The Kit Car Design Thread

[fuoriserie]

Here is another crazy concept car!!

www.magnasteyr.com/mila/popup.htm


Italo

[cymtriks]

Skelta...

From the limited views of the chassis it looks as if someone has actually done a decent job.

Considering how much bodywork is rumored to cost to get to production, figures of up to 250K have been bandied around on this forum in the past, you'd think that they'd get their monies worth. I certainly wouldn't pay to drive a car that looked like that!

I wish them well though, I always admire kit car makers for having a go even when I don't like the results.

[webrat]

Skelta... bloody revolting. Toowoomba - thats where the road signs say "koalas cross at night". Gunna have to change that to read "koalas cross eyed all the time".

Chassis looks Ok, though - hope they do well.

[fuoriserie]

JohnL,

You should have mail...

[fuoriserie]

I agree with the comments on the Skelta, the chassis looks very good and promising, but it is crying for more body styling options...

Different body shapes could be used over thei existing chassis, maybe less extreme.

Hope the best for them


Italo

[JenkinsComp]

fuoriserie said:

JenkisComp You have a very nice project going,and very powerful by the specs I've read! I would be interesting to see also your renderings for this chassis. The combination of engine and chassis looks very promising. Best of luck with your project. Italo

ernesto freitas said:

Hello. Good car you have over there. I have one project like yours...Well, probably not so expensive... You can have a look at my web page. Best regards from Portugal, Ernesto Freitas

Thanks guys, it's very interesting to see what other creative minded people are coming up with on this thread. I met with my engineer on Saturday, and we made plans for how we will create the body. We'll start with a flat floor to get the basic plan view shape, and build the body up from there (someone else on this thread mentioned that this process is called "lofting". All very low tech approcah to modelling the body at first - something I'd rather avoid, but it is cheap and does make progress.
So I have made a clay model, which looks a bit like a front engine rear drive version of an LMP3 or Supersports car cross bred with a 7. Slightly more full bodied than a Mallock or similar. Will try and get a picture scanned over to me of the clay model and I can put it up here. The idea is to make a full bodied car, but at first we will make it look 7-ish to develop the mechanicals.

Can I ask you Ernesto, what program do you use to make those lovely renderings of Victoria?!
She certainly looks good.
If anyone can recommend a firm that can turn sketches / models into a real car body, then I'd appreciate your suggestions.

[ernesto freitas]

Hello.

The 3D models were made using 3DStudio Max.
I'm going to make my own body plug in order to make the moulds and fiber parts...

Making a little of publicity, in fact I'm almost starting to make a full size body of a sports car for an UK guy.

It will have a 10L V8, 800BHP engine in it... Just imagine...

There will be lots of good news in the near future... ;O)

If you need any help, send me an email to [e-mail]

Regards from Portugal,
Ernesto Freitas

[webrat]

Has anyone had any thoughts on an updated E-type? I used to own both a hard and a soft top Mk1 and they were lovely cars, totally Freudian, but are now dated.

I must confess here that I failed Stick Figures 101 in 1st Year Kindergarten and have a remarkable inability to draw freehand sketchs of anything, let alone cars. I'm fine with a draughting board, but totally Yuk with free hand.

Would love to see what todays designers think of the da! da! 2005 totally Freudian E-type would look like. Does anyone have any drawings of the springing Jaguar to post?

[fuoriserie]

How about the new Michalak c7

www.thec7.co.uk/michalak_c7.htm

A real single donor kit

Looks very promising

Italo

[webrat]

The update on the late 50's XK150 at:

[url]www.wiesmann-auto-sport.de/eindex.htm [/url]

Still making my mind up about this one although there are some very good lines here I am not happy with the head or tail lights. Otherwise, it looks good.

[proeng]

We would like to introduce You the new project of kit-car designed by the group of students - ProEngineering Team. Please, feel free to visit our site: http://proeng.atspace.com and send us your ideas about the project. The project is almost done for today and maybe created soon.
Thank You very much, ProEngineering Team
http://proeng.atspace.com

[fuoriserie]

Proeng

Very interesting design, it is clearly inspired by the Smart roadster, but it has some nice design ideas, and it looks pretty futuristic.

What engine would you be using for this kit ?

Wish you guys the best of luck with the project, and will be waiting to see the first functional prototype.

Italo

[fuoriserie]

coming soon....

[fuoriserie]

almost

[apapec]

First... hello to all.
I'm first time on this forum.

I read that WEBRAT found some 3D and 2D plans for LOCOST cars.
I look all over the www and just can not find anything.

Is is possible that you share those files, Webrat? Or send it on email?

thx...
p.s. Sorry for my bad english.

Andrija

[cymtriks]

apapec said:

First... hello to all. I'm first time on this forum. I read that WEBRAT found some 3D and 2D plans for LOCOST cars. I look all over the www and just can not find anything. Is is possible that you share those files, Webrat? Or send it on email? thx... p.s. Sorry for my bad english. Andrija

Try the McSorley site

[webrat]

Hi guys, sorry about the loooooooooooooong time in replying. Had a minor problem with a hard disk that went wonky in the middle of a motherboard meltdown. It's taken a fair bit of time to recover the data from the "My Favourites" folder (actually, it took a lot of time to recover any data). New Rule Numero Uno - automatically back "My Favourites" up on every shutdown.

Plans for the Locost Chassis. I lost some of that info in the meltdown. I only have reference now to the Locost book and this web site - http://locost7.info/site_map.php - for some data on strengthening the Locost Chassis to meet the ADR (Australian Design Rules). There is a Yahoo group http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/L where there is lot of data in the thread.

WebRat

[trevorc]

fuoriserie said:

I kept the same proportion of the Aero 8, and in fact I used the Aero 8 pictures on Pistonheads as an underlay, and drew this new sketch.

Italo.... do you use a garphics package like Corel or Photoshop and the "underlay" is a layer you draw over top of ??

TC

[fuoriserie]

trevorc said:

fuoriserie said:

I kept the same proportion of the Aero 8, and in fact I used the Aero 8 pictures on Pistonheads as an underlay, and drew this new sketch.

Italo.... do you use a garphics package like Corel or Photoshop and the "underlay" is a layer you draw over top of ??

TC

No, I use an old technique, that predates Photoshop, but gives the same results. A cheaper way and you normally are very close in design shape to the final product. Simple but effective for this type of use.

I use a layer of Vellum paper, and draw the exact dimensions of the body, wheelbase and wheel size, then I design the new shape taking into consideration the original body.

I usually have reference pictures of chassis, engine and other technical illustrations that help me with the final design, so that the new design is buildable and not a far out concept.

With kitcars you have to take into consideration manufacturing and build costs, single donor use of various components, and other.

Your creativity and design will be based on a mix of these parameters, with the objective being, the best possible design at the minimum possible cost of manufacturing.

You will never have a concept kitcar, because build costs would be prohibitive for a small manufacturer, but creativity is key in mixing old components in a new way, or adding new ones to the mix.

Hope this helps

[trevorc]

fuoriserie said:

No, I use an old technique, that predates Photoshop, but gives the same results. A cheaper way and you normally are very close in design shape to the final product. Simple but effective for this type of use.

I use a layer of Vellum paper, and draw the exact dimensions of the body, wheelbase and wheel size, then I design the new shape taking into consideration the original body.

I usually have reference pictures of chassis, engine and other technical illustrations that help me with the final design, so that the new design is buildable and not a far out concept.

With kitcars you have to take into consideration manufacturing and build costs, single donor use of various components, and other.

Your creativity and design will be based on a mix of these parameters, with the objective being, the best possible design at the minimum possible cost of manufacturing.

You will never have a concept kitcar, because build costs would be prohibitive for a small manufacturer, but creativity is key in mixing old components in a new way, or adding new ones to the mix.

Hope this helps

Italo

It certainly does help. Your method is more like how I would do the initial sketches (that assumes that I can sketch - which I can't lol @ self).

I am not really considering 'manufacturing' a kit car, just in building somethings for myself and my own pleasure. My current thought is to use an existing chassis design, preferrably one that CAD plans are available for (such as at www.rorty-design.com/content/beetl or the grabber once it is available as a CAD package), otherwise an exisiting chassis like the Ultima's. Then I'll have to form and lay up the body design..

My inspirations are from two sources, the 70's and up Porsche racing prototypes (especially the 911 GT1-98) and secondly a bit of "what-if" alternative history, ie: what if Group B hadn't been cancelled, what would a Porsche Group B or the follow-on Group S mid-engine have been like? or, what if Targa Florio hadn't ended, what would a Targa GT1-98 have been ?

I very much admire your re-interpretation of the Speedster on your website. It fits very much in the spirit of where I am heading !!

I admire the work replica builders put into their projects, likewise kit builders, I'm just following my desires.

Again, thanks for your comments...

Trevor
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Edited by trevorc on Tuesday 18th July 16:10

Edited by trevorc on Tuesday 18th July 16:18