THE Miata thread
 

illest
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7e1ca1d9c3.jpg

For anyone interested is owning a nice one


https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...ata-m-edition/

Car gents:

Anyone ever looked into building a kit car? If (IF!) this airline thing turns around, thinking about heading to Michigan and enrolling in one of their kit car build classes.

Yeah, it's not a Miata. But it looks like fun, and seriously ... kit planes are $$$ and jebus I get enough of all that at work.

Plus, my wife is a "car gal" and might actually sign off on this; unlike a kit plane, which would be insta-divorce. Talk about $$$. Cheaper to keep her (and her me, I suppose).

Factory Five Racing

What am I missing? I drive a 20+ year old POS, but this looks like steel Viagra. (Not that that's necessary, you understand.)

I helped my dad build a 289 Cobra kit from Unique Motorcarsback in the late 90s. Highly recommend their kits! Still a lot of work however, depending on how nice you want the car to be. Think engine bay trim, wiring, interior, trunk, etc.

Even with a mild 289, it would haul ass, and the driving experience is unique for sure!

This class is fascinating and sounds fun as hell! I do Big big block muscle cars and would love to step into a closed wheel road class. Where do old vettes (88-98) fall? Those things are almost free now and c5’s had some good technology!

I've been looking. For me it's more a kids out of the house thing as I transition to retirement. Which is a few years away. I really like their 33 Ford. FFR has their own forums, there is at least one non affilated forum as well. I've learned quite a bit just reading. Appears to have a very friendly and helpful online community that would be key to my success.

The overall difficulty seems to be tied to how far from the "mainstream" you go with the motor and drivetrain. As well as if you use a donor car or buy new stuff.

I got up to 50k pretty fast, and that's without extensive paint/bodywork. It ain't a Miata.

My neighbor just did a Factory 5 Roadster after the class. Unless you routinely work on cars at least triple the build time the class puts out. I had an ERA 1964 FIA replica. Did the easy stuff but had a professional do the craftsmanship stuff. The good news is a well built one can hold value. Drove mine as a daily driver for 6 years. It had heat but no air. It was a furlough casualty. Couldn’t rationalize insurance on it as an extra car during that time. Sold it for what it cost me to acquire it. Not often you can say you you owned a car for 6 years for the cost of gas and insurance.

You might look at a Caterham 7. 40 to 100 hour build maximum. You can stay easily under $50 if you don’t get an exotic motor. Even with a completely unassembled cobra kit you will probably be over $50 with a mild engine. You can always go to a more complicated project later.


https://www.caterhamcars.com/us/models/assembly

If you happen to talk to him, could you share more details?

From the research I've done, I thought their estimates were reasonably accurate. So long as you didn't get too exotic on the drivetrain.

I'm years away from doing it, but the more I look into it the more intersted I get. I just need to ensure I know what I'm getting into

This is great stuff!

I had a sneaking suspicion that the $20k base price for a kit car seemed deceptively low. Kind of like the kit plane entry level that rapidly goes through the roof $$$ when you start adding little add-ons like an engine and an avionics package. Still $50k for a tricked out little show-off car doesn't seem wildly off base.

Looks like a great hobby, and a good way to stay out from the significant other's footsteps when heading to work is not an option. Maybe when the world returns to normal and the extra cash isn't going to beans, bullets, bullion, and bandages.

Beans are holding steady, but bullets have doubled in price since March.

I think $50k isn’t out of the ballpark these days.
Kit - $20k
Engine/Trans - $10k min
Paint/body - $10k min
Wheels/tires - $2k min
That leaves $8k slop.
Probably a solid number overall.