Anyone take a cheezeball kit car and hot rod it?

Not trying to start a flame war, and I'm not thinking about doing this.

Just wondering if anyone had seen anyone do this?

You know those cheezy MG T series kit cars, or Gazelles, that are usually Pinto or VW powered? Has anyone hot rodded one into something somewhat respectable?

Seems like those kits are all over the place for 1500ish bucks running/rolling/whatever. Might be cool to take the body and put in on a drag frame or something.

This thing with no front or rear fenders might look ok? Maybe with a pre-war 2 piece windscreen?

Is there any hope for these cornballs? LOL

 

Where is the pop corn smiley when you need one?

 

Hey hey hey... I'm only asking if anyone has seen it done or put one on a dragster frame.

I'm not going to sit here and defend it LOL.

 

A friend of mine is working on a red one for a customer just like the one pictured. I saw it this morning and told my friend ; it sure would be nice to hot rod this thing!

 

I've been accused of having a little "too much" imagination before.

When I look at those kit cars, I don't look at the kit car crap screwed and glued onto them. I'm just looking at the hood, shell, doors, grill... and that's about it. Somewhere under all that wannabe MG stuff there's a hot rod shape. hahaha

 

I saw one on fire once, about 10 foot tall flames, the hot part was there, I was about 200 feet away and it was nice and warm.

 

Just Kidding! I have worked on a few of those over the years...

 

That's what I'm talking about.

Set it on fire, and mold it into a hot rod shape once it's pliable enough.

 

About all those things are good for, makin you feal warm inside

 

While I dont think I would use a Gazelle, if someone makes a body that REALLY looks like a TC or TD the idea could have some merit. There were quite a few TC, TD and TF based Modified Sports class drag cars in the sixties. Are there any decent MGA replicar bodies? I could see an "Assassination" influenced street rod. Probably more fun to just hack up a REAL MGA. Hmmm.

 

I wouldn't even bother looking for an MGA replicar body... you can still get the real ones cheap enough around here. The shells and chassis that restoration guys frown on, are stuff that is way nicer than most of the stuff I've seen rebuilt in the hot rod world. The MGA restoration guys don't have quite as much tolerance for dents, or rust as hot rodders do. Some of the cars they consider "parts cars" would shock people in the hot rod world hahaha...

There was an MGA for sale here for 2000 with title not too long ago. Would've made a sweet drag car, and it was all there. Just a little crusty.

 

I don't think that this is a cheeseball kit car, but it's an indication of what one could be made to look like.......

 

A 392 hemi can make almost anything cool....

 

Yea, I would pretty much agree with that. The TD's and TF's might be a little harder to find. When I was a kid growing up in the sixties/seventies, there were LOTS of brit sports cars around with modified v-8s in them, but now it seems most guys are afraid to build anything outside of a few pretty specific boxes. There is a TR4A in my dads garage, if I ever get my grubby mitts on that thing, you can pretty much guess what will happen to it, and all the "tea-baggers" will be having a fit.

 

TR4A and the TR6's are just begging for a 351 transplant.

I've seen a few decent (from a true clone of the lines/dimensions standpoint) TD kits. The bodies are fiberglass, and would be just dandy on a handbuilt tube frame of some kind. At least you wouldn't be hacking up an original and getting the leather-elbow patched smoking jacket dudes all over your case, smacking you with their riding crops.

dj

 

If I did this photo upload thing right, here are snaps from last weekend's Watkins Glen Vintage race show. While neither of these is based on a kit, it shows what can be done with an old, unloved Brit.

FC

 

Slowest entry in the autocross at GG Nashville....

yup, cornball.

But, it's a real MGTD.

 

Thanks!

 

I always liked this one better:

 

Go back to the '60s and there were a lot of sports cars that had V8 swaps done to them.
I owned an Austin Healey 100-4 back in the mid '70s that had been set up for a SBC a decade earlier. Search out some drag racing MSP class photos from the 1960s to see some of the weird and wonderful set ups guys were building back then.

With the kit MG T-series, you get a 'glass body that you can cut up to your heart's content and usually a pretty strong chassis to work with, as a basis for a fun, quick and safe build.

There have been a few Lotus 7 replica builds using Buick/Rover V8s which go pretty well.

I'd also look at dropping a V8 into a Triumph Spitfire as it's got a lot of room under the hood - you'll just need to build a rollcage to ensure the chassis is stiff enough and put a decent rear axle assembly in to handle all that Made-in-USA torque. It's already got a flip-front sheetmetal assembly.

 

...

 

Go back to the '60s and there were a lot of sports cars that had V8 swaps done to them.
I owned an Austin Healey 100-4 back in the mid '70s that had been set up for a SBC a decade earlier. Search out some drag racing MSP class photos from the 1960s to see some of the weird and wonderful set ups guys were building back then.

With the kit MG T-series, you get a 'glass body that you can cut up to your heart's content and usually a pretty strong chassis to work with, as a basis for a fun, quick and safe build.

There have been a few Lotus 7 replica builds using Buick/Rover V8s which go pretty well.

I'd also look at dropping a V8 into a Triumph Spitfire as it's got a lot of room under the hood - you'll just need to build a rollcage to ensure the chassis is stiff enough and put a decent rear axle assembly in to handle all that Made-in-USA torque. It's already got a flip-front sheetmetal assembly.

 

i did one in texas ...... The judge put me on 10 years probation & told me to never come back to texas .
i've never done either one since. No sheeeeet.

 

If you catch shit for having a 'glass Deuce, how the fuck could one of these be cool? Just sayin'...

 

HUH??

Neither of them look like Charley to me.................

Doc.

 

I think it's all about how realistic the kit car is and how correct the dimensions are. Those horrible Gazelle things from the '70s were supposed to look like a '37 Mercedes 540K, but didn't, but there was another kit that used small block power that was far better dimensionally. I've seen poor representations of MGTCs, but the one pictured in this thread looks pretty close. A Glassic Model A was atrocious, but a Shay A was much better. And so on. Start with a car with accurate proportions, and slice away to your hearts' content, knowing that it's just a kit body so no big deal. It would be a fun challenge.

-KK

 

Anyone remember the Continental kits for the vw bugs??

 

^^^ Thank god no! ^^^