Beetle based kit cars

[qwerty]

Jun 24, 2008 19:10:18 GMT @rustingdeathtrap said:

I've always had a soft spot for those novas.

This is pretty horrid though.

img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/dickdeluxe/ABCD0016.jpg

[/IMG]

I know where it is if anyone wants to save it but i'm not sure if the guy is too keen on selling it.[/quote]

I would sooooooo drive that! Would have to be some lurid bright orange or lime green. What is it based on mini? Hillman Imp? Could be awesome!

[VW]

The clue is in the thread title

[Smiler]

Aw sh1t@, now I'm getting serious ideas to rebuild one. That wasn't meant to happen! I'd just about managed to suppress my cravings for a Relaint Scimitar and now another fibreglass odity is calling me! Maybe it's because I'm already fed up with welding the Cortina! (still got the old VW Camper to tackle yet!)

Ebay here I come!

[Smiler]

Forgot to ask, pardon my ignorance but what is this?

The Alfa engine sounds cool by the way, how well did it go?

In fact, can you lot please give me the names of lots of these styles of cars please? Lets face it, if I type Nova into google it'll give me lots of Vauxhall pics.

Not sure about that other thing though.

[Llewelyn_]

Thats an ACM Bonito aka Fiberfab Bonito aka Bonito FT.... Basically search for Bonito! Theres not many about though but u can find pics on the net!

It went very well with the Alfa engine in it! Sounded great too! The one in the pic isn't mine but mine was similar although it had no "body kit" or sunroof...... I have some pics lying around... real physical photos lol! I think I have one of the engine bay too so I'll dig them out and host them if you are interested... The link to the one for sale is here:

www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C39681

[gotwood]

My mate is selling am embesse eurocco for £50 if anyone wants a really really obscure beetle based sportscar !
I'll get some pics up when I come back from work later

[gtd2000]

Jun 24, 2008 19:12:29 GMT needabeetle said:

Nova's or Eagle SS's. Been wanting an eagle for a while, but its never gonna happen!

I take it you've never actually driven one then (Eagle SS)?

Horrible, horrible car designed for some sort of mutant human.

A mate and I bought one back in the early 90's, it was a ferrari red colour and really looked the part with the alloys and a brand new 2.0L sierra engine in it.

It had been sitting in this old boys garage for years, his son bought it from somewhere down in Essex I believe, ponced around posing in it for part of the summer and then decided to do some tweaking on it....including fitting new coloured plug leads

Well during the next 5 years the car never started, the son moved away and got married etc and the chap selling the car naturally wanted his garage back

We towed the car back to my mates house and found that the clutch was seized and it would turn over but not fire. Fortunately one of our friends knew how to unseize the clutch and pointed out that the plug leads were not in the correct positions ;D

Car fired up very quickly after that! ;D

Driving the car was awful - I'm 6' tall and my head touched the roof - if you didn't watch what you were doing when you closed the gull wing doors you got a hell of a clatter on the head! (there is a capped bolt that holds the doors on that just in the right spot to bring tears to your eyes) They put a lot of effort into designing this car

You had to have arms like an ape and extremely short legs to drive this bloody thing while tilting your head to the side slightly.

We got the car sorted out and sold it to a mate for the princely sum of a grand and he tooled around in it for about a year - god knows what happened to it after that - we honestly didn't care

[Smiler]

Hmm, I'm starting to develop strange retro kit car atractions now. A pic of that eurocco would be appreciated. I think I might start a new thread calling for pictures of old kit cars (not lotus 7 based).

Cheers all,

[dubzi]

Jun 24, 2008 18:54:13 GMT disasterbus said:

Jun 24, 2008 17:37:58 GMT dubzi said:

They don't bolt **straight** in. You have to use some cable ties, bits of coathanger and Araldite to adapt the engine mounts, but it's fairly straightforward.
It's all German you see.... that's what makes the difference.

As for handling, if you chop the springs it's not as bouncy.....

(OK, I'll stop now)

I was joking ;D ;D

So was I ;D

[DutyFreeSaviour]

Fortunately I'm only 5'10 so squeezed in, have stumpy legs and ape arms so could drive it OK. Test drove one and it was a laugh, but it's true , the 'fettling' to have a car you could live with daily would have been a massive job.

I still smile at the looks - totally nutz and need to be tried/owned just for that alone ;D

[gtd2000]

Jun 25, 2008 10:03:12 GMT DutyFreeSaviour said:

Fortunately I'm only 5'10 so squeezed in, have stumpy legs and ape arms so could drive it OK. Test drove one and it was a laugh, but it's true , the 'fettling' to have a car you could live with daily would have been a massive job.

I still smile at the looks - totally nutz and need to be tried/owned just for that alone ;D

They did have a certain style (to say the least!) and most "birds" that saw it were suitably impressed.

The experience pretty much burst my bubble for cool looking kit cars - back in the day I'd loved to have owned either a 356 or Cobra rep but after the feel and fit of the Eagle my hopes were dashed!

On a more positive note, I knew a couple of guys that had Dutton Phaetons but were fitted with Ford 3.0L V6 engines - talk about bloody grin factor - phwooooor ;D

[gtd2000]

Forgot to mention that while I was working in Oregon last year I used to see this very small yellow kit car on the way to work and assumed it was probably VW based.

It was in very rough condition overall - which only added to the kit car look of the thing.

But this is what it was (examples in red below) - anybody seen one before - I hadn't until last year

[needabeetle]

Jun 25, 2008 7:23:53 GMT gtd2000 said:

Jun 24, 2008 19:12:29 GMT needabeetle said:

Nova's or Eagle SS's. Been wanting an eagle for a while, but its never gonna happen!

I take it you've never actually driven one then (Eagle SS)?

Horrible, horrible car designed for some sort of mutant human.

Nope, but I'd give one a go. I reckon a solution to part of the problem, I'm 5'10", and have long legs short torso, short torso is evidently ideal, so if you fitted bucket seats, they take up so little room front to back you could place it far enough back to not have cramped legs on the pedals, or is the steering wheel MILES away too?

With a 2.0 DOHC sierra engine, and beetle suspension all that comes into my head is FUN. I've got/had a beetle, so know what to do with the suspension to make it ride better generally.

[ger]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_Sonett

[ger]

Beetle based kit......True.....UK kit as well....



more here www.bayarearods.co.uk

[gtd2000]

Jun 25, 2008 14:12:00 GMT needabeetle said:

Jun 25, 2008 7:23:53 GMT gtd2000 said:

I take it you've never actually driven one then (Eagle SS)?

Horrible, horrible car designed for some sort of mutant human.

Nope, but I'd give one a go. I reckon a solution to part of the problem, I'm 5'10", and have long legs short torso, short torso is evidently ideal, so if you fitted bucket seats, they take up so little room front to back you could place it far enough back to not have cramped legs on the pedals, or is the steering wheel MILES away too?

With a 2.0 DOHC sierra engine, and beetle suspension all that comes into my head is FUN. I've got/had a beetle, so know what to do with the suspension to make it ride better generally.

I'm shorter in the leg than the body actually.

Basically I couldn't get a position that suited me at all in it

If my legs were almost in th eright position my arms had to be beyond full reach to hold the wheel comfortably.

If my arms were in a decent position then my legs were all bent up...

If you are about 5'10" with dinky legs and overly long arms - this could be the motor for you

[gtd2000]

Jun 25, 2008 14:44:15 GMT ger said:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_Sonett

You get the gold star ;D

I don't think they had them in the UK?

[gotwood]

Jun 25, 2008 9:20:10 GMT Smiler said:

Hmm, I'm starting to develop strange retro kit car atractions now. A pic of that eurocco would be appreciated. I think I might start a new thread calling for pictures of old kit cars (not lotus 7 based).

Cheers all,

Here's a couple of pics of the embesse eurocco for ya ...



I'm thinking it would look great painted up like a salt lake racer with some moon discs and stuff cos it looks quite swoopy ;D

[Smiler]

Looks a bit like a Lotus Europa.

Mrs isn't very impressed though, she's failing to see the potential.

What's it based on?

[Team Blitz]

Biggest irony has to be the VW re-style kits to make a Bug into a Rolls. All done as a send-up, as-if. Preposterous that a lowly VW could ever be prestigious as a Rolls. (Cue up titters.) Who's zoomin who now....