Build me an old car

[vladcjelli]

Like many, I'm sure my distrust of high mileage, abused, thrashed or neglected older cars, puts me off buying something old but great.

So, as an alternative, what older cars can effectively be built like a kit car?

For an example, I think I recall seeing a programme on tv where someone (Mark Evans, MG is born?) was getting a new chassis made by a specialist firm. Which cars are available as parts from the ground up?

Can an armchair mechanic complete such a build? What sort of budget would you be looking at? Remortgage or overdraft levels of debt?

Just curious. (Hoping someone says VW Corrado :can't see a fingers crossed smiley: )

[TheStoat]

Land Rover and Minis of various flavours can be built from the ground up. Loads of restoration companies...

[morgrp]

Triumph Spitfire - Separate chassis - Can take the whole body shell off (old muscle car style) if you've the space and the equipment

Cheapish parts - BL simplicity and a great starter classic

et voila:




No restoration should be underestimated - they are often a life sentence - best option is to run something as a "rolling restoration" and buy something half decent and spend time improving it whilst enjoying it at the same time - I'd recommend maybe a MK2 Golf GTI or maybe MK1 Golf Cabriolet if you like your pleasures pram-like They have massive resources on the net for help and are generally reliable, well made and a pleasure to work on

Edited by morgrp on Monday 13th June 22:34

[vladcjelli]

TheStoat said:

Land Rover and Minis of various flavours can be built from the ground up. Loads of restoration companies...

Minis made me think of this as a thread after I heard Chris Evans talking to the guy who has restored the red, white and blue ones from The Italian Job on the radio this morning. Apparently using them for hire(?) all proceeds going to charity.

How much does a mini cost in parts form these days? Is an A-series engine buildable by a three thumbed monkey like me?

[gingerpaul]

Lotus Elan? Cool cars too!

[davepoth]

MGB - The whole thing can be bought off the shelf (apart from the rusty one you'll need for a VIN)

[Mr POD]

davepoth said:

MGB - The whole thing can be bought off the shelf (apart from the rusty one you'll need for a VIN)

IVA ?

[vladcjelli]

davepoth said:

MGB - The whole thing can be bought off the shelf (apart from the rusty one you'll need for a VIN)

Could you not register it as an entirely new vehicle, subject to SVA I would guess?

[LuS1fer]

Mustangs and the like but shipping is pricey. Year One do many cars.
http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/fbshopmain2.asp...

You can even buy a new Dynacorn shell:
http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com/classic2.html

[NelsonR32]

If you were considering a Corrado VR6 to build my advice would be to buy 2 cars for around £1500 each and from that start to build a good one out of the two.

The biggest issue surrounding running a Corrado nowadays (i've owned two, still own one) is parts supply, parts cost, bodywork issues (they don't realy rot, but they are 20 years old so do have rust) and insurance costs.

Alternatively, just avoid all that heartache and buy a minter. I seem to remember there's a 28,000 mile VR6 example on a classic car website for £7000 at the moment.

[GravyScape]

Kits from places like zcars are around 5 grand i think?

[davepoth]

vladcjelli said:

Could you not register it as an entirely new vehicle, subject to SVA I would guess?

No chance you'd get it through, it's all the wrong shape as standard.