Another new hack show. I turned it on this past weekend, rolling my eyes as I did so, and what did I see?---a bunch of guys in a shed, tearing apart a nice 97 Porsche Boxster to turn it into a kit car.

A few things made me cringe, in no particular order;

1)the way in which it showed metal bars (no, not tubes) being "Fabricated" for carrying the fiberglass body---some guy yanking on them in a bench vice, the whole table and vice shaking.

2) sawzall being used with wild abandon freehand---just attacking panels, hacking out a piece, and then slapping fiberglass and bondo over the hatchet job

3) tacking and welding being shown without proper eye protection. Oh, and someone "blowing out" some flaming fiberglass when he got a little too close with a torch.

Maybe this is the way a Kit car gets made in my buddy's garage, but should the "kit car" industry be showing this on TV?

Am I being too touchy? To me, it was like Texas Hardtails meets Bondo Sawzall Community College....

It is being shown this way because for the overwhelming majority of people who make Kit-Cars that's how they do it, well except usually a Boxster isn't the donor car.

There is a show that airs on Spike TV called "Extreme 4x4", and they did a build the other month (might still be doing it) where they essentially gave up all the fancy tools and room in the TV shop in an effort to show people that they can do this stuff without having a huge garage and millions of dollars of EQ.

The closest regular show that Speed has to what real people do in their little garage is Two-Guys garage, but even that show going all the way back to their days as Shadetree Mechanic has been more of the "TV Garage" then a real persons garage.

I agree with you my self. I hate kit cars in general. Especially cars that you take one car and then make it look like a completely different car. Now I think it is a lot cooler when you build a car yourself from a kit. Like buy a super 7 kit. Not turn a pontiac into something that looks like a lambo. Or a Boxster into a GT. I am sorry if you try to hide what the car really is your just being a tool.

How is that you being a tool?

If that is being a tool, then putting anything other then a factory piece on you car is you being a tool to, right?

Fisha695 - 02 March 2009 11:58 AM

How is that you being a tool?

If that is being a tool, then putting anything other then a factory piece on you car is you being a tool to, right?

I don't think aftermarket parts, body kits, flares, that kind of think make one a tool.

And tool might be a bit harsh for this. I'd say you're more of a twit for taking a perfectly nice 97 Boxster, worth say $20k, and slapping a $5k GT wannabe body on it. Especially one done by a bunch of hillbillys...

DuPont Registry used to be a nice mag, til all the Lambo and Ferrari kit-cars started turning up in it...

And will I ever afford a Carrera GT?----of course not. But why pretend I have one by re-bodying a perfectly good Stuttgart steed?....

I'd be more impressed if this GT build were done on a Golf/rabbit chassis!...

Fisha695 - 02 March 2009 11:58 AM

How is that you being a tool?

If that is being a tool, then putting anything other then a factory piece on you car is you being a tool to, right?

If you putting performance enhancements no your car no your not a tool. If you decide to put a pointless body kit with a dumb wing that is just there for show then yes you are IMO a tool. If you take a kit like the caterham super 7 kit car your just making a car. Your not trying to pass off one thing as something else. So no your not a tool. Essentially it is kinda false advertising. "Hey look I have a carrera GT! Well, actually it is a used boxster with some cheap fiberglass and some bondo." Why not spend the same money and make the boxster faster? I would respect that a lot more.

EG Willy - 02 March 2009 12:36 PM

Fisha695 - 02 March 2009 11:58 AM

How is that you being a tool?

If that is being a tool, then putting anything other then a factory piece on you car is you being a tool to, right?

I don't think aftermarket parts, body kits, flares, that kind of think make one a tool.

And tool might be a bit harsh for this. I'd say you're more of a twit for taking a perfectly nice 97 Boxster, worth say $20k, and slapping a $5k GT wannabe body on it. Especially one done by a bunch of hillbillys...

DuPont Registry used to be a nice mag, til all the Lambo and Ferrari kit-cars started turning up in it...

And will I ever afford a Carrera GT?----of course not. But why pretend I have one by re-bodying a perfectly good Stuttgart steed?....

I'd be more impressed if this GT build were done on a Golf/rabbit chassis!...

Here is the thing though, it is their money, not yours, so yeah in a way they are destroying some ugly Porsche (not a fan of the boxster), but they still had to buy it first, so if they want to spend their money on it then why shouldn't they be able too.

nab2488 - 02 March 2009 01:48 PM

Fisha695 - 02 March 2009 11:58 AM

How is that you being a tool?

If that is being a tool, then putting anything other then a factory piece on you car is you being a tool to, right?

If you putting performance enhancements no your car no your not a tool. If you decide to put a pointless body kit with a dumb wing that is just there for show then yes you are IMO a tool. If you take a kit like the caterham super 7 kit car your just making a car. Your not trying to pass off one thing as something else. So no your not a tool. Essentially it is kinda false advertising. "Hey look I have a carrera GT! Well, actually it is a used boxster with some cheap fiberglass and some bondo." Why not spend the same money and make the boxster faster? I would respect that a lot more.

Because they don't want to make the boxster faster.

My truck has fake Beadlocks on it, does that mean I'm a tool or you lost respect for me, because I liked the way these wheels looked and I didn't feel like wasting money on real beadlocks?

Not really I would say your just being money conscious. You like the look of those wheels as long as you don't go around and try to pass them off as real it isn't to bad. It goes along this way if you need to modify the looks of a car because you think the car is ugly and the way your car looks is really that important to you. Then you shouldn't have bought that car in the first place. If want to add little additions here or there to improve the looks of the car fine. Change the wheels, tires, or new paint job, fine. Maybe modify the doors so they open differently, cool. But when you take a car and change it so much so that it looks like a better car than it actually is you become a tool.

Here are some examples

Look at this very cool car

Obviously that is a mustang a fast one with new parts but it is still a mustang. I like this one.

Here are the tools

but what is this?

Is that a murcielago? Nope it is a pontiac fiero.

Or how about this not even trying to look like a certain other car.

Seriously the only way I can tell that is a celica is because they didn't touch the headlights and they put the toyota badge back on. I am sure the designer of the celica hates what tools such as this poor car's owner did to it.

Kit cars such as that fiero and the Boxster in the show are no better than any bad ricer that tries overly hard to be something they are not.

The only good kit cars are cars that are recreations like the caterham super 7 or completely different cars like ultima. Those are essentially you are the manufacture. Not someone trying to make a car that suits their ego even if their wallet can't.

EG Willy - 02 March 2009 10:48 AM

Another new hack show. I turned it on this past weekend, rolling my eyes as I did so, and what did I see?---a bunch of guys in a shed, tearing apart a nice 97 Porsche Boxster to turn it into a kit car.

A few things made me cringe, in no particular order;

1)the way in which it showed metal bars (no, not tubes) being "Fabricated" for carrying the fiberglass body---some guy yanking on them in a bench vice, the whole table and vice shaking.

2) sawzall being used with wild abandon freehand---just attacking panels, hacking out a piece, and then slapping fiberglass and bondo over the hatchet job

3) tacking and welding being shown without proper eye protection. Oh, and someone "blowing out" some flaming fiberglass when he got a little too close with a torch.

Maybe this is the way a Kit car gets made in my buddy's garage, but should the "kit car" industry be showing this on TV?

Am I being too touchy? To me, it was like Texas Hardtails meets Bondo Sawzall Community College....

dont forget the bonding panels with bondo, and using bondo where glass should be.. my grandmother knows better then these guys.i do a better job in my tent in the backyard building customs. someone give me a tv show.

I have no problem with kit cars per se, but to take something as desirable as a Porsche Boxster and turn it into what as may bling trash,is unspeakable. Better to have started with a VW of some kind.