Happy Halloween, Autopians! Today we’re going to look at a couple of homebuilt cars. One of them isn’t what it claims to be, and the other has been made into something rather different from how it started out. Which one’s costume is more convincing? That will be up to you to decide.
Yesterday we looked at two cars that were kinda-sorta like cars featured in scary movies, and I confess that I was surprised by the outcome of this one. The red Plymouth Valiant seems to have won this, um, duel. Judging by the comments, I thought the big Oldsmobile had this one sewn up. I have no way of knowing who votes for what, of course, but it’s always interesting to me when the overall tone of the comments don’t match the final vote tally.
I think I’d take the Valiant, too. It’s just such a nice, honest old car. And it would be a hell of a lot easier to park than that gigantic Olds. Sorry, Ash; you’re on your own against the Deadites, it looks like.
You don’t see a whole lot of kit cars being built these days. The phenomenon seems to have reached its peak in the 1970s, and since then, the supply of dirt-cheap VW Beetles has dried up, and nobody wants to mess around with fiberglass anymore. There are still a few kits around, but more upscale and expensive, like the Factory Five kits. You don’t find many cheap kit cars like the ones that used to be advertised in the back of Road & Track.
One of these looks like it’s the last gasp of a kit car manufacturer that made cars more potent than your typical VW-based kits, and the other doesn’t look like it was a kit at all – it’s all home-built. Unfortunately, the seller isn’t being completely honest about its provenance. So we have a slightly underhanded trick, and a sweet and speedy treat. Let’s check them out.
“1965 Lotus 7” – $15,000
Engine/drivetrain: 2.8 liter OHV V6, five-speed manual, RWD
Location: Newton, KS
Odometer reading: 200 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Lotus 7, introduced in 1957, is probably the purest form of driving fun that there is. It’s a featherweight tube frame with an aluminum skin, a simple suspension system, a small engine, and that’s about it. It was originally built using Ford components, and sold by Lotus in the UK as a kit for tax reasons. Because it’s so simple, and was originally sold unassembled, it has become one of the most copied cars of all time. Dozens of companies have offered Lotus 7-like vehicles, and lots of enterprising folks have taken it upon themselves to build their own from scratch. This appears to be one of those scratch-built cars, commonly known as a “Locost,” because it can be built cheaply.
A great many engines have found their way into the front ends of 7s over the years; the original used Ford four-cylinder engines. But almost anything will work, as long as it fits, so you can get as wild with the power as you want. This one uses a GM 2.8 liter V6, modified a bit, and driving the rear axle through a T5 five-speed manual. The seller describes it as “scary fast,” and has put only 200 miles on it since it was completed. They’re selling it now because they’re getting too old to drive it safely.
Here’s where I’d normally talk about the interior, but cars like this don’t really have much of an interior. There are seats, and a steering wheel, and a dashboard, but the floor is bare metal and there are no creature comforts whatsoever. This one doesn’t even have a proper windshield, just two little Brooklands-style windscreens sticking out of the top of the cowl.
The traditional body for a 7 is aluminum skin attached to the steel tube frame, along with a removable aluminum hood and a fiberglass nose, and this car appears to follow that. I don’t think much of the giant hood scoop, but I guess it’s necessary to clear the high-rise intake on the V6. I’m not fond of the wheels, either; usually I like this style, but they don’t belong here. But all that can be changed if you want.
1985 Manta Mirage – $34,000
Engine/drivetrain: 400 cubic inch OHV V8, four-speed manual RWD
Location: St. George, UT
Odometer reading: 3,900 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Manta Cars was a kit-car manufacturer in Costa Mesa, California, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Its most famous and popular model was this car, the Mirage, a tube-frame mid-engined sports car styled to look like a McLaren. The seller has this car listed as a 1967 model, but obviously that’s not right; Manta didn’t even come into existence until 1974. I found an older post about this car from the last time it was for sale, however, and it’s listed by the previous seller as a 1985 model, which sounds right.
The Mirage is mid-engined, and typically powered by a Chevy small-block V8 mated to a Corvair transaxle. This one has a 400 cubic inch motor that the seller says is pushing 400 horsepower – a hell of a lot for a two-thousand-pound car. It’s a good way to make lots of power, but I’m sure the eagle-eyed among you have already noticed some foolishness about it. It has eight Hillborn-style velocity stacks sticking out of the top of a rectangular air filter, which sits on top of a perfectly normal four-barrel carb. I bet if you look down those stacks, the openings don’t even go through to the air cleaner. I think they’re just stuck on top. The photos from the old ad show it with a normal round chrome air cleaner, which I think looks better, and more honest.
It’s tight quarters inside; there are two seats, but you’d better know each other pretty well. Those door sills aren’t going to be easy to get over, so you have to be limber too. The Mirage has weird two-piece doors: the removable center top section has small gullwing doors that open upward, and the lower Countach-style scissor doors flip forward. This one includes the top and gullwing doors, but they’re not shown in any of the photos.
I gotta admit – the kid in me absolutely loves the way this car looks. It’s like a Hot Wheels car come to life. It’s absolutely ridiculous, and that makes it wonderful. The orange paint is a Lamborghini color, and the wheels come from a Plymouth Prowler. The rear wing and engine scoop look custom, and I think the front end is too. You certainly won’t see another one like it. Whether or not that’s a good thing is a personal choice, but I kind of love it.
Building your own car is not for everyone. It’s a metric shit-ton of work, and the results are not guaranteed. And taking on someone else’s project, even complete and running ones like these, is also a risky proposition. But the great thing is, since there’s really nothing saying how they “should” be, you can turn them into anything you want. Which one would you take on?
I voted for the “Lotus.” I am not a fan of kit cars, but it looks fun. Also, I think the Mirage is just plain ugly. There is a reason no manufacturer builds a car that looks exactly like this. I like that it is orange, but I dislike just about everything else about how this car looks.
That is no longer a Manta.
Never has a sadder truth been expressed upon these hallowed pages
I was liking the 7 on principal, but when I see the front track is about a foot wider than the rear track, I just can’t. I can’t vote for the Mantra either, I just don’t like it. If the Mantra was the same price as the 7, maybe.
So I will pick option 3. None of the Above.
Good eye on this one, I really like the idea of a Locost, but I do not like the idea of this one, even less now that I see the track-width mismatch. I’d have to do a full assessment of every part of that car before I’d be willing to drive it.
Yeah, If I wanted a narrow rear track, I would get a Slingshot.
I don’t know why the Lotus has the widths it does, but a narrower rear track is common even on front wheel drive cars.
It seems to be a cornering advantage especially with powerful rear drive cars.
My track car has a lot of rear tire space, but uses narrower, specially inset rims for track use only, based on sae supplied suspension tuning software.
So deliberately narrower rear tires for a promised cornering payoff.
Whatever the reason on the Lotus, it may not be a bad thing.
Rear toe in helps grip coming out of corners, when you have that option.
It looks to me that to fit in the wider V6 and to likely make the cockpit a bit more “American sized”, the front half of the vehicle has been widened a foot or so. Which leaves the rearend too narrow. The interior can be fixed (well installed) a lot easier than fixing the rear suspension to be 6″+ wider to be even close to the front track.
I assumed it was for economic or convenience reasons.
I’m just suggesting it may not be a negative for handling.
I seriously considered a Lotus 7 V8 scca car that was only losing to a mid-engine version, so they can be quite competitive with larger engines.
I’ll take the 7 replica and swap that heavy V6 for a bike engine.
A friend of mine once owned a Manta. He had to sell it because he was too tall to drive it.
Footnote: the “Cody Coyote” in the private eyes action romp HARDCASTLE & MCCORMACK was basically a Manta custom for the first season. Then it was replaced with a DeLorean custom, as Brian Keith had ingress and egress problems with the Manta. The DeLorean was available because it had been originally bought for the private eyes action romp MATT HOUSTON and Lee Horsley was having ingress and egress problems with that car.
The roof comes off!
How can you be too tall?
I think Hardcastly mostly used a different Manta model, but it was heavily movie-ized.
There are blips of a Mirage I think, though.
The cabin bucket doesn’t have much LEG room. He had the seat all the way back and could have his feet flat on the firewall and still need to flex his knees to fit in the car.
The seats are a molded part of the bodywork on the models I’ve seen.
Adjusting the pedals or padding is the only adjustment.
I have basic pedals and long legs for my height, but have no problem.
They later extended the cabin by two inches, I heard, but mostly for waist size.
Maybe it was a different model if it had a separate seat?
They made at least one other model based on the road version by McLaren.
I was all set to click the Lotus, until I learned that it isn’t one. If we are going for stupid and dramatic, then go all the way. Manta.
You don’t want a windshield on the Lotus 7 because your only chance of surviving a crash is if you are ejected over the hood and land in something soft. Or at least something softer than a windshield.
I’m in for the 7, change the wheels, try not to die.
Well, since it’s fake money, I’ll take the orange one. We all say we want more colorful cars and the “Lotus” is just a bit too dark for me. Since I am not in the mood to die, I wouldn’t drive either.
This one is the easiest for my weekly horror hotrod theme yet! Lotus. All I’d have to do is remove the hood, put a bug catcher scoop on the carb, add some spooky decorations, maybe fabricobble some acetylene lamp covers for the headlights, and then 10″ slicks in the back, 4″ skinnies up front. The best part is come tomorrow it’s all reversible. And then you still have a very scary (though perhaps more in the vein of “HeHe! I’m in Danger!” scary) Seven replica.
You forgot the most important part. Paint the body to look like a coffin and make a little tombstone for the front license plate. Now you have a Dragula tribute car!
Do it, baby!
Do it, baby!
A wrap, but yeeeeeessssss….
I’m going to ignore the pricetags (for once). By all appearances, the 7 wants to kill you, and the current owner has figured that out. I’m not looking to challenge fate. The Manta is plenty dangerous in/of itself, but it’s also in a bit of a costume. It might be fun to wheel around in something that looks very similar to what the Frankenstein drove in the OG Death Race 2K.
I was about to mention something similar. The seating situation with that 7 looks super awkward. I bet its both terrifying and also not very fun to drive.
Frankenstein’s car was based on a Vette. Two Manta Mirages were used as the base for Calamity Jane Kelly and Machine Gun Viterbo (played by a not yet famous Stallone).
Today is a neither day for me.
Sees St. George UT, votes Lotus.
Weirdest state I’ve visited so far.
And I live in Florida.
Fudgin beautiful out there, though.
I have a confession. We’re all friends here, right?
I am a HUUUUGE attention whore.
That Manta has my name written AAAAALLLL over it. I would daily drive that until I die. If I make it to 80, I’d build a crane to lower me into the driver’s seat.
Seemingly, with the Manta’s giant door sills, you’d be able to comfortably sit and then pivot yourself into that cockpit.
Yeah, I think the real problem might be getting OUT, not in.
It is harder.
Easier when you can grab the roof and sill, then pull yourself out.
The seats are formed.
You get in like a formula car, feet first.
This is the dullest Manta version I have ever seen, due to the vette?? front end.
Check out a real one.
Notorious for causing car crashes while parked, especially in the 70s.
Based on a McLaren.
I like the lotus. I guy I know has one he built in his garage. I think it would be better at $5K not $15K
This is a $5k to $6k “Seven” all day long. Here in the UK it would be a $2,500 to $3,500 car. There are some nice Robin Hoods and what not for $3,500 to $4,000 all over Marketplace. $15k gets you a really nice Caterham or Westfield.
For even a better deal, $15k gets you a nice TVR Chimeara.
Clearly the Manta. If it were a real Lotus I probably would have gone for that instead.
It’s an ashamed and embarrassed car builder who only does 200 miles before selling it. Plus I’ve tried to like Sevens but they provide most of the safety of a motorcycle without any of the advantages (and I dailied a S1 Elise for nine years).
So I guess it’s the… OH MY EYES!
So I guess the fake seven, as it seems easier to scrap.
I’ll take the Manta. The 7 is cool, but I’d always be reminded that it’s not the Number Six spec one I’d really want. Plus, is that a pillow for the driver’s seatback?
It appears to be TWO DIFFERENT pillows for the seatbacks! The interior could use some love, for sure.
I’d rather build a Locost myself. But of the two, I’d have to go with this Locost. I’ve gotten in and out of a Jag E-type when I was a young man and I’m too old to try and get in and out of something like that Manta.
Still, I’d have to do some work to that Locost. Definitely need to get rid of the V6 for a high RPM 4-cyl. Simplify and add lightness.
You got an Exocet layin around instead?
That Manta is just too expensive for me. I’d sooner take the Lotus and make it a track-only car (if I can).
I mean, in reality it’s the neitherest of neither days there have ever been. With fake internet money, at least that orange… thing… looks cool and will sound good, so I went with that.
Can I just have a piece of candy instead?
The Locost sounds terrifying without a lot more details. They are some of the sketchiest cars out there and I’m not about to take on the one that he hasn’t really even driven. The Manta price is insane to me, but St George is one of my all time favorite cities, so I’d go check it out and try to get him to drop the price by about $10k. And failing that, just enjoy the red rock city.
If I’m putting up with the compromises of a kit car, the payoff needs to be worth it.
I’m not sure either of these qualify, but if either does, it’s the crazy looking orange one with a V8, rather than a kit called “Lo-Cost” with a middling at best V6.
The problem with the Locost is the V6. Don’t need something that big. Nice high-RPM 4-cyl will do more for that car than anything else.
My body recoils from the idea of a kit car advertised for its cheapness.
What other corners were cut?
Weird argument. Corners being cut are more likely to be on the shoulders of the builder in the garage, not the manufacturer of the kit portion of the kit car.
Also, Locosts aren’t kit cars, not anymore. Anyone that’s built one in the past 20-30 years has welded their own frame (or got a used frame) and done their own work. Body panels are typically bought, but even those can be hammered out by someone in a well-equipped garage.
There’s no “kit” portion anymore, just a set of instructions.
I thought the Manta had that huge one piece canopy the slid forward? That’s what I recall from the car from Gone in 60 Seconds,at least
I think that was a different Manta model. They did a couple of styles.
I’m unaware of a model that came with a canopy like that.
Maybe a movie version?
You are thinking of a Nova Sterling.
That lotus isn’t an abomination. This is an easy choice.