Quote:
Originally Posted by alga
What's the difference between a kit and a self-build? Most people buy the chassis at least in the flatpack form, some buy it ready made. Apparently, lots of people buy the wishbones pre-made. Virtually everyone buys the bodywork.
A friend of mine built a Tiger Cat. He bought a kit from Poland. The kit included a powdercoated chassis, front wishbones and I think uprights, and GRP panels. The rest he's sourced and built himself. The only essential difference is that there's a single company behind the Tiger design, whereas with Haynes there are several companies offering components. But even then I think the Tiger kit was made in Poland by a franchise: http://www.t-c.pl/. |
Hi Alga
I think your post starts to define the difference between a kit-car and a self-build. The distinction isn’t “black and white” and is perhaps raises a debate without a “one size fits all” definition. My personal view is I think of a kit car is a bolt together option married to the donor parts, generally controlled by a manufacturer (as you said). What builders don’t have, generally, is the choice of make or buy.
Building the Roadster we have choice, we can choose to make the parts that we feel able to, seek help and advise about the parts we don’t feel confident about and possibly buy them ready made if we feel the make option is beyond us. Let’s not kid ourselves, without the forum there is insufficient information in the book to make everything.
I personally choose to make as much as possible, this sometimes means learning new skills, make jigs and fixtures and often involves a hell of a lot more labour than ordering the finished parts online. It might be “sad” but for me this is part of the fun and the reason why I chose a “self build” option. Clearly some people, who are making this car, who have the skills, tooling, time and inclination, offer a range of ready made parts. I think this is great because it expands the number of people who embark on this mad project, offers the opportunity for some enterprising people to start businesses and for others it offers a way of raising some much needed money to fund their build. Because they choose to offer this service doesn’t stop it from being a self-build for those of us who choose this route.
Trif