Kit car
Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor vehicles or purchased new from other vendors.
A subset of the kit car, commonly referred to as a "re-body", is when a commercially manufactured vehicle has a new (often fiberglass) body put on the running chassis.
Because the chassis and mechanical systems were designed, built, and tested by a major automotive manufacturer, a re-body can lead to a much higher degree of safety and reliability.
Car production had increased considerably and with rust proofing in its infancy, many older vehicles were being sent to breaker yards as their bodywork was beyond economic repair.
Fiber-reinforced plastic was coming into general use and made limited-scale production of automobile body components much more economical.
During the 1970s, many kits had bodies styled as sports cars that were designed to bolt directly to VW Beetle chassis.
Volkswagen-based dune buggies also appeared in relatively large numbers in the 1960s and 1970s, usually based on a shortened floor pan.
They are designed so that anyone with the right technical skills can build them at home to a standard where they can be driven on the public roads.
A common concern about kit cars is that it appears to many to be technically impossible to assemble a car at home and license it for public roads, including meeting standards for the mandatory quality control (road worthiness test) that is required in most countries.
Among these early manufacturers was Weltex Plastics Limited of Christchurch, which imported a Microplas Mistral sports car mould and began making bodies and chassis in 1956.
Graham McRae with Steve Bond of Gemini Plastics imported a replica Le Mans M6B styled GT mould in 1968, The cars were made and sold by Dave Harrod and Steve Bond of Fibreglass Developments Ltd, Bunnythorpe as the Maram.
A number of new companies entered the market in the 1980s – Almac 1985, Alternative Cars (1984), Cheetah (1986), Chevron (1984), Countess Mouldings (1988), Fraser (1988), Leitch (1986), and Saker (1989).
Some recent ones are Baettie (1997), which became Redline in 2001 and moved to the United Kingdom in 2007 as Beattie Racing Limited, and McGregor (2001).
Two companies who specialise in making replicas of various models to order are Classic Car Developments (1992) and Tempero.
Due to its light weight it achieves the same power output–weight ratio as Lamborghini Gallardo, Audi R8, or Ferrari F430 even with a 280 hp engine.
[7] Technically, kit cars are not allowed in Sweden, but provided that most of the components and material are sourced by the builder personally it is possible to register them as amateur built vehicles.
This has led to an expanding industry of small producers capable of offering partial and complete kits, some for export, and finished vehicles for domestic use.
[needs update] A significant number of kit cars do not receive a 'Q' registration plate, which signifies a vehicle of unknown or mixed age.
[8] If the age identifier assigned to a kit car falls before 1980 the vehicle may be road taxed free of charge.
