VW Based Kits

[Tom Colello]

I have been interested in buying one of these cars for some time and have done a lot of looking on the various sites such as ebay, the samba, craigs list and of course here.

I had a couple of questions you guys might be able to answer for me.

I noticed on all the Datona kits the body seems to sit a couple inches further forward than the Fiber Fab kits do. It looks like the rear tire is to close to the leading edge of the rear fender and the front tire seems to stick out further in front of the front engine. In looking at Fiber Fab kits the wheels seem to sit where a real MGTD’s do giving it a more natural look.  My question is, how come?

Second question, which kit has the thickest fiberglass. I looked at a Fiber Fab this weekend the the glass was really flimsy. The hood had considerable flex to it and so did the fenders. I guessed the thickness to be around 1/8″ give or take, mostly take.

Third question, are there any sites other than the ones I mentioned to look for these cars?  Seems most are located back east. They are few and far between down here in Louisiana.

Thanks, and I look forward to some answers to your replys.

Tom Colello, Baton Rouge, La

[Larry Murphy]

 Hi Tom,

 To the best of my knowledge, the wheel to fender position is determined by the location of the kit body to the VW pan. FiberFab placed the body farther to the front of the pan which allows better wheel to fender positioning AND the use of a full size MG grille but also requires a larger gas tank [engine cover] at the rear.Also the FiberFab cars that have the front suspensions lowered, the front wheels appear slightly to the rear of the highest point of the front fender when viewed directly from the side.

 The MiGis body location [farther to the rear] requires the use of a shorter grille as the grille sits on top of the VW front suspension. The running boards also must have a raised section at the point they attach to the rear fender to clear the VW torision bar rear suspension, but also have a more realistic sized engine cover.

 Different kit manufacturers had their favorite ways of solving problems,often choosing the easiest or cheapest way even at the cost of quality or authenticity.

 Most companies claimed to use original MG body parts to make their molds. They could have added 2 or 3 inches to the body length and solved the problem or at least it looks like that would have worked better.The hood on my BCW is between 2 and 3 inches longer than my London Roadster which puts the wheels in the correct position but you have to measure with a ruler to realize the difference in length.

 The British Coach Works fiberglass is the thickest and best quality that I have personally seen ,however I’ve owned the MiGi based car since 1994 and the body still has no cracks  after  26,000 miles.

[Mark Hendrickson]

Hey Tom, Welcome

I have personally owned a VW based CMC/FiberFab TD, a CMC/FiberFab Ford based TD and British Coach Works Chevette based TD.

There were many MD “replica” manufacturers and all varied in the quality of their components and their “authenticity” as far as looks. Most were VW based, some were Ford (Pinto) based and some were GM (Chevette) based.

Keep in mind that who assembled the car makes a difference too.

IHMO the highest quality kits were the British Coach Works followed closely by the Classic Roadsters Ltd. BCW actually used a real TD for making their body molds and all the brightwork was real MG-TD. You can actually buy real TD stuff from vendors that fit it.

All the rest that I have personally come in contact with were about equal in quality (IMHO). They would include, CMC/FiberFab, Datyona MiGi and London Roadster. I’ve never seen an Allison or other brand in the “flesh”.

The kit car industry (not just MG-TD’s) back when these companies were in business was a mess with lousy workmanship and unscrupulous vendors. It’s a wonder many lasted as long as a they did.

I agree with your assessment of the “chopper-gun” CMC/FiberFab components versus the hand laid BCW and Classic Roadsters glass. The BCW glass is easily twice as thick as a CMC/FiberFab car. In addition, most required or were painted, not gelcoat.

Before you buy, be sure of requirements to title and register the car in your state. Some states are making it almost impossible. Be sure the car you buy has a vaild Certificate of Origin or vehicle Title. Be sure it’s not titled as the donor car. This causes big time problems with registration, inspection, insurance, titles, etc.

Don’t buy sight unseen if you can avoid that.

try: http://www.vintagevwcars.com and http://www.hemmings.com

Hope this helps…keep asking questions.

[edward ericson]

The Allison Daytona is a nice looking kit. Wobby’s car looks really real in the front and sides, has the right kind of side curtains, very authentic dash and a glove box. Don’t know how thick the glass is, but it has a real solid appearance overall.

MY BCW is nice too. I do believe it’s a chopper gun job though, not hand laid except for a few small patch spots where metal parts are bonded to the glass.

[Bill Gould]

I can’t claim first-hand knowledge of other kit cars, although I’ve eyeballed a few over the years, but it’s hard to imagine one built with more rigidity or thicker fiberglass than the MP Lafer. Granted, it isn’t truly a kit car, but the principal — VW frame, floorpans & engine — was the same. My TI model has a one-piece body with a hinged hood on the luggage/fuel cell/spare/battery compartment up front; two doors (hinged on the leading edge, rather than at the rear like all others do); and the engine deck lid, which is hinged at the top. Very strong. Not that many around, but worth a look if you come across one.

1981 Lafer TI
1600 cc Type 1 engine

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