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Been a while
kj - 27/8/18 at 08:06 PM

It's been a while, has the kitcar scene gone quiet?

Mr Whippy - 28/8/18 at 06:25 AM

gradually fading away....I think due to increased regulations, rising costs, more complex engine management systems, hopeless weather and better mass produced alternatives

The days of turning some knackered Escort into a budget sports car are long gone

This site is so damn quiet these days

Andy S - 28/8/18 at 07:50 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
gradually fading away....I think due to increased regulations, rising costs, more complex engine management systems, hopeless weather and better mass produced alternatives

The days of turning some knackered Escort into a budget sports car are long gone

This site is so damn quiet these days



Can't blame the weather - it's always been the weather and this is the UK.

The high end and factory built cars still seems to be going well but the amateur side certainly seems to have fell flat on it's face. Skill sets required are certainly higher and current electrics would really be bringing the pain as they were always the aspect that were terrible in kits even when they were very very simple. IVA has been used by many as the excuse needed to hide the fact that the ability was never really there in the first place.

The industry was always based on turning cheap saloon scrappers into fun sports cars - thing is, the only donors available now are dirt cheap fun sports cars that are actually better dynamically than many of the kits based on them. They have tried to dress up these cars but that side just produced monstrosities as normal and will always be a minority as it does not fit with the engineers.

This site changed years ago a slow degradation into a majority of posts about mundane unrelated dross and so called "builders" asking the painfully obvious - a clear indication of things to come.

Loads of cheap kits and projects out there though so demand for completed cars has also dropped of but at the same time some of the cars that were at the cheaper (underdog) end are on the rise ?

Has it all been Facebooked?

But as ever there are some real bargain opportunities about if this is your thing.

Mr Whippy - 28/8/18 at 12:09 PM

like many hobbies people don't have the patience these days to stick it out

I do RC aircraft and most folk regard actually building a plane old fashioned, its all out the box ready to go, but then they get no satisfaction from flying something you actually built.

Considering the cost of cars, plus the cost of insurance being insane for younger drivers the idea of having yet another car pay for just for fun when the weather is good is just unrealistic. Sadly I think the whole hobby will bite the dust in 10-15 years due to increasing emission regulations, glaring lack of safety systems which considering the crash testing for production cars keeps getting harder and harder to pass, the kit car gets away with what? a seatbelt?

David Jenkins - 28/8/18 at 02:11 PM

Another aspect is that many of the old members went off to join Facebook groups - I guess they decided that they spent most of their time talking to the same bunch of like-minded individuals, and decided to form their own discussion circles.

Sad, really.

kj - 28/8/18 at 08:02 PM

Always loved the knowledge and experience of the people on here.
Been looking at the kitcar scene and magazine and it looks like our government who is killing it off.
Always find it strange that no one from suppliers or magazines would never come North of Coventry, loved Harrogate show.

Is it too late to save the kitcar?

Andi - 28/8/18 at 09:14 PM

I`m just about holding on to the kit.
But pay cuts, redundancies, and the mass produced financial fears over the last few years have taken their toll on our "luxuries"

ReMan - 28/8/18 at 09:18 PM

Combination of all the above