STEVE SAYS – FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2025

Welcome to totalkitcar online …

A warm NEW YEAR WELCOME to totalkitcar online … Crikey, no sooner is Christmas done and dusted for another year, then we find the first big show of the year upon us – AUTOSPORT INTERNATIONAL at the NEC, BIRMINGHAM, which takes place on January 9-12. All the usual fun of the fair from all levels of motorsport, plus the best aftermarket products to tempt you.

There will be plenty to interest specialist car enthusiasts like you and I, dear reader kitcar manufacturers and plenty of other cool stuff.

Adult tickets cost £38 each while 6-15 year olds cost £21 each.

OUT NOW

TKC MAG – JAN/FEB 2025 issue of TKC MAG is OUT NOW.

OUT NOW – shop, digital and mail order

Welcome to the first issue of TKC MAG in 2025

Hopefully, we have more winter warmers to entertain you with.

The front cover feature is the Foreman P4R – a popular kitcar making a welcome return to the scene

Solus Motorsport ‘Sinner’ – a brilliant body conversion based on Toyota MR2 Mk3. Originally designed by Wayne Blackwell, it’s been productionised by Lincolnshire-based Mark Gray

Microlino – this fun little car takes its inspiration from ‘bubble’ cars of yesteryear is now available in the UK via Caterham/Morgan dealer, Krazy Horse. Response to the little electric bolide has been exceptional

Morgan Super 3 – Talking of Morgan, we recently tested the latest Super 3 demonstrator. Like Roses, it grows on you (ask your grandad!)!

Industry Greats – Martin Keenan. Plenty of people in the industry realise what a clever bloke Martin Keenan and the part he has played in building and promoting great kitcars but hopefully this feature will make more people aware of him

ERA R10 – A new era for Tiger Racing. A namechange maybe but the people are the same and the cars are still great just like this, their new R10 demonstrator

EXO Concepts – A new company set up to promote the exo-skeletal kitcar movement, namely the products of Exo Sportscars and Halcton Sportscars.

Plus, much more inside

DENNIS ADAMS OBITUARY – Very saddened to hear of the death of Dennis Adams late last year. One of the specialist car industry’s greatest designers, he was best known for his work with Marcos, but there we lots of other stuff, including, of course, the Probe, Glenfrome Facet, Rotrax and Adams Roadster not to mention wrought iron work…

You can read our tribute to Dennis Adams – in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of TKC MAG – here’s the maestro with his Roadster taken around 1986

Alternatively, you can CLICK HERE to pre-order your JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025 copy NOW.

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 digi 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.

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.

Isn’t this just the most joyous photo? It’s an image of a glorious ultra-rare Marcos model the XP. Also, it highlights what a great designer Dennis Adams was. He did this in the mid-sixties for gawd sake.

Why not visit the ‘totalkitcar YouTube Channel’?

As the name suggests we look at some of the classic marques, great cars, not-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.

Search YouTube for the ‘totalkitcar YouTube Channel’ or follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/@tkcmag.

Latest video is our tribute to Dennis Adams but there are 90 others to seek out.

Our popular TRACKDAY CALENDAR is where you can find out where, when and how much by CLICKING HERE. Now updated to cover January and February 2025.

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.

Classic Kit Cars & Specials has a new home at totalkitcar.com

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.

SNIPPETS 1 …….. RM Sotheby’s achieved global transaction sales of over $887 million USD in 2024, marking one of the most successful years in its history. With live and online auctions, Sealed auctions, and private sale transactions, the company continued to connect collectors with some of the most significant and desirable cars in the world.

In 2024, 51% of bidders and 65% of buyers were new to RM Sotheby’s, reinforcing its ability to bring fresh participants into the collector car community. Over 126 cars sold for more than $1 million.

Top 10 Live Auction Results:

1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider by Scaglietti – $17,055,000 USD (Monterey)

1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider by Scaglietti – $12,985,000 USD (Monterey)

Classic Kit Cars & Specials has a new home at totalkitcar online

2014 Pagani Zonda LM Roadster – $11,086,250 USD (Dubai)

1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione by Scaglietti – $11,006,125 USD (Paris)

1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Alloy’ Gullwing – $9,355,000 USD (The Junkyard: The Rudi Klein Collection)

1960 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Cabriolet by Pinin Farina – (Monterey; Sold after auction)

1979 Ferrari 312 T4 – $8,248,109 USD (Monaco)

1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider by Scaglietti – $5,615,000 USD (Monterey)

1995 Ferrari F50 – $5,505,000 USD (Monterey)

1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Alloy by Scaglietti – $5,285,000 USD (Monterey

SNIPPETS 2 ……Porter Press celebrates the most successful Porsche 962 of all in its latest Great Cars book
Porsche’s 962 and 962C won twice at Le Mans and over 50 times in IMSA races in America, also winning races and titles in Germany and Japan.

Of the 19 works Porsche 962s built, chassis 962 011 – the car featured in this book – was the most successful. This authoritative account by Porsche sports car specialist Serge Vanbockryck tells this very special car’s entire story, embracing 46 races and nine victories during a five-year active career that saw it compete in the highest echelons of sports car racing in Europe, America and Japan.

As well as winning the 1989 ADAC Supercup, Germany’s high-quality national sports car championship, in Bob Wollek’s hands, 962 011 scored the Porsche 956/962 family’s 39th and final world championship race victory, vanquishing the dominant Sauber-Mercedes at Dijon.

It then spent four more seasons criss-crossing the Atlantic, 1990–93, to race mainly in the IMSA Championship in America and the Interserie in Europe.

All of 962 011’s racing exploits are explained in detail and its top drivers receive in-depth profiles: Bob Wollek, Frank Jelinski, John Winter, Oscar Larrauri, Henri Pescarolo, Hurley Haywood, Jean-Louis Ricci, Danny Sullivan, Gianpiero Moretti, Manuel Reuter, Bernd Schneider, John Paul Jr and Chip Robinson.

The day-to-day history of chassis 962 011 is outlined in exhaustive technical detail, recording every test and every race with all available data, from fuel consumption figures to pitstop times.

Exclusive artwork depicts chassis 962 011 as it evolved over its five active seasons, while a special studio photoshoot and action photos of its recent outings bring the story right up to date.

STEVE SAYS – FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2025

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