london motors

[Rajeane Kane]

Anybody ever heard of a kit car co. named London Motors or something similiar out of Engstrom (sp?), Michigan?  If so can you tell me anythng about the MGTD kit that they made?

Slogram

[Rajeane Kane]

slogram wrote:

Anybody ever heard of a kit car co. named London Motors or something similiar out of Engstrom (sp?), Michigan?  If so can you tell me anythng about the MGTD kit that they made?

Slogram

I’ve found three for sale around the inter-net. They are called “London Roadsters SPC” special construction models (seller hype?)  Still can’t locate the mfg co. but it might have been FFab. They appear to be different as they came stock equiped w/ wire wheels, spare tire, and the headlights appear to mounted direct to the hood/grill area instead of on the brace/mount(?) between the hood and the grill. Looks like maybe they were specially built for show as a parade car. They are kinda’ pricey. Still looking for additional info. tho.

Slogram

anyone who says a picture is worth a 1000 words hasn’t seen some of the pics posted on the inter-net

FrankieD39140.4117939815

[Michael Pullen]

Slogram,

You’re right about the pictures; especially ones taken by people selling cars.  I’m sure the usual proceedure is to take a bunch and sort through them to see which ones show the car to at it’s best, ie do not show dents or cracks, show more gloss than is really on the finish etc. There’s so much stuff that doesn’t show up on a picture!  I have seen a few of these kits that were produced in limited runs for various promotions, such as the yellow ones for Schweeps Tonic. 

Have you tried the dealors who specialize in kit cars and advertise on the Internet? There are two or three you can find with a Google search for kit cars fior sale or something similar.  I would stick to the manufacturers that were recomended by our members. You still run the risk of a poorly assembled kit, but at least you are assured that most of the parts are of good quality.  The problems with a lot of these kit cars are in the details; little things you don’t notice at first because you’re bowled over by the swwopy fenders and shiny grill but after a few weeks they drive you absolutely nuts.  Things like funky door latches and clunky VW tail lights to name a few. If this kind of thing bothers you, you will spend more in the long run replacing all those annoying little parts at current prices.

 

Michael

 

[Mark Hendrickson]

A new member of the the New Jersey Replicar Club just bought one of these VW based London Roadster TD’s. He lives in Long Island, NY.

He purchased the car from his cousin. He told us that the London Motor TD’s were actually FiberFab and/or Daytona Midgies that were assembled by London Motors and sold as turn key cars after they changed the ID plates to their own.

I had never heard of London Motors as a manufacturer. There are so many weird relationships in the kit car industry who knows? I am surely not a MGTD kit manufacturer expert.

I was thinkng of writing one or more of the kit car magazines to see if they would produce an article, in one or over several issues, that traces ALL of the MGTD kit manufacturers and their histories.

[Rajeane Kane]

Writing to one or more of the magazines sounds like a terrific idea — are you going to follow thru?  I would think we would all benefit from getting a little more history about the MGTD kit cars.  I’m not familiar with the kit car magazines — yet.  Is there one or more that are worth while to MG kit car owners or are they too general to be of much interest to us?

Slogram

[Mark Hendrickson]

There are at least two kit car magazines that I know of. New Jersey Replicar Club has had Jim Youngs, the editor of Kit Car Builder and “President” of the National Kit Car Club, as guest speaker twice at our Saturday night dinner during the Carlisle Import-Kit/Replicar Nationals held every May at the Carlisle Fairgrounds, Carlisle, PA.

I’ll probably be writing to him first. I think a one or two part article on the history of all the brands of MGTD kits to include VW, Ford, Chevette and even the new Miata based MGTF “pallet car” variant from New Zealand.

I’ll try to get a point of contact for the other magazine too.

I am quite busy at work and on the home front, but it is something that I would definitely pursue in the near future.

Unlike the Cobra and Porsche Speedster kits, the MGTD kit is no longer produced and has not been for some time. However, I feel, along with the Gazelle, it is probably the most prolific kit that preceeded the Cobra onslaught. They are what made the kit car market viable for all the stuff that is made today.

 

[Rajeane Kane]

Thanks everybody, got this subject covered. See pink mg’s post of 11/2/05.

Slogram

[cucumber1949]

I am the owner of a London Roadster.  Have done some research on the car and the company.

History of the company:

London Coach Works Limited, Dearborn, Michigan. The registered office address was 25190 Michigan Ave, Inkster, Michigan, 48141.  It looks like it was first incorporated on 9-26-1978 (1,000 shares). I have found a second incorporation notice (might have been an IPO) on 3-15-1979 for 50,000 shares. They took a small business loan of $270,000 (Comerica Bank) on 8/7/1980. Their last annual report was in 1988.  The resident agent’s name was Ian Stevenson. The corporation was automatically dissolved on 5-15-1991.  There was also a company at the same address during this period called the Victoria Street Garage, apparently in existence from 12-27-1984 through 5-15-1989.  All of the above was found on the Michigan.gov website and is publicly available.  I have a one page factory brochure – it never mentions the word ‘Volkswagen’.

I bought the car for my wife about a year ago. It was factory built in 1983 and has a London Coach Works VIN tag.  My understanding is that about 15,000 of these cars were factory built (I’ve been unable to verify that – seems high), and they were also available as a kit car. As most probably know, they are built on VW beetle chassis and engines.  I’m an old hotrodder who has built many cars and most of them use small block Chevy engines, so I’ve been learning Volkswagen recently.  The engine in this car is a 1600 cc VW, 2v carb, generator, dual port manifold, has air adjustable rear shocks, and has a VW fully automatic type 3 transmission (my wife never learned the manual trans).  Have found it so far to be fairly simple to work on and there is plenty of VW knowledge in my local area.  I can tell you it is a delight to drive and dependable so far.

 

 

 

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