The Beginning

Simplify, then add lightness - Colin Chapman, Designer of the Lotus 7.

In the summer or 2019, I decided I wanted to do a  “project car.”  So what does that mean?  

At first I was considering restoring an old American muscle car.  But unfortunately I don't have a big enough garage or a machine shop.  I was unsure about how successful I was going to be and I wanted something I knew I could complete.  So I switched gears and looked for a car you can build from the ground up!

After some digging around, I found that there are two main types of kit cars - cars that come as a complete kit, and cars that need a donor vehicle.

    Or maybe three types - cars you can't get in the US (there are some really cool kits featured online that I couldn’t seem to find here in the US).

After looking at the options, I narrowed it down to four:   The Factory Five MK4, the  Caterham 7, the  DF Goblin, and the  Exomotive Exocet. 

A complete kit means that you buy everything new - either from different manufacturers (think: body from one manufacturer, engine from another, etc.), or from a single manufacturer.  A donor kit means that you usually buy the frame, but that the engine, transmission and other systems (think: brakes, suspension, electronics) come from the donor car.

The Factory Five can either come complete with everything (besides an engine transmission and related parts like power steering and AC), or set up with a donor kit.  The Caterham 7 is a complete kit -- everything you need comes from Caterham.  Both the DF Goblin and the Exomotive Exocet require a donor car. 

    A kit using a donor car could be cheaper - if you can find a donor car at an attractive price.  So first I started down that road.

After searching for donor cars, both the DF Goblin and the Exomotive Exocet were out of the running.  Both required specific vehicles for which I had a hard time finding low mileage donors.  The DF Goblin requires a 2006 - 2010 Chevy Cobalt, and the Exocet requires a 1990 - 2005 Mazda Miata.  Most donors that I found at a reasonable price had over 130,000 miles.  It made no sense to spend so many hours building a car with an engine that is approaching the end of its planned life.  Although this may work for some people, this was not the car I was looking for.

So it was was down to either a Factory Five MK4 or a Caterham 7.  The Factory Five has a pricing tool, so I priced out the Factory Five and figured it would end up costing about 20k more than a Caterham 7 from start to finish.

With the Factory Five, you still need to purchase an engine and painting.  But with the Caterham 7, everything comes in the kit, and you know from the start that everything will work together.  This made it perfect for my first project car.

  Price aside - I also love the look of the Caterham 7.  It has such an aggressive stance, and the styling of a classic race car.  Also, Shelby Cobra replicas are somewhat easy to find in the US, and I wanted something unique.  So I decided on a Caterham 7.  

But before placing an order, I needed to see one up close.  Fortunately, one of the American Caterham 7 dealers is just 45 minutes away in Denver.  I emailed the owner, Josh Robbins, who was incredibly helpful.  He invited me to come down and see his shop.

 At Josh’s garage, I saw two Caterhams up close.  One was a beautiful 270S that was about 95% completed.  After many questions, and poking around in the car, I had enough information to know the Caterham 7 was a perfect choice!

Be sure to check my next post for decisions on the specs I chose!