914 "Kit Car" in the future????, Think there will be a market for it??? Options

[Mueller]

It seems to me that it is only a matter of time before someone decides that a true Kit Car should be made to resemble the 914, the big questions are:

Will people buy the kits?
Will the Kits and components be true to the original design? (Mid-engine, ind. suspension, 4 whl disc brakes, etc, etc)
What kind of chassis will the Kit be built on?
1) A used or damaged 914 chassis?
2) VW Bug chassis
3) Tube frame (like a Cobra or Lotus 7 kit)
4) Glued up chassis using honeycomb composites?

Would you buy one???

Everyone drools over the cobras, the 550 spyders, heck in Europe there is even a Kit Car based on the 911 which uses multiple different watercooled powerplants if one wants to go that route.

[ArtechnikA]

As long as we have tubs.. there wont be a need.

True to a point, but why are 356 kits popular...

because quality tubs are -not- readily available. the cars are older and had even more rust issues than ours.

and unlike our cars, most of which came with VW engines to start with, 356's had engines with very expensive, long out of production parts.

the advantage of the 'Speedster' kits is that you can take a tired T-I Bug, freshen the engine for reasonable money, and have something that looks like and probably outperforms the original.

it keeps coming back to looks and performance. people have always liked the looks of the Speedster, and a modern VW engine and transaxle are more powerful and reliable than the 50-year-old prototype cars.

in very broad strokes, the Speedster -is- a hotrodded VW. both rear-engine concept cars. to re-use another existing floor pan for a 914 kit you'd use what ? X-1/9? MR-2? Honda del Sol ?

we're not normal, here. nobody nowadays would build a car that looked like a 914 on purpose :-) ...