[Vinny]

Well I guess the drama really is complete now.

I thought about it and it didn’t take long to realize that I had plenty going on without this car so I stuck it on craigslist and watched it go down the road today.

I have to say, I don’t feel much other than relief. I’m sure I’m done thinking I want a kit car.

I was re-reading the other thread and saw that I said I got it for $900. I must have had the other thing I bought earlier that week on my mind – I paid a little more than that. I took a loss selling it away, but no worse than a bad day at the casino and I think it went to a good home. There is a school and kids involved, so that sounds cool.

You seem to be a good group of guys I won’t be associating with now. Thanks for the support anyway.

vinito2015-06-18 18:44:00

[Vinny]

We had an auto swap meet here in town yesterday. I went there just to look around. There was a bunch of auto stuff there but I don’t really know yet exactly what I need or where to start, so I did just look around and didn’t buy anything. I did make an offer on a pair of horns that would have looked kind of cool. The seller didn’t bite though and something else will come up, plus I’m about 7/8ths of a project away from needing a horn anyway.

I have decided though that what I need to do is get a complete donor car to work with. I think first I’ll be trying for something ’70s or earlier, and the two easy routes might be a hard-to-find Mustang II or maybe an older Jaguar XJ. There are a couple newer XJs locally, one in my own little town for $1K. I was just thinking older because it would ease the titling process a little. Anyone know whether a ’93 XJ6 would be very useful for this project, originally intended for a Mustang II donor? I can weld and machine so if it’s just a matter of brackets and such that’s no big deal. I know the XJ6 has IRS shich would be nice, but maybe it’s just waay to bulky to fit under this thing? I haven’t looked into the front end yet so I don’t have a feeling about that yet. A Jaguar straight 6 would be cool to stuff under the hood of this thing, but I’d like to use a bunch more from the donor car if it were possible, i.e. steering, suspension, pedals, gauges (yea, wishful there but)… everything my shell is missing, which is pretty much everything but the shell.

I can hack and make things fit. It’s what I do for a living. But only if it’s possible to fit, which sometimes it is not.

[Vinny]

edsnova wrote:

Here, btw, is 

your steering wheel. 

Where’s the wood?

That looks pretty close. But it’s supposed to be 18″ isn’t it? Maybe that wouldn’t even fit inside the doors on the kit car.

Yea those MWS wheels are way to sweet for me. About $2500 US. For that money I’d be tempted to blacksmith them myself and save money for pizza and a hat.

I’ve discovered that my wheels aren’t as trashed as I thought they were, so nice wheels are on the back burner for now as they should be at this point of the build.

I’ve started a new thread for the re-build. Sure to be full of drama, mistakes, torn knuckles and maybe even some positive progress.

I washed and vacuumed the thing today. I thought I hated cats before. I don’t think they lived in it, but they’ve certainly been sleeping there for a couple years. Blechth!!!

vinito2015-05-31 21:45:04

[Vinny]

Yea there are a lot of other varying details too.

The lower frame of the windshield and maybe the A&C windshield is arched slightly on the top (mine is dead flat)

The bolt head locations

The seam of the hood across the top

There’s a slightly different flare shape on the leading end of the front fenders

I did read through that other post as well. Informative.

Thanks for the reply.

vinito2015-05-31 19:47:30

[Vinny]

By the way, if anybody can tell me for sure from the pictures (http://www.callkck.com) whose kit I’ve got, then please let me know.

Best I can figure from what I’ve found on the net, it’s an Eagle Coach Work kit from the ’80s I think.

Here’s a brochure picture I found (comparison to a photo of my shell on the right):

I’ve also found a few other pictures labeled with the Eagle name and they do indeed look similarly made. The square windshield, rounded grille frame, etc. The bumper with mine is different than all the ones I’ve found except one, and there was no maker reference on that picture. But mine is the same as the one in the above brochure and maybe the bumpers either changed from time to time or were something folks could get separately or something.

The one pictured in the brochure has identical body lines and hardware other than several things that didn’t come with my shell. Basically there is nothing there that indicates it’s not the one I have unless I’m missing something. Then again, I’m totally new to all this and I could certainly be mistaken.

I would REALLY like to get my hands on a build manual for this thing.

edit to add: actually the grille does look a little different than mine (other than not being chrome). Hmmm…

vinito2015-05-31 19:30:18

[Vinny]

Getting ready to go out and wash the new money pit!
Today I surfed a little for wire wheel information. Based on what I learned, it seems that I should skip trying to find a good deal on used ones due to the potential for several issues common to original wire wheels. Can be a pain at best and potentially dangerous. I figure I’ll just look for a suitable size rim and maybe wire covers or just some kind of good-looking wheel/center combo. I guess the trick is finding something that looks classy and not cheezy, i.e. somewhat “period correct” and cool. I guess that’s simple enough to research since there are tons of images on the net with a TD, S100 and other similar searches. Something will catch my eye.

I notice that all the new rims tend to be smaller diameter and wider than original. I do like much more the look of the larger diameter, narrower wheels & tires from the original cars. I have had some trouble finding what the originals had – anybody have a recommendation?

Also took a stab at searching craigslist for a donor car for the engine, harness, tranny, title and dozens of other tidbits. Not a wealth of this stuff available there. I suspect that this is one case where more may be available at the local junkyards than on the net.

I should probably start a new thread for the “build”.

I guess I have officially joined your ranks though. Glad to have horned my way in.

vinito2015-05-31 13:04:37

[Vinny]

Well I did pick it up today. It’s not as complete as I thought (no gauges) but that doesn’t bother me.

The condition isn’t as good as I would have liked, but it’s not bad enough to sour me on it. The car hasn’t been stored outdoors at least uncovered because the interior would be much worse. I don’t care too much about the interior itself as it’s good enough for a while, but if it were rotten that would be an indicator of bad deterioration on everything else, so I feel OK with it.

So yea, it’s a big project. But it still looks cool and I’m proud to have it sitting in the yard today. One of my motorhead friends was by to check it out and he’s all excited about the possibilities with it too. I should get some good ideas and advice from him.

The hauling of it went very smoothly.

Oh yea, I ended up getting it for $900 too, so I’m happy enough about that.

I’m certain that eventually I will be changing a ton of things on it. But I’m hoping to get the thing so I can drive it without going off the deep end and thinking myself into a pile of useless car parts for the next five years first. I figure I should be able to fix it up enough to drive within a few months maybe so I can have a little fun behind the wheel before I start letting my pipe dreams kill it first.

I was hoping to wash and clean it up today, but the visitors stayed too long. So tomorrow I’ll be doing that and then taking pictures afterword. Also might look into the hoops for the top and see if I can at least figure out what to fix on them so it supports the top correctly.

And without further ado, here’s a couple quick snaps of it sitting in my yard:

(sorry about the finger. I’m not Ansel Adams either)

And by the way, the headlights he included are actually pretty nice I think. They are some kind of heavy-duty Model A somethingernuther. I’ll post a picture of them tomorrow along with a couple more snaps of the body after being cleaned up a bit.

vinito2015-05-30 21:44:41

[Vinny]

Well by this time Saturday I should be standing in front of a washed shell of a kit car. Yesterday I saw a set (4) of Austin Healy-sized wire knock-off style rims go on eBay for less than $200. It was just the rims though so no hubs or nuts. Looking at completed listings it looks like that’s not an uncommon price for a set of those kind of rims. I don’t know why, but I really like the look of those type of wheels and once the car is in my possession I think I’ll keep an ear to the ground for a set while I’m figuring out a motor and tranny for it. I’ll have to figure out what size wheels will be proper for the thing and get that right. There’s probably a bit of a range that will work OK.

In the meantime, I’m going to start rifling through all the crap and listing a bunch of it on craigslist and thin the clutter. I have three garages and all of them are just about full of stuff I don’t need. I honestly wouldn’t mind not having 80% of the stuff I put in there. At the time I brought the piles home, I thought I’d need or want it, but it’s obvious that I don’t anymore. I think once I get started I might get into that “mode” and watch a bunch of stuff disappear in short order.

Anyway, I’m kind of looking forward to the beginning of this hobby car thing. I’m such a rookie with it but I’ve been honing a bunch of skills for a couple decades which will come in handy for this stuff. When the thing is finally running and I can drive it around the neighborhood, that will be quite the landmark day, won’t it? That’s probably quite a ways away, but I hope the journey there will be enjoyable too.

So what do you guys think about me putting an automatic in it? Has that been done very often?

[Vinny]

Looks like I’m gonna go git it this Saturday. Rain is supposed to taper off to nothing mid-morning and I can rent a dolly for cheap enough that even if I decide against it for some reason, the dolly cost won’t hurt.

Paul when I said the company doesn’t make this kit anymore, I just mean this particular one. They apparently still make other kits and they just don’t do this one anymore. They guy said something about “eagle” and Eagle Coach Works comes up, so maybe that’s it except it looks like that company may still offer SS100 kits so I might be wrong there.

My plan is to get it home, wash it down good, take a few pictures then pull it into the garage and work on it for ten or twenty years.

Seriously I would be happy if the thing would simply lazily tug me around town. So once I figure out what I need for fitting things, I’ll talk to a couple motorhead friends for advice and just get anything that can fit it and reliably work. I’m guessing that could be done with at least a dozen different motors. I do think it would just be kinda cool to have an inline 6, but I’m not married to it. FIrst order of business is to get it drive-able for cheap and get a feel for the thing. Then I can decide what I like and don’t and improve on it by prioritiies.

This might be total sacrilege, but I am leaning heavily toward fitting an automatic tranny to it. Since it will just be something to putter around in, then the ease and comfort of automatic might be kind of nice at least for a while. If I end up yearning for the sporty feel of shifting for myself, I can re-think that later. However, if I find a manual for cheap first I may just go with that. It would be fun either way I think.

A motorhead buddy at work was suggesting that I could put a Ford 3.8 into it. That seems kinda large to me, but supposedly those are easy to find and maintain. I don’t know which way I will go yet, but the idea of picking something plentiful and easy to find parts for is big on my priority list.

[Vinny]

I talked to the seller. He is quite a talker – heard all kinds of details, some even about this kit. He’s a motorhead from way back and I heard a bunch of stuff about other projects he’s done before or in the middle of “getting around to” now. Nice guy.

At the risk of counting chickens, sounds like I got it if I want it. Just have to settle on a price, but it won’t be more than $1200 and that’s probably not firm. I’ll be driving there to check it out once there’s a break in the weather, probably this weekend. It’s definitely a project but it’s not missing a ton of stuff. The lights aren’t the Barnum & Bailey tent-sized ones (which would be more original, but hey) rather are some kind of Model A repro. Should still look good. Note that I am not too concerned about it looking like the original, which these particular kits don’t anyway. But it can still be a really attractive car and a lot of fun.

OK, the “bad”:

-The door latches are either missing or don’t work. I don’t consider that a big deal. If need be, I can make some from scratch.

-One of the hoops for the top is too long or something. The top is not new condition, but it’s OK. No rips.

-Headlights are substitutions as mentioned.

-Bumpers are included but not mounted. Seems like I’ve seen at least three different kinds of bumpers. The ones with this one aren’t the straight chrome tube – some kind of shaped thing mounted to steel channel.

-We didn’t talk about interior. I’ll see for myself when I get there. It’s probably not too bad if it’s similar to the rest of the car.

-Some kind of goofiness with the front suspension, but as I said the guy is a motorhead and I think rather than do what he was suggesting, it can be just put back together and be as good as a Pinto anyway.

-No fuel tank.

-wing windows were mounted at some point but now only the mounting holes are there (exposed and visible). Probably not a big deal either.

-chassis rolls and steers, but no brakes are connected at all. A master cylinder is installed and maybe even lines, but no pedal. I wonder if the parking brake is installed? I’ll have to check. That would make it easy to get inside my garage without breaking out the back wall.:lol:

-And of course, no motor.

He says the body is all in good shape. It’s grey and black. Not real flashy. As long as it shines up that is probably OK. I really like BRG so maybe I should redo the finish at some point several years away.

He bought it and brought it home from Texas a couple years ago and promptly got distracted by several other projects. I don’t think he did anything at all but move it around a couple times from what he was saying.

There is still the titling issue, but for the price it’s not a huge risk. The company who made these is still in business though not made the SS100 kit for over 20 years. That may or may not help in getting some kind of paperwork to help the titling process.

Well that’s it other than pictures. Let me know what you think, other than I’m purchasing a ton of hours of work (because I already know that).

OK just kidding. That’s one of those beautiful Suffolk replicas.

Here’s the one I’m considering:

(Sorry. The guy isn’t exactly Ansel Adams)

p.s. The headlights that come with it are obviously not installed on the car yet. He mentioned a couple other things that come with it but aren’t installed.

vinito2015-05-26 23:44:14

[Vinny]

Thanks for the replies and support folks.

I would have responded sooner but something was wrong with the server all of yesterday I think.

Well, turns out this car was a Missouri title too. That’s three for three that I’ve checked into thus far, two of them being Kansas residents. This one sounded iffy at best too. The guy didn’t even know and had to check out what state the title had and get back with me later. How do you have a car for several years and either never put it in your own name or remember titling it in another state?

I slipped in a quick mention of it being too high price for me unless it was closer to $5K anyway and he sounded as though that would have been out of the question for him too. I sincerely wished him good with it and now I’m on with my half-arsed continued search. (see how I tucked a little British accent in there? see? see?).

The good news for me is now that I know the going rate for one of these things is well within what I consider reasonable so as long as I can either find one with a clean Kansas title or maybe a clean Fiber Fab titled car, I should be joining your ranks after all. I mention the Fiber Fab because I talked to the current owner of the company and he said he could set me up with paperwork which would most likely be accepted by Kansas for titling purposes. Not being tested that isn’t 100% certainty, but possibly worth the risk, and I have a workaround option if it didn’t work out.

It might take a couple years before I find one, I don’t know. But at least I’m actually looking now.

vinito2015-05-14 17:55:43

[Vinny]

Does it really need that second bedroom and hallway? Sometimes it’s nice to have a separate room to work on smaller assemblies and stuff.

[Vinny]

I’ve noticed that if you plug the word “prototype” into a description, you’re apparently free to triple the price, hehe. Yea those look like fine specimens, but the cost is awfully pricey.

Actually Roy, your estimates seem realistic to me. I’m sure a guy can search and scrounge and greatly reduce the costs, but to throw money at it for expedience sake does soak more of it up for sure.

I think you’re correct. It’s probably MUCH less expensive to find an already-built kit and it probably wouldn’t be much more difficult to happen across one than to find the necessary pile of parts to build a kit myself. I guess if I knew there was a particular one I could focus on and count on a kit being available when I was ready for it, I could acquire a base of whatever type and prepare it for quite a while, then get the kit once that was done and I had the money ready to buy it. But there are a LOT of “if’s” there and much more chance of it not working out than being successful. That approach might suit somebody who is quite knowledgeable about these things already rather than a total rookie like me.

I guess the main reason this idea even crossed my mind is the very real problem of the way Kansas is set up to strongly resist transferring out-of-state titles into its borders. It’s inexplicable, but true unfortunately. It can be done, and you’d think the state would be interested in increasing tax revenue and make it a little more sane to do so. I don’t know. Maybe the narrow-minded rural masses that continually herd our legislators down nonsensical paths ad-nauseum assume that nobody should enjoy this stuff have simply successfully pushed to relieve us of this evil vice. Hobby cars being a cottage-industry interest at best, it’s so low on the priority list of grievances that it’s nearly impossible for me to see this title stuff ever ease up in my lifetime, even though it’s possibly the most difficult state to deal with. Kansas legislators seem to be proud instead of ashamed when we are pointed out to be the worst of the 50 states in certain categories. Insanity?

Anyway, maybe I’ll just keep a leisurely ear to the ground for a TD in the future. If I find a kit in the meantime I am not scared of taking a build on though. Just have to keep watching I guess.

[Vinny]

I imagine that the Brits out there are happy there’s a country with a worse reputation for mechanics.

It would be depressing to be noted twice on the “hell” list.

[Vinny]

You have to laugh…

I just talked with the Jaguar owner and it, too, is a Missouri title. The reason is he has a business in MO and he ran into so much problem getting the title transferred in Kansas that he instead did it in MO (transfer fro Colorado).

Also, he’s asking $12K and I just don’t see me going there. If I had it in savings or something I might be tempted, but I won’t be getting a loan for it. Plus, the original kit company doesn’t show up anywhere like the FF did so it would be more digging and hoop jumping and frankly I’m kind of burned out on that.

But the seller is a really nice feller and invited me to come drive it for a bit tomorrow whether I buy it or not. Maybe he thinks once I drive it I’ll be hooked (I can’t say that wouldn’t happen) or maybe he just likes talking hobbies. Either way I think I’ll be taking him up on it if it isn’t sold by then.

[Vinny]

The Jaguar is described to be an X-100, so kind of similar to the TD body style I love so much. Very neat looking car as well. It is built on a Ford 4cyl base. (Pinto?)

It’s small multitudes more expensive than the MiGi I lost (which would have been $3500 by the way – conceive my disappointment ! ). But it may be a reasonable price for what it is, even if it is probably out of my price range as well.

If I really catch “the bug”, then upgrading motors and such might be fun and even worth the expense and effort. Being new to the whole thing, I’d be happy for quite a while if a fun little hobby car would scoot me around town sputtering and coughing (the car, not me hopefully).

Heck, here’s a pic of the Jag:

The BRG fits “me” better anyway. The car probably physically fits me better too. I don’t think it matters since the price gets me into a commitment I’m not sure I want to take on. I could afford it, but I haven’t fully been infected by the car bug yet so its worth hasn’t spread so far into the gray matter as I’m sure it will be once the disease takes full hold.

and just for regret’s sake, here’s one of the MiGi I was looking at:

Side note:

It’s kinda funny that I never was a “motorhead”. I am a machinist by trade and I’ve been building and mechanic-ing most of my life, so it seems that I have somehow avoided getting into cars despite myself other than a means to get from here to there. With my background it seems that I should be deep into it by this time in my life, but it just never happened.

I know that cars can easily be a source of thorough enjoyment rather than a boring source of transport and I’ve had enough cars in my life that I caught a glimpse of it here and there. Maybe I’m just old and bored enough of the pattern that I’m ready to take it on and have fun with it finally.

vinito2015-05-09 12:03:56

[Vinny]

I can see why you went there but I didn’t go on about all the details I had to figure out because it’s a long, boring list (because I didn’t know for sure already – somebody who did would have found it much easier no doubt). Also, describing the complete drama would just be me venting as the saga is closed now anyway.

So just FYI. Yes I did  look at the title myself and the way it was named was : Deceased husband name, wife’s name then TOD to a trust in both his and her name. So since not both are deceased the trust isn’t involved yet and in this case Kansas simply requires a photocopy of his death certificate (and his SS# can be blacked out for identity protection reasons). Incidentally I know this now from calling DMV (one of a few calls to them). Since I did see the title with my own eyes and even take a photo of it (which helped in my efforts), plus verified that the chassis VIN did match the one stamped on the car (also with my own eyes) I was reasonably certain that the title was clean and transfer to my name would be possible. What the lady should have done before putting it up for sale is get a new title & take the deceased name off of it beforehand which would have made any sale a little easier.

Resist the temptation to assume my attorney would give bad advice. It only seems like there are gaps in data because it would be verbose and boring for me to relay all the details here, so my fault not his. My mentioning this step was only me trying to illustrate how broad I was trying to cast the net to cover all the bases as best I can. The DMV and Highway Patrol communiques were more fruitful than the attorney as you probably already know. But I got nuggets of good info from most all the avenues I waded into, including the attorney.

As I imagine you already know, title transfer from any state into Kansas requires a title inspection from the Highway Patrol before proceeding to the DMV. True to form, the two agencies don’t necessarily know what the other does or expects and this makes the process more difficult for anything outside the ordinary. There were a series of calls from one to the other, me just relaying what the other agency said. You’d think since they both do this all day, every day of their career that they would be so well-versed in the process that one or the other or both would know what’s going on. All the DMV would say is “you need to get a title inspection”. Well that’s easy for a 2009 Ford pickup that’s all stock. The Highway Patrol basically told me that I would NOT pass the inspection with this car. No mention of Certificate of Origin for the kit or anything else I now know are all you need for things to go forward. So is it just laziness or assumption of buyer stupidity or narcissism or something else which makes them say things like that? I’ll never know.

Believe me I wanted to know with strong-as-possible certainty that I wouldn’t be hit with too many surprises and certainly no big ones. I am the type that will try to think of any possible way a thing can go wrong and make sure that I don’t fall into a problem as best I can. I have never bought a kit car before so I didn’t know anything about it last week, so this was a fair chunk of work just to learn what Kansas and my county require. Now I know a ton more than I did then so it would be a lot easier.

The shame is that as things progressed I became certainer and certainer of the ability to get the thing legal for myself as the seller got paranoider and paranoider over the same time period. I think it’s because I was putting in effort to learn the facts while she was lazily stewing in her own thoughts. I don’t want to criticize her too much just because ranting on her is a slippery slope I can too easily go down for no gain. It’s tempting because I’m pretty miffed at the seller’s thoughtlessness and laziness. But she has to live inside her own brain ceaselessly which is punishment way beyond what I would ever impose for this small offense.

Anyway, I’ll get over it soon.

Just so you know, today I saw another local listing for a kit car. Jaguar this time. Kansas title this time. I’m hoping to take it for a test drive just because whether I buy it or not, even a short spin in the things are fun. You veterans probably know better than I know myself – I might have caught a little car fever this week. I’m not sure whether that’s a bad or good thing, but it feels good.

I guess if I never try it I’ll never learn the pleasure of financial disaster !

vinito2015-05-09 10:23:30

[Vinny]

Well it didn’t work out. Everything was good to go other than me figuring out a bunch of little details for getting things legal. I’m on the state border and it was coming from Missouri to Kansas which complicates title transfer, plus her deceased husband’s name is on the title. So I would ask her questions, go and figure out what paper was needed to jump that hurdle, find another detail, more answers and hurdle jumps, etc.

Then she eventually got around to talking to some friend of hers who made her paranoid with misinformation. Namely, that if I can’t get the title transferred into my name (which wasn’t an issue by the time I researched and found answers to every necessary detail anyway) then she was liable for it and would have to give my money back and re-sell the car again, etc. I have heard this urban myth before and always suspected it was BS but I wasn’t 100% certain. So I checked around, even with my attorney, and verified that was not true but she was paranoid about it and closed to all further thinking. I relayed that I had reliable sources who explained that once I purchased the car with a legal title properly transferred according to the seller’s state’s requirements, then any risk that is not in her control and certainly not malicious intent on her part rests with me from that point on. Her title is legal and all paperwork was in order, so from her end it would have been a done deal and rid of the car this evening, but whatever.

Incidentally, I even called the current owner of FiberFab to ask about getting the title transferred and he was extremely helpful. I had all the hurdles figured out and I am 100% certain I would have got the title transferred. It wouldn’t have happened tomorrow, but I wasn’t in a huge hurry anyway and even a couple weeks of jumping through hoops to get it done was no big deal to me.

Of course she didn’t change her mind until after I had spent literally hours researching and making phone calls to figure out and verify that everything was in order plus getting the loan done. I was literally calling her with the news that I cash in hand, a ride over there this evening to pick it up and an answer to the very last minor question about proof of death of her husband when she was simultaneously calling me to say that the sale was cut off to me. She has decided that a Missouri buyer is the only route she will go now (even though the location of the buyer isn’t a fact that is necessarily disclosed to the seller). No big mystery that I am extremely frustrated and sour about the whole thing now.

So I’m sorry to say that I am NOT joining the ranks and it’s probably not likely I will be. It was a bit of a whim and I just happened to see the listing. I probably won’t be actively searching one out to buy. Too bad. I was looking forward to the camaraderie that seems to be here as well as just driving the thing around.

Thanks for the friendly responses though. Have fun with your own continued enjoyment of the buggies.

Take care.

Vinnie.

vinito2015-05-08 20:06:44

[Vinny]

Hi John.

I’m in Kansas City, not North Carolina. But now that you’ve made me point that out I have to ask myself why!! Visited NC a while back and I loved that area.

Maybe I should just spell my location out instead of using the local abbreviation. I can see how I wasn’t very descriptive there.

Thanks for the welcome.

edit to add: Profile now reads Kansas City rather than “KC”

vinito2015-05-07 23:39:27

[Author]

Posts