HAPPY 75^TH ‘BIRTHDAY’ TO THE UK’S KITCAR INDUSTRY – 1949-2024

A warm WELCOME TO totalkitcar online … excited to hear about not one BUT two new electric kitcars. Both come from long-established industry big-hitters, too.

First (only because ‘C’ comes before ‘G’!) comes the Crendon CR427-E. Yep, an electric Cobra replica. The UL’s first commercially available one, too. Crendon boss, Anthony Hale worked on this project with a university professor called Matt Trehy – who really is a very clever chap when it comes to electric cars.

Starting with a blank canvas, as it had never been done before. Anthony was initially a bit sceptical about the project but very quickly got into it and is quite rightly delighted with how it turned out.

I recently visited Anthony to do a feature on what I could call a ‘proper’ Crendon powered by a Ford V8 engine and Matt’s car (he built it on behalf of a friend) was there, which gave me a chance to have a good look at the CR427-E.

The first thing that grabbed me was that it looked like a standard Crendon (I don’t want to use the term ‘ICE’!) and the only obvious giveaway was the lack of a gear-lever sitting atop the transmission tunnel. Forward, neutral and reverse are engaged via an I-Drive type wheel on the dash face.

On the day of my visit, the car had just passed its IVA test but was awaiting its registration documents so I couldn’t have a drive, but Anthony, who has driven plenty of V8-powered Cobras reckons it is insanely quick. Add that to Crendon’s fabled quality, Anthony’s attention to detail and this is going to be something quite special.

With CCS fast-charge facility it can be charged in thirty minutes and has an estimated range of 200 miles-plus. Power is estimated at the equivalent of 450bhp.

Anthony will – at this stage – only offer the CR427-E in fully built form with prices expected to start at around £130,000. more from www.crendonreplicas.com or 07968 394 396.

You can read more about the CR427-E and Anthony’s latest V8 demonstrator in the July/August issue of TKC MAG.

The second new electric to tell you about comes from Great British Sports Cars and an electric version of their brilliant Zero the Zero EV.

They could well be the first UK kitcar manufacturer to offer a full EV option to the self-build market. The Zero EV is a dedicated variant of the Zero (that will look like a Zero!) that uses the Tesla Model S small rear drive unit (the CR427-E uses the big Tesla unit).

This was chosen after much research as it is readily available worldwide and offers great performance in a combined motor, gearbox and inverter unit that packages well within the car giving 220Kw or 300bhp at 400V, the chassis then has a large area in the front to accommodate the battery packs of customer choice along with associated hardware.

GBS can support the full EV installation along with their EV partners.

The ZERO EV starter package is available from £4600, and GBS can then tailor it to your needs to a full rolling chassis stage, for example.

The company told me that they will have the first Zero EV demonstrator available for test drives soon and have a number of these undergoing build currently. We’ll be bringing you more on this one and the CR427-E very soon.  More from www.greatbritishsportscars.com or 01623 860 990.

A little plug (well, it’s my website and I have good things to make you aware of!) for the digital version of TKC MAG. If not having a hard, paper copy of the mag in your mitts doesn’t bother you then may I recommend the digital edition.

An EXACT replica of the paper version it currently costs just £23.99 for a TWELVE MONTHS DIGITAL subscription to TKC MAG ANYWHERE in the world. Visit Pocketmags.com and type in ‘TKC MAG’ and all will be revealed. Alternatively, you download our APP on your mobile and download single issues or a subscription on your phone or tablet.

I also recommend – well, I would as I am in it! – a video by Trevor Rolfe of the Oscar’s Garage YouTube channel in which he and I did a ‘walk round’ of the manufacturers’ stands at the show. Link is here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiQIjOyac6Y.

The JULY/AUGUST 2024 issue of TKC MAG is available for MAIL ORDER NOW with shop and digital availability from next Friday (June 28).

As usual plenty of good stuff to entertain you with.

How’s this for starters?

CRENDON CR427 & CR427-E – A look at the activities of Ralph Broad’s Birmingham-based operation of the sixties. Known to specialist car enthusiasts for the Broadspeed GT, there was much to them than that such as tuning packages and parts, Ford/BMC dealerships, the Bullitt Capri and a leading race team.

BURTON – THE 2CV SHOP – The 2CV Shop is one of the largest 2CV specialists in the UK and is also UK agent for giant French Citroën parts experts CASSIS. They’ve recently become the UK agent for the brilliant Dutch-made Burton, 2CV-based roadster, of which over 1800 have been sold around the world. We recently sampled The 2CV Shop’s first demonstrator.

INDUSTRY GREATS – TONY SOUTHGATE – Honoured to be able to cover the career of one of motorsport’s greatest designers – Tony Southgate. Who, amongst the iconic racing cars he’s designed, also raced a Sylva Phoenix for eight seasons.

MALVERN 2024 REVIEW – Second running of the National Kit Car Show at Three Counties Showground at Malvern. A brilliant showground and a brilliant show. Here’s what caught our eye.

INTRODUCING – STONER CAR CARE – No laughing at the back at the hippy name. US company Stoner has a great range of car care products that really do work. Here’s our round-up.

MARK & JAN SCARROTT’S TRIO OF MARCOS MANTULAS – NEIL WINNINGTON visited Mark Scarrott and his wife Jan who own not one but THREE superb Marcos Mantulas. Actually, as we closed for press they’d just acquired a FOURTH.

KITFEST 2024 REVIEW – North West Kit Car Owners Group (NWKCOG) were back at Santa Pod again in 2024 for another Kitfest. We were there to record it for posterity. Here’s our ree

ANOTHER SUPERB WILLIAM TROUT CREATION – RICHARD BIRD brought us a brilliant Z3-based William Trout-built kit called a Bandini in, the last issue. This time he’s back with another BMW-based corker from  William that is equally as stunning.

GOODWOOD 81^st MEMBERS MEETING 2024 REVIEW – Clashing with Kitfest, Members Meeting is the third of Goodwood’s motoring events after Revival and Festival of Speed but as STEVE HOLE discovered still has lots to offer.

WHAT FRANK NICHOLS DID AFTER ELVA CARS  – Everyone knows that Frank ‘Father’ Nichols was the man behind ELVA CARS but post-Elva Nichols got up to all sorts including a boat company called LOCHIN MARINE. Read all about it here.

CLICK HERE to buy YOUR copy NOW.

We are getting a lot of new subscribers on the totalkitcar YouTube channel. If you like this website, you are sure to find something you like on the ‘totalkitcar YouTube channel’? In addition to our usual monthly video upload, we now have a weekly series called the ‘totalkitcar History Files Series. The latter isn’t rocket science. We verbally look at old kitcars with photos added, but we seem to be capturing peoples’ imaginations.

As the name suggests we look at some of the classic marques, great cars, not-so-great cars, plus the personalities, events and designers who have graced this wonderful industry over the last 75 years.

If you don’t already subscribe to our channel (just search ‘totalkitcar YouTube Channel’ on YouTube) please do, as it’s free and if you click ‘all’ you’ll be notified every time a new video drops. Finally, may I ask you to hit the thumbs-up button please as that helps the channel greatly.  THANK YOU, dear reader.

History File Series, in association with the Enwin Motors channel. Don’t miss out, subscribe for FREE now.

TKC MAG – WHY NOT CONSIDER A SUBSCRIPTION THAT LASTS A WHOLE YEAR? – ACTUALLY, IT LASTS LONGER THAN THAT IF YOU USE THIS SPECIAL OFFER, AS IT WILL LAST FOURTEEN MONTHS. WE’LL ADD AN EXTRA ISSUE TO THE STANDARD TWELVE MONTHS PACKAGE. https://bit.ly/3RxuLgU. 

By the grace of Royal Mail – if you live in the United Kingdom – we can pretty much say with confidence that you will receive your copies at least two or three days before shop or digital publication dates.

WHAT’S ON 2024 – A POTTED GUIDE!

A quick look for you at some of the key automotive events for 2024 for your diary.

PLEASE NOTE the new date for the Newark Kit Car Festival

July 7	Kent’s All-Ford Show	Aylesford, Kent
July 11-14	Festival of Speed	Goodwood House, West Sussex
August 15-18	British Motor Show	Farnborough, Hampshire
August 23-25	Silverstone Festival	Silverstone Circuit, Northants
September 6-8	Revival Meeting	Goodwood, West Sussex
September 8	Kent’s Classic Car Show	Aylesford, Kent
September 14-15	International Autojumble	Beaulieu, Hampshire
September 21-22	Newark Kit Car Festival	Newark, Nottinghamshire
November 8-10	Classic Motor Show	NEC, Birmingham

Our popular TRACKDAY CALENDAR is where you can find out where, when and how much by CLICKING HERE. Now updated to cover June, July & August 2024.

IF YOU LIKE CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS you are in luck. Clicking that button will take you back in time with features on old kitcars, personalities and generally interesting companies who worked within the specialist car and sixties motorsport movements. I really hope you are enjoying them. Not all of them are kitcar-related per se but they all celebrate the underdog and often feature the wonderful world of sixties motorsport.

A lot of classic clubman motorsport features highlight underdog artisans that we hope will appeal to you dear reader, the sort of companies that we’ve often all heard of but on whom detailed information is often hard to find. Shorrock, Wade Turbochargers, Jack Knight Developments, Cannon Cars, Tom Killeen, David Ogle the list goes on and on. The sort of companies and individuals that our specialist and kitcar forebears from the sixties would have been very familiar with. You’ll find these subjects contained in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS.

This week we take a look back 52 years to an amazing one-off race at Brands Hatch called the ‘Rothmans 50,000’ an all-comers free-for-all that meant F1, F2, F5000 and a few sports racers all in the same race… after 118-laps the (easy) winner was Emerson Fittipaldi in his Lotus 72, who scorched home miles in front. CLICK HERE to find out more.

SNIPPETS 1 …….Demand for alloy wheel fixes are soaring as potholes continue to wreak havoc on Britain’s roads.

The UK’s largest SMART (small-to-medium repair technique) mobile vehicle repair firm, Revive! Auto Innovations has experienced a staggering 58 per cent increase in alloy wheel fixes over the past two years, with repair jobs climbing from just over 8000 in 2021 to in excess of 12,600 in 2023.

A staggering four-in-ten (41 per cent) of Revive!’s fixes, which also include bodywork dent, scuff and scratch repairs, are now alloy wheel repairs, up from three-in-ten (33 per cent) just two years ago.

Revive! claims that potholes are largely to blame for the increase in wheel repairs, with many of their customers pointing the finger at poor road conditions. Alloy wheel damage is very often associated with a sudden jolt from hitting a pothole, causing scraping or chips in the metal.

The news comes in the wake of the Labour Party announcing a pothole pledge which will see an additional £320 million a year invested in repairing Britain’s crumbling roads, while The Conservatives had previously announced £8.3 billion to fill potholes and resurface roads.

Mark Llewellyn, managing director at Revive!, commented: “We have seen a substantial increase in demand for our alloy repair service in the last couple of years, and considering the state of many of Britain’s roads, it’s little wonder.

“If your alloy wheels become damaged due to hitting a pothole, not only will this affect the overall cosmetic appearance of your car, but damaged alloy wheels could cause issues in terms of losing traction and control, as well as loss of tyre pressure.”

Paul Boss, chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA), added: “The only way we are going to stop further damage to cars is by taking a more proactive approach to road maintenance. This means preserving and protecting roads to reduce future potholes and filling existing ones to ensure safer and smoother travel. Any future government needs to take note of this if they want to solve this ever-growing problem.”

To learn more about Revive!, visit https://revive-uk.com/.

SNIPPETS 2 …….. Watt Electric Vehicle Company (WEVC), a pioneer in the design, engineering, and manufacture of low-to-medium volume EVs, both under its own brand and for third parties, today reveals a unique, lightweight, high-performance architecture for electric passenger vehicles.

Set to provide the blueprint for next-generation zero-emission sports cars and other small series, bespoke EVs, WEVC’s new architecture enables low-volume manufacturers to make the
zero-emission transition quickly and cost-effectively via a highly sophisticated ‘off-the-shelf’ EV platform, which complies with the very latest safety standards.

Following on from the successful launch of WEVC’s UK-designed and engineered electric light commercial vehicle, the eCV1 – which has attracted strong interest from blue-chip companies, keen to utilise its unique capabilities in their extensive vehicle fleets – the new passenger vehicle platform is also based around WEVC’s Passenger And Commercial EV Skateboard (PACES) architecture.

Flexible, scalable, lightweight and cost-effective, PACES is an adaptable bonded aluminium platform specifically designed for low-volume manufacture. It can be applied to almost any size or shape of passenger EV, from sports coupé to roadster to off-road buggy – across FWD, RWD and AWD layouts – designed to meet ISO regulations and European Small Series Type Approval crash standards.

The key to PACES’ capability is its structure system. Whereas large-volume aluminium skateboard concepts use bespoke, complex and expensive corner castings, PACES is composed of lightweight extrusions – flat, laser-cut pieces – that interlock and bond together, an innovation called FlexTech®. In this manner, PACES forms chassis that are low cost, extremely rigid and accurate, delivered to within 1mm of variability across the whole platform.

As a result, FlexTech® requires little upfront investment in expensive tooling or post-assembly machining, further cutting manufacturing costs, while its ‘module-to-chassis’ system means batteries are integrated into the primary structure (rather than having a separate battery pack), optimising stiffness and minimising weight.

CEO of WEVC, Neil Yates, commented: “Electrification is a major challenge for small series manufacturers. With low sales volumes, it is difficult for these businesses – whether start-ups or established brands – to invest in their own new EV technology and develop it
in-house. WEVC’s PACES architecture is a highly sophisticated, lightweight off-the-shelf flexible platform that is not only cost-effective but has been designed to meet ISO and European Small Series Type Approval crash standards.

“This cutting-edge, modular platform has been specifically designed for low-volume manufacture, a blank sheet of paper providing the best possible structural and dynamic starting point for almost any future high-performance EV, whether a featherweight rear-drive roadster, luxurious coupe or off-road buggy.

“It also comes fully supported by our leading UK-based EV technology supply chain and, of course, WEVC’s in-house design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities. We are experiencing surging global demand from customers keen to launch bespoke electric passenger vehicles – and our unique, proprietary offering enables brands to make the EV transition quickly, cost-effectively and with optimised technology, resulting in a product tailored exactly to their needs.”

More from www.wattelectricvehicles.com.

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STEVO’S BEER TIP – FIREBIRD BREWING – PARODY IPA

CHAMPIONING THE BEERS OF THE UK’S BRILLIANT CRAFT – AND MICRO-BREWERIES.

Nothing like enjoying a beer after an afternoon in the garage or following a drive out. OBVIOUSLY, we don’t condone or promote drink driving at totalkitcar.com/TKC MAG but once the driving is done there’s nothing like a quality drop of real ale.

I’ve been amazed at some of the low-volume craft beers that have been appearing. The names of some of them are crazy enough, some of those I have tasted have been off the charts. A recent one that tasted like Battenberg or breakfast pancakes springs to mind.

Very pleased to have sampled a pint of Rudgwick, West Sussex-based Firebird Brewing last week. It’s a session IPA of 4.5% ABV and is a very hoppy bitter with lovely malty aromas and a great mouth feel. More from www.firebirdbrewing.com.

So, that’s about it from me for this week, so I’ll bid you a great week, with plenty of enjoyable driving and I look forward to welcoming you once again next Friday – June 28. La vie et belle!

Best regards 

 

Steve