Kit Car Design

[ginger_ninja]

Hi,

Im new to the BKCC and am looking for a little help and information.

I am researching setting up a new business around Swindon, designing and making custom body work for existing kit car chassis and either selling the bodies as aftermarket parts or to build the bodies onto the car and sell them as fully built cars.

This is where you guys can help. Im looking for anybody who owns/has built kit cars with bodies made of GRP to let me come and have a look at the body work and take some notes and measurements on things like GRP thickness, mounting points, reinforced sections needed and anything else you can suggest.
Also to ask you guys a couple of questions regarding the kit car market.

If you feel you could help me out let me know and hopefully we can sort something.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers

['The Gaffer']

Without wanting to piss on your parade, design is one thing but tooling up for moulds, plus finding and equiping a workshop would cost an absolute fortune.

Not to mention the problem with building a shell that would fit the multitude of chassis out there. Even chassis from the same company can vary.

Also newer strict approval (IVA) on new builds has had an effect on numbers, the recession has not helped the market either.

Maybe if you had a fantastic design and worked with a bespoke chassis maker who built around up to date parts then you could expect some interest. But would builders be knocking at your door with cash? I don't think so.

This is only my opinion of course and I could be wrong. Whatever you decide to peruse I wish you success in your new venture.

[bluehornetrider]

There are a few body swap makers out there mostly for production cars, mx5 and BMW 3 series, if you design a good enough body that fits a good but aging chassis, ford focus, Toyota celica, ford ka you might have a market.  Some of the kit makers who have been going for years struggle with a nice looking body for the cars they make though.

[Camber Dave]

Hi

My workshop is near Castle Combe. I have in at the moment a Sylva Fury, a Mev Exocete, My old (1985) Sylva Leader, a Autotune Gemini and (next week) a Westfield.

If you would like to have a look ring me on 07977 948883 or PM me for postcode/directions.

I would also endorse the comments of the Gaffer above. A body project we did the chassis for has been for sale for 15 months without interest. Also a talented glassfibre laminator I know (with both work and designs to develop) recently had to give up his workshop and go mobile as premises costs became unsustainable.

The owner of the Mev I have here makes models and displays for museums and exhibitions. His industry is moving towards CAD and rapid prototyping/3D printing and I believe the future for low volume, cost effective projects may be using this technology.

Dave

[ginger_ninja]

Hi

Thanks for all your input and suggestions. Its good to get the thoughts of what people involved in the kit car industry think.

The plan so far is to design a couple bodies for specific chassis already in production and build scale/cad models of the designs to drum up interest and, if people like them enough, possible orders. Only then by gauging on the interest in the designs will the decision be made to begin looking into manufacturing. Then if/when i get any serious customers, i will look to outsource the labour to get prototype/demo cars built.

I know starting up a business like this can be very expensive and often with little reward but if i approach it this way i can gauge the interest at each stage rather than throwing everything in at once. And if it doesn't work at least ill have a couple of nice models for my portfolio.

Dave, thanks for the offer, i have some free time next week so will give you a call and arrange something for then if thats ok. At least if i have a look at the cars and realise it would be too difficult i will have dodged a bullet.

Also any suggestions for any chassis? So far ive thought about something mid engined such as an Ultima and something front engined like a 7 or AGM WLR.

Also my online design portfolio can be seen at www.coroflot.com/chrisconnolly so you can get an idea of my style.
Again any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Chris

[aliwizard]

hi chris , well where do we start ,nothing  wrong with you having a look at the industry to see if you can find something that  has not been done before , but what ,forget any seven type its all been done , an ultima  type car great  ,but v8 s and rear transaxle gearboxes are not cheap, I have been thinking of building  my own car for a few years now,  but we come back to the same question what, if it was me I would be looking at why someone like   mev cars have sold so many cars , they look good are fairly well built handle well and  are based on cheap donors mx5 s and I think that's the point they  are affordable , I think the Haynes single seater book will finally be out this year , this will get a lot attention so there may well be a outlet for some body shells there ,you will have the chassis dimensions or you could build your own, and model your chosen body style on that  ,there's  a lot of formula ford ,2,3 body work cheap out there ,its not to hard to widen shorten it  ect  to  to suit your design  you could make a  body that fits straight on top of this chassis as a retro fit , you could be thinking a road going formula type body ,a full  radical type full enveloping body ,bac mono ect   the worlds your oyster but it will have to be  affordable ,as the gaffer said this will cost money ,you will be amazed how quick the money disappears ,I worked for  farbio sports  for 3 years cars building there chassis, making moulds ect ,,   you will be amazed how much money these projects cost  ,if you could find cheap premises and  work on the body moulds  at the weekends  this would save money, now you have got me thinking ,how about a radical type body dropped over the new mevster chassis ,well that's my 2 penny's worth  ,and that's all it is chris   just my opinion, think log and hard before you start a project  cheers  nick.

[ginger_ninja]

Hi

Quick update on the idea,

Last week i went and visited Dave at Track Developments and had a good long chat.

We touched upon one idea that could make some sense. To design a body for the new Haynes Locost Widebody that would give Locost builders the choice of something other than a 7. Also a possible removable Shooting Brake style hard top so that cars could be used in winter.

Heres a very quick rough sketch of what i was thinking.



Again as before any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Chris

[bluehornetrider]

Looks good, have fun designing the doors.

[ginger_ninja]

haha yeah, i don't make it easy for myself do i? good job i like a challenge. i was thinking some sort of gull-wing/dihedral door (like on the 33stradale or Enzo) that opens the roof and widow so you can just step in over the sills. these can be quite simple if you get the angles right.

[Camber Dave]

Hi Chris

It was good to meet you and exchange idea's.

If anyone else has general thoughts or idea for a body revision for their own car post them up or contact Chris directly.
You never know there may be a common theme that could be a done as a group project....

Dave

['The Gaffer']

I quite like the sketch. Removable hard top would be good. Also built on a good handling chassis that is highly modifiable if req such as the BMW 3 could help. Lots about, not too old and capable of many miles with a great selection of engines.

[ginger_ninja]

Cheers Gaffer, with a tweaked BMW 3 chassis it could be a very usable car as long as not too track focused.

And as Dave says above im always open to new projects to fill my portfolio and gain experience so if you need/want anything designing or know someone who does please do not hesitate in getting in touch.

[aliwizard]

nice design chris good idea about the body fitting the Haynes locost  ,the only problem I can see with this is most locosts are built on a really tight budget, are the builders going to be willing to shell out 1500 2000  grand for a body , you will be wanting to be selling a body a week  ,that's only 52 a year ,are there that many Haynes being put on the road each year ,if so will they be willing to shell out the money ? just my opinion  not knocking your ideas, a body like that may work as a retro fit on something like the mev , exocet, mevster he cant sell these thing fast enough so there is plenty out there ,cheers keep at it .