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Cobra body on a dutton
agors - 2/7/17 at 10:59 AM

Hi all,

I would like to make my own cobra replica;
To do it with limited budget and time, I would put a cobra body on a dutton or on a Robin Hood car.
Basically, I would like to just replace the body.

What should I do to meme it fully road legal?

Someone of you has already done something similar?

owelly - 2/7/17 at 12:36 PM

To retain the ID of the donor, you must use the entire, unmodified chassis (or monocoque) so in the case of a Dutton or RH, as long as you use the original chassis and sit the Cobra 'shell on top, you will be fine.

jossey - 2/7/17 at 03:06 PM

Or join the hundreds of other who us the registration plates and chassis plate for a Dutton on an unrelated car can look forward to hundreds of people on here reporting you to the DVla. Dutton owners are the fastest at reporting people.

trextr7monkey - 2/7/17 at 04:22 PM

Jossey we need a like button for posts like this!
Ate
Mike

Benzine - 2/7/17 at 05:49 PM

quote:
Originally posted by agors
What should I do to meme it fully road legal?


Is this the sort of thing you're after?

trextr7monkey - 2/7/17 at 07:32 PM

Nice that innit?

agors - 3/7/17 at 10:11 AM

Sorry, I just wanted to know what's legally possible (remaining in fully road legal area).

I didn't know about all the grudge behind this.

I saw someone that is putting an etype body on a dutton chassis and I wondered what's possible to do remaining legal.

40inches - 3/7/17 at 10:21 AM

quote:
Originally posted by agors
Sorry, I just wanted to know what's legally possible (remaining in fully road legal area).

I didn't know about all the grudge behind this.

I saw someone that is putting an etype body on a dutton chassis and I wondered what's possible to do remaining legal.


As long as the chassis is as original, fitting a different body isn't a problem. If it was, there are a lot of illegal MR2's and MX5's
out there.

agors - 3/7/17 at 10:39 AM

Thanks.

Time ago I saw a dutton with a v8 rover.
If it was correctly reported on the V5 therefore it should be ok.

I'm not sure if planning a cobra or a mistral, I'm still collecting information (also to understand if it makes sense)
Your suggestions are appreciated

Toys2 - 3/7/17 at 10:54 AM

The trouble is that the Dutton is sooo far away from the DNA of a Cobra

If you need to modify the structure of the chassis for eg, wheel base, track or beefing it up for a bigger engine, then you will need to have it IVA'd

I'd be amazed if it will work dimensionally without cutting and welding = IVA

I can understand the idea of a "cheap" Cobra, my first kit with a Pilgrim Sumo Cobra with a sacrilegious 2lt Pinto. It was all that I could afford at the time, but it was only cheap in cost, it stood up well to all of the other Cobra kits at Stoneliegh and next to cars from motoring heritage at Coys at Silverstone
I built it as a great looking GT in the true sense, it was lovely car to be in and tour around, but I refused to badge it as a Cobra and never fooled myself into believing it was a performance car

If I was to do the same now, It would have a Zetec and be my daily driver!

[Edited on 3/7/17 by Toys2]

SJ - 3/7/17 at 11:01 AM

quote:

Thanks.

Time ago I saw a dutton with a v8 rover.
If it was correctly reported on the V5 therefore it should be ok.

I'm not sure if planning a cobra or a mistral, I'm still collecting information (also to understand if it makes sense)
Your suggestions are appreciated



We are lucky in the UK as we can relatively easily build and register kit cars compared to many other countries. The problem is that there are quite a few people who buy an old Dutton and use it's identity to avoid the proper IVA route of registering a kit car. Understandably this is annoying for people who do it the right way as it has the potential to bring bad press to the industry and end up with a legislation change that spoils everyone's fun.

What you are suggesting is perfectly legitimate but has the potential to look something like the scenario I described above. If you end up doing it I would make sure you take lots of photographic evidence of stripping the Dutton and adding the Cobra body in order to show that you have done things properly.



Stu

Mr Whippy - 3/7/17 at 12:00 PM

Personally I've no problems with it or having a 2ltr in a car usually fitted with a thirsty big V8, you'd probably use it far more often even as a daily driver. I'd love a Sumo cobra with a modern small (normal) engine in it.

agors - 3/7/17 at 01:18 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions,

I'll think about it,
I've a Westfield and I love it, but I'm parallel I would play with another toy, just spending time in aesthetics rather than mechanics.

alfas - 6/7/17 at 04:54 PM

there are some (original) V8 duttons around...you might use this as donor

a RH has a monocoque....much more difficult to adapt a body and the general design (chassis/suspension) is cr*p anyway.

why not use a reliant scimitar?

heavy&strong chassis, already fitted with V6, well engineered suspension (i like the rear live axle with watt´s linkage). cheap to buy, cheap to run and from the dimensions nearer to a cobra than a dutton

agors - 7/7/17 at 06:11 PM

Good suggestion,
I don't know the reliant, il search something to understand frame architecture etc

gremlin1234 - 7/7/17 at 08:07 PM

quote:
Originally posted by alfas
why not use a reliant scimitar?
because they would be worth more as a real scimitar then scimitar based kit

alfas - 9/7/17 at 09:32 AM

scimis with a reasonable chassis could be bought for a few hundred pound....so nothing expensive here