and manufactures assembly kits for replicars and supercars.-Current models:...

, and Sebring which were made by the thousands and many are still around today. Volkswagen based dune buggies

Dune buggy

A dune buggy is a recreational vehicle with large wheels, and wide tires, designed for use on sand dunes or beaches. The design is usually a modified vehicle and engine mounted on an open chassis. The modifications usually attempt to increase the power-to-weight ratio by either lightening the...

also appeared in relatively large numbers in the 1960s and 1970s based usually on a shortened floor pan.

Current kit cars are frequently replica

Replica

A replica is a copy closely resembling the original concerning its shape and appearance. An inverted replica complements the original by filling its gaps. It can be a copy used for historical purposes, such as being placed in a museum. Sometimes the original never existed. For example, Difference...

s of well-known and often expensive classics and are designed so that anyone with a measure of technical skill can build them at home to a standard where they can be driven on the public roads. These replicas are in general appearance like the original, but their bodies are often made of fiberglass

Fiberglass

Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...

mats soaked in polyester

Polyester

Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate...

resin instead of the original sheet metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

. The AC Cobra

AC Cobra

The AC Cobra, also known colloquially as the Shelby Cobra in North America, is an Anglo-American sports car that was produced during the 1960s.-History and development:...

and the Lotus 7 are particularly popular examples, the right to manufacture the Lotus 7 now being owned by Caterham Cars

Caterham Cars

Caterham Cars is a manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars based in Caterham, Surrey, England and part of the British motor industry. Their only current model, the Caterham 7 , is a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman and originally launched in 1968. A...

who bought the rights to the car from Lotus founder Colin Chapman

Colin Chapman

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....

in 1973. Replica kit cars enable enthusiasts to possess a vehicle of a type that because of scarcity they may not be able to afford, and at the same time take advantage of modern technology. The Sterling Nova

Automotive Design and Development

Automotive Design and Development Ltd was an English company that was responsible for the creation of the futuristic-looking Nova kit car. The company was based in Southampton from 1971 to 1973 after which it moved to Accrington, Lancashire until 1975...

Kit originally produced in the UK was the most popular VW based Kits being produced world wide and licensed under several different names with an estimated 10000 sold.

Many people react sceptically when they first hear about kit cars as it appears to them to be technically impossible to assemble a car at home and license it for public roads. They may also be worried that such a car would not subsequently pass the mandatory quality control

Quality control

Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...

(road worthiness test) that is required in most countries. For example, to obtain permission to use a kit car in Germany, every such vehicle with a speed over 6 km/h without a general operating license (ABE) or an EC type permission (EC-TG) has to undergo, as per the § 21 of Road traffic licensing regulations (STVZO), a technical inspection by an officially recognized expert of a Technical Inspection Authority. In the United Kingdom it is necessary to meet the requirements of the IVA (Individual vehicle Approval) regulations. In the United States SEMA

SEMA

Specialty Equipment Market Association of the automobile aftermarket was formed in 1963 by Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand, Jr., Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock, Jr...

has gone state by state to set up legal ways for states to register kit cars and speciality vehicles for inspection and plates.

A survey of nearly 600 kit car owners in the USA, England and Germany, carried out by Dr. Ingo Stüben, showed that typically 100–1,500 hours are required to build a kit car, depending upon the model and the completeness of the kit. However, as the complexity of the kits offered continues to increase, build times have increased as well.

Several sports car

Sports car

A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

producers such as Lotus

Lotus Cars

Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports and racing cars based at the former site of RAF Hethel, a World War II airfield in Norfolk. The company designs and builds race and production automobiles of light weight and fine handling characteristics...

and TVR

TVR

thumb|right|240px|TVR No.2, the oldest surviving TVR, located at [[Lakeland Motor Museum, Newby Bridge, Cumbria]]TVR was an independent British manufacturer of sports cars. Until 2006 it was based in the English seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, but has since split up into several smaller...

started as kit car makers.

Australia

Alpha Sports
Alpha Sports
Alpha Sports is an Australian kit car manufacturer. It makes sports cars originally based on the styling of the Lotus Seven but have evolved to construct their own distinctive designs....
Bolwell
Bolwell
Bolwell is an Australian company that originally produced sports cars between 1962 and 1979. A new company of the same name began production of new cars in 2009 after several years of concept and show cars.-Mk IV:...
Pellandini Cars
Pellandini Cars
Pellandini Cars was a manufacturer of kit cars during the early 1970s that was located in South Australia.- History :Englishman Peter Pellandine founded Pellandini Cars Ltd in 1970 at Cherry Gardens, South Australia. He first produced a curvy, gull-wing coupe that used a mid-mounted BMC Mini...
PRB
PRB (car)
PRB is an Australian builder of Clubman-style sportscars , the PRB Clubman was created by Peter Raymond Bladwell in 1978...
Purvis Eureka
Purvis Eureka
The Purvis Eureka is a sports car which was produced by Purvis Cars at Dandenong in Victoria, Australia from 1974 to 1991.First exhibited at the 1974 Melbourne International Motor Show, the Eureka was based on the British Nova kit car design of 1971...
Elfin Sports Cars
Bushrangie

Germany

To obtain permission to use a kit car in Germany, every such vehicle with a speed over 6 km/h without a general operating license (ABE) or an EC type permission (EC-TG) has to undergo, as per the § 21 of Road traffic licensing regulations (STVZO), a technical inspection by an officially recognized expert of a Technical Inspection Authority.

Apal
Apal
Apal is a small scale automobile company originally from Belgium. It is now based in Germany.-Phase 1 -APAL - s.à.r.l. Application Polyester Armé de Liège :...
Michalak Design
Michalak C7
The Michalak C7 is a kit car based on the Smart ForTwo. The C7 uses a stainless, fiber reinforced plastic body making it slightly faster than the Smart ForTwo because it is 170 kg lighter. Once the production version was released, Michalak sold some of the prototypes....
Hoffmann 2CV
Hoffmann 2CV
The Hoffmann 2CV Cabrio is a kitcar based on the Citroën 2CV.thumb|300px|Hoffmann 2CV CabrioIn 1988 Wolfgang Hoffmann developed the design and the first prototypes....

New Zealand

Almac cars
Almac (automobile)
Almac is a New Zealand based kit car company founded in 1984 and located in Upper Hutt. Almac cars is a part of Almac Reinforced Plastics Ltd fibreglass product manufacturing a company founded in 1971 by Alex McDonald. McDonald's interest in kit cars started while he was living in England, having...
Chevron Engineering Ltd
Chevron Engineering Ltd
Chevron Engineering Specialties Ltd is a New Zealand based kit-car and race-car manufacturer owned by Dan, Evan, and Barbara Fray. The most numerous Chevron model is the Classic, which is based on the same design concepts as the Lotus Seven. Chevron's first Classic was built in 1984 and has been...
De Joux
De Joux (car)
Ferris de Joux was a designer and maker of sports cars. He was born on 24 August 1935.Internationally he is perhaps best known as the designer and manufacturer of a series of fibreglass bodies for Buckler sports cars, however in New Zealand he is best known for his Mini derivative, the de Joux...
Fraser Cars Ltd
Fraser Clubman
Fraser Clubman is a component based car similar to a Lotus Seven Series 3, built in Auckland, New Zealand by Fraser Cars Ltd. Scott and Ida Tristram are the current Managing Directors of Fraser Cars having taken over the company from Neil Fraser in 2006....
Heron
Heron Cars
Heron Cars were racing cars, sports and kit cars built in New Zealand between 1962 and 1999 by Ross Baker. They also included a one-off electric car..-MJ 1:...
Leitch
Leitch Super Sprint
The Leitch Super Sprint is a Lotus Seven replica made by Leitch Motorsport and Restoration, Ltd, in Invercargill, New Zealand.Barry Leitch started building Super Sprints in 1986 and regularly raced them competitively in local classic and sports car racing...
Saker
Saker Cars
Saker Sports Cars originated in New Zealand and have been manufactured from 1989 to the present day. The Saker car is named after the bird of prey, found in the Middle East and Central Asia....

Sweden

Technically, kit cars are not allowed in Sweden, but provided that most of the components and material are sourced by the builder personally it is possible to register them as amateur

Amateur

An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....

built vehicles. Before the law requiring a mandatory crash test

Crash test

A crash test is a form of destructive testing usually performed in order to ensure safe design standards in crashworthiness and crash compatibility for various modes of transportation or related systems and components.- Types :...

in 1970 there was a booming kit car industry in Sweden with most companies basing their kits on the VW Beetle chassis. When amateur built vehicles again were allowed in 1982 all kit car companies in Sweden had disappeared.

The inspection (SVA equivalent) in Sweden is handled by the car builder's association SFRO

SFRO

SFRO is a Swedish national organisation founded in 1982 with the goal of making it possible to register amateur built vehicles. The goal of SFRO is to help builders to build their own vehicles and register them for road use...

who makes two inspections; one when the car has reached the rolling chassis

Chassis

stage and the second when the car is finished. Amateur built cars are currently limited to 15 kW per 100 kg. Earlier the limit was 10 kW per 100 kg, so for very light cars (like a Lotus 7 type car) it was a problem to find a suitable engine.

Boes Motor & Mekanik
Boes Motor & Mekanik
Boes Motor & Mekanik is a Swedish kit car company in Färjestaden selling a Lotus 7 replica called Boe 7. Unlike most other manufacturer who use square tubing for the spaceframe chassis they use round 28x2 tubes...
Dala7
Dala7
Dala7 is a taller and wider Lotus 7 inspired design using Volvo parts. The idea behind the design was to make a sevenesque car suitable for Swedish conditions, so it was made taller and wider to make it possible for taller persons to sit comfortably and to make it possible to use Volvo parts that...
Esther
Esther (car)
Esther is a Lotus 7 type car made in Ugglerum, Sweden. The company was founded by Lars Svensson and Magnus Haferbier in 1987. They started off with a shingle wood board jig which had been used for earlier Lotus 7 copies in the Kalmar area. However new ideas came and the first chassis was sold...
GOX Teknik
GOX Teknik
GOX Teknik is a Swedish company in Strömstad acting as consultants in various types of industrial development, but they also make kit car replicas of the Ford GT40. They make it in two versions, GOX 40 Monocoque that is a faithful replica of the original car and GOX 40 Replika that is a more...
Hult Healey
Hult Healey
Hult Healey was a make of kit cars in Sweden.It all started when Mats Svanberg from Hult saw an Austin-Healey and fell in love with it. In the 1970s he bought one and in 1981 it was due for a renovation and he wanted to make a replica of the competition Austin-Healey, but without ruining his...
Mania Spyder
Mania Spyder
Mania Spyder was a Swedish kit car company in Falköping selling a sports roadster based on either VW Beetle or spaceframe chassis. They advertised that a formula spaceframe made for motorcycle engines would be available in spring 2001. It was designed by the automotive designer and guitar builder...
Mascot
Mascot (car)
Mascot was a car made by AB Rååverken in Helsingborg around 1920.Sold both as a kit car and in finished form it was a way of converting a motor cycle to a type of cyclecar...
Ockelbo
Ockelbo-Lundgren
Ockelbo-Lundgren, or Erik Lundgren as his real name was, born circa 1918, died 1967, first became known during the 1940s when he became known as "Trollkarlen från Ockelbo" when he in a Ford 38 powered by a V8 engine with eight carburettors producing 280 hp participated in several races in...
Pagano
Ockelbo-Lundgren
Ockelbo-Lundgren, or Erik Lundgren as his real name was, born circa 1918, died 1967, first became known during the 1940s when he became known as "Trollkarlen från Ockelbo" when he in a Ford 38 powered by a V8 engine with eight carburettors producing 280 hp participated in several races in...
Racing Plast Burträsk
Racing Plast Burträsk
Racing Plast Burträsk was a Swedish company in Burträsk that made racing cars and kit cars. It was founded in 1965 by Kjell Lindskog.- Formula Vee cars :...

(RPB)
Roadline, Porsche Speedster and Porsche Boxer RS replicas

United Kingdom

Vehicle regulations in the UK allow the production of up to 200 vehicle

Vehicle

A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....

s a year without the extensive regulation

Regulation

Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...

and testing requirements applied to mass-market vehicles. This has led to an expanding industry of small producers capable of offering partial and complete kits, some for export, and finished vehicles for domestic use.

The DVLA regulate kit cars in the UK, which helps to ensure that vehicles used on the road are safe and suitable for the purpose. The current test for this is Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA), which has replaced Single Vehicle Approval (SVA). When SVA was first introduced in 1998, many believed this would kill off the kit car market, but in reality it has made the kit car market stronger, as the vehicles produced now have to meet a minimum standard. IVA was introduced in summer 2009 and it is too early to tell what impact this will have on the industry.

Many, but not all, kit cars are given a 'Q' registration plate which signifies a vehicle of unknown or mixed age. All kit cars are subject to a Vehicle Identity Check, VIC, by the DVLA to determine the registration mark a kit car is assigned. This will be either, a new, current year, registration; an 'age-related' registration; or a 'Q' plate. Once a kit car has been correctly registered, a V5C, or log book, will be assigned and then a kit car is treated in exactly the same way as a production car, from any larger manufacturer. A kit car must pass it's MOT test and have a valid road fund license, or have a valid Statutory Off-Road Notification

Sorn

Sorn is a small village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is situated on the River Ayr. It has a population of roughly 350. Local services include: a pub, a church, a general store, a motorbike shop and a television shop. There is also a village hall and a bowling green and primary school...

(SORN) declaration.

According to figures given to the magazine Kit Car (The UK's Top Selling Kit Car Magazine) the most popular kit in the United Kingdom in 2005 was made by Robin Hood Sportscars who sell 700 kits a year.

Arkley SS
Arkley (automobile)
The Arkley is an English automobile that was manufactured by John Britten Garages workshops at Arkley in the London Borough of Barnet.The first model was a two-seater called Arkley SS, designed by John Britten in 1970 .The retro "bug-eyed" design was inspired by a mixture of the Morgan and the...
Ashley Laminates
Ashley (automobile)
Ashley were manufacturer of body shells and chassis for specials from 1955 to 1962. They also offered a range of products for special builders: radiators, header tanks, lighting sets, steel tubing, sheet aluminium, various suspension parts, water pumps, tires, tubes and wheels...
ADD Nova
Automotive Design and Development
Automotive Design and Development Ltd was an English company that was responsible for the creation of the futuristic-looking Nova kit car. The company was based in Southampton from 1971 to 1973 after which it moved to Accrington, Lancashire until 1975...
Banham Conversions
Banham Conversions
Banham Conversions was a maker of kit cars from the late 1970s until 2004. The company was founded by Paul Banham who started off building convertible conversions on commission. He made convertible versions of the Ferrari 400, Aston Martin DBS and V8, and the Rolls-Royce Corniche.By the 1980s, he...
Beauford automobiles
Beauford automobiles
Beauford is a British automobile company originally based in Upholland, Lancashire but later moving to Stoke on Trent. The cars are supplied in kit form....
Buckler Cars
Buckler Cars
The Buckler Cars company founded by Derek Buckler and based in Reading, Berkshire, England produced approximately 500 cars between 1947 and 1962...
Burlington Cars
Burlington Cars
Burlington Cars was a British kit car company originally based in Southam, Warwickshire. They moved to Northampton in 1988 becoming the Burlington Motor Company reforming as the Burlington Design Group in 1989. Kit production seems to have stopped in around 1992. Founded by Haydn Davis the cars...
Caterham Cars
Caterham Cars
Caterham Cars is a manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars based in Caterham, Surrey, England and part of the British motor industry. Their only current model, the Caterham 7 , is a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman and originally launched in 1968. A...
Cavallo
Cavallo
Cavallo is a surname, and may refer to:* Domingo Cavallo , Argentine economist and politician* Émile-Gustave Cavallo-Péduzzi, French painter* Jimmy Cavallo , American musician* Ricardo Cavallo, Argentine political activist...
Clan
Clan (car)
The Clan Crusader was a fibreglass monocoque British sports car based on running gear from the Hillman Imp Sport, including its Coventry Climax derived, rear-mounted 875 cc engine. It was first made in Washington, Co Durham, England, between 1971 and 1974, but since then several efforts have...
Covin
Covin (automobile)
The Covin is a replica kit car of the Porsche 911 Turbo created by Tim Cook and Nick Vincent in the early 1980s. The name Covin came about from CO and VIN giving us COVIN Performance Mouldings....
Dakar 4x4
Dakar 4x4
The Dakar 4x4 is a kit car - the successor of the Rotrax - though unlike many is based on a Range Rover chassis rather than the more usual sports car style. Originally developed by Barry Chantler of Dakar Cars in Dartford, Kent, they are now manufactured and built to order by...
Dax
Dax Cars
Dax Cars is a British sports car manufacturer founded in 1968 and based in Harlow, Essex, England.The company, whose official name is D.J. Sportscars International Ltd, started as a fibreglass moulding company before becoming the first British company to make a kit based replica of the AC 427 Cobra...
Davrian
Davrian
Davrian cars were built at 65 North Street, Clapham in London, England from 1967 to 1976, in Tregaron, Dyfed, Wales from 1976 to 1980 and Lampeter, Dyfed, from 1980 to 1983.Adrian Evans Davrian cars were built at 65 North Street, Clapham in London, England from 1967 to 1976, in Tregaron, Dyfed,...
Diva
Diva (car manufacturer)
Diva was a British manufacturer of sports cars from 1961 to 1966. It was a subsidiary of the Tunex Conversions Co set up by Don Sim in Camberwell, London but in 1966 Diva Cars Limited became its registered name...
Dutton Cars
Dutton Cars
Dutton Cars, based in Worthing, Sussex, England, was a maker of kit cars between 1970 and 1989. In terms of numbers of kits produced, it was for a time the largest kit car manufacturer in the world....
Eagle (SS)
Eagle Cars Limited
Eagle Cars Limited was an English company, based in Lancing, West Sussex, originally operated by Allen Breeze, although it has undergone a number of ownership changes since. Originally making a Jeep lookalike called the RV, between 1981 and 1998 they built several iterations of a gull-winged car...
Elva
Elva (car manufacturer)
Elva was a sports and racing car manufacturing company based in Bexhill, then Hastings and Rye, East Sussex, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1955 by Frank G. Nichols. The name comes from the French phrase elle va .-Racing cars:...
Fairthorpe Cars
Fairthorpe Cars
Fairthorpe cars were made in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England between 1954 and 1976.Fairthorpe Ltd was founded by Air Vice Marshall Donald Bennett. The first cars were lightweight models powered by motor cycle engines and with glass fibre bodies called the Atom and Atomota. In 1956 a...
Falcon Shells
Falcon Shells
Falcon Shells was a British company that produced specials/kit cars from 1956 until 1964.-History:Falcon Shells was founded in 1956 by Peter Pellandine following his amicable split with Keith Waddington of Ashley Laminates. It was originally based at 23 Highbridge Street, Waltham Abbey in Essex....
GCS Hawke
GCS Cars
GCS Cars Traded initially from Orpington in Kent, UK and produced the Hawke . It is an open two seater modelled fairly closely, but differently enough, on the Morgan. It has a substabtial square box frame chassis and a glass-reinforced plastic body with two doors and soft-top...
Gentry Cars
Gentry Cars
The Gentry was a British kit car styled to resemble a MG TF. It was made by RMB Motors of Barwell, Leicestershire from 1973.The company was formed by Roger Blockley who had worked for the Triumph Car Company...
Ginetta Cars
Ginetta Cars
Ginetta Cars is a Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire based British specialist builder of racing and sports cars.-20th century:Ginetta was founded in 1958 by the four Walklett brothers in Woodbridge, Suffolk...
GKD
GKD
The GKD EVOLUTION is a light-weight high performance convertible sports car manufactured byBritish company GKD Sports Cars, based in Boughton Monchelsea, near Maidstone with workshops at Lenham...
Great British Sports Cars
GTM Cars
GTM Cars
GTM Cars is a component kit car manufacturer located in Kingswinford, UK.The company was founded in 1967 when Bernard Cox and his friend Jack Hosker created the Cox GTM a mid engined Ferrari Dino inspired sports car based on Mini parts. It was an instant hit and they built kits as fast as they...
Heron Plastics
Heron Plastics
In 1960 Heron Plastics of Greenwich, London was well established as a manufacturer of GRP bodyshells for Austin 7 specials. One of these was used as the basis for the original Diva GT in 1961...
Hustler
Hustler (car)
The Hustler was a Mini-based project designed in 1978 by Aston Martin Lagonda designer William Towns and later developed into a kit car by his Interstyl design studio....
Jago
Jago (car)
Jago was a British company making a range of kit cars principally Jeep styled between 1965 and 1997. They were based in Chichester, Sussex.Geoff Jago founded a company called Geoff Jago Custom Automotive in 1965 making Street Rod type vehicles. In 1971 he made the vehicle for which the company...
JBA Cars
JZR Trikes
JZR Trikes
JZR Trikes is a UK producer of traditionally-styled, motorcycle-engined trikes in kit form.-History:From their workshop in Darwen, Lancashire, John Ziemba Restorations began to market the JZR in 1990. Some 320 JZR's were produced up until 1998 when there was a production hiatus until 2000...
Locost
Locost
A Locost is a home-built clone of the Lotus Seven. The car features a space frame chassis usually welded together from mild steel square tubing. Front suspension is usually double wishbone with coil overs. The rear is traditionally live axle, but has many variants including independent rear...
Locust
Locust (car)
Locust is a kit car inspired by the Lotus 7.The Locust Seven differs from most other Lotus / kit cars in that it does not use a space frame chassis, but a ladder frame and a body constructed from three 8ft by 4ft sheets of 3/4" thick exterior grade or marine plywood alternatively MDF sheets...
Lomax
Lomax (auto)
The Lomax is a British kit car based on mechanical components of the Citroën 2CV. It has been in production since 1982 when it was introduced by the Lomax Motor Co of Willoughton, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. In the late 1980s the production was transferred to the Mumford Motor Co. of Gigg Mill,...
Marcos
Marcos (automobile)
Marcos was a British sports car manufacturer. The name was a combination of founders Jem Marsh and Frank Costin.-History:Marcos was founded in Luton, in Bedfordshire, England, in 1959 by Jem Marsh and Frank Costin. Frank Costin had earlier worked on the De Havilland Mosquito fighter-bombers and...
Mills Extreme Vehicles
MEV Ltd
MEV Ltd, or Mills Extreme Vehicles , is a kit car manufacturer based in Mansfield, UK. It was founded in 2003 by Stuart Mills and has developed and produced 12 different vehicles as diverse as commuter trikes, Off-road 4x4s, EVs and exoskeleton kit cars...
McCoy
Clan (car)
The Clan Crusader was a fibreglass monocoque British sports car based on running gear from the Hillman Imp Sport, including its Coventry Climax derived, rear-mounted 875 cc engine. It was first made in Washington, Co Durham, England, between 1971 and 1974, but since then several efforts have...
Marlin
Marlin (car)
Marlin is a British sports car manufacturer founded in 1979 in Plymouth as Marlin Engineering and now located in Crediton, Devon England.The company was founded by Paul Moorhouse, who, after building a series of one off cars for his own use decided to put one into production as a kit car...
Midas Cars
Midas Cars
The Midas is a British made kit car initially using Mini running gear that grew out of the Mini Marcos.Harold Dermott and his company, D&H Fibreglass Techniques, of Greenfield, Oldham, Lancashire, England came to an agreement in 1975 with Marcos cars to take over production of their Mini Marcos model...
MK Sportscars
MK Sportscars
MK Sportscars, situated in Langold, Nottinghamshire, offers the Lotus Seven style kit car MK Indy, recently manufacturing Le-Mans style cars, GT-1 and GT-R. The kits offer the option of various engines, from cars and motorbikes.- External links :...
Onyx Sports Cars
Onyx Sports Cars
Onyx Sports Cars Ltd is a UK kit car manufacturer. They produce the Onyx Mongoose, a mid-engined machine made for the Rover K engine from a Rover Metro or Rover 200 Series, and the Onyx Firefox, a two seated open sports car made using the Rover K engine in front wheel drive position. The Onyx...
Opperman
Opperman
S E Opperman was a tractor manufacturer in England. After he saw the Bond car he decided to build his own four-wheel microcar at a factory in Elstree, Hertfordshire....
Peel
Peel Engineering Company
The Peel Engineering Company is a manufacturing company based on the Isle of Man that primarily made fibreglass boats as well as fairings for motorcycles. They were also responsible for the Peel Manxcar, Peel P50, and Peel Trident microcars, in addition to the Peel Viking Sport and prototype GRP...
Peerless / Warwick
Piper Cars
Piper Cars
Piper Cars was a United Kingdom manufacturer of specialist sports cars...
Quantum Sports Cars
Quantum Sports Cars
Quantum Sports Cars were founded by Mark and Harvey Wooldridge in 1987.-Early models:Quantum's first car was the Mark1 hatchback which was based on the Mark1 Ford Fiesta. It reused all of the donor's mechanical and trim components in an elongated, more rounded shape...
Raw Engineering
Raw Engineering
Raw Engineering is a kit car manufacturer established in 1999. In 2002 they acquired the rights to the Sylva Striker kit car, which they have since modified and on which the Fulcrum is based. It is based in Shelwick, just north of Hereford. In August 2010 the company was purchased by Callum and...
Robin Hood
Rochdale
Rochdale (car)
Rochdale cars were a series of mainly glass fibre bodied British sports car made by Rochdale Motor Panels and Engineering in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England between 1948 and 1973...
Scamp
Mini Scamp
The Mini Scamp is a "kit car" first built in 1969.The first Mark 1 kits which were styled similarly to the Mini Moke were produced by Robert Mandy in Reading, Berkshire. They used the mechanical parts of a Mini and body made from a steel box section frame fitted aluminium panels...
Sylva
Spartan Cars
Spartan cars
Spartan Cars was a manufacturer of kit cars based in Pinxton, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, which operated from 1973 to 1995. The company was founded by Jim McIntyre....
Tiger Racing
Tiger Racing
Tiger Racing is an English company manufacturing kit cars, formed as Tiger Cars Ltd in London in 1989 by Jim Dudley. In 1998 they moved to new premises in Cambridgeshire and changed their name to Tiger Sportscars Ltd. They are amongst the biggest kit car manufacturers, and are competitors to...
Tornado
Tornado (car company)
Tornado Cars Ltd was founded in 1957 by Bill Woodhouse and Tony Bullen based in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, UK.The first model was the Typhoon Sports, available either as a body for fitting to Ford 8/10 chassis or with a Tornado designed and manufactured chassis to which a range of engines and...
Trident
Trident (car company)
Trident Cars Ltd was a British car manufacturer based originally in Woodbridge then in Ipswich, Suffolk between 1966 and 1974 and again after being restarted in 1976 from premises in Ipswich...
Turner
Turner (car company)
The first Turner models were produced between 1951 and 1966 by Turner Sports Cars Ltd, a company established by Jack Turner near Wolverhampton, England. As well as complete cars, Turners were also available in kit form. The company closed in 1966 after the founder had a heart attack...
Ultima Sports
Unipower
Unipower
The Unipower GT was a British specialist sports car first shown at the January 1966 Racing Car Show, and produced by truck maker Universal Power Drives Ltd in Perivale, Middlesex and later by U.W.F...
Westfield Sportscars

Manufacturers in the UK are actively supported by Owners Clubs, some being marque specific, while others follow a specific type, such as Cobra replicas and others are area related.

United States

A glider kit

Vehicle glider

In automobiles, a glider is a vehicle without a powertrain . It is generally a brand new car, but a second-hand car can also be used...

is a term used in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

for a kit used to restore or reconstruct a wrecked or dismantled vehicle. Glider kits include a chassis

Chassis

(frame

Frame (vehicle)

A frame is the main structure of the chassis of a motor vehicle. All other components fasten to it; a term for this is design is body-on-frame construction.In 1920, every motor vehicle other than a few cars based on motorcycles had a frame...

), front axle, and body

Body

With regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death...

(cab

Cabin (truck)

The cab of a truck is an enclosed space in a truck where the driver is seated. The word originated as a short form of cabriolet, not cabin. Some may refer to the tractor unit of a semi-trailer truck as a cab, but this is not the subject of this article...

). The kit may also contain other optional components.

A motor vehicle constructed from a glider kit is titled as a new vehicle.

Examples of kit cars and glider kits include:

Blakely Auto Works
Blakely Auto Works
Blakely Auto Works was a manufacturer of automobiles and of kit cars, working from premises located in a series of US midwest communities including Princeton, Wisconsin in the 1970s and 1980s...
Bradley Automotive
Bradley Automotive
Bradley Automotive was created by Gary Courneya and David Bradley Fuller and sold the Bradley line of kit cars from their facility in Plymouth, Minnesota....
DDR Motorsport
DDR Motorsport
The DDR is a sports car manufactured by DDR Motorsport Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. The design is mid engined, rear wheel drive layout, with a tubular steel space frame chassis and fiberglass body....
Devin Cars
Devin Cars
Devin Cars, a company founded by American Bill Devin, produced various racing cars and kit cars in the 1950s and 1960s.-Innovations:The 1956 SCCA H-Modified National Champion was a Devin powered by a 2-cylinder Panhard engine modified with Manx Norton motorcycle cylinder heads...
Factory Five Racing
Factory Five Racing
Factory Five Racing, Inc. is an American automobile company that designs and manufactures assembly kits for replicars and sports cars.-Current models:...

- markets an AC Cobra replica and a design of their own, a GTM 200
Fiberfab
Fiberfab
Fiberfab was a kit car manufacturer founded by Warren "Bud" Goodwin in 1964. They got their start building street rod parts and body panels for Mustangs before moving on to kit cars....
Frese Motorcars
Frese Motorcars
Frese Motorcars, Inc. is an American automobile company that designs and manufactures assembly kits for '57 Chevy replicars.-Current models:The "kit cars" manufactured by Frese Motorcars are sold as components. They are not pre-assembled by Frese Motorcars...
Sterling Sports Cars
Sterling Sports Cars
Sterling Sports Cars is an American automobile company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that designs and manufactures assembly kits for replicars and supercars.-Current models:...

- Sterling car from the USA also known as the Nova in the UK
La Bala
La Bala
The la Bala is a homebuilt car designed and constructed by Steve Graber. It has a tube frame chassis with a Toyota 4A-GE engine in a mid-rear configuration, though most front-wheel drive engine configurations can be mounted in it. It was unveiled at the 2007 Knott's Berry Farm National Kit Car...
La Dawri
La Dawri
LaDawri Coachcraft based in Long Beach and later Los Alamitos, California, was one of the largest fiberglass sports car body companies in the United States during the rebody/specials craze of the 1950s and 1960s...
Lad's Car
Lad's Car
The Lad's Car was an American automobile built between 1912 and 1914. A 3 hp air-cooled, single-seater with belt drive, it was made by the Niagara Motor Co. of Niagara Falls, New York, and was advertised as "more a real working toy than a go-anywhere motor car".The car was also available in a...
McBurnie
McBurnie
McBurnie is a US bodywork company mostly known for their replicas of Ferrari Daytona Spyder. The Daytona replicas are based on the Chevrolet Corvette C3 and became very popular because they were featured in the TV series Miami Vice where the main character Sonny Crocket drives a black Daytona Spyder...
Meyers Manx
Meyers Manx
The Meyers Manx dune buggy was designed by Californian engineer, artist, boat builder and surfer Bruce Meyers. It was produced by his company between 1964 and 1971.The car featured a fiberglass bodyshell coupled with the Volkswagen Beetle frame and engine...
Brunton Automotive
Stalker V6 Clubman
The Stalker V6 Clubman made by Brunton Automotive is a kitcar replica of a Lotus Seven .The drivetrain is based on components from the Chevrolet S-10 two-wheel drive pickup truck as sold in the United States and Canada from the mid 1980s through the early 1990s. Older Stalker used the 2.8 or 3.4 l...

- V6 Roadster originally based on the Chevy S10.
Superformance
Superformance
Superformance LLC is a small American automobile company that builds, designs, and imports sports cars and replicars. The company was founded as "Superformance International Inc." by Hi-Tech Automotive Ltd. in 1996. Today, Superformance has 15 authorized dealers in the United States and 6...

- markets a Shelby
Carroll Shelby
Carroll Hall Shelby is an American retired automotive designer and racing driver. He is most well known for making Mustangs for Ford Motor Company known as Mustang Cobras which he has done since 1965...

-licensed AC Cobra replica

Kit vehicle

A kit vehicle is a wider concept than a kit car. A kit vehicle is a motor vehicle (car, truck or motorcycle) that is built by an individual instead of a manufacturer.

History

Australia

Germany

New Zealand

Sweden

United Kingdom

United States

Kit vehicle

See also