Enough to make a Porsche purist's head explode...
 

What are these? Who the hell buys/builds this stuff?

http://www.covin.co.uk/home_page.htm


For the time and money spent preparing something like you could
A) build your own, uniquely styled kit car
B) restore an actual Porsche

And some people don't like the idea of a LS1 in a 944 or 928... but at least you still have good handling and a fun, fast car if you do that.

These things look like they have tractor motors in them.

I just don't get some people. Don't get me wrong, those cars look beautiful (as any 930 does) but honestly it's like those people who spends thousands and thousands turning their Fiero into a Lamborghini...

Confused. These a 911s that they strip down and make into Turbo look alikes, yes?

No.. it seems they are kit car-like builds utilizing a square tube frame underneath and fiberglass panels taken off molds to look like a 930.

I have a hard time believing that one of these, up close, in person, would not feel like a cheap toy.

No, they is VW's they strip to chassis and build a replica on. Weird.

With a 4 banger and Type 3 brakes... :eek::eek:

technically the idea is no different then many of the 550 or 356 speedster replicrap based on a Vw chassis...Make something to look like something it's not.
But it just shows why replicrap really makes Baby Jezus cry... and he cried a lot over the Covin's already, as he did for the 550 and 356 replicrap cars...

Most of the 550 rep's i've seen have nice, built, 180HP+ type 4's in type 4's in them.

A lot of these have filthy, eurotrash iron block inline 4's out the ass.

One fellow did it right it seems and threw a 930 3.3L in there. Which still begs the question- if you can afford to go through that much trouble, you can afford to buy the real thing.

Torsional rigidity of these boats must be absolute nill. But I guess torsional rigidity doesn't mean crap when the suspension can't corner worth anything anyways.


I'm all for building kit cars and homebuilts, but it should be done right a-la Lotus Seven-esques and 550's with 3.6's in them... :-)

Check out the prices of 911's in the UK sometime, it might make more sense to you then.

Also the insurance cost on a real 911 is a killer, or so I heard. For me it's no different than any other replica, maybe we're just spoiled here what with everyone driving one Porsche or another, but it's just a different scale of things.

It's weird.

To me, a kit car is either something unique....or something unobtainium.

A 911 is neither...lots were made and lots are available in various states of disrepair that one could pickup a real one and rebuild/restore probably for equal money as one of those.

It's like steven wright's joke about getting a full body tattoo of himself, only taller.

Underneath it's still just a bug...and outside....it looks like a rather common car for most people to see.

It somehow reminds me of that body kit to make your miata look like a BMW Z3....mehhhhh.


Seen them before and have yet to understand it.....

A 550 replica is a serious car that I would consider owning. Even a 356 replica is a fairly close approximation of the real deal.

I'm not too attracted to these puppies though. To each his own...

looking for the positives; they list the curb weight as 1500 - 1725lbs in the technical section. If the car had a cage in it for safety and rigidity they could be quick with a decent engine.

I would have no hesitation in building a lotus 7 replica but for a 911 I think you would be miles ahead just to buy a real one.

Ha Ha ,
Not a lot of positive comments for a car that that means a lot to some people.
Some of these cars looks better than some real Porsches.
I own a real 911 and also owened and built a Covin Cabrio some time ago and will build one any day again.
Not everybody is so lucky to pick up a cheap car and then restore it at an affordable price.
Here in South Africa a Porsche is an expensive car with about 100% tax mark up on the price. Cars therefor dont get dumped at the end of their life cycle but get snapped up and reworked to return to the streets--- in a legal or ilegal way --- Prices for old worn down cars are probibly higher than what you Americans and Canadians pay for good well looked after cars.
In America Porsches are cheap and freely available and it is probibly easier to restore than building a kit car. It is actually a different experience and can be fun to produce something from nothing and make it look better than the real thing.
I lost my Covin kit car project in a run away fire a year ago after I pumped a lot of money into the project.
I dont see a problem with a replica car as long as you dont try and introduce it as a real Porsche.
By the way they some came out on purpose build frames others was mould to take either a shortened beetle or type 3 vw floor pan. Gearboxes are mainly aircooled vw or Porsche and engines are up to the builder with any air cooled vw,Porsche or Subaru the favourites.
So its horses for courses and it is just as much fun to build a covin --which by the way is a very high quality body -- than to rebuild an oldPorsche.

Here is an examle build out of nothing by a very proud owner and the car that inspired me to also build one http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1251041822.jpg
My car when it arrived at my house.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1251041993.jpg

All anyone has to do if they're skeptical about "kit cars" is look at the Lane's speedster.

i beg to differ, the fact that they are built to be cosmetically like a Porsche when they are not, to me means they try to introduce themselves as a real Porsche, to whoever sees em on the road...
Maybe it would be better if they have some speed striping written on the side, in big fluorescant letters " COVIN " or "FAKE PORSCHE"

I can understand it to some level with the 356 speedsters and the 550's... But it just generally bores me that each time i see some nice car like that, i have to ask the owner "is it a real one ?!?!?"... with 9/10 of the time, it ain't.

but 1/10 , asking the owner means you pretty much gotta ask him if he drives a fraud or the real thing, which i'm sure must be tedious if indeed he does drive the real thing..

Poin taken Stijn,
But what would you call me then if;-
I built a RS replica ,all fibre glass, on a original 3.2 boby
I take up metal shaping and reproduce a complete alluminium 911 body
I restore a rust bucket and I relace 80% of the body with new plate bought from China
Would I still be a cheap cheat.
cheers
baron

Some of them look pretty darn good. I bet most "normal" folks wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

What I don't get is why the Porsche lawyers haven't shut them down. I mean nothing else looks that close to the original car. Most other relicars built on stock chassis have some detail that you can pick out pretty fast.

I think the kit cars of the Speedsters and the 550 Spyders are way cool but pretty everyone knows they are not built anymore.

1, fine, it came out of the factory in Stuttgart, RS'es at one point started out on the same metal press as the "ordinary" 911's did.. same unibody , different finish.
So an RS replica to me is not a replica, but a clone... All Porsches in their heart have the RS spirit in them... maybe not the Pepper wagon, not sure on that one yet :D
They all do well when lightened, and made more dedicated to track or rally or whatever...

2, good luck trying, but it will still be replicrap to me

3, fine, it came out of the factor, steel is steel.. if you're comfortable with the chinese platesteel, and it fit's the car the way it supposed to fit.. eg, if it's the right thickness, shape and size for you to build that Porsche so it looks like a good restoration... why not.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1251041822.jpg

http://static.marktplaza.nl/images/1/88/8449288.jpg

convertible roof line sit's wrong... there's the detail, picked out pretty fast

If I was somehow forced to live in such a place, I would forget about cars and just save every cent that I could get my hands on to buy some fake documents and a plane ticket out of there. I just can't imagine living in one of your countries where the citizens do not revolt at 100% taxes on anything. Those are not the kind of people I want to live amongst.

Just a hypothetical question: At what point would people there revolt? A 100% tax on the 100% tax? A 200% tax on the extra 100? :rolleyes: Do they tell you that it's the greatest country on earth? Just wondering...

I agree but you are a Porsche guy so would know that. I thought his car looked pretty cool but I am not into cabs so it doesn't peak my interest as much as a coupe.

As long as they are not selling them off as Porsche cars I don't really care.

It's not quite so black and white (if you'll pardon a bad South African pun).

I've lived in a number of countries that have a 100% tax on imported cars. (Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia)

In fact in Singapore and Hong Kong the tax is closer to 150%—or even 200%. Both are small islands, and both want to discourage car ownership as much as possible because of the congestion.

Of course Hong and Singapore both compensate with low income taxes. Really low in the case of Hong Kong. And Singapore compensates with outrageous women. And all these countries have sensational food.

So you really have to look at places in the round to decide whether they are worth living in or not. ( For example, I don't think I've ever lived better than in Singapore or Hong Kong.)

BTW that blue cab looks all wrong. As though it were slightly compressed. (Front and back overhangs are slightly short.)

I wouldn't have a problem with building.owning a one-off, 4130 Tube-frame/carbon fiber monocoque flat six powered car that had a lightweight 930 body for racing purposes. Something hardcore.


But doing it all just to throw in a 1.5L 4cyl truck motor and crappy type 3 suspension.... naah.

Again, I'm not disagreeing that some of those people put together what look to be very pretty cars. On the outside.

Exactly! I moved to the USA from the UK and would never have seriously considered being able to own a 911 there. First you have to find a nice one that isn't rusted to crap, then you have to abe to afford it.

I think these kits are built on their own chassis and have a Ford or similar four cylinder engine in the back. It ISN'T a VW chassis and VW flat four.

I think the attraction to a lot of people who build these these is three fold;
1) You start off with a rot-free chassis
2) It's relatively affordable to build
3) Uses reliable and readily available parts

I wouldn't want one myslef but I can see why people would do it. We are spoiled over here with a plentiful supply of decent cars, that helps keeps the prices relatively affordable.

There's still a couple of buildings who put 356 replicas on VW chassis, but the rest have long ago abandoned that silly stuff. One of the best reasons to continue to do this is for ease of registration. It most states, it remains the the VW original VIN and registration is a cakewalk.

There is one 550 maker who uses the pan - that's Perry. They are pretty low end and obviously rear engined. All the other 550 makers use tube frame chassis and the engine is properly placed amidship.

The only VW part on our car is the fuel tank and about 12" of the upper steering column. The rest of the car is 911 or 914, steering rack, brakes, transmission, and engine. My favorite 356 builder is a tube frame user who uses 911 suspension, steering, brakes, transmisison and the engine for his very high dollar cars (Intermeccanica with the "6" option). Starting at 60,000 us dollars and strolling to the northside of 100,000 dollars. Yes, you read this right. $100,000 for a replica car. Entirely handbuilt to your specifications and exquisite in every detail. But they are 100K.

Worth 100K? I did get to drive one a few months ago. An absolutely exquisite Motronic 3.2 powered car with a Wevo enhanced 915, 911 brakes, steering etc., all hand stitched leather, etc. Good a/c and heat, all the good bits. It drove like an EXTREMELY fast, flawlessly sorted high performance 911, but looked like a 1950's 356 speedster. I've been priviledged to drive a lot of nice cars in my life and without reservation will tell you this was the finest all around vehicle I have ever driven. I could never afford it, but it was without question worth the 100K admission price.

The market has moved upscale for 550 and 356 replicas. There's still room for the entry level Perry (pan 550 with rear engine), but after that, the well heeled and descriminating individual can and does pay a great deal more...

Oh and for the record? We have NEVER introduced our car as anything but a replica. It's a replica. It's fake. It will tear the testicles off of a real one...

angela

I've been around a bit and cannot imagine a city with better food or more beautiful women than Los Angeles. It's absolutely filthy with both and it's in the United States. I've also live in NYC, (in the west village), and my bro has an apt. in the 5th in Paris. I'd love to visit Singapore some day but SE Asia is actually higher on my list. (Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand). The women of that region are insanely beautiful. (When they are).

I just have a concept of what I consider confiscatory taxation and I would never subject myself to it willingly. Why buy a regular old 911 for Ferrari 430 money? That's like wanting fresh-caught lobster in Des Moines, Iowa. It's stupid. :cool:

see, you can't make this point with me.. it no longer has the flaws that the real thing does. You're just pointing out more things that are wrong with the idea.
it has fine leather, AC and heat...
So it's not VW chassis based, that don't mean much other that it's a refined fake.

a 550 ain't about leather interior or AC, it was not designed or built for that.
And if it's that good, make it a car of it's own, with a design of it's own...


So now the point can be brought, but what if it was completely true to the 550 design? well, then it's just a better fake... Like a Mona Lisa that has been made to be an exact copy, stroke by stroke... Still fake, still worth eff all to me...


I'de rather spend my money on a 924 then spend any money on something that ain't real.

And if i cant' afford a 924 , i'll have to settle with something else...

right now, i'm working on my house, but i'll get me another Porsche as soon as possible, a real one, won't be new, it will have flaws, and if they can be fixed, i'll fix em... if they are part of the design, i'll learn to to get used to em, some i might even learn to love... That's what it's about.

for 100K, i'm sure there's plenty of choice of real cars, without having to resort to something that's just an expensive fake...

I think some of those Covins look pretty nice.

I'm glad you mentioned Intermeccanica. ( www.intermeccanica.com)
They're built right here, not far from where I live, and I occasionally stop by to check out their latest builds. The place is a real treasure. I swear I will drop some serious money there one of these days.

I think it's nuts to consider all cars based on older designs "replicrap". In England there is a huge cottage industry turning out exquisite modern and useable copies of older machines. Bentley's, C-types...you name it. I had the pleasure of driving a Lynx C-type once, and would give my left nut for one of those. These cars are usually much more useable than the genuine article. I know a couple of collectors there who park their originals and drive the crap out of the copies. And why not?

Of course in England these are considered "bespoke motorcars". Not "replicrap".

This is a really silly comment.

I think I'll have that Lynx C-type or that Intermeccanica Roadster—and you can have your 924.

And I'm pretty sure that I will prefer my reality to yours.

You've got the maker right. I wasn't going to mention names, but yes, it is Intermecanicca or more commonly called an "IM".

They are the equivalent of a fine hand sewn suit built in exactly the style you love but with modern touches gracefully folded into the cloth. When you have an IM built, you aren't just buying a car. You are commissioning a fine piece of useable art.

I can't afford one, even a used one. That doesn't stop me from trying to figure out HOW I can afford one... One lucky lottery ticket that's all I need...
:D

angela

I'm loving my replicrap VW pan-based wannabe '57 speedster copy. I can't wait to upgrade the brakes and steering, and then to move on to building a full chromoly DOM tube framed chassis on the next one. I might even do a mid engined car.

These cars (speedster replicas) are cheap. The parts for them are all cheap and available. Your 924 trailing arms and brakes are VW parts anyway, and a direct bolt on for the IRS beetle chassis in my garage, so go ahead and laugh away :)