The Price Of His Toys Returns


We’re big fans of scratch built transportation and got some great news earlier this month: After a long hiatus, thepriceofhistoys.com has returned and is ready to serve up all the news about kit cars and home-built cars that you could want. For those who don’t know, kit cars are sets of car parts that require assembly often lacking drivetrain components, which must be acquired from donor vehicles. Aside from kit cars, home-builds, and the occasional custom job, many of the cars the site discusses are also for sale.

Kit cars can be pretty fun on their own, but many of the builds featured on the site spice it up further by adding varying levels of customization. This Tornado McLaren M6 GTR Replica, for example, uses a 3.5L V8 Rover engine and some custom body work to improve visibility. Another fascinating and rare kit uses a Beetle’s chassis and features a body that looks like a Beetle crossed with a Porche. Of course, none of these are as practical cutting a Geo Metro in half for improved milage, but to car kit builders, practicality holds a very low place on their list of priorities.

7 thoughts on “The Price Of His Toys Returns

  1. Building my own car has always been an interesting concept to me. My uncle built a Ford AC replica with a Factor 5 kit and a Mustang drive train a few years back. The problem with most kit cars IMO is that bodies typically look like they were designed by an engineer and not an industrial designer, not to mention the interiors are typically utilitarian and racecarish neither of which appeal to me.

    I’m currently building up a Nissan 240sx of which I’m swapping all of the front end components as well as dropping in a LS1 motor. My end result intent is to have a car that looks nothing like anything else on the road but at the same time looks like it was made that way by the factory, while at the same time being incredibly fast (350+whp fast) as well as nimble (2600lbs 48in tall nimble) and with decent mileage (by my estimation I’ll get ~32mpg highway).

    kit cars are nice but about the only appeal I see is in the adventure of building it… though I think I’d be unhappy with the end product since most chassis that make good donors are either slow or handle horribly and as I said before I don’t really care for the way most kits look. … If I actually knew how to fab my own fiberglass parts and was good at it I’d love to try my hand at designing my own chassis from scratch… I don’t even know where to start with that stuff though.

  2. something else I thought of after posting the above. I’d love to see some kit car companies try their hand at off-road vehicles. Seeing a replica of a classic Chevy step side or a late 80s Toyota 4runner with a removable top, and of course Jeeps and Hummers. Seems like it would be a good fit for the utilitarian styling that most kits have, not to mention those classic off-roading vehicles are hard to find because by their very nature they’re driven into the ground.

  3. haha, i didnt think about one of shannon’s “other” projects turning up here. makes sense i guess. i check hackaday almost as much as bmezine. rock on shannon, and rock on hackaday

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