Kit Cars

Britain built more kit and component cars than any country in the world, mostly because of a tax loophole. A guide to the British kit-car makers worth knowing, from Gilbern and Ginetta to Dutton and Robin Hood, how the cars are registered today, and why a good one is now a genuine and affordable classic.

The Clan Crusader was a tiny rear-engined glass-fibre coupe designed by ex-Lotus engineers, built around Hillman Imp mechanicals in County Durham, and so strongly made it passed a 30 mph crash test almost no kit-car maker even attempted. It was selling well when the 1973 tax change killed it. A guide to the history, the cars, what to look for, and what they are worth.

Dutton was reckoned the most prolific kit-car maker in the world, building cheap glass-fibre sports cars and estates on Triumph and then Ford Escort running gear, and once beat Ford in the High Court for the right to keep calling one of its cars the Sierra. A guide to the models, the famous lawsuit, what to look for when buying, and what they are worth.

Gilbern was the only series-production car ever wholly built in Wales, a glass-fibre grand tourer that grew from a Pontypridd butcher's loft into a proper V6 GT. A guide to the GT, Genie and Invader, the butcher-and-engineer story, the royal owner, what to look for when buying, and what they are worth.

The Ginetta G15 was a tiny, light, rear-engined glass-fibre coupe built by the Walklett brothers in Essex around the all-alloy Hillman Imp engine, sold in kit form to dodge purchase tax, and the most successful of the classic Ginettas before the 1973 VAT change ended it. A guide to the history, the cars, what to look for, and what they are worth.

The Mini Marcos is a tiny glass-fibre monocoque coupe built on Mini subframes, sold mostly as a kit, and famous as the only British car to finish the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours. A guide to its tangled origins, the Le Mans car that was stolen and found again, the model lineage, what to look for, and what they are worth.

Robin Hood built the cheapest Lotus-Seven-style kit cars in Britain, famously a car on the road from one budget kit and a single scrap Ford donor, with an unusual folded stainless-steel construction. A guide to the models, the stainless monocoque story, the GBS succession, and the things to check before buying one.