For sale is a rare Dutton Legerra kit car based on a Mk1 Escort. It's a great fun little car and a real laugh to drive. There were about 150 kits made in the late eighties with about 70 known to the owners club.
I bought it last summer from a Christian charity project teaching kids about mechanics. It was supposed to be "ready to use and free from faults"but it turned out that they were lying and quite a bit of effort and some new parts went into making the car drivable after I got it home. Then I drove it a lot including spells as an everyday car and managed to put about 6000 miles on it. There are a lot of projects out there but this car is MOTd and was in regular use until the tax ran at the end of June, since then it's been sorned.
The most important thing about an old kit car is how it's registered. This one is correctly registered as a Dutton Legerra with the correct chassis number and cc on the logbook so no problems with DVLA. It was built using enough of the donor Escort to keep its original reg number rather than a Q plate and keeps it's reg date of 1974 so it should become tax exempt next year. The kit was built in 1989.
The chassis is box section steel. There can be corrosion issues with these but this one is it excellent condition and has been zinc sprayed at some stage. It also has the recommended strengthening modification doubling up the main chassis rails.
Duttons fibreglass work wasn't the best so the car has it's fair share of ripples but the body is basically sound. The paint is an Escort Cosworth blue, there is an area on the rear scuttle behind the driver s door that is broken and as with any old glassfibre car it has it's fait share of small cracks, scratches and chips. It looks great from a few feet away however, polishes up a treat and looks great in the sunlight. The roof is the original and is surprisingly water tight. It's had one repair at the front, sewed up and then patched and not leaking. There is one broken popper on the hood and one missing on the body.
The interior is basically a couple of bucket seats and some carpet. It's pretty average kit car stuff with the drivers seat showing some wear. Unlike most of them this one has a decent wiring loom. It's been rewired with a Fiesta loom giving it a decent number of fuses and relays. It also benefits from the Fiestas switchgear and clocks which really suit the dash. There's also a Mountney steering wheel and a couple of fire extinguishers fitted. The fuel guage never reads more than a quarter full but empty is correct. The heater is the original Escort one and is probably the biggest weak spot on the car. It's set up to blow hot at the screen but the car mists up badly in the rain. There is an electric heater included but the car really needs an update in this area.
On to the mechanics. The engine is a 1700cc Ford Crossflow with a Kent BCF2 cam fitted according to the cars paperwork. I believe it was fitted around 10000 miles ago. I've replaced the entire ignition system with an Accuspark system including a new distributor. There is a single Weber twin choke carb and a four branch exhaust manifold with a custom exhaust. It pulls well and revs well and is more than enough for a car that weighs less than 700kg. The cooling fan is electric and the radiator is properly ducted so unlike a lot a Duttons this one doesn't overheat. The gearbox is an Escort four speed with a quickshift gear lever fitted. These are pretty slick boxes anyway but now the change is like a rifle bolt. The axle is also Mk1 Escort. The front suspension is modified Escort with Spax adjustable coil over shocks. The TCAs and steering rack have polybushes. The steering rack is a 2.9 turn quickrack. At the back there is a Dutton 5 link again with coil overs. This was the biggest problem when I got the car as the shocks and springs were utterly useless. Now there is a pair of Gaz coilovers less than a year old. I have a couple of pairs of spare springs to be included. The brakes are Escort disc/drum. There is a little brake judder but apparently this is reasonably common for these cars.The wheels are the original Wellers specially made for Dutton for this car complete with a spare.
There is quite a lot of history with it from it's original build and registration including the build manual and a lot of old MOTs.
I wont say that it'll be completely trouble free as it's an old kit car but it shouldn't give you the grief it gave me, I'd drive it anywhere without worry. It's all the fun of a Seven type car but with the practicality of doors and even a boot.
Questions are more than welcome either through here or on 07922112064
The price is £1395
Hopefully pictures can be found here
s113.photobucket.com/user/rickjhaywarderlind100/library/Legerra?sort=3&page=1
I bought it last summer from a Christian charity project teaching kids about mechanics. It was supposed to be "ready to use and free from faults"but it turned out that they were lying and quite a bit of effort and some new parts went into making the car drivable after I got it home. Then I drove it a lot including spells as an everyday car and managed to put about 6000 miles on it. There are a lot of projects out there but this car is MOTd and was in regular use until the tax ran at the end of June, since then it's been sorned.
The most important thing about an old kit car is how it's registered. This one is correctly registered as a Dutton Legerra with the correct chassis number and cc on the logbook so no problems with DVLA. It was built using enough of the donor Escort to keep its original reg number rather than a Q plate and keeps it's reg date of 1974 so it should become tax exempt next year. The kit was built in 1989.
The chassis is box section steel. There can be corrosion issues with these but this one is it excellent condition and has been zinc sprayed at some stage. It also has the recommended strengthening modification doubling up the main chassis rails.
Duttons fibreglass work wasn't the best so the car has it's fair share of ripples but the body is basically sound. The paint is an Escort Cosworth blue, there is an area on the rear scuttle behind the driver s door that is broken and as with any old glassfibre car it has it's fait share of small cracks, scratches and chips. It looks great from a few feet away however, polishes up a treat and looks great in the sunlight. The roof is the original and is surprisingly water tight. It's had one repair at the front, sewed up and then patched and not leaking. There is one broken popper on the hood and one missing on the body.
The interior is basically a couple of bucket seats and some carpet. It's pretty average kit car stuff with the drivers seat showing some wear. Unlike most of them this one has a decent wiring loom. It's been rewired with a Fiesta loom giving it a decent number of fuses and relays. It also benefits from the Fiestas switchgear and clocks which really suit the dash. There's also a Mountney steering wheel and a couple of fire extinguishers fitted. The fuel guage never reads more than a quarter full but empty is correct. The heater is the original Escort one and is probably the biggest weak spot on the car. It's set up to blow hot at the screen but the car mists up badly in the rain. There is an electric heater included but the car really needs an update in this area.
On to the mechanics. The engine is a 1700cc Ford Crossflow with a Kent BCF2 cam fitted according to the cars paperwork. I believe it was fitted around 10000 miles ago. I've replaced the entire ignition system with an Accuspark system including a new distributor. There is a single Weber twin choke carb and a four branch exhaust manifold with a custom exhaust. It pulls well and revs well and is more than enough for a car that weighs less than 700kg. The cooling fan is electric and the radiator is properly ducted so unlike a lot a Duttons this one doesn't overheat. The gearbox is an Escort four speed with a quickshift gear lever fitted. These are pretty slick boxes anyway but now the change is like a rifle bolt. The axle is also Mk1 Escort. The front suspension is modified Escort with Spax adjustable coil over shocks. The TCAs and steering rack have polybushes. The steering rack is a 2.9 turn quickrack. At the back there is a Dutton 5 link again with coil overs. This was the biggest problem when I got the car as the shocks and springs were utterly useless. Now there is a pair of Gaz coilovers less than a year old. I have a couple of pairs of spare springs to be included. The brakes are Escort disc/drum. There is a little brake judder but apparently this is reasonably common for these cars.The wheels are the original Wellers specially made for Dutton for this car complete with a spare.
There is quite a lot of history with it from it's original build and registration including the build manual and a lot of old MOTs.
I wont say that it'll be completely trouble free as it's an old kit car but it shouldn't give you the grief it gave me, I'd drive it anywhere without worry. It's all the fun of a Seven type car but with the practicality of doors and even a boot.
Questions are more than welcome either through here or on 07922112064
The price is £1395
Hopefully pictures can be found here
s113.photobucket.com/user/rickjhaywarderlind100/library/Legerra?sort=3&page=1
