Cougar at Kit Car Show

MRT803

MRT803

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Mar 30, 2012
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While at the Donington Kit Car Show today I was keeping an eye open for any cougars parked up... I found 1...

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and inside was DNA

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Bonus pics:

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My opinion on these hasn't changed. It's creative and interesting, and when they're well done, they're very pretty. But the illusion lasts up to the point where you realise what it actually is. Sometimes that's when you start it, and sometimes that's when you get in it and it has a standard interior... but either way it's completely destroyed when the wheels start turning.

I won't criticize someone for doing this well, because I respect the skill, even if I think the donor car is prettier than what was made from it.

I happily drive a Cougar. I wouldn't want to drive a fake Ferrari and wait for people to call me out on it.
 
Mako said:
My opinion on these hasn't changed. It's creative and interesting, and when they're well done, they're very pretty. But the illusion lasts up to the point where you realise what it actually is. Sometimes that's when you start it, and sometimes that's when you get in it and it has a standard interior... but either way it's completely destroyed when the wheels start turning.

I won't criticize someone for doing this well, because I respect the skill, even if I think the donor car is prettier than what was made from it.

I happily drive a Cougar. I wouldn't want to drive a fake Ferrari and wait for people to call me out on it.
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Neatly surmises what I think.

If it was a pedal bicycle with Fireblade fairings grafted on..... We'd all point and laugh.

For the thick end of £11,000 you could buy a seriously decent, fast and respected car! - These points are not a sleight on the Cougar, but it's a bit daft in my opinion to dress one up as a Ferrari. Same goes for any similar kits.
 
A kit car is absolutely fine by me - even a replica - if it's built from the ground up and tries to emulate the look, sound and feel of the car. E.g. most GT40 and Cobra reps are actually good cars in their own right.

I agree entirely about this though. A Cougar is an aging car which is modest in its performance. This is 'accounted for' in the kit marketing waffles as 'avoiding the fuel costs of the real thing' and similar such nonsense whereas anyone who owns a real Ferrari will assure you that petrol is the least of your worries.

As Chris says - the game is up soon after seeing one of these. The fact is that it's not a home-made facsimile of a supercar. It's an honest and humble Ford Cougar who's performance is further blunted with a heap of fibreglass. There are usually obvious non-Ferrari cues inside these. Start it up and it's obvious that you don't have a lovely light weight flat plane V8 which revs to over 7500rpm. Oh, and it feels rather front wheel drive, unlike the car it's trying to mimic.
 
benham said:
The ****-poor approach to capitalisation and spacing on the sales blurb would make me anxious!
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Careful now. I know some amazing pple whos rigting isnt that grate but there skills are ossum.

Illiteracy isn't something to be proud of, but I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of either.

Besides, Paul Macready was dyslexic, but will.i.am isn't. Guess which one I would want to build me an airplane (assuming Paul was still alive...)
 
Mako said:
Careful now. I know some amazing pple whos rigting isnt that grate but there skills are ossum.

Illiteracy isn't something to be proud of, but I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of either.

Besides, Paul Macready was dyslexic, but will.i.am isn't. Guess which one I would want to build me an airplane (assuming Paul was still alive...)
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I don't disagree, but if you knew your spelling wasn't a strong point wouldn't you get somebody else to cast an eye over your commercial literature?

I'm not likening spelling ability to intelligence, just to clarify.
 
benham said:
I don't disagree, but if you knew your spelling wasn't a strong point wouldn't you get somebody else to cast an eye over your commercial literature?
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Bodywork isn't my strong point, but I still let people look at Tiger. ;)

benham said:
I'm not likening spelling ability to intelligence, just to clarify.
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I wasn't trying to be hard on you and I didn't think that's what you meant as such. It's just...people shouldn't be underestimated in the ways that they can excel, just because they score badly in the ways that society tries to measure them.

I take your point though. If you want the car to be perfect, don't you want its overall presentation to be perfect? And if not, what does that say about your attention to detail? But I'm just saying that some people would find that impractical - might not even think to do it - and they shouldn't be written off because of it.
 
Chris, you are your own worst critic lol. You've done an outstanding job with your car and the effort you've put in. You should be proud.

As for the sales blurb that's referred to, I'm going to guess that was probably put together by the owner of that particular car. DNA's literature has always been well executed.
 
Thanks Kully - that's helpful to know, even if it shoots down my point! :D

As for Tiger, thanks again. She's a journey and I'm loving it.
 
The F430 kit while its well done, it isn't the real thing and thats what would put me off; a bit along the lines of the Cobra kits, some of which had measly 4 pot OHC Cortina lumps or slightly better a 2.8 V6 and as Jamie says while well done and great in their own right, but a Cobra with anything less than a V8 would just be a let down for me
 
I think pretty much all of the Sierra V6 based Cobras are pretty much defunct now. There are still some kits based on Sierra running gear but many use XJ running gear too. Most of the kits on the market are designed for V8s, luckily with the old Rover V8 being the smallest but most are intended for Ford and Chevy smallblocks. The 'saving' of using a 4pot or some other engine in a modern kit is somewhat offset by the hassle of it not all going together as designed. You buy a modern Cobra kit, tell them which generation of Chevy LS you're fitting and the kit turns up with the right speedo cables, engine mounts, exhausts, clutches, bellhousing, prop shaft etc etc.

Fortunately it's harder to build a 4 pot Cobra rep from the current kits than it is to just fit the V8 it was designed for :)
 
There will always be a market for the people that want the look without the grunt though. If it makes them happy then that's a good thing. In their world, owning a Cobra that does 35mpg and ticks their boxes for a weekend cruiser, that's that. Not everyone wants to drive them fast. I suppose I understand that a little bit but as most know, I'm in the camp of the V8. If it's supposed to have one then it should have one. That's that!
 
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