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As I understand it , a purchase from Kitman and you are on your own from securing your own FOB shipper and everything else from point of sale until completion of the build.  Best to buy a kit with pre-hung doors etc. from a company that hasa good history of customer support.... a couple advertise here. Also, there are not actual drill templates available, but it is fairly well detailed in a Classic Motor Carriages Speedster build manual available here. 

Last edited by Alan Merklin

I believe Jake here may be looking for a coupe. That narrows the options, especially in kit form. The only option there may be Kitman. 

If JPS still exists, they build an "A" coupe. Special Edition now does a "C" coupe, and Greg at Vintage does a "pre A" coupe. But as far as I know, they only do turnkey cars.

Good luck finding an Envemo they haven't been made in many years.

Greg at Vintage Motorcars of California does his Pre-A coupe in various levels of done-ness. Here's a link to his level 1 which has the body with doors, hood, and deck lid mounted with subframe ready to mount on a shortened chassis.  He offers motors and parts, pretty much everything you'd need to complete the project. I believe he also does rollers.  He's a great guy to work with, give him a call or email your questions to him.

Good luck with the project!

https://www.vintagemotorcarsin...vintage-pre-a-coupe/

 

I have a question.  Have you ever built a car before?  Completely?  I am finding out that working on cars helps but is not the same as building a car.  If you look at Brock's thread, you will see that he has built cars, many cars.  And he doesn't NEED customer support from the manufacturer or a whole bunch of other advice.  I, on the other hand, need customer support and answers to questions that I don't even know to ask.  Where are you on that spectrum?  If you are closer to experience working on cars, but not a lot of experience building and fabricating them, take a good look at the manufacturers that provide support.  And read Brock's thread, no matter what you decide.

Last edited by Todd M

Todd makes a good point!  I restored (rebuilt is a better term as they weren't meant to be concourse cars - just drivers) many production cars before ordering a CMC kit years ago (2 VW bugs, 2 Bugeye AH, AH mini, TR Spitfire, Porsche 356/914/911).  There you rip off a broken worn out part - put it in a bag with screws, label it and move to next step.  At the end, all holes are in the right place and you have proper screws to reassemble.  The build manual for CMC said there were scribe marks in body for cutting holes - that must have been in early castings as mine had none.  It becomes measure 4 times cut 1 - refill if necessary.  Now if a kit came without a build manual (CMC supplied an ok one) - and without the parts specific to that model kit - it would be a horrendous build adventure.  Someone here recently needed new door hinges only to find the generic ones now available were indeed different.

Buying an already built car in need of refurb or even a NOS kit still complete in a crate - would be less intimidating than sources a bunch of parts that may or may not fit.  You still see CMCs out there for $4-8k that need work.  I know DrClock has pointed out that parts for replica Speedster has near doubled in last couple years -- must be China tariffs.

Hi Jake 

The points from Todd and Wolfgang are to the point and spot on. One reason we no longer build cars are that everyone wanted something different. We direct our customers to the CMC build manual and ask them to self assess their capabilities.  Being a good welder/ fabricator is paramount to a good result.  It is just what you feel comfortable with.  

We can steer you to quality parts suppliers with our component list yet it is almost impossible for us to guide you through every step of the build. Brock Burt on this Forum has been amazing in sharing and documenting his building of a Kitman Motors 356A Coupe kit.  That thread is worth a careful review as you figure out if you want to go that route.  Otherwise, expect to be patient and pay for the expertise and experience of a Beck or VS builder.

Let Jonathan or me know if you need suppliers for parts and we will gladly share that with you. Hope this helps.

Dr. Chris K

Kitman Motors, 

San Diego, CA

 

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