Reading one of my favourite car blogs today, I saw this entry which managed to distract me from UFC100 — a post on Hemmings that linked to these pictures of the five thousand pound steam turbine “Barber-Nichols Steamin’ Demon” (currently for sale for a half million), an Aztec 7 kit car converted to break the steam-power land speed record, which it did at 145.607 mph on August 19, 1985 at Bonneville. Definitely NOT what Fiberfab expected when they originally designed this traditionally VW-based kit car! The previous record, set in a Stanley Steamer, had long held the record at 127.656 mph, set in 1906. A British team is currently working on a car to shatter this record, but this has got to be one of the longest-standing records held by a kit car.
Update: Click here for a little more info from the Fiberfab.org website!
Tom sends in these shots of his gorgeous Fiberfab Avenger, which just got out of the paint shop… Next it’s off for new upholstery.
On the whole, this front-engine Avenger project seems a little sloppy (and I feel sorry for the seller who is letting it go for $500, after saying they’ve invested $5,000). It’s currently for sale on eBay (#160320097785) in Levittown, PA, and seems to be a stock car type chassis with the center section of an Avenger kit car slapped on. Personally, I can’t see this being worth buying since it doesn’t come with either the front or rear sections of the body — meaning an enormous amount of work would be needed to finish the project — but still, it’s an interesting idea and shows that there are some non-obvious ways of putting these cars together.
Surprisingly, this is not the first front engined Avenger that I’ve posted (and it’s certainly possible to build a low-profile sports car with a front engine setup, like the Eagle SS).
Steve (lascr@aol.com) in Greenville is selling this 1966 Avenger GT-12 for just $2,000. As with so many, he bought it with the intention of finishing what was already an ongoing project, but realized it wasn’t the time for it and is looking for another brave soul to tackle it. It’s a great starting point with good front and rear glass and solid floor pans (light surface rust). The body needs light repair and paint, and the passenger door needs some repairing. The interior has the dash and center console, but needs to be completlely done. It has the swing axle transmission but no engine. The reason you may want to jump on this one is that it’s the first generation body with the nice two-piece setup with a sub-frame and a flip rear end — most do not have this feature.
Harley just sent me a few pictures of his beast of a ‘66 Fiberfab Caribee/Banshee. He bought the body shell in the early eighties, and then mounted it on a shortened Corvette frame with a ten point cage. He built it up road race style with racing suspension and a 524hp big block Chevy V8. He’s done some major wide-body work as well, but has retained the car’s original lines. He says it’s been in a lot of car shows, and always draws a crowd — “listening to the spectators guess what it is, knowing there is not another like it, makes it worth the ten years it took to build.”
I hate to be pessimistic, but I suspect that this is a kit that will never be finished, although someone is going to pick up this Avenger GT shell pretty cheap — it’s up for sale on eBay (#130289303793) in Richfield, UT with no reserve right now. The body is described as covered in cracks and the seller admits it’s going to take a lot of fiberglass work to get it looking good — it’s definitely seen better days. Given how many Avengers and other GT40 kit cars are out there selling for under $2,000 in decent shape, I think there are a lot of better options than this one unfortunately. Perhaps this one would be better off turned into an advertising prop or blown up in a movie than putting in the effort to make it a running car?
I’ve always thought that the Jamaican was one of the best looking of the Fiberfab cars in terms of being a classy car with broad appeal and lines that look good from all angles. Dennis is selling this Jamaican body on a Healy frame (which is in great shape, and the body was designed specifically to fit this chassis). He’s got the rear window and the side glass is in the doors. He’s got the windshield as well, which is from a 63-67 Corvette, but he’s decided to keep that for his own ‘65 Vette, so you’ll need to pick that up for yourself. He’s asking $2,000, which is a great deal. It’s on eBay right now as well, but you can also write him at kazandkaz@comcast.net directly.
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