Robin Hood

[benadams]

I have been told that i should stear well clear of buying a Robin Hood kit car. However my budget is pretty low and to be honest all i will be using it for is hurtling around the B Roads on a nice hot summers day. Maybe the odd track day here and there but nothing more.

With this in mind should i still stear clear of a robin hood or should i just go for it??

Thanks

Ben

[Liszt]

I would look at a locost if I was you.

There is a place for RH but in my opinion they are a bit fugly and a bit to agricultural.

[benadams]

i cant find a locost for sale anywhere at the moment!

[tuscan_v8]

What is your budget?

[benadams]

£3000 - £4000

[tuscan_v8]

Sometime I've seen Tiger Cat E1 for sale at that price (it is alots better than Robin Hood)

Good luck on hunting it.

[Liszt]

Should be able to get a Tiger cat e1 or a Tiger Avon for that sort of money.

[benadams]

all the tiger e1's i have seen rescently have gone for just over £5000

[busa_rush]

benadams said:

I have been told that i should stear well clear of buying a Robin Hood kit car.

If you want to do track days you *will* regret buying a RH, they are a very cheap, almost nill design car for driving, slowly, to the pub on Sunday. Tiger, Luego, Locost etc will be 500% better, make you proud.

[Liszt]

What about this:
www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/68175.htm

There are a couple of Cats that have been sold recently for the 4 grand mark.

[remal]

I have a Tiger SuperCat and the are very good. I have seen them avalible in your price range.

Go here for more into on Tigers if you are interested

www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/mb/viatron

the main Tiger forum

regards


>> Edited by remal on Friday 17th March 11:30


Also my Brother who I built my Tiger with me, is building for his boss a Robin Hood. And he told me he would never buy one himself as they are not that good. personal opinion from some one who has built both a tiger and robin hood

>> Edited by remal on Friday 17th March 11:31

>> Edited by remal on Friday 17th March 11:32

[busa_rush]

www.pistonheads.com/sales/50290.htm

Bit higher than stated budget but this would be an excellent choice for a general purpose kit, looks good enough to use out of the box but lots of upgrade potential or easy to swap engine to something faster if you feel the need but certainly fast enough to have some fun right now.

[alant]

Everyone seems to slag Robin Hoods off but the majority seem to be people who have never had one.

I had a Robin Hood Exmo, which is probably the heaviest and most agricultural of them all, and spent 4 years driving it in all weathers including a trip to Le Mans for the 24 hours.

It never let me down and was used regularly for work.

Having driven a selection of cars, including having new merecedes and BMW's it was by far the most fun to drive and always put a smile on my face.

It handled extremely well for what it was, and that is the important factor - if you want a track car for the road then buy one and pay the price, if you want something that looks differant from the average car and is fun to drive and your budget is £3 to £4k then buy a Robin Hood and enjoy it.

When I came to sell mine it was advertised in that price bracket and I received 42 phone calls with the first caller, on the day it was advertised giving me the full asking price.

So again they seem to hold there money ok

[dino ferrana]

Thing is have you ever drive a proper Seven or decent immitation? The only thing Hoods and other Seven type vehicles share in characteristics is the basic overall shape. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that the suspension comes from the donor car?

So basically you are using a suspension system desinged for a car that is a different shape, heavier, designed as a family car, designed a long time ago and has been used extensively already. Doesn't sound ideal for handling purposes.

Also someone recently posted on here that RH had admitted to them that the Stainless Steel chassis often suffers fatigue!

[annodomini2]

dino ferrana said:

Thing is have you ever drive a proper Seven or decent immitation? The only thing Hoods and other Seven type vehicles share in characteristics is the basic overall shape. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that the suspension comes from the donor car?

I believe there are 2 versions, the cheaper one which uses the above and a more expensive one which uses coilovers.

[remal]

dino ferrana said:

Also someone recently posted on here that RH had admitted to them that the Stainless Steel chassis often suffers fatigue!

the one my brother is building is starting to rush in the joins and he has only just strted his build. had it for about 2 months

[RushV8]

Twas I that posted a note re: fatigue failures of the folded Stainless tubs. I have been misquoted though, I said I had manged to get the MD of Robin Hood to one side at the Donnington Kit Car Show in 1997, and told him I was a Degree level metallurgist working for British Steel (as it was at the time), and that I wanted truth about whether he had any complaints for cracking of the stainless "monocoque" tubs, since stainless is known to suffer metal fatigue in welded or folded fabrications. He said (out of earshot of the rest of the punters) " we have had a few, but they were from early cars". From that I took it that there would be more complaints in the future unless design changed or he used a more ductile lower alloy stainless (more prone to pitting corrosion which is just as serious a problem !). Talking to owners I found that the use of cortina track rod end to act as an anti-tramp ficture for the rear diff wwas also a dogs-brekfast and prone to failure / a cause of vibration under acceleration. Also I wanted to put a Rover 4.6ltr V8 in it, and only one I saw had the engine mounts turned upside down so the mounted the engine stright through the vertical sides of the tub in the engine bay ... v.flexible / bendy mounting.

Suffice to say I chose a Dax Rush V8, and now enjoy real quality motoring. I'd not advocate a Robin Hood other than for posing / cruising.... but each to their own.

[tvr_nut]

RushV8 said:

Suffice to say I chose a Dax Rush V8, and now enjoy real quality motoring. I'd not advocate a Robin Hood other than for posing / cruising.... but each to their own.

Mark???

I have been busy on the Griff forum - see post about suspension bolts- ARGHH!

Neil.

[alant]

Hi,

If question re: "have you ever driven a proper 7 type" was aimed at me answer is yes - Caterham, and also driven a friends Elise, but that is exactly the point I was trying to make, if you want a car that performs like that buy one and not a Robin Hood, if you want to put in a V8 and can afford it by a Dax.

I would have loved to have bought a Dax, or even an Ultima, but only had Robin Hood type money and simply wanted something a little differant from the ordinary and that I could say I built myself.

I don't go to the shows anymore, except Donnington last year as I went to pick up my latest kit but certainly when I used to go regularly it was usualy RHOCAR that had the best turn out, they can't all have got it wrong surely.

They also had a very active website and if anyone is considering an RH then I would certainly look on there for advice / comments first - they were always a very honest and helpful bunch when I used to use it regularly

[RushV8]

I'm not trying to simply slag off Robin Hoods, but want to make sure Ben / any other youngsters considering owning such affordable fun, but dreaming of "blasting down B roads / occasional track days" realise that there are some technical shortcomings on the Hoods basic design and materials choice. As such they are not an ideal car to drive balls-out, especially on uneven surfaces or tracks ( I have been passenger in one on a track and the experience was both enjoyable and frightening at the same time). They are a nice looking car, and tempting at such reasonable prices, and OK if you want some fun, but not ideal for on-the-limit driving. Any RH will still be quicker accelerating and cornering than mainstream "sportscars" like the MX5, MR2, or MGF , and at a fraction of the price. As for "if you want to put a V8 in a 7" , don't forget Tornado and Westfield , their 7s are pretty similar in quality / spec to the Dax .I chose Dax for the shape and the fact that they tend to turn out as more individual cars (v. few Rush builder buy all parts from Dax due to cost and the flexibility of the kit)so seem more "individual".

Hope Ben makes a good decision, and finds a car that suits his needs, and if that's a Robin Hood then great. Advise anyone to think carefully though, as Kit Cars are not always easy to sell, and nobody is interested in them as part-x against normal "tin-tops" : get the best one you can for the money, and do a very thorough test drive, and don't let you heart rule your head..... and most importantly don't buy any soft top unless it (a) has a roll bar or 2 roll hoops , or (b) that you WILL fit one before driving it hard.