Kit cars

Hey guys, I was just wondering:
Which kit car is the cheapest to buy and insure (while maintaining quality) here in the US?

I considered the Caterham 280, but the chassis alone is $33,000 and I'd have to get the engine and transmission separare.

In short, is there anything decent for $10,000 or less?

nope

$15,000?

lol good luck.

I could just go buy a junkyard car and fix it up.

That would be your best bet.

Should I look for a particular make/model?

Depends on you're budget and what you're looking for.

I wouldn't work on a car without acquiring the basic mechanic skills or knowing safety regulations first.

^

^

I'm friends with a mechanic who fixes up every used car he sells (He sold me both of my cars). I could talk with him about it and have him mentor me before I tackle anything mechanical.

As for the safety regulations, which type? I'll have to look it up.

I don't particularly agree with what you wanna do but if you're serious (which I hope you're not) I'd reccomend an Exocet car. They're basically kit Miatas stripped to the bone.
http://exomotive.com/exocet/

Id hate to see you lift up a chassis the wrong way, not use jack stands, and end up crushing yourself to death.
or losing a finger or getting a deep laceration dealing with spring compression.
or over inflating a tire and exploding in your face
or shocking yourself dealing with a car battery
or dying of lung cancer due to asbestos
or driving a car with bolts that have not been torqued to spec
or dropping a transmission case or drive shaft on your head
or burn yourself touching the motor
etc.

Not to mention most kit cars require a lot of extra money and work to be a safe and street legal.

^Which is why I want to have the mechanic there to start with.

And I thought you hated me, Koolaid?

Koolaid wrote:

Id hate to see you lift up a chassis the wrong way, not use jack stands, and end up crushing yourself to death or dropping a transmission case or drive shaft on your head

First time I worked on my car I was so scared of this lmao.

Obelisk wrote:

And I thought you hated me, Koolaid?

Let's just stop right there no need for this.

Honestly, that was just a question out of curiosity.

Anyways, I can trust the mechanic...He's got a restored '74 Nova that he did all by himself and he got a car working after it had been at the bottom of the ocean for a few weeks (How it ended up there is beyond me)

If i can help prevent someone from injuring themselves, then yeah I'm going to say something regardless who it is.

Well, I appreciate the thought Koolaid.

I do want to try to build my own car, since I can't exactly enjoy hooning around in my Impala...And that it's kinda showing its age.

Buy an NA MX5, price range $500-3000 would still be a running car, 4-6k for mint condition 97s
-Solid motors that are fine even past 240k miles.
- cheap
- easy to work on
- cheap
- parts everywhere
- easy to drive
- not to mention they're cheap

I actually was thinking about getting a junkyard MR car and ripping the chassis for a custom body
but that MX5 suggestion sounds much better! Thank you. If I do go through with it, I might put a little sharktooth decal somewhere on it,

I've been considering to buy a miata but because it's a two seater my family disagreed
S2k=two seated=no buy
I was thinking of getting a Mitsubishi eclipse '06 under 10k

Spoiler:

Celica aftermarket support isn't cheap, used 150k miles is still $3500+
If and when you do ever own a celica, you will quickly find out that everyone knows me and my car lol
Not to mention I MOD that forum also

My friend has a Celica GTS...A 2003 I think.
Frankly, not interested in the Celica.