As I put this issue together, I'm struck by some of the writing done by Steve Stanford in his Profiles column. The way I see it, the idea behind Profiles is to stimulate some creative juices in Kit Car's readership, hopefully opening up some doors when the time comes to decide what type of car you'd like to build.
Many folks have made good use of Kit Car's annual Buyer's Guide when making that decision, pouring over who builds what, what level of car-building expertise you need, and getting a rough idea of what it will cost (but never mind that last one: it's never adhered to anyway!).
But if the Profiles column is truly a "What If" launching pad, where brand-new arenas are entered into, then that's where the limitless potential of the kit and replicar industry could be proven. We've come a long way from the stick-welded chassis of the '60s and the telemarketing scams of the '80s and '90s. Though so many strides have been made to move away from those ugly times, some people are still embarrassed to even mention that they work in the "kit car" industry.
While on a recent jaunt to check out the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona (I've been attending the show since 2000), I bumped into a builder who did everything he could to tell me his one-off fiberglass replicar wasn't a kit. I wanted to give him the secret handshake or something to tell him "I know" or "I'm one of you," but I didn't know how to do it. He wanted to portray his vehicle in a particular light, just as long as that light didn't shine too bright on the kit car's industry's seedy past.
So what was Kit Car doing at a show like that? Well the simple answer is: see page 51 of this issue and find out. But the longer answer is there were a lot of kits and replicars there. In fact, there are lots of kits and replicars everywhere, and some don't even recognize them when they see them!
There are some truly incredible examples of innovative workmanship happening in our hobby-something we can all be proud of. Is a kit just a body set over some chopped-down donor chassis? Not anymore! Many manufacturers have mastered chassis fabrication techniques, coming up with some wonderful design statements, as well as some impressive undercarriages. And they're far better than what was used under any original. That's one reason I don't agree with those who stand on the sidelines and point out what is or isn't original on our cars. In many cases, ours are better than the originals-especially in the drivetrain and safety departments.
But, even with our recent advances, where do we go from here? What will the industry be like in 5 years, let alone 15 or 20? Will the 10-year-old of today want to buy a Cobra kit when he's old enough to drive? Attracting a larger and/or new audience is the key to the survival of this hobby. It happened in street rodding-the American Graffiti coupe and the MTV-driven success of ZZ Top music videos drove an awareness of hot rodding into America's living rooms. Everybody, and I mean world-wide, knows these cars. And who can forget Tim Allen and the cars he was building in his TV garage? Even eight-year-olds knew what a hot rod was because of the popularity of Tim Allen. Imagine if some TV show showed a 356 kit or a Daytona Coupe going together?
So what is a kit car today? Is it only a big crate full of parts that gets delivered via UPS to you doorstep? Is it a turnkey minus a motor that arrives painted and plumbed? The answer is "yes" to both. But what about those folks who want to scratchbuild their own cars? It may look like something we've seen (see Guy Blackmar's homebuilt Jag on page 14), or something only similar to what we've seen (check out the Whatthehaye in Harold Pace's Carchives article on Neo Classics starting on page 81).