This sleek mystery kit car has showed up on Craigslist again… Anyone recognize it? Or is it a one-off? In some ways it reminds me of an old Aerovette…

Recently ubugnme74@aol.com in Mesa, Arizona has been posting a really interesting kit car on Craigslist lately that looks to me like it’s a shortened Invader GT, although he’s not sure. It’s on a 1600cc VW pan that’s been shortened by 12″, and he’s asking only $1,300 for it. There are no doors on it — if it was me, I’d fill the doors in a little so the front and rear fenders connect, giving the car more coherent lines. It’s still a little awkward in the rear unfortunately.

Huge improvement if you ask me.

Speaking of Invader GTs, Sam has a regular unshortened one up for sale in Colton, California — a total project car for $1,000 (it does have an engine, but it needs a rebuild)… Might be a good car for someone to pick up if they’d like to attempt something like the car above. You can reach Sam at twohipp45@yahoo.com or at 909-519-0276.

For an asking price of only $2,900, Fred in Reading, Pennsylvania has a beautiful purple Fiberfab Aztec II for sale (sorry, I messed up the color a little in the pictures — it’s purple not wine colored) for sale. The car is currently registered with vintage vehicle tags in Alabama as a “1962 Aztec” under the VW VIN. Unfortunately it’s not currently running, needing work on the pan and potentially more on the driveline. The fiberglass is in good shape, but the windshield (out of a ‘66 to ‘69 Corvette) will need to be replaced.

Fred (Transportation Emporium LLC) can be reached at fred@TransportationEmporium.com (he’s also the promoter of the Deutsche Classic, a show for German cars), and can arrange delivery of the vehicle if needed. For someone willing to do the mechanical work, this is a beautiful rare car that be stunning if finished nicely.

Thanks to an eBay auction in Asheboro, North Carolina (#220267546925), I finally have an ID on those hilarious miniature Camaro kits that I’ve posted a couple of. The seller writes,

The kit was built by KAR Manufacturing Company, of Monson, Massachusetts, owned by Dick & Leroy Shorette, who — back in the day — were as big as Bruce Meyers and George Barris in the dune buggy industry, from the 60’s until 1975, when they were forced by oppressive Federal and Commonwealth regulations to shut down. They built thousands of well-known kit car models, including the “Wildcat”, the “Cheetah” and the “Touring T”.

They also claim that this is one of only five ever made, which I think is probably a little low. Sitting on a shortened ‘63 VW pan, this example is powered by a 1965 140HP Corvair engine with a Corvair powerglide transmission (it’s not mated to the VW transmission). It’s the nicest example of this rare kit that I’ve ever seen with a gorgeous paintjob and a solid interior (dash is out of a Corsa model Corvair, and the windshield is from a ‘66 to ‘69 Corvette). Everything except the gas tank sender works. The t-tops are removable and can be stored behind the rear seats. Inner door panels (not that it has doors) come with the car but are not currently installed.

On one hand this car is sort of cartoonish and silly — with a few changes you’d expect it to be a kiddie car… But on the other hand, I think that’s part of its charm. The asking price is a very fair $3,995 — if you like the look of this toy, now is the time to get it, because you probably won’t see one in this shape for sale again.

Dave is selling this Bradley GT in Gilroy, California. Other than the hit it’s taken to the driver’s side rear, it looks solid, and wow, gotta love that classic dunebuggy/motorboat gold metalflake paintjob! Contact Dave at bugedout35@yahoo.com if you’re interested. He’s asking $5,000.

Rick from Euro-Nova posted to let me know that this mystery Nova that’s been doing the blog rounds was actually owned by Steve McHugh, who has been radically customizing it over the last decade. In its early stages it still looked a lot like a Sterling/Nova, with ground effects and modernized body work.

The second stage refined this look even more and added inspirations from the Ferrari Enzo and other vehicles. I should add that Steve did all of this work himself, in his driveway (recalling miserable wet Tamworth, UK days standing in the driveway with a hairdryer trying to fiberglass)!

After that, Steve kind of went off the deep end and really started transforming the vehicle into his own vision, not retaining much more than the roof! Here’s the project in progress:

Finally, some pictures taken by the founder of the Euro-Nova forums for a Discovery Channel contest that Steve entered and won… Sort of a Rat-Fink-meets-British-kit-car bizarrism now? As almost everyone has pointed out, it’s definitely a “love it or hate it” sort of creation.

I can’t wait to see where he goes next… I hope he tackles the hood/front, because it looks a little awkward (and a little plain) in comparison to the rest of the vehicle.

Also, here’s a YouTube video of the latest iteration of Steve McHugh’s custom Nova.

The photos in this entry were taken from the Euro-Nova forums and Cycoholic’s archive of pictures of Steve McHugh’s Nova, where you can find even more pictures. In addition to his recent and ongoing Nova project, Steve also built a V12 Bond Bug and a heavily modified Robin Reliant “Odyssey” 3-wheeler.

There’s a Bremen Sebring project car up for sale on eBay (#140255718617) right now in Marshall, Texas (where that nice Aztec 7 is also up). I think at $3,500 it’s probably overpriced, although given that it’s sat since purchased and is covered in a mountain of dust, it’s hard to tell. The buyer had intended to convert it to electric, but never ended up doing anything… For someone willing to tackle it, the current driveline has potential as it’s a rotary engine out of an RX-7.