Yes, today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Locost does come with some assembly required, but is its cost actually low enough for you to start assembling the Benjamins?
So, Ford is building a new Mustang, and the result - debuting to much initial trepidation last week - is looking less like Mustang II and more like Mustang Phew! That pony is one of the most venerated of FoMoCo brand names, next April in fact celebrating its fiftieth year on the on the market. That's a remarkable feat, as is the longevity of its parent, the Ford Motor Company. That company is a decade more than twice as old as its hallowed pony, and it all started in a garage.
If you'd like to emulate Ford you're going to need to start somewhere, and the best place might just be your very own garage. Let's go out there and check things out, shall we? Okay, there's that weight-lifting bench with the black widows in it, that's not going to do the trick. There's also boxes of holiday lights, old bongs, and - what the hell - is that your Tickle Me Elmo doll from when you were a kid? Score!
Okay seriously, none of that crap is going to help you become the next fifth-largest auto producer in the world, so out it all goes and in its place rolls something along the lines of this Lotus Super Seven Locost, which just so happens to need a new home because, according to its ad, it is sadly seeing its current garage go bye-bye.
Everybody knows the Locost, and there are many permutations, all different, and all sharing a visual connection to the Colin Chapman's original bare-bones roller skate. As is the case with these home-built wonders, this one happens to be based on Mazda MX-5 mechanicals, including the DOHC mill, gearbox, and IRS.
It may seem incongruous, and a little sacrilegious, to sacrifice so desirable a car as a Miata for the cause, instead of using something with little intrinsic value on its own- like an old Sentra, Escort, or Brian Posehn nude selfies. Still, there just aren't all that many cheap and good rear-drivers out there anymore that could serve as suitable donors, so Miata it is.
Here that Miata's four is installed and apparently running in the partially assembled car, but is suffering from electrical gremlins preventing its being a true smooth move. The dash electrics however are said to be 90% complete, and the current owner seems really proud of his Mazda cluster under plexiglass above the shifter. The rest of the 'interior' is currently exterior, but considering the parsimonious nature of these beasts, how hard would that be to finish?
Other notable features of the car include adjustable coil overs on all four corners, and a Mazda LSD pumpkin in back. Interestingly, the freakishly tall roll bar is said to have been taken from a Porsche Targa race car. Who races Targas?
On the downside, this is an incomplete project and there is a lot of work needed to make it complete, or at the very least moveable under its own power. Along with the aforementioned engine electrics there's the need to hook up the exhaust - I recommend maintaining the jaunty side pipe to warm your cockles - as well as a windscreen, rear fenders, and a Hassan chop to the driveshaft to round things out.
I'm sure there's a ton of other sorting, painting and sitting in the car making vroom-vroom sounds required before this Locost can call the road its bitch, but hey, it's going to be a long winter, and after all, that's how Henry Ford got his start.
Actually, I think Ford started in a barn as garages weren't invented yet so maybe this whole buy a Locost to start an automotive empire idea may be fatally flawed. Regardless, it's now time for you to decide if this incomplete Locost's $8,100 price is also flawed.
What do you think, is that a good deal for a build-a-bear of a car? Or for that bottom line, should this Locost be much farther to the finish line?
You decide!
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For $8,100, Assume The Lotus Position