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Re: Kit CarZ

To: Brian Borgstede <borgstede@umsl.edu>
Subject: Re: Kit CarZ
From: Bob Lang <LANG@ISIS.MIT.EDU>
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 09:52:15 -0500 (EST)
Cc: triumphs@Autox.Team.Net
On Tue, 29 Dec 1998, Brian Borgstede wrote:

> At 04:50 PM 12/28/98 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >Now, being a British car nut (certified, I might add), the appeal of using
> >the underpinnings of a Triumph is almost too hard to resist. The result:
> >how about an Ambro knock off on a TR3 frame??? Looks like a Lister or
> >Birdcage Masarati but has the - errr - practicality of a good ol' Triumph.
> >Wow!
> >Regards,
> >rml
> >TR6's and Ambro Lover
> 
> 
> Wow!
> Where do I find info on a kit for the TR6 frame?
> Somebody posted something about this a few weeks ago,
> I tried to find info in a kit car mag. but no luck.

Brian - I cc'd the Triumphs list, because each time this discussion has 
come up, there have been several followups...

Whoops - spelled Maserati wrong in my initial post. Sheesh.

Note: I do not have my promo literature in front of me as I write this. 
So it is possible that I have the wrong company listed here. However, I'm 
99% confident that this is the company that I had spoken to/communicated 
with a few years ago.

Classic Antique Replicar Specialists in Oklahoma City, OK makes a body 
that they call the Tipo Dio 61 or something like that. The lines come 
from a body that Bill Ames provided to them. So, it is an Ambro body. 
Note: the original Ambro lines come from a Lister. If you know what these 
cars are, you know what I'm talking about. I think they are very pleasing 
lines. Almost sexy.

At any rate, as of about three or four years ago, you could get a body 
kit from them for about $2500 or so. They also offer tig welded frames 
and other stuff that make the process a bit easier time-wise but 
obviously more stressful on the "budget". In Kit Car magazines as 
recently as 1995, I believe the annual "roundup" issue where they list 
all sorts of kit car companies had Classic Antique Replicar Specialists 
listed.

The body kit is not made to fit any particular chassis. This is very much 
as things would have been for Devin way back when. The promo literature 
indicates something like: will fit chassis with 90 in wheelbase and 49 
inch track. They then have you bend a bunch of conduit to provide the 
internal structure of the body.

I looked pretty seriously at this particular kit, but I decided to build 
a "real TR6" body instead because a body tub was more or less dumped on 
my feet. Time-wise, the kit's glass body (even with bending conduit) 
would have been way less time. Oh well. Had I gone that route, I would 
have building a sort of Vintage car. Who knows where my current project 
is going, but as of right now, I'm doing the Pylon Thing with the car 
when its done.

But remember Bob's first law of Kit CarZ - you better like whatever you 
get, because there is _no_ market for used kit cars, so you're going to 
be hanging on to that puppy for the forseeable future.

FWIW, there was a car called a "Hathaway" that was made to go on a 
Triumph chassis. I never saw a real one, but they were in the kit car 
magazines 20 years ago.

Either way - good luck!

For reference, go to the following URL:

http://www.kitcar.com

There's info on how to contact Classic Antique Replicars in there.

And Caveat Emptor.

> Brian
> Brian Borgstede
> At Home!
> '68 TR 250

regards,
rml
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