Yep - one year on and still no Deathwagon, I found myself at the kitcar show again. It was at The Royal Agricultural Show Ground, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire on the 2nd & 3rd of May. I went with my big brother Alastair and our Dad on Sunday the 2nd of May.
|
This year we managed to meet in the same car park. The first thing we did was sit down, drink some coffee and plan the day. We decided to do the halls first with the trade stands and look at the cars in the afternoon after lunch.
This is a nice shiny aluminum thing that caught my eye. And that's all I know about it!
|
|
|
These are Freestyles from Funbuggies. They have a Mini as a donor and have a rear mounted engine - rather like a NCF Blitz 2. There was a video on the stand showing the orange car green laning with some Landrovers, It looked like serious fun. They have a Metro based kit in development which should be one to look out for.
|
|
|
This is the same Blitz 4x4 that we saw last year. It's a Suzuki based kit from NCF who now have a distributor in the Midlands - Blitz Midlands. This car sees some serious off road abuse, has a snorkel and allegedly kept running for half an hour whilst stuck in the middle of a pool whilst off roading.
|
|
|
This is another Blitz 4x4 and only the 3rd I've seen. It was completed the week before the show and is finished to a very high standard. Looks like it might have cost a penny or two to get it that nice...
|
|
|
This is a nice red buggy, one of the few at the show that actually had a VW engine in it! I particularly liked the ear phone sockets on the dash. I'm not sure if this was an effort to not be anti-social with a loud stereo, or necessity over the engine noise.
|
|
|
This pair of cars belonged to a father and son. Neither had VW engines, but both were very nice. I think the purple one has been featured on Fifth Gear, but what I liked most was the yellow buggy - it had one seat, and a dog bed.
|
|
|
This buggy was a bit 'Penelope Pitstop' for my taste - but it was interesting because it is based on a un shortened Beetle floor pan. I don't plan to shorten the Deathwagon, so I'm going to have to be careful not to make that car look too stretched.
|
|
|
I think this is a Jago, I don't know too much about them but I particularly liked the rear bumpers on this one. They're made from a bent bit of metal - how cool is that?
|
|
|
As usual the UVA Fugitive Owners Club had a nice empty patch. I don't know if this lot all turn up on the Monday, but I've not seen them in 3 years and I'm not sure they actually exist...
Not like the Dakar 4x4's. This year they didn't park in a row. In fact they parked in some quite strange places.
|
|
|
On the left is a Cortina based Rotrax. On the right is something new - it's a Suzuki based Rotrax. I think it's called a Fourtrax.
|
|
|
This was a nice buggy - I liked the way it sat quite high off the ground. I suspected that they may have jacked up the suspension a bit, but the owner said no. It must all be in those huge wheels!
|
|
|
The fuel tank is high up on the back and the pulley guard is missing - somewhere in France apparently. Also missing was the pulley bolt. That had the owner a little worried. Still - if you need a new bolt where better to get it than the kitcar show?
|
|
|
At last we found a Fugitive - this one was for sale, and looked a little rough. It didn't have a VW engine, but I did like the beer cans keeping the rain out of the exhaust,
This little car on the right used to belong to a friend of mine - he put an R1 bike engine in it and it is very quick. I helped with some of the heavy lifting - he seemed to think I was easier to control than the engine hoist!
|
|
