Building your own supercar

Do you homework and expect everything to take at least twice as long and twice the cost. Been there done it. And that's if you have some expereince with playing with cars, have a decent set of tools and space, and a few really good freinds. It was reported at one time that up to 95% of kits are never completed from their original owners. Food for thought.

 

I have. I've also helped build a Factory Five cobra replica a few years ago. (Maybe ten years ago...)

Factory Five does a very good job. They provide parts that fit, and explain fairly clearly what else you need, and how to go about the construction.

Having said that, this is a very large undertaking. You will have brake line leaks, it will be difficult to get the computer and wiring to work properly, you'll strip threads and bust knuckles. Which could also be a great source of pride.

Unfortunately that pride gets a little deflated in some of the details. Make sure you love the look of GTM. There are things I like, and things I don't. (In some ways, it makes my wonder why they didn't simply do an original GT40 replica.) You'll still have a Chevy Corvette steering wheel in your lap, and some other switchgear. You'll have a fiberglass bodied car that, especially around the windows and weatherstripping, will have a kit car feel. And the paint is really expensive and should be done only by someone who has done Factory-Five-specific fiberglass before. You need someone better than a boat or Corvette painter because there are small air bubbles in the finish coat, and the fiberglass isn't fully cured or dimensionally stable.

I'd suggest you order the manual for the GTM and read it through. If you really understand everything, how much it will cost, and how long it will take, and you if still want to do it, then proceed. A detailed spreadsheet will be very helpful, and essential depending on your state's titling requirements.

Personally, I would rather take a race car (of any type) and make it street legal. The legal process is just about the same. An Ariel Atom, Lotus 2-Eleven, or some modified car already set up for the LS1.

Good luck however you go!

Matt

 

I happen to like the looks of the GTM very much, as well as cars like the Ultima. As you say, it is the details like the interior that give me pause to ever build one. Most of the time, or should I say only with rare exceptions, the interiors either look very cheap or very agricultural in nature. This isn't so bad with a Cobra because they were so stark originally, but the GTM looks like a modern supercar on the outside. It needs an interior of similar asthetic quality and IMO it is lacking.

I suppose the real issue is that a kit car in the end still costs a pile of money to do properly, and becomes a tough sell compared to what you can buy used.

$20k for the GTM kit, $10k for a donor Corvette, $6k for a paint job, probably $10k in other stuff (tools, hardware, extras). Any upgrades to the basic kit would send the project north of $50k. Not far off a lower-end Ferrari 360 or 355 and $50k would buy a very nice used Viper or Z06

 

I built an Ultima GTR 10 years ago and still have it. Gel coat body with perfect finish was a giant selling point.

The parts were all sorted into kits, high quality and fit.

RCR in Detroit is building some very nice cars now. Look there first.

 

Still thinking about electric Supercar

Use it for marketing for a while then drop in a V8 later

 

That car is a PITA to build, this is coming frmo a FFR customer. I personally don't like the look in person, but some do.

Like all kits, you get out what you put in. And you better enjoy the putting it in as much as anything, because that's really what it is about.

 

Your paint/bodywork estimate is way on the low side unless you plan on doing the work yourself. Allot a good 10K for paint and body if you plan on paying someone to do it, and probably that much again for the interior if you want leather and something that doesn't look like a kit-car.

 

If you really want to build you own car, its less of a cost issue and more of the idea that you can get somethign that the OEM guys can no longer offer due to marketing and legislation. In other words if you want a light powerful stick shift car with no nannies, something durable streetable and trackable with a shape uncompromised by legislation.

Either way dont plan on spending much less than 100k. As to resale, that all depends on what you get. For example a superformnce GT40 is an actual Gt40 in terms of how it is build design materials used(same tub and suspension as lola built in the 60s) and its licensed by the type holders. To build one properly you are looking at 150k, current reasale on a used one is about 125K, which is more or less what they cost to build 5 or so years ago. Basicaly for 150k you are getting the same car thta somone else pays $3.5 million for when they buy a 60's build.

Then there are the RCR cars, including the SLC which is a modern lemans for the road type of car.

Since pretty much any componant car is going to use off the shelf mecanicals, maintanance shoudl be way less than an equivalent priced ferrari. But in the end you build or buy/build one of these because it offers somethig that is otherwise just unavailable, froma price perspective a good one is not cheap.

From what I rememeber FFR built a GT40 but got sued over the design and it morphed into the GTM.

 

I considered this route multiple times. However this quote "...You'll still have a Chevy Corvette steering wheel in your lap, and some other switchgear. You'll have a fiberglass bodied car that, especially around the windows and weatherstripping, will have a kit car feel..." had real merit & ultimately that sentiment steered me away.

I still ended up buying a completed kit, but it was short lived in my garage (turned it for a profit in say 10 months). The car was/is cool, but it still had a kit feel.

So then I looked into hybrid conversions. The later RX7 (third gen) with a LS7 really seemed to work. Supercar performance and a pretty car. I do like premium brands though so I steered toward a Porsche 944 and installed a LS1 with a top mount Manguson supercharger.

Now I have supercar performance, Porsche basics, attractive looks & low entry fees. There is not one bit of kit-car feel, and there is even resale & a hybrid following. No it does not look like a Ferrari or lambo or GT40 - but that is the bonus. There is nothing like pulling up in a hybrid LS powered machine and laying waste to the unsuspecting supercar owner next to you.

That is more fun then a barrel full of monkeys.
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