I've always wanted to build a kit car. At least once a year I'll search the internet, read some books and research possible projects. It's always been more daydreaming than anything else but lately I've been looking for hobbies that I can enjoy without leaving the house. The wife and I both spend a lot of time working and I spend the rest of my time hanging out with my kids. My old hobbies (paintball, motorcycling, mountain biking, hockey, model cars and airplanes) require a lot of time away from home so I haven't been able to enjoy them for the last few years. 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. We all know how that worked out for Jack. I haven't been talking to invisible bartenders but it's just a matter of time.
The last time I fell into my kit-car-researching groove I came across a Dallas company (Lone Star Classics) that was advertising a 7-day-build-at-home program. I was never really a Cobra guy. I love Cobras but I love them from a distance. To me they're like a really good movie...I love watching them but I wouldn't enjoy seeing myself in one. However, I was so sold on the idea of a 7 day build in my garage (with an experienced factory builder with his own tools) that I was willing to overlook my Cobra reservations. I even drove an hour out of town with my son to catch a Lone Star Cobras get together and check out some examples of the final product. The cars were really cool and my son was impressed. My biggest problems were 1. they have no tops (I tan well but my wife and kids have the skin tone of the under-belly of a slug) and 2. The side pipes are really freaking loud. I love loud cars but my wife and neighbors probably won't so that's an issue. Still, I went from day-dreaming about a kit car to seriously-considering-a-kit-car at that get together. I had already pitched the idea to my wife as a possibility and she was cool with it. When I got home I told her that I really wanted to build one and she signed off. She liked the idea of the kids helping out, learning some valuable skills and achieving a sense of accomplishment when the car was finished and she also thought the Cobras looked pretty cool (not really her style either, but still).
I had a business to trip to Dallas scheduled a week after the Cobra trip so I called the Lone Star Cobra shop to see if I could come by and check out the operation. I also asked them how soon I could schedule a home build. Summer was right around the corner and I thought it might be cool to have the kids home for the entire project. To my disappointment the owner told me they had cancelled the home build program and replaced it with a 'build-it-in-our-shop' program. It seems it was really hard on the installers to be traveling all over the country. I understand where they're coming from but I wasn't as excited about staying a week in Dallas with my kids and not being able to share the build with my friends, neighbors and wife. Without the build-at-home program I was no longer willing to 'settle' for a Cobra.
I had decided I was going to build something. I just had to figure out what. There were two cars that I really liked and two more that I really, really liked. I love Porsche Speedsters and I always thought it would be cool to have a Lotus Super7 track car but neither of those blow up my skirt like the Sebring ZX Austin Healy replica and a Factory Five Daytona Coupe. Fortunately, (or unfortunately) I didn't have to spend much time weighing my options. The Sebring Austin Healy is already an expensive replica but after import fees (from England) and the Euro to Dollar conversion, it's astronomical. It's also based on European donor cars (actually European versions of American cars but I'm not willing to gamble that I won't have a very hard time sourcing proper parts). There's an Austin Healy replica built by a Florida company but I couldn't find anyone who had ever assembled one, there were several negative reviews of the company on the internet and the owner wasn't very confidence inspring over the phone so I chose the Coupe. Actullay, I think it's my favorite anyway. Besides, it has a roof and enough room under the hood for chambered mufflers (more about that later) so the wife and the kids (and the neighbors) should be happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment