First ever kit car?

[GaryD1971]

So, Mrs D was going through some old photos and came across this little gem of myself and the aforementioned Mrs D in my first kit car - a Ron Champion Locost. Took me 3 years to build at a grand total of about  £1100! Mk2 escort running gear (1300 cc) with hand made aluminium panels and surprisingly effective fly screens! 

Would be nice to know what others out there had as their first kit car and if you have any old photos kicking around, please share!

[Quinten]

My first kit car...  Mind you, it was only 2013 when I stepped into this fantastical world 

[GaryD1971]

That's very nice Quinten. Lovely colour too. 

[Kingster]

I am impressed you built a "book" Locost. Takes a bit more skill and perseverance than a "kit" I reckon!

My first one is the one I have now. May be my last too as I have no intention of ever selling! 

[GaryD1971]

The perseverance was the main problem I found. It helped that a mate of mine was building a Locost at the same time as me, and we bounced ideas of each other, much like many of the members of this forum do now, but in the days before the www was as commonly used! I wonder if its a common thread that most wscc members are on their first kit car. I always aspired to own a Westfield, but as a youngster I couldn't afford any kit at all, let alone a Westie. I quickly realised that the only way I could enter this hugely entertaining world was to buy "the book" and do it as cheaply as possible. It also helped that I worked in an engineering workshop at the time. . 

I, also do not intend to ever part with my Westie. That also seems to be quite a common attitude amongst owners. 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

1 hour ago, GaryD1971 said:

I wonder if its a common thread that most wscc members are on their first kit car.

That's a little bit of an illusion brought about by the Boardroom, I suspect.

There are quite a few members on the Boardroom who are on there nth kit, some even their 2nd, 3rd or 4th Westfield even, but the Boardroom's more frequent users, outside a smallish group of long term owners, tend to be more recent owners getting into it for the first time, as you say. What it ignores though, is that the higer proportion of members don't really do the "on-line" thing; you'd be surprised how many of them have had several kits over the years..

[Yanto]

3rd Westfield in just over 3 yrs for me, I don't think I will get rid of this one.

No previous experience of kits apart from nearly buying a Dutton Pheaton when i was 20 yrs old, I also toyed with buying a kit (can't remember name) that was essentially a mini front sub-frame, engine and gearbox into a space frame with a single rear wheel making a delta trike.

Also when I was 20 I rebuilt a Triumph Toledo with Dolemite Sprint engine gearbox and running gear and interior, which I overhauled as much as i could manage including a total head rebuild with a skim and balance, i also fabricated a manifold to allow me to run quad SUs, fitting 4 SU carbs was challenging.

 

[chriss1455]

First kit car for myself was a 2005 pinto powered westy at the almost to young age of 19 

(Only photo i have of her)

 

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

I've been keeping this quiet, but can no longer hide it. Back in 1984 I built a Dutton Sierra Drophead,  I was young and foolish and didn't build it right. I rushed it and can honestly say that it was awful. It was built using a Ford Escort 1300E with a 1600cc crossflow  (haven't moved on far ) and never really worked properly, if I did it now things would be different. I ended up swapping it for a Mazda 323. 

[GaryD1971]

6 hours ago, chriss1455 said:

First kit car for myself was a 2005 pinto powered westy at the almost to young age of 19 

(Only photo i have of her)

 

At 19, I only had a fiat 127 sport!  Would've given my right arm for one of these...

 

1 hour ago, Robin (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO said:

I've been keeping this quiet, but can no longer hide it. Back in 1984 I built a Dutton Sierra Drophead,  I was young and foolish and didn't build it right. I rushed it and can honestly say that it was awful. It was built using a Ford Escort 1300E with a 1600cc crossflow  (haven't moved on far ) and never really worked properly, if I did it now things would be different. I ended up swapping it for a Mazda 323. 

This is actually what would now be called retro and probably quite cool!  Would love to see what kind of job you would make of it now...

[Thrustyjust]

This was my first car 

 

And this was my second one

 

 

[GaryD1971]

May be the camera angle Thrusty, but that top car looks tiny! Is that a pre-lit? Looks very proper and original Lotus like! 

And I'm a little bit in love with yellow Westies I'm afraid! Call me biased if you will, but that is very nice! 

[Thrustyjust]

Yes Gary. Had the pre-lit for many years and know where it is and a good friend with the owner, after I got in contact with him here. Yellow cars are nice, except when you fit bodywork on a sunny day, like I did on a mates Westie a few weeks ago and got insect attacked 

[GaryD1971]

lol! I'm having exactly the same trouble at the moment! The sunshine is lovely, but living out in the sticks surrounded by fields of farmy type  stuff is not great for yellow cars. I keep thinking I've chipped or marked the bodywork, and I thought I'd picked up some gelcoat crazing earlier this week, turned out to be a harvester spider! 

[Stuart]

This was my first attempt.  Built in 1976 for £350 inc 'car tax'.  In those days, if you paid that. it was classed as a new car and didn't need an MoT for 3 years.  No IVA, no SVA, no testing whatsoever.  So it ran with no handbrake for 3 years.  Then spent another £300 on new subframes and a GoldSeal 1100 engine.  Ran it for 9 years, did 92,000 miles in it then sold it for £850.  This pic is a little bit of a cheat 'cos it's from another owner in 2000; just before the car was exported to Milan, but it's the only digital one I have.  'Twas he who added the wheel arch extensions and the stripes.  It may still be being driven around Italy.  Oh, and the build instructions were 2 sides of A4