Either a four eyed Fox body or find an appropriately priced classic Mini and do a Honda swap.
Either a four eyed Fox body or find an appropriately priced classic Mini and do a Honda swap.
curtis73 wrote: I'm doing that right now with Duke's old 67 LeMans convertible. 550-hp LS (LQ9, ported heads, 243/233 cam, etc) and a T56. I'm toying with the idea of a Schwartz chassis, but that gets pricey as berk. I'm not going to go full pro-touring with it, but I'll likely take a more modern dash and add woodgrain and chrome to make it functionally ergonomic, but still look period. Buckets, A/C, good stereo.
Id like to formally request a link to this build thread.
Some of these suggestions will depend on how easily you can get the base car and are heavily dependent on the fabrication/finishing skills of the builder.
As mentioned, Volvo 1800's have been slowly increasing in value over the past few years to the point where finding a good project car in the $1-2K range is very difficult. If you do find one, it basically means the seller doesn't know what they have. I've seen rusty, "needs everything" projects sell for $4000. It's crazy.
Classic Mini's are similar, at least here in the US. Finding a car that practically doesn't need a new shell for under $10K is pretty hard and that doesn't leave you much of a budget to do a Honda swap, and that assumes you are doing the entire swap with your own fabricated sub-frame. Forget it if you plan to buy one of the off-the-shelf kits.
Some of the Japanese suggestions are possible, but finding a reasonably solid starting point will take some leg work. Especially if you live in the rust-belt. This also holds true for many of the less popular US cars like Chrysler A bodies or Chevy Novas or Ford Falcons.
Probably one of the easiest US "classic" cars to start with would be an early Mustang. They can still be found for low enough prices that you would have to budget left to restore and upgrade it, although being patient will be a requirement: Fast (build time). Good (performance; comfort; fit & finish). Cheap. Pick two.
It's one thing to build a race car for a fixed, low budget, but building a functional car that can serve as a daily driver with a reasonable level of fit and finish presents a different set of challenges.
In reply to Ian F:
Hence why I picked something already done up.
STM317 wrote:curtis73 wrote: I'm doing that right now with Duke's old 67 LeMans convertible.Id like to formally request a link to this build thread.
As soon as I quit driving it and start building again, I will 
I'd build a 40's MB Willys with a 455, Dana 44's and a nice cage with 37" Super Swampers and drive it EVERYWHERE.
For 15K I could build a badass E34 M5 touring replica
And still have enough left over to finish the Fiat.
You'll need to log in to post.
