About the project:
First, some terms:
Kit Car: A build kit is purchased from a manufacturer that almost always includes a frame and bodywork, and may container any or all of the additional parts required to complete the car, or may contain none of the parts. In the latter scenario, it is up to the builder to source a "Donor" car, out of which they pull the engine, transmission, differential, suspension, brakes, electrics, sometimes even seats and lights. In most situations, the build kit provided is somewhere in between, where it is up to the builder to source the engine / transmission / gearbox and many other parts, and the kit itself might come with suspension, roll bars, seats, lights, fuel tank, and anything that is specifically built to fit the frame.
Locost Car: Cars based on the lotus 7 speed demon of the 1960's, but which are built entirely from scratch and with as small a budget as possible, hence "Low Cost". This type of car was most famously pioneered by Ron Champion, as he set about to not only build such a car, but also meticulously document it and eventually publish a book ("Build your own Sports Car for as little as 250 GBP") that has been republished in a second version called ("Build your own Sports Car for 250 GBP, and Race It!"). In a nutshell, the mindset for building a locost must revolve around building a simple, lightweight, high performance (raceable) 2 seater car for as cheap as possible, where the satisfaction gained from creating such a machine from scratch, from putting in massive hours desinging and building the car, overrides some of the aesthetic limitations that may become apparent with such a small budget.
In general, with either of these approaches, the prospect of building a car from whatever stage, through completion, can be daunting. From what I've heard, the success rate of actually finishing a car that has been started is rather low. In the U.S., this type of project is much tougher than in Britain, where all of these ideas were developed. In the U.K., the culture of Do it Yourself (DIY) car building still thrives, whereas in the U.S., it's really just beginning to take off. (Sure, there have been some kit car companies around for a while in the U.S., and there are plenty of very successful builders over here in the states, but it's still miniscule). The problem with the small popularity of car building in the U.S. is that there is not much commercial support for it. Often times the best (or only) place to turn for some custom or build-specific parts is the U.K. Even more so than parts, however, is knowledge. Lucky for us, we live in a wired world and communicating with the Locost and kit car builders in the U.K. online is just as easy from Colorado as it is from Yorkshire. Its a little tougher to find knowledgeable, hands-on help over here, though.
So, why am I doing this?
It's a challenge, I'm going to learn a tremendous amount, it's a unique, motivating and consuming activity, I want to know more about cars, it's an opportunity to get truly supercar performance for a few percentages of the price of a commercial supercar! In fact, due to the construction of these cars, a builder can expect a finished product with a wet weight of between 850 lbs (for the truly lightweight) and 1400lbs. Combine this with engine power between 150 bhp and 350 bhp (depending on the drivetrain used and price paid!) and surpreme handling, often due to outboard front suspension / wheels, disc brakes and independent rear suspension, and you've got a race-ready pocket rocket that will keep up with most porsches, ferarris other supercars that easily sell for $150K and up. In other words, the better question should be, why WOULDN'T I do this?
