Kit Car

Premier Motorsports Shop Tour

Have you ever bought something, found out it wasn't what you wanted, then gone out and made the item yourself to your own exacting standards? While some of us can identify with that thought when it comes to an engine bracket or some bodywork on your car, most folks don't sit back and redesign an entire vehicle, build one from scratch, then open a business that offers those cars to the general public. But then again, none of us are Chuck Nickloy.

But Chuck's business drive didn't happen overnight. In 1988, he started Big-W, a business that manufactured very large Styrofoam mold machines that makes blocks used in packaging and housing insulation.

As that business developed, another opportunity came about to refurbish commercial waffle irons, which blossomed into building restaurant and commercial waffle irons as well as refurbishing them. From that business came a need to develop a batch powdercoating business, and it was this natural domino effect that got Nickloy into the replica Cobra business.

Back in the early-'90s, Chuck bought a Cobra replica and soon realized it wasn't what he had dreamt it would be. While satisfied with the basics of the car, he sought to make it better with a Jag IRS and an updated 351 Windsor. While that quenched his thirst for a while, it wasn't long before he began searching for something better altogether.

That quest led to a few field trips to other manufacturers and, when all was said and done, Nickloy had purchased the molds and chassis tooling from Hi-Tech in Tempe, Arizona. Soon, Nickloy was busy refining his new molds and thoughts of offering the car to the public formed the basis of another company, Premier MotorSports, which he opened in 2000.

The expertise and methodical approach Nickloy employed in his other businesses, he applied to Premier MotorSports, too. By utilizing a dedicated and skilled staff to improve all of the tooling and molds, not only is its Cobra roadster body a superb replication of the original in shape and dimension, but with some minor adjustments in the cockpit, it also has excellent legroom (something lacking with some other replica bodies).

Premier strives to engineer quality and consistency into every part it makes. It goes without saying that, with this kind of focus, you are going to get a car that is going to last and be problem-free. Though the company's focus is to manufacture quality replicas in kit form, it believes it has a distinct difference in what it provides versus its competition. With Premier's kit, you get everything but the engine and transmission, paint, fluids, and hoses. Instead of spending hours searching for parts on a donor car or going to the parts store, you are spending the time in the garage actually assembling your car. Premier has focused in on making its cars an assembly project, not a fabrication job.

Premier believes one of the most important things that differentiates it from any other is how close the car is in appearance, chassis, and suspension design, plus overall fit and finish the car is to the original. There are a lot of folks who knew the original Hi-Tech design, and Premier still get calls based on the knowledge it has about the original tooling. Several improvements have been made that both simplify and lighten the car, and they even fabricate the hood and trunk to fit on a steel hoop the same way as the originals were. With the engine bay fabricated with aluminum panels for the wheelwells and an optional aluminum foot box and firewall package, the resemblance to the original is quite close. And though you can easily fit a small-block in the engine bay, most of the owners chose to build theirs with a 427 or 428 FE big-block.

With the 4-inch round tube frame as a base, Premier continued the design with the same suspension hard points as the original car. The front suspension has been updated with current technology ('95-and-later Mustang spindles) and custom links to provide the best possible scrub radius and geometry, and the rest of the suspension is built in-house. While there are a lot of variations of the suspension for the Cobra on the market, Premier held true to the base design and with only a few changes to the original systems, providing easy-to-adjust lower A-arms, as well as both upper and lower rear control arms and trailing arms.

That may not mean a lot to the person who only wants a street car, but to a racer or a weekend track racer, this is very important. It also makes the car more versatile and provides an added value for when the car is sold later on. Over the last year, one improvement Premier has made in its fabrication department is all of the flat or formed sheet steel parts used on the chassis or with the suspension have been engineered and produced by a computer-driven laser-cutting process and then professionally folded, which results in excellent consistency and quality. A high-quality repeatable production process improves efficiency, and with repeatability and efficiency, the by-product is quality. To this end, General Manager Doug Taylor oversees the day-to-day production, as well as sales, making sure those high quality standards are upheld.

The result of this production analysis is that Premier can produce a car that is very street-worthy, but requires little to be a track-ready machine. With a fully adjustable suspension, a few pre-calculated adjustments, and a quick tire change, you are ready to enjoy a day at the track, autocrossing, or at the dragstrip.

To back up that thought, Nickloy has been an active participant at the annual Run & Gun events in the past, personally driving his own Cobra at the track. At the 2004 event, Premier brought two vehicles: Nickloy's personal driver and a street-prepped vehicle. Both cars use a 4.6L DOHC SVT engines. For those who attended the event, they can attest to the fact that these new modular engines can really scream! They also proved their ability to perform at the top of their class in both the Road Coarse and Autocross events.

With the company's roadster in production, Premier recently turned its engineering attention to a new model, a replication of the GT40 Mark 1B it calls the P40. The prototype will be finished by the time you read this and, by all accounts, this should be one special car. Once completed, some initial street time will provide feedback for performance, and then it's on to the track for some real testing. Premier believes the P40 will be in production by mid-summer.

For Premier, attention to detail and quality is what it is all about. These cars are all about fulfilling your dreams, and the folks at Premier take that to the highest level in the engineering, design, fit, finish, and drivability of the cars they offer. Premier also has a dealer/builder network in place throughout the U.S., and even one dealer in Europe (Germany).If you want a car that will drive and handle like a race car on the street and perform when you want it to, you owe it to yourself to check Premier MotorSport out.