Tim Drager, an electrical engineer from Pottstown, PA, spent about $20,000 and 200 hours — a remarkably fast built on some levels — converting his 1971 Fiberfab Avenger into a plug-in electric vehicle. He’s driven it about 5,000 miles so far, and is selling it to support his new habit, a 1967 Cessna Turbo 210 aircraft.
With electricity at $.08 per KWH he figures it gets the equivalent of about 120mpg. It’ll do over 80mph (100-200hp equivalent — an ADVANCED DC #FB1-4001A — mated to the standard 4-speed VW transmission), and 0-60 in about 10 seconds. Range is between 100 miles and 30 miles depending on your driving habits, and it takes four to ten hours to charge on household voltage (Rudman PFC-20B system). Accessories are standard 12V, and the driveline is 144V DC at 500 amps. It’s got four-wheel disc brakes, door poppers, gauges, two sets of tires, and more.
Minor work is needed, including an oil change, dealing with some rattling, the interior, paint, corrosion treatment, sealing (you can run it in light precipitation, but for all-weather use some work needs to be done), and the headlight switch should be replaced. Minor trim should be fixed (as you can see in the picture of the headlight covers and steering wheel), but all-in-all, this has the potential to be an award winning vehicle. It also comes with the development laptop that interfaces to the vehicle. Tim describes it at present as an “amateur-built engineering prototype in drivable condition.”
If you’re interested in the car, it’s up on eBay right now (#140248875246) with an asking opening bid of $14,950, and Tim can be reached by email at tdrager@yahoo.com (tech support comes with the car of course). The car is currently located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
Seeing this for sale on eBay (#130237384582) in Blackwood, Caerphilly, UK, was really one of those “WOW” moments, as this is one of those cars you’ll see for sale once in a lifetime — I hope whoever buys this car (it’s only at £100 right now, with four days to go) appreciates and restores it. It’s a Warp 8, one of only two believed to have been built. It’s on a VW Beetle chassis (with a Beetle or 356 engine), and the glass is missing but it’s just flat glass so it’s an easy thing to source. If it looks familiar to you, it’s based on the striking Lancia Stratos Zero prototype, but like most kit interpretations, it has a dunebuggy air about it.
If a reader of this blog buys this, please keep me updated!
Speaking of the FiberFab Aztec GT front end, this 1965 flip-top model — painted in a mean looking matte black primer — just got posted to eBay today (#130235523264) so you can see what I mean by the similarity.
It’s built on a Corvair driveline mated to a VW chassis, but like the previously posted vehicle, it’s in rough shape (needs new floor, no brakes, engine work needed, and more) and has neither paperwork nor keys. Mike in Attleboro, MA is asking $750, which is what the tires and wheels cost him. This is the first generation car, which debuted in 1964 as FiberFab’s first original design, and the start of one of the biggest kit car empires in US automotive history.
Speaking of the Nova, here’s one for sale in Neath Port Talbot, UK (#200233437106). It’s built to original specifications with no modifications, on a 1500cc 1969 VW Beetle chassis. Everything is new and it’s barely been driven, with less than 1700 miles recorded. A great car that’s perfect for someone looking to own one of the kit car industry’s classic designs in it’s original forms — the Nova/Sterling has been through at least a dozen iterations under a dozen corporations.
In the early eighties Tim Dutton (who now makes amphibious cars) brought the Cimbria kit car to the UK and rebranded it as the “Eagle SS” after making minor cosmetic changes like pop-up lights molded from a Porsche 928. Ironically, this was done to challenge the Nova’s reign as the exotic kit car of choice, and the Cimbria was based on the Sterling, the American version of the Nova! The first versions of the Eagle SS were built on a VW Beetle chassis like the Cimbria and Nova/Sterling, but later versions actually managed a front-engined setup on a Ford Cortina driveline — a remarkable achievement given the car’s extremely low profile!
This Eagle SS on eBay (#280240230047, currently at a scant no-reserve £100 with two days to go — wow) is one of the early VW versions, and while it’s running and relatively solid, needs attention from top to bottom to get it looking good. Be sure to check out the Eagle Owners Club website for more information if you’re interested.
Ok, so I wasn’t going to post, but then I saw this outrageously ugly “Lamborghini Countach style” kit car on eBay (#190231650810) and had to mention it. I’d say this easily out-uglies the simplified Countach, the Corbett Countach, and the recently posted British pseudo-Countach (and other oddballs like this DIY supercar). With an opening bid of $1,000 needed, my feeling is that the cost of getting this body shell looking decent is higher than it would cost to simply start from scratch. But who knows… to each their own.
Apparently it’s sitting on a tube chassis of some sort that hasn’t been completed, and may be set up for an Olds Toronado driveline. The seller bought it as is and it’s sat since — I guess they’ve come to their senses and are trying to dump the project, but I’d say it’s going to be a hard sell. The description says it was “molded from a Lamborghini”, but I don’t think there’s any chance of that. Pretty much every dimension is wrong.
Edit: This car has since been identified as a “Condor” kit car.
The Hensen M30 is an ultra-rare (production run of seventeen cars, with less than ten currently known) component car designed by Hugo Brett Henricksen in the UK around Granada components. Selling for about £4000 in the early eighties, it was intended to be a “poor man’s luxury sports car”. It’s an interesting mix of relatively mundane and boxy appearance with very muscular and macho design.
This example in Nantwich, United Kingdom is owned by the Hensen club secretary, who’s now decided to put it up for sale. It’s been extensively modified, including a coupe conversion to the rear (using Mazda RX7 parts) and a tuned Rover V8 3.9L aluminum engine and an SD1 5-speed transmission. The photos of the car complete were taken in 1996. The car was dismantled several years afterwards, and it’s largely sat in dry storage since.
Now, a move requires finally letting go of the project, and it’s up on eBay (#330245180179), currently at £2,750.00, which Neil says is likely less than the driveline alone is worth. You can also reach him by email at atinofspam@hotmail.co.uk.
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