This was supposedly built by a shop teacher in the late 1970s as a possible answer to the gas crisis. The end result looks just plain fun!
This is no Lotus Elan; but claimed weight under 1,000 pounds should, at least, make it interesting. Of course, whatever mass there is receives motivation from a single cylinder Kohler engine rated at 16HP. That’s competitive with microcars from the 50s; so perhaps not terrible.
The fiberglass body is claimed to be custom, as is most of the structure. A Fiat 128 transaxle drives the front wheels, which are also stopped by 128 brakes. The seller claims to have had this up to about 45 MPH, which probably felt a lot faster. Lots of basic maintenance is claimed to have recently been done, so one can hope this is ready for the road, if not the freeway.
Anyone interested in something genuinely unique should consider anything under $1,000 to be something of a steal here; but uniqueness means this doesn’t really have upside investment potential. Who cares, though, if it really is fun to drive?
Update: A helpful Redditor identified this body as a Volkaro kit car. And, yes, it’s a VW kit adapted for this custom usage…
Click for eBay ad
West Falls, NY, USA
$560 with six bids, reserve not met and one day to go
We’d like to see something for scale, but the seats appear to indicate that this is tiny. The style had all the classic 70s fiberglass elements, with a little Opel GT here and some Spitfire there.
We included images of both sides because not all homebuilt cars look so consistent.
There’s no denying that the hood is an afterthought. Was this body based on a kit made for a VW platform and thus with a rear engine??
Here’s the rear. Again, it looks like this might have been made for a rear-engine platform.
One more rear 3/4 shot…
Straight on, the rear is remarkably flat, considering the curvaceous fenders in front.
Interior is very basic, is it should be.
Here’s the front-mounted, single-cylinder engine, which drives the front wheels.
Here’s another angle. While the open fenders may give away the homebuilt nature, the fitment of the engine looks pretty clean.
Ad text:
1980 –HOMEBUILT SPORTS CAR–ONE CYLINDER 16 HORSE POWER KOHLER ENGINE–VARIABLE SPEED PULLEY BELT DRIVE TO FIAT 128 TRANSAXLE–FRONT WHEEL DRIVE–STANDARD SHIFT–FIAT 128 FRONT DISC BRAKES, NEW PADS CALIPERS HOSES–REAR BRAKES DRUM, NEW SHOES AND WHEEL CYLINDERS HOSES–NEW PLUG POINTS CONDENSOR REBUILT CARB ON ENGINE–RUNS DRIVES-CLEAR OPEN NEW YORK STATE TITLE AS HOMEBUILT–STREET LEGAL–WEIGHT 950 LB.–FIBERGLASS BODY FROM 1970’S MAKE UNKOWN–FRAME HOMEBUILT–QUESTIONS JOHN 716 xxxxxxx EVENINGS BEST—–BUILT BY INDUSTRIAL ARTS TEACHER IN LATE 1970’S—HE WAS AN AVID INVENTOR,THIS WAS ONE OF HIS ANSWERS TO GAS SHORTAGE AND NEED FOR A EASILY MAINTAINED CAR GOOD ON GAS