HowardB
|
| posted on 17/3/11 at 12:49 PM |
|
|
not 1 or 2, but 12cars! what happens if one gets hooked into kit cars
Alan’s had the whole kit and caboodle
It has taken him 30 years and 12 cars, but Alan Foxton has finally found his ideal kit car, writes Colene McKessick
Published: 02/12/2009 in the Aberdeen Press and Journal
The fox emblem, representing Alan’s surname, has graced the bonnets of several of his cars The fox emblem, representing Alan’s surname, has graced the
bonnets of several of his cars
DESPITE the fact that there are thousands of models of cars available across the world, sometimes you just can’t find what you’re looking for.
Maybe you want the looks of a classic car but with a snarling turbo engine under the bonnet. Maybe you want a sporty supermini but one that can be
used every day and genuinely carry four occupants.
Although there are hundreds of car designers employed to cater to your needs, sometimes it’s best to take things into your own hands.
Alan Foxton, 54, a metallurgist from Bucksburn, Aberdeen, certainly has plenty of experience in this field. Over the past 30 years, Alan has owned 12
kit cars.
Kit cars have been around since the 1950s, when cheap bodies made from glass-reinforced plastic could be fitted to original chassis and people could
effectively build their own car.
They started to suffer slightly when separate chassis disappeared with the development of car design, but enthusiasts have always found a way to build
their dream car from individual components.
Many had doubts about the safety of these “home-built” cars, too, but kit cars must face rigorous tests to ensure that they are fit for the road.
Imagine a half-day MoT costing £450 and you have an idea of the scale of the test.
It was this freedom of mechanical and aesthetic design that pulled in Alan.
He said: “My kit-car history started in 1980 when I bought a Mini-based sports car, the Cox GTM, with the intention of racing it and becoming world
champion by the end of the year. That was the single most expensive mistake I have ever made.
“Huge time and cost was invested in the GTM, with the best of everything, only to realise that everyone else had spent even more, and had a few skills
as well.
“The GTM was sold, but from the cash raised, I bought a Mini-based kit, the Scamp. It was a loose copy of the Mini-Moke, and a reasonable choice as I
had loads of Mini bits, and it went on to be my daily drive through 1984 and 1985.
“During this time, I agreed to help a friend with the build of a Dutton Sierra. Another year wasted trying to build an almost impossible jigsaw. This
was the early-1980s, and the bits Dutton supplied with the kit were just a rough guide to the part you eventually had to make yourself, and it was
just a bad experience overall.”
Even when Alan’s first son was born, the Scamp was still around. Eventually, though, it had to go, but it was replaced by another kit.
“Towards the end of the Scamp’s life, my baby son was carried around in a carry cot held on the back seat with cargo straps. No ISOFIX mountings back
then – but it made us realise that the Scamp was not our ideal car,” said Alan.
“So I built a Sherwood, a huge estate car based on the Cortina, and quite luxurious for a kit car. However, being penniless by now, having got married
and had children, the relatively expensive mechanical bits let it down and it was sold for something sensible.
“I still needed a hobby, so along came the Burlington Beretta, a beautiful plywood body in the shape of a ’30s roadster – on the underpinnings of a
dead Triumph Vitesse. Another year of my life gone, and a great car finally emerged and was sold at a decent profit to a dealer.
The profit was in my pocket at the next Kit Car Show at Newark. There, I saw a finished Jago Samuri, half Jeep, half beach buggy. It had four seats, a
roof and a radio/cassette – what more could a family man want?
“I bought it, and it was a great success. Reliable and watertight, but again, we sold it. We needed the money to feed the children.”
Of course, Alan found it strange to be without a project. In 1992, he bought another car and brought it up to Aberdeen when he moved here for work.
However, it didn’t last long, either.
“I got a Ginetta G26. It was a family car, taxed and MoT’d, but needed a complete strip-down back to the kit to make it safe and driveable,” he
said.
“However, the Ginetta was sold as my wife, Karen, thought it was ugly and heavy to drive.
“I took a break for a few years, and was without a kit car as we only had a single garage, and kids to raise. By now, we had given them names and I
had become quite attached to them.
“Then, a few years ago, I came across a Ferrari 308 replica based on a Pontiac Fiero in need of some attention.
“It was another hugely expensive mistake, and when it was finally running, I found that I really didn’t want a Ferrari replica, and explaining that it
was a replica at every filling station somehow destroyed the experience.”
The experience put Alan off and, with his next car, he took a different approach.
“I bought an NG TF. I had a plan here. I was going to rebuild an existing car using original old Bakelite switchgear, with no stalks, and treat it
like a restoration rather than a kit,” he said.
“It was a great-looking old car in its own right without pretending to be anything in particular. The trouble with the NG was that it was so narrow. I
am a well proportioned sort of guy, built for comfort not for speed, and getting into the NG became an Olympic sport.”
And then, earlier this year, something strange happened. Alan found a car he not only liked, but loved. Even more surprising was the fact that it was
already built, needing no tinkering.
“The National Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh saw me on a mission to find a bigger NG, and the JBA stood out as fitting the bill,” he said.
“I went home and, lo and behold, on Pistonheads was a beautiful burgundy JBA Falcon.
“Despite its looks, the Falcon only went on the road in 2005. It was born in 1990, when a brand new two-litre DOHC Ford Sierra rolled off the
production line. This was destined to be somebody’s pride and joy, although almost as soon as it hit the Dagenham air, it started to rot and, 11 years
later, the body was ready for recycling.
“However, Ford chose to give the Sierra excellent mechanical components, and on this particular model, they excelled themselves with the two-litre
twin-cam engine. Hence, as the original bodywork went off to be recycled into drinks cans, the mechanical components were transplanted into a
purpose-built chassis, and that’s how the JBA Falcon became officially road-legal in 2005.
“The central body tub is made in glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) with steel reinforcement bonded in during manufacture, mounted on a steel chassis
designed specifically for this body, but also designed to accept mechanical components from the Sierra. The bonnet is made in aluminium and the wings,
doors and boot are again produced in GRP.
“I no longer want to build cars from scratch. The good news is that the Falcon provides just enough things to tinker with, keeping me pottering in the
garage whenever I want to, but I’m now getting to the stage in life where starting from scratch is just too big a step. However, the Falcon still
ticks all the important boxes.
“We took it down to Fife earlier this year on holiday, but we mainly use it for going to work in Westhill and visiting garden centres to drink coffee.
It is currently off the road for the winter and will be back on the road in April.
“It’s reliable, affordable, safe and, above all, my wife likes it.”
Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1498777/?UserKey=#ixzz1Gr9k0NEs
Howard
Fisher Fury was 2000 Zetec - now a 1600 (it Lives again  and goes zoom)
|
|
|
|
|
MikeCapon
|
| posted on 17/3/11 at 12:57 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by HowardB
“I took a break for a few years, and was without a kit car as we only had a single garage, and kids to raise. By now, we had given them names and I
had become quite attached to them.
PMSL
|
|
|
nick205
|
| posted on 17/3/11 at 01:24 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by MikeCapon
quote:
Originally posted by HowardB
“I took a break for a few years, and was without a kit car as we only had a single garage, and kids to raise. By now, we had given them names and I
had become quite attached to them.
PMSL
Me too, that abouts sums up where I'm at right now
|
|
|
MikeCapon
|
| posted on 17/3/11 at 01:32 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
quote:
Originally posted by MikeCapon
quote:
Originally posted by HowardB
“I took a break for a few years, and was without a kit car as we only had a single garage, and kids to raise. By now, we had given them names and I
had become quite attached to them.
PMSL
Me too, that abouts sums up where I'm at right now
Must be a twins parent thing Nick.
|
|
|
nick205
|
| posted on 17/3/11 at 02:43 PM |
|
|
He He I think you might be right Mike!
|
|
|
|
