What is a Kit Car?

Article by Pete

A Kit Car is a car purchased in kit form and built by the owner. There are many types of kit available on the market ranging from sports cars to off road vehicles. The common aspect that they all have in common is self build, whereby the owner constructs the kit in a garage or workshop.

There are many types of Kit Car available on the market today, with many being replicas of other production cars. Two of the most common models available are replicas of the Lotus Seven and AC Cobra. However, there are kits for plenty of other road and race cars including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and Porsche. The list is almost endless and there are multiple manufacturers in some categories.

How do you build a Kit Car?

Building a kit car is dependant on the type of kit purchased. A 'Full Kit' will usually include all of the components required to complete the build. This includes chassis, engine and gearbox. Cars offering a 'Full Kit' option can sometimes be those towards the higher end of the pricing spectrum.

It's also possible to buy kit cars in part form. And it's this approach that many manufacturers preferred in the early days of Kit Car manufacture and design. Kits sold in part form require what's known as a 'Donor Car'. The donor car will, as its name suggests, be harvested for a number of its parts to complete the build.

Typically a part kit will take an engine, suspension and drive train from a donor car, meaning that components such as the chassis and bodywork are provided in the kit. Popular donor cars of choice over the years have been the Ford Sierra and Toyota MR2.

Other Kit Cars, such as Ferrari and Lamborghini replicas may source a higher number of components from a donor car. With some using the original car's chassis and componentry and adding to it revised bodywork and interior (seats, dashboard etc).

The origin of Kit Cars

The concept of building a car rather than buying one complete goes back throughout the history of cars. However the forefather of the modern kit car is often seen as being Lotus engineer Colin Chapman.

In the late 50s Chapman developed a new model of car for British sport car manufacturer Lotus. Called the Lotus Seven, it was designed to be a lightweight and affordable sports car that would give be exciting to drive while also being well suited to low cost motorsport.

With a focus on keeping costs down and the engineering simple, the Lotus Seven was built around a basic chassis and simple components. Additional luxuries, such as doors and a roof, were removed to reduce weight and cost.

Lotus only developed the Seven to a certain point, although it gained a keen following in its early years.

The main Kit Car manufacturers?

Once Lotus had decided to finish developing the Seven, they sold the manufacturing rights a small motorsport specialist called Caterham. Keen to make the Seven even more accessible to the public, Caterham went on to manufacture their own version of Colin Chapman's design famous design.

With the Seven's clever yet simple design, Caterham were soon able to manufacture and sell it in a basic kit form. This enabled the general public to buy a bespoke Seven, in parts and then assemble it their self.

As time went by, the Caterham Seven grew in popularity, and soon more manufacturers were granted permission to manufacture cars inspired by Chapman's iconic design including Westfield, Robin Hood (now Great British Sport Cars) and Dutton. The UK is also the home to a number of other major Kit Car manufacturers including MK, Dax and Sylva, many of whom draw influence from Chapman's early work.

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