Thread: Hot Rod Kit

Tweet

Hey, I'm lookin for some help. Me and my brother want to build our first hot rod but do not know where to start. We are looking for a cheap kit for beginers that has everything...I mean everything you need to make your own hot rod. If they do not make these types of kits please direct me to the closest thing to it. Or if someone would suggest a very cheap kit that would be great for us to get started and what we would need. Thanks

I haven't tried the kit car scene myself, but when I was looking into it a while back, Factory Five Racing made some pretty good ones. They may be a little later copies than you are looking for, Shelbys and cobras, etc. Thier Shelby did have a write up in Car and Driver, a fairly favorable one.

Speedway motors makes a nearly complete hot rod kit for a 32 Ford roadster. It includes the frame and body for $4995. You supply the engine trans and wheels. www.speedwaymotors.com
Type "Lo-boy roadster" into their search engine and you should find it. It has a tube frame instead of a repro 32 frame. The finished car that I've seen looks very good for the money. It comes with complete assembly instructions too. It's a perfect kit for a new rodder.
AL

Hey! I did my first T-Bucket from Speedway motors out of Lincoln, Ne. Good people to work with!
Here is a site where you can build your car real time online. The parts you select are added to the "virtual" car on your screen. That way you can see what the car will look like BEFORE you buy it.
www.tbuckets.com

You can also go to www.kitcarmag.com and look thru their mfg list.

I hope this helps, and keep us up to date with what you decide.
DCON

I've laid back waiting to see what kind of responses you'd get. Fortunately you got some good starting advice, as usual around here.

But I'd still like to embellish the responses based on my experience. I've gone through this kind of discussion many times because of my involvement with Cobra replicas. Yeah, they're different than a rod, but in the context of "kits" they are a good parallel. Your objectives as stated are pretty typical. Everyone wants to build a car cheap. If they have no experience, they believe there's a silver bullet that us "old hands" have that will guide the way to an inexpensive build. Let's start with that concept. The only folks I know that can build a car "cheap" are those with lots of experience, a bushel full of skills, and usually a well stocked shop. They almost never build a "kit car" (on the rod side of things) because they know that the companies that put together kits want to make a decent living too. That means that a kit, and the more complete the more likely it will be true, will end up pretty expensive in relative terms. That being said, if you don't have a lot of experience and have learned through considerable effort where to get the most cost effective parts, you could end up with a more economical total package with the kit. Sorry, there's no substitute for experience. Coming to a site like this to ask for advice will give you a leg up. But there's a lot to know when it come to building a car from the ground up.

One of the mistakes that beginners make is in the planning. I've seen this moreso with the Cobras, but it happpens with rods too. The better ones will get one of those yellow legal size writing tablets and several catalogs (or web sites) and list out as many things as they can think of to build the car. And they may even guess at how much time it will take them to build the car. Let's say, at the end of this calculation, they figure it will cost them about $12,500 and take about 9 months. That means in reality they'll probably spend at least $20,000 and it will take them 2 to 3 years, frequently more than that. It happens 99% of the time. There's going to be more parts than you can imagine to complete an entire car if you've never done it before.

As for the cost of kits, though this isn't an automatic, the less they cost, the lower the quality. Again, you need to do some personal research to determine what level of quality you are willing to accept, and can afford. You can ask around, but what you get are opinions. And one persons idea of high quality doesn't match another's............yours included. Go to rod events, ask around, look at what's there. Compare for yourself.

Now that I've said that, here's a couple of my kit opinions. The Speedway stuff is what I consider mid quality. A mix of building up to a quality level and down to a price point. For a Fad T bucket, the industry leader for years has been Total Performance. Lakes modified styles are a current popular trend and the two best on the market are high quality kits, pretty complete, and are built with more interior space in mind. Those of us with standard size T bodies will, in all honesty, tell you they are a tight fit for anyone around 6 foot tall. Great for short scoots, not the deal for long distance tours. A T style Modified is made by Zipper Motors, and will be the most expensive of the ones referred to here. Probably end up in the high $20,000 range. A bit more economical, but still high quality, based on a model A roadster PU body, is the Real Rods modified. Get the latest issue of Rod and Custom, one of their junior editors is just beginning the build up of one of these and chronicling that process. This car could be built somewhere in the mid 20's.

Now the wrap up and most controversial info. If you're going to build a decent car from a kit, my opinion is, an inexperienced person will be in it anywhere from $17,000 to $30,000 depending on where you start and where you end. Lot's of folks will dispute these numbers, but I'll stand by them because I've seen it over and over again when people are honest about their TOTAL, REAL costs. You want to get into rodding inexpensively with something that a lack of experience won't be overwhelmed by? Buy an existing car. As an example. If you're in love with a T bucket, that same one that cost $17,000 to build, will have a market value of about $10,000 the day it's finished. Sounds unbelieveable don't it? Check the prices on the used market. Finished T buckets can be found every day for anywhere between $6,000 and $15,000. Used Model A coupe and sedan rods are around $15k, yeah some are higher, but not many (especially if you know the price it SOLD for, not the asking price). To get your feet wet, and to improve your chances of not becoming disillusioned by the enormity of the total build process (in all honesty, there are few people in the big picture who have the perseverence to follow all the way through on one of these) I'd suggest you start out with something "easier". I think a good, and smart, as well as economical, way to start would be to get something like a '46-48 Ford sedan. You can buy a decent "restored" one for something around $10k, if you want a coupe, it'll run $2-3k more. You'll have a good looking car, acknowledged rod material, it runs, and you can enjoy it while you work on it. Get your rodding feet wet by putting in a dropped axle and reversed eye spring up front, drop the rear with shackles or a dearched, reverse eye spring. Swith to 15" wheels, alloy if you want, and some good radials. Already the car looks like a rod, rides nice, if you bought wisely it runs decent. Get a dual exhaust for the "right" sound. And so far you've spent less than $2k. After that, you can upgrade brakes, about $600.00 to $1,000.00. Flathead "speed parts" are plentiful, and on this kind of car are mostly for dress up. My point is, you can build your experience base with a fun project that gives you positive results fairly quickly, enjoy the social parts of the hobby because you have a "driver", and by throwing about $4-5k at a $10k car, you'll have something you can sell for $13-15K when you're ready (in several ways) to move on to something more challenging.

Listen to Bob - the cheapest way to get into a streetrod is to buy one that is driveable. I also agree that the 46 thru 48 cars get you the most bang for the buck. The 4 doors are the cheapest.The convt the most expensive.

Thhe 2 doors are a good compromise.....look to be in the 10 to 12k range for one that is driveable but needs a better interior & probably wheels & paint.

Look at the antique auto trader to get some ideas.......Don

I agree completly with Bob on his statements. I did my T-Bucket, and it did take longer than I thought. More $$ also than I thought. It does help being a member of such a forum as this for help. When I did my '46 Plymouth, I had some wrenching under my belt. Building the T-Bucket & owning numerous muscle cars, I knew how most things worked together and what wouldn't.

There is other options out there besides the "classic" 46-48 Ford. It seams that every one has one or has had one at one time or another. That could be a blessing and a pain. Blessing that alot of info on how to do things and for after market parts for them. Pain in that everyone is or will be selling thiers and will know what yours is worth...or not.

I have seen a trend in cars from the 50's being rodded more now. Some of the styles and the amount of chrome was unbelievable! Just my opinion, but something to look at as well.

Get one with a clean body and tranplant your own drive train and some custum rims and tires and you have a rod that is yours. And it doesn't look like the other 100 or so body styles already at the show.
I am just saying...look out side the "box".
DCON

Had a friend half convinced to try this on his escort wagon before it finally got too far gone to worth doing even that to it.

So in your dream truck, the fron engine is...left there? I'd make that unused engine bay a trunk, carpet it and fill it with neon, amps and speakers...i mean, it is an IMPORT truck we're starting with, right?

Here in PA, where things are as tough as possible 9they are reportedly cracking down on cars with Classic and Antique plates - to the point that if you change wheels or STEREOS, you are going to lose you calssic/antique status!)

Anyway, 74 and back is the emission cut off here (a generous one from what all i see here) BUT you can get a 'collector vehicle' plate - and it seems most anything can be made to qualify - the first one i saw was on an 88 S10 with a 65 327 in it! The 'collector vehicle' registration made it emmisions exempt! Can you say 'Cheater!'? I felt that way!