Talk me out of building a kit car... Daytona Coupe

HMP said:
15 grand for paint?! holy cow, that's a lot of money!
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You've actually met the son of a guy who paints these for a living. The amount of time he spent per car was insane, they would just ship him the bodies and he would paint them and the ship them back. You could look for days and couldn't find a flaw on the paint.
 
^^^^ A friend of mine volunteers at the Simeone museum in Philadelphia and has driven this car; they exercise it from time to time. Pretty good story
 
spittinfire said:
$15k wouldn’t get your car in primer in a lot of shops.


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Understood, but $15K is still a heckuva investment in a kit car. I don’t want to spend it unless I can get it back out on a sail/cell/sale/sell of the vehicle.
 
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fieldgrade said:
Understood, but $15K is still a heckuva investment in a kit car. I don’t want to spend it unless I can get it back out on a sail/cell/sale/sell of the vehicle.
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If I had that car, selling would be my kids and G-kids problem.
 
First it's a kit car so no return on investment. Secondly, there are hundreds of european cars out there with more history and class. Better to drop a big block in a pre-84 pickup and enjoy the sound than go with a high maintenance money vacuum.
 
Dale Flinchum said:
First it's a kit car so no return on investment. Secondly, there are hundreds of european cars out there with more history and class. Better to drop a big block in a pre-84 pickup and enjoy the sound than go with a high maintenance money vacuum.
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I get that but are they that unreliable? The complicated bits seem to be borrowed (mostly Ford in this case, for better or worse). The rest you put together yourself so you should be able to maintain it yourself. And they don’t have a lot of the complex computerized systems in them that current cars do. Just the ECU I expect. I am far from being an expert though. I assume body panels would be $$$ to replace if you ever needed to.

Realize though that a couple of years ago I was working on a pilot license and looking at kit planes to build, so a kit car doesn’t seem too scary.

I agree that it isn’t an investment. Consider it all spent up front and enjoy it as long as you can drive. If you can’t afford it, don’t spend it. If you can, have fun!


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Dale Flinchum said:
First it's a kit car so no return on investment. Secondly, there are hundreds of european cars out there with more history and class. Better to drop a big block in a pre-84 pickup and enjoy the sound than go with a high maintenance money vacuum.
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I have followed Cobra kits for a decade or more. You might not make money on them but you can get your money back out of tastefully executed examples, and the Daytona Coupes always sell because they are so scarce.

As for European cars, I have zero interest, aside from Carroll Shelby spanking them with the Coupe.

Talk about history.
 
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DCGallim said:
You've actually met the son of a guy who paints these for a living. The amount of time he spent per car was insane, they would just ship him the bodies and he would paint them and the ship them back. You could look for days and couldn't find a flaw on the paint.
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Who?
 
fieldgrade said:
Understood, but $15K is still a heckuva investment in a kit car. I don’t want to spend it unless I can get it back out on a sail/cell/sale/sell of the vehicle.
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Trust me I understand. I was in the restoration/custom car business for years(thankfully I'm out of it now). 90% of the cars being built today are money pits with no hope of ever getting the build cost back.
 
spittinfire said:
Trust me I understand. I was in the restoration/custom car business for years(thankfully I'm out of it now). 90% of the cars being built today are money pits with no hope of ever getting the build cost back.
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The reality is I just wouldn’t have room to build one now even if I decided to pony up and do it due to shop space I gave up when I sold my last house after I put this post up two years ago.

Probably the biggest bang for the buck is to wait for one that is completed to show up on the market. The Gen III framed FFR Type 65 Coupes are just not out there for sale yet since they just came out with that completely redesigned frame a couple of years ago and it takes most guys 3-4 years to build these things (and Whitby's a year or more lead time), but in a couple of years they’ll start to appear, and someone somewhere will firesale/sell/cell/sail one because he’s eyeballing a new toy he has to have (sorta like guns;)).

I’ll bide my time. The last young un’ will finish school in a year which means I’ll get a fat raise and I’ll see what’s out there.
 
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spittinfire said:
Cheapest route is to find one as close to what you want as you can and then buy it.


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I would add to spend your time researching the folks that built it, the quality can be all over the map.
 
For your viewing pleasure. This is the gen II frame, not the III

https://www.cobracountry.com/cars-for-sale/ffr-daytona-coupe-dehoff-2/

deHoff-10-BS-1224x662.jpg

deHoff-13-rear-1184x755.jpg
deHoff-04-dex-1224x689.jpg
 
Dale Flinchum said:
Love those repli-racers with A/C, lol.
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Damn straight. Us old farts like to be comfy. Because that’s who buys them you know.

It’s no different to me that building model cars, only on a grander scale.
 
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I'd get the electric assist package as well, never know when a arthritis attack will hit.
 
Dale Flinchum said:
I'd get the electric assist package as well, never know when a arthritis attack will hit.
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Okay, now you’re harshing my mellow.

I’m sure there’s a Fiat or Renault forum somewhere that would welcome you.
 
What a bunch of wet blankets.
 
Not really. I'm a big fan of the cars, both the cobras and the coupes. The stuff I pointed out is just out of place, at least IMO.

I've never driven one, but I got to ride for a weekend at VIR as an instructor at a track day event. It was very tight inside for my 6 ft 210#'s. The driver just wanted to floor it on the straights and cruise the turns, so it got old pretty quick. He was a great guy and it was a cool car, just not very fast on track, and not near comfortable enough to drive any distance on the highway. Still they are very historical cars with lot of cool factor. If I had 65-75K lying around, I would buy one just for the heck of it.
 
fieldgrade said:
Okay, now you’re harshing my mellow.

I’m sure there’s a Fiat or Renault forum somewhere that would welcome you.
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Lol, sorry but too many Jags, Healys, Astons, Porsches, Mercs, Ferraris, etc. to lust over to ever go snailmobile.
 
Back on the topic of talking you out of it.

There are no bigger sink holes of money with almost zero chance of ever recovering your investment than cars and boats.

Investing that money with moderate returns will shave 2-5 years off the number of years you need to work (depending on your age).

#captainbuzzkill
 
Ferrisfan said:
Back on the topic of talking you out of it.

There are no bigger sink holes of money with almost zero chance of ever recovering your investment than cars and boats.

Investing that money with moderate returns will shave 2-5 years off the number of years you need to work (depending on your age).

#captainbuzzkill
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That ship has sailed. I retired 5 years ago.
 
Dale Flinchum said:
Lol, sorry but too many Jags, Healys, Astons, Porsches, Mercs, Ferraris, etc. to lust over to ever go snailmobile.
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I appreciate and have lusted after all of them at one time or another.

That said, I prefer American (MAGA, mothertrucker :)) over the Euro racers.

The half dozen or so Daytona Coupes that were ever made, and can now be replicated, are the only things that satisfy my love of eight cylinders of horsepower, AND torque, at full song, that can kick the ass of anything listed above.

Snailmobile my ass. Read your history. Carroll kicked Enzo's hindquarters.
 
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fieldgrade said:
I appreciate and have lusted after all of them at one time or another.

That said, I prefer American (MAGA, mothertrucker :)) over the Euro racers.

The half dozen or so Daytona Coupes that were ever made, and can now be replicated, are the only things that satisfy my love of eight cylinders of horsepower, AND torque, at full song, that can kick the ass of anything listed above.

Snailmobile my ass. Read your history. Carroll kicked Enzo's hindquarters.
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Post 142, you referred to my need to go with the Renault and the Fiat. Never did I say the Daytona was not a stud car. Don't know how you got things confused but I'll write it off as a unintended slight.
 
Dale Flinchum said:
Post 142, you referred to my need to go with the Renault and the Fiat. Never did I say the Daytona was not a stud car. Don't know how you got things confused but I'll write it off as a unintended slight.
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You lost me at post #128. And there was no confusion.
 
Lest there be no confusion. I love the original coupes that now sell for $7.5Million. My original post (posted 2 years ago) might have been somewhat rhetorical. Okay, it was highly rhetorical.
 
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fieldgrade said:
Dale, my friend. Can I call you my friend?

I’ll connect the dots for you.

Refer to post #154, then read your posts.
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Call me anything you wish but the dots point to your post at 149 and the reference to a snailmobile. Somehow you made the comment that I was referring to the Daytona, far from it Mister. That's my story, it's bedtime for us young folks so good night and good luck on your quest for the car of your dreams.
 
Well, a base 911 would blow the doors off one of these.

And be super comfortable doing it. These Daytonas are probably comfortable for about 30 seconds in traffic. Then you have to find somewhere to park. Then you have to find a away to get out of it without throwing yer gizzard out.

This thing makes a Corvette seem like a smart grocery getter. #geezertalk #mybackhurts #peeingcanbeanissue
 
Dale Flinchum said:
Call me anything you wish but the dots point to your post at 149 and the reference to a snailmobile. Somehow you made the comment that I was referring to the Daytona, far from it Mister. That's my story, it's bedtime for us young folks so good night and good luck on your quest for the car of your dreams.
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I re-read your post today when beer wasn’t involved. I stand (sit, actually) corrected.
 
NKD said:
Well, a base 911 would blow the doors off one of these.

And be super comfortable doing it. These Daytonas are probably comfortable for about 30 seconds in traffic. Then you have to find somewhere to park. Then you have to find a away to get out of it without throwing yer gizzard out.

This thing makes a Corvette seem like a smart grocery getter. #geezertalk #mybackhurts #peeingcanbeanissue
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I won’t track it. What us geezers do with these is a) stare at it in the garage, b) crank it up, and listen to it while staring it in the garage, c) drive it out in the sticks fast enough to scare myself a few times, d) sell it.

I rarely keep “fun cars” a year. The last two just 9 months. I’ve driven 911’s. Great cars, but like Harley’s, I’m more interested in the sound of wind and internal combustion at 55MPH on the back roads. As for four wheeled vehicles the sound of six cylinders just doesn’t do it for me like old school 8, although a good friend in school had a 914-6 with stingers and it sounded pretty badass. He wrecked it and sold it to Martini Racing

I’m cramped in a 911, and the Gen III Type 65 Coupe from FFR is purportedly much roomier than their previous iterations.
 
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