was watching the speed channel the other night. had a show on about Shelby Cobras. i guess i didn't realize they only made a few hundred of those. anyway, show said you never (almost never) see a real Cobra on the street. they're too valuable. ones on the street are all reproductions, kit cars made from scratch. made me wonder, are their corvette "kit cars"? how much does it cost to build one? if not, why not?

 

I doubt there are any corvette kit cars. No need for them. You can pick up a beat up corvette for cheap, and restore it how you want it and probably still be below the price of the kit car. Kit cars also lack the small details that production cars have.

 

I've seen a few on E-Bay (typically drag cars or some wacked VW conversion). You can purchase all the body panels from the catalogs and put together your own "kit". Not sure what chassis you'd put it on. A C4 chassis would make the most sense...high(er) tech guts combined with pleasing outward looks.

Why do you see replica Cobra's and not replica Vette's? Did you ever price a real Cobra?

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

well, you can do a grand sport replica from a 63-82 frame

thats about as "kit" as you can get with a vette

 

About 10 years ago I saw a Corvette kit car. It was a 67'. You had to use an 80's GM car like a Regal. It looked horrible.

Steve

 

there are 56-62 kit cars, I was looking at them for my dad, as he's always wanted a 57. they put alot of c4 stuff in it.

 

Check out superformance shelby kit cars... they are awesome... right near my home too... I would take one anyday... georgeous autos...

 

The nicest Cobra replicas are from Poland and S. Africa. You're talking maybe 6 figures for those. Originals are around and many are raced and quite aggressively. A "few hundred" is suspiciously low - I think they made a significantly larger quantity over the course of about 6 or 7 years they were sold to the public thru Ford. There's about 8 or more legit manufacturers in the US. They can't call them "Cobras" due to the settlement agreement w/ Carol. You pay for two biggees... a good stout frame w/ minimal deflection and IRS. Personally I'd go for a reputed good frame but could probably live w/o the cost/complexities of IRS and go for a live axle - cheap and can be set up pretty good at least for my needs. I'd ball park one you do yourself starting in the mid to high $20s minimum and they only go up from there. Probably safer to say $30K as an 'average' if such a thing exists in this world. If one can be done for much less it may be of dubious quality or you're forgetting a ton of nickel dime stuff or have an angle on a free Mustang donor or your own paint/body shop or a final car that involves significant compromise like cheap guages and wheels... Or a slightly used or uncompleted one - those might be the only 'relative' bargains?

A Corvette kit car? Hello... the C3 IS ALREADY a kit car! albeit pre-assembled (well not always)

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ElCid79 - If SuperPerformance is just down the road - I didn't know you hailed all the way from S. Africa!

 

obviously it wouldn't make any sense to have a C3 L48 car kit. i was thinking more along the lines of a replica 63 split window or a 53/54 or a C2, L88, vettes that sell upwards of 100K (sometimes 200K).

 

I saw one of these at a cruise-in in Cleveland, Ohio. It was on a '78 Malibu frame with a 229ci V6. The windshield was more vertical and a lot of the body lines did'nt look right. Guy though he had something there. I thought he just had a piece of **** that resembled a '67 Corvette There also was a company doing '53/'54s too, but I don't recall seeing one of those up close.

 

I love this - If I had about $100K lyin around Id have my "kit"

http://da-corvette.com/pricing.asp

 

Vettes are even cheaper than Cobra kits...crazy man, crazy.

 

$70K to "remanufacture" a "Shark" Corvette??? -I "remanufactured" my '75 in the last 10 months and even made it a 4spd car for $2700

 

You can build a Factory Five Racing Cobra kit for around 30-40K. They are about the most common. Superformance and ERA kits are top-shelf and run between 40-60K depending on drivetrain, paint, and wheels. The correct side-oiler FE engine is pretty spendy...think ZL-1 spendy. The correct Halibrand pin-drive wheels are also pretty expensive. You all know what good paint costs on a curvy fiberglass body.

I priced an ERA before I got my '68 Vette. I optioned it with a 428 FE engine, Top-loader, decent paint, and Halibrand wheels. Price was reight about 50K. I have a friend with an ERA who did stainless exhaust and a proper 427 side-oiler and show-quality paint. He's a little over 60K. They are VERY correct cars and DON'T lack the details of the production cars. They actually prefer to be called replicas, not kit-cars.

 

These guys make a '53 replica. http://www.encorekits.com/

 

Why not? There's only several 100,000 C3 L48 'kit cars' already in circulation. And most are already in some state of pre-assembly too! Got one myself if I may say so.

Yep - that's probably about right. You 'might' squeeze it for a tad less. FFR is probably one of the cost leaders for legit mainstream replica makers and they only get more expensive from there.

(Crazy as it may sound - I think I'd seriously consider shooting the paint myself and going w/ a flattened paint and the rat-rod look - then I wouldn't be paranoid about scratches or chips and just drive da sucka)

In the past there have been some pretty shady operations giving this small industry a bad name which usually starts w/ too good to be true pricing and gets worse from there... But hopefuly the schlocks have been weeded out - things like the web and a maturing of the industry has probably helped a lot.

 

I liked the 53 body on C5 chassis kits. The one I saw looked pretty good. Joe