Price Of His Toys » Kelmark

KAZ’s Collection of Past Kits

Shannon Larratt — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:43:07 +0000

KAZ, who’s been building kit cars since the seventies, scanned a few photos from his archives for us. From start to finish below are a Bradley GT, a Kelmark GT, a Laser 917, a Marauder GT, a 40s-style Willy VW conversion, and a Talon.

He built lots of Bradleys, including three Bradley GT cars for a Bradley dealership that opened in Houston in ‘76, who unfortunately went under months later. He also built four Kelmarks — this one below with the great paint job was done by Richard Hildebrandt of Houston. He also bought a Kelmark from the insurance company that had been built by Kelmark themselves and was stolen, then recovered it at the Mexican border where the thieves were apprehended. It was fast, with a 2100 cc dual carb VW engine, and an awesome Blaupunkt stereo.

Red Kelmark GT in Middletown, NY

Shannon Larratt — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:16:41 +0000

This beautiful red Kelmark GT just showed up on eBay (#120361418098) in Middletown, NY. The opening bid is $5,900 and no reserve has been set, which seems fair. It’s on a 1980 VW chassis and has been driven weekends since the current owner purchased it three years ago. The car looks really nice, but admittedly needs the interior redone (door panels, one of the side windows, etc.)… Apparently it drives great, although it comes without a title.

Canadian Kelmark GT for sale

Shannon Larratt — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:44:01 +0000

You may have noticed that I’ve updated the layout here… hope it works!

This nice looking Kelmark GT is for sale in Edmonton, Alberta for an asking price of only $4,000. It’s on a 1972 VW chassis and the engine has an updated intake, carb, and header performance exhaust, as well as chrome on on the engine, electric pump, billet aftermarket gas tank cap, shifter, and so on. It’s got a full set of gauges, nice wide rims and tires in good shape, and is currently finished in a black gel coat. As well as some interior work before getting it on the road, it will need the brakes replaced and minor elbow grease. Contact Martin at masheptycki@shaw.ca if you’re interested.

Porsche 911 Powered Kelmark GT

Shannon Larratt — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:49:26 +0000

A lot of the time people with VW-based kit cars will make the claim that they have a “Porsche driveline”… After a bit of prodding you discover that they’re actually just exploiting the shared VW/Porsche lineage and have nothing more than the normal 1600cc Beetle engine… Joel (joel.leer@sbcglobal.net) in Long Beach, CA recently sent me some shots of his Kelmark project that’s running a genuine Porsche 911 engine and transmission — check it out!

“Kit Car Seeks Victim”

Shannon Larratt — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:26:06 +0000

I asked Tucker if I could post about his two kits he’s got up for sale, a Kelmark GT and a Fiberfab Valkyrie (both located in Tahlequah — near Tulsa), and he said, “fine with me… the more potential victims, er, buyers, the better!!!”

It’s so true!

Kit cars seem to be these albatrosses that hang around people’s necks until they eventually land in the garage of the person that turns them into the amazing beauties they have the potential to be. Both the Kelmark and the Valkyrie are some of my favorite kit cars, and Tucker is asking only $1,500 for the first, and $2,000 for the latter. The Kelmark is on a VW pan, and the Valkyrie is on a square tube frame with a Corvair transaxle and a radiator up front. As Tucker says about the Valkyrie — and I think this really applies to both cars — “it won’t be a weekend project by any means, but for the right guy it will make a super car.”

~~Willing victims should write him at W*****@aol.com~~.

He’s decided to keep them!

Kelmark GT in Ontario

Shannon Larratt — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:15:54 +0000

I don’t see many kit cars for sale in Canada, so I thought I’d mention that there’s a 1600cc VW-based Kelmark for sale in Trenton, Ontario (a bit less than two hours east of Toronto) on Kijiji (#72804640). According to the ad, the car runs but isn’t yet road worthy — that said, the Kelmark is well designed and these are rarely much work to get running nicely. It has an Ontario registration and lots of paperwork, and you could in theory be driving it with some brake work and a tune-up.

Customized Kelmark GT

Shannon Larratt — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:13:26 +0000

Greg has this Kelmark GT listed for his sister — when I first saw it, I actually thought it was a later variant of the Kelmark, but on closer inspection it appears that the builder has done quite a lot of work to the car to get it looking more like the 246 Dino, including side/door scoops and other vents around the car. The body is in great shape, but mechanically the car needs lots of work including an engine rebuild, tires, and more… So this would be best for a person that’s willing to undertake that work. They weren’t sure what to list it for, and are willing to entertain offers as low as $4,000, which I think is more than fair for this car.

[Edit: Sold]

Gold and Underglowed Kelmark

Shannon Larratt — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:36:39 +0000

Zack describes his Kelmark “80-90 percent complete” — judging by the pictures, he seems to me to be at the point where most old kit cars are called “100 percent complete”. He says it’s running well and that it’s currently registered in California (the car is in Roseville, CA). It’s on a VW pan with a chromed 1700cc engine, with an automated underglow kit with seven colors and ten functions, and he’s mounted real Ferrari badges on it. To be honest, I’d probably take some of them off, because I prefer the Kelmark to the 246 GT Dino that it’s inspired by, but at $6,500, this is one of the nicer Kelmark’s you’ll find for sale, let alone at that price. You can reach Zack at zquinn3@yahoo.com.

Corvair Powered Kelmark

Shannon Larratt — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:43:52 +0000

My friend Eric asked me to post this Kelmark for a friend of his, who writes,

I started to rebuild the car and when my wife bought me my dream car (1955 Chevy) so I moved it to my garage out back about 2 years ago and now I need the room and don’t have time to work on it. When I got the car out of Arizona it ran but I had to hot wire it, the wiring is a little missed up. (I did get the car running and put two new carbs on, it runs good). The engine and trans is out of a 1964 Corvair and had been rebuilt and is on a VW pan. The body is in good shape, I have all the parts seats, dash, door panel and just picket up a new wiring harness for it (not installed at this time . If you have any question’s just let me know.

I don’t think it would take much to get the car on the road.

The Car is sitting in my Heated Garage at this time and I did start working on it with my son but he his playing golf for the High school and has lost interest in it. I live in Derby Kansas Just 5 miles south of Wichita, KS. I would like to get $1,500.00 for it.

You can reach Brian at 316-788-8672.

The first picture is of the car when he got it.

White Kelmark GT (VW)

Shannon Larratt — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:07:17 +0000

Daniel in Lake Havasu City, Arizona has a nice clean Kelmark GT, visually a muscle-car meets Ferrari 246 Dino, for sale for $5,300. His is on a 1973 VW pan, built in 1991, and he says it runs great and is a previous show winner (purchased from Ed Kaltenbach in Albuquerque around 2002). Drop him a line at danielcook1@hotmail.com if you’re interested.