Ah yes…that debate has raged for years.

I LOVE asking street rod owners if their fiberglass bodied rod came from a kit. Inevitably the answer is NO. It’s a fiberglass body, but it’s not a kit.

I take a slightly different approach Tom. I tell people it’s a replica of a ’52 TD, built from a kit manufactured by Classic Roadsters in 1982.

I’m proud to be a kit car hobbyist!

But my all time favorite recurring question is, “Is that a real car?”

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Tom, I’ve wondered the same thing.   Maybe ours are so looked down on because of the price.  It’s hard to find any Speedster for less than 10 to 15000 and Cobras well maybe 25000 pluss.   Not sure how the rest are approched, but not a day goes by when I out in Audrey that I get , , or at least a  from everyone.  I can’t think of many other cars that get as much attention as ours do from all age groups.

 Wonder why all these guys at the car shows with the so called “real cars” look down on ours, maybe they are just jealous.        

I’m with Paul proud to be a kit car hobbiest.  

“Car Show” on Speed TV tonight (8/17) ran a segment on this year’s Pebble Beach. The camera showed classic cars parked on the street in the intro. Ferrari, GT40, Maserati, MG TD. Tan with brown fenders and a faun interior. But wait a minute. The wipers were on the cowl. The hood was hinged on the left side at the top. It was a TD replica in a line of million dollar cars. I don’t know the details well enough to identify which manufacturer it was, or even which end the engine was hiding under.    

Call it a kit car. Call it a replica. Revenge is a dessert best served cold.

Someone did the marque proud.

I agree Rob!

And BDriver…that is a GREAT catch. I love it.

A few members of tdreplica.com also hang out with the Speedsterowners.com crowd. Those guys have a LOT of stories about people not realizing their cars are fiberglass reproductions. And just about every Speedster reproduction I have seen would run rings around an unmodified original!

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To add to the mix of what our cars are or are not…..

My Duchess was factory built. Made by men who were paid to assemble the car from parts pulled out of their stock.  The same stock that was packaged in pieces with a set of directions and sent to people so they could assemble them at their homes. 

So, in some respects, all cars are “kit cars” they just differ in where they are assembled.  I can order all the replacement parts to completly build a “new” 1953 F100 truck, including frame, interior, wiring, glass and drive gear.  Once it is together and painted would anyone ask if it was a “kit”?  No way!

When someone asks if my Duchess is a kit car, I just say, nope, it’s a replica.  If they are nice about it, I’ll explain her heritage, but otherwise, I really don’t care what Joe Blow thinks it is or isn’t.  I’ve had one a** hole try to argue with me at a car show (after I won a first place in the  original car class) that I must have put a Ford engine in a classic car and ruined it!!! 

And yes Paul, my favorite “here’s your sign” question is “Is that a real car?”

Idiots…..they seem to be all around me.

Calling a TD replica a kit car is like kids calling each other names on the playground. They can’t beat the other kid at kick ball and so they call him a doofus. That’s like telling blond jokes about Marilyn Monroe.

Think about the original TD in the context of today’s traffic for a minute: Slow, fragile mechanicals, mediocre brakes. pricey bodywork. The only place you dare drive one is in a concours parade. It’s a paper weight on wheels.

Supercars suffer from similar problems. Scary repair costs, rotten visibility and too much power for anything but a track day. A bunch of concours queens.   

Now consider replicas. Adequate power and brakes, mechanical parts available at Pep Boys and bodywork that can be fixed with a piece of cloth and a pot of goop. They have every advantage over originals. They are regular drivers that arrive at a concours under their own power.

Is it any wonder why people tell blond jokes about TD replicas? They lost at kick ball. It’s the only argument they have left. Marilyn Monroe didn’t care. She was a helluva blond. So are TD replicas.

Dizzy Dean once said, “If you can do it, it ain’t bragging”.

So stand over a heating grate and show a little leg. 

EXACTLY!

So what’s wrong with being a blond?

The joke tellers are just jealous. 

Enjoy the heating grate and take the kit car comments as a compliment. 

A a very common transplant into an original TD is an 1960’s Volvo four cylinder (I forget the exact engine). It is a drop in fit, has more horsepower and torque and is far more reliable.

The B-18b was also installed in the PV544-B18 Sport and the 122S. Both were early 4 seat sports sedans and surprised many a pure sports car of the era.

I had a PV-544 sedan back in the 60’s.  Got my racing start in it.  A truly bullet proof engine,  Looked like a transistorized 48 Ford seddan.

Yes. Your dad was COOL!

Didn’t know there were closet Volvo fans here!

I occasionally search for 1966 122 wagons AND an 1800 or 1800ES.

Some day….