914 Kit Cars

[bowlsby]

I had a wild idea and thought I'd post this to the list to get your response.

These cars are great in so many ways because they can be stock drivers or wild racers and everything in between. For those into modifications, it would be hard to imagine a better basic platform to begin with, but original 914 cars in good condition are becoming rarer and rarer to find.

So why doesn't some company design a kit of interchangable parts to build up a custom kit car from scratch, based on and using the best design qualities of the 914 for all us weekend wrenches with big dreams? Similar to what the Beck Spyder crowd has done. A bolt together fantasy.

I can imagine a tube frame (preassembled like some dune buggies with a reinforced version for the street), removable fiberglass body panels in stock-slope nose-air dammed varieties, complete interiors and your choice of powerplants, trannies suspensions. Maybe a chopped version like the outlaw 356, and of course a ragtop version. How about a hinged or easily removable front and rear 1-piece body sections to completely open up the engine bay and front suspension? It might look like a 914, but it would be a different kind of fun.

I want mine to be an exact copy of the Piech flat eight.

What do you think?

[SummerSledSix]

Nice idea, I would love to work with something that didn't require so much rust prevention attention. What you're kinda driving at is a modular car design based on a proven platform, and with a few exceptions, the teener is effectively both, and a certified blast to drive. There are a few dedicated stalwarts out there (mostly on the shaky coast) that have converted teeners to electrics and hybrids who might be interested in the concept as well. Just about all the parts are out there now, though the tubular frame stuff isn't really a catalog item, unfortunately.
I believe Jegs has something loosely related to your idea as their "Jegster" drag racer, but it's not a street legal kinda thing, and that's where the $64K question is: if you built a modular car from the ground up, how do you assure the state you live in that you torqued all yer nuts to spec, it's clean, safe, not a menace to society, etc etc (forget the state; ya gotta get past yer wife first). Building the car is simple compared to the paperwork. How do the kit car weenies get past this stuff???

[bowlsby]

Don't know how the kit car guys do it but it must be achievable somhow. There are too many dune buggies kit cars and custom cars out there to not have a way to make it work. Probably an inspection at the police station or DMV.

[rfoulds]

I LOVE my 914. But, one of the most important things that endears it to me is, its CHEAP! With all the stuff I have done to return it to original specs, I am into it for less than $7k.

If a kit car came along with tube frame and fiberglass panels, it would probably be more like $15-$20k. Now, that might be okay for the racers, but that's not a mass market.

The appeal of kit cars is that it looks like a much more expensive car. If I was spending $20k, I would want it to look like a priceless 550 spyder, not a $5,000 914.

That said, I have come across a few tube frame 914's on the internet, and I wondered if anyone had a good set of plans for sale. If you could build a tube frame, and hang existing sheet metal panels and after market glas bumpers and such, you might have something. But I still think you would end up with close to $20k by the time you had the engine, and suspension sorted out. And the Beck Spyder can be had for $20k turn-key.

I just don't think enough people love the lines of a 914 to make it marketable. But if the prices of the originals keeps going up so much, you might have a case in 5 years or so.

[bowlsby]

You get the idea N'Orluns...

Not today...decent cars can still be had relatively inexpensively, but they are fading quickly. Except here in the Bay Area where we may see 40 914 cars at our meet tomorrow. In the RAIN.

Try to find an original 550 Spyder. Cheap. HA. Thats why the Becks sell, even though its rare to see one except at car shows.

I was hoping that the kit of unassembled parts might be $10-12 Grand or so, plus the labor by owner...but it would be a NEW car...no existing panels to find...maybe use existing plentiful parts...suspension and brakes and drive trains. A dune buggy frame builder could make a tube frame already assembled, after developing a prototype. All body parts would be fiberglass. Not likely an everyday car, not luxurious, but a great weekend car. These are pretty basic raw cars anyway, so the tradition would be extended.

The EV crowd could electrify them, the racers would mount a turbojet. It would take the 914 concept to new heights.

From the shaky coast...

[SummerSledSix]

Hey Dave or Wayne, any thoughts on this topic, P/P would have a unique view (and capability), owing to their knowledge of and presence in this market.

From the rusty coast...

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

As a general rule, we do not make parts. I was a bit surprised to see Wayne asking about interest in the GT-style flares (see another recent thread on this).

Producing parts always means a whole lot of $$$ is spent up front. Often, you have no idea if you can sell enough of the parts to make it to the break-even point. It's a gamble, and a pretty big one--ask the AA guys about that with their "9014" kit. The one that they wound up selling the molds for on E-bay for pennies.

I don't see the 914 "kit car" thing happening. I doubt there is enough interest on the part of enough people to actually enable the maker of the kits to break even.

I've been wrong before, though!!

--DD