Kit Cars

A kit car is an automobile that is available in kit form, which means that the client buys a set of parts and needs to assemble the car themselves. Usually many major mechanical parts such as the engine and transmission are taken from one or more donor vehicles. Kits vary in completeness from as little as a book of plans to a complete set of all the components required.

The definition of a kit car is usually taken to mean that a number of kits are produced by a manufacturer for sale to the public. A car built at home as a one-off to the designs of its builder is termed a Special.

Current kit cars are often replicas of well-known and 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.

Many car drivers 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 also use it on the public roads. They may also be worried that such a car would not subsequently pass the mandatory quality control (road worthiness test) that is required in most countries.

Several of today's sports car producers such as Lotus and TVR started as kit car makers.

Beach Buggies

Beach, or 'Dune' buggies with glass-reinforced plastic (fiberglass) bodies come in many shapes and sizes. The origional, The Meyers Manx dune buggy was designed by Californian engineer, artist, and surfer Bruce Meyers. It was built by his company between 1964 and 1971.

The car featured a fiberglass bodyshell coupled with Volkswagen Beetle frame and engine. It is a tiny car, with a wheelbase 14 1/4 inches shorter than a Beetle for lightness and better maneuverability. For this reason, the car is capable of very quick acceleration and good off-road performance.

The Meyers Manx received widespread recognition when it won the inaugural Mexican 1000 race, the predecessor of the Baja 1000 and beating motorcycles, cars and trucks in the process.

Approximately 5,000 of the original Meyers Manx dune buggies were produced, but when the design became popular many look-alikes (estimated at a quarter of a million worldwide) were made by other companies. Meyers tried to stop the copies by suing under the patent process but the patent was not upheld in court. Since then countless buggies continue to be produced today. Many people recognize this body-type simply as the "Dune Buggy" or "Beach Buggy"