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Lost interest?

Markp - 18/6/23 at 06:38 PM

I finished my car back in 2001, I have decided it needed some love to get it back on the road. I went to the Malvern show and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! It wasn’t a show how I remember, there was one stand that offered spares, a few manufacturers and apart from the cars that was it. The show used to be a place you could get everything from, carpet, filters, suspension literally everything. Also back then this site was a place of community, new topics and hundreds of messages a day. What’s happened? Has it really changed for the worse over the years? And where do I now get stuff from now? It’s very sad to come back to a community that is only just surviving.

[Edited on 18/6/23 by Markp]

[Edited on 18/6/23 by Markp]

JoelP - 18/6/23 at 08:30 PM

I think we're lucky the site is still here at all! People drift on over the years. I was gone for a good few, trying to be back more regularly now. Many are on Facebook apparently, but I've ditched most socials.

On the plus side, driving the kit is still a proper buzz. Managed 200 miles this weekend, and didn't even die!

Mr Whippy - 19/6/23 at 06:47 AM

Last big car show I went to with over 200 cars on display, there were over 30 stalls but not even one of them was actually selling any car parts!, FS one was selling fresh fish! absolutely mental

Slimy38 - 19/6/23 at 07:00 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Last big car show I went to with over 200 cars on display, there were over 30 stalls but not even one of them was actually selling any car parts!, FS one was selling fresh fish! absolutely mental

At Malvern there was one selling old peoples hats... To be fair, they were doing really well, talk about a captive audience!!

Slimy38 - 19/6/23 at 07:14 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Markp
The show used to be a place you could get everything from, carpet, filters, suspension literally everything.

I remember those days, I used to go with a handful of cash just in case. Of course, I'd never come back with anything useful (the last trip to Stoneleigh I came back with that aluminium solder that is bloody useless on anything other than the bit the guy had on his demo stand).

I have gone on to a couple of the Facebook groups, although they're very different to LCB. Lots of big builds going on, in countries that will allow any sort of wildlife on to the road. On the weekend someone had built a gorgeous Jaguar C type in South Africa, the one thing I couldn't get over was the sharp edged glovebox they had fitted just in range of the passengers knees! There is no sense of 'locost' to any of it, and more importantly no questions or discussions.

I doubt the DIY builders will ever go away completely, and the government can't do away with individual vehicle approvals because that would impact the supercar market. As for this particular site, it's showing more than 200 visitors at the moment so I think it's still getting at least some interest? Although I wonder how many of those are after somewhere to talk about what pointing to use for a 20 year old extension, or whether they should use 5 or 6 Accrow's for a span of 2 metres...

nick205 - 19/6/23 at 09:51 AM

I too remember the days when a kit car show had plenty of kit cars to see and more parts stalls than you could get round.

I also used to take a pocket full of cash (just in case) and come back with none left.

That said I built, drove and sold my car a long time back now. Haven't been to a show in years. As for many, kids and family life took over and diverted the money elsewhere.

Might be an EV build when I get beack to it!

Benzine - 20/6/23 at 06:39 AM

What's happened? Older folk with bags of money are able to continue their hobbies and say things like "it's a shame youngsters aren't interested in xyz". I disagree and say that they just don't have the money. It's been that way since the noughties and no sign of improvement on the horizon.

nick205 - 20/6/23 at 09:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Benzine
What's happened? Older folk with bags of money are able to continue their hobbies and say things like "it's a shame youngsters aren't interested in xyz". I disagree and say that they just don't have the money. It's been that way since the noughties and no sign of improvement on the horizon.

Indeed - disposable incomes seem to be a thing of the past!

Also seems to be more of a push on people to do other things with available money they may have. I know several who in the pandemic had to work from home. Commuting cost was saved and put into maybe updating a family car or chipping off some mortgage. A few years back that money might have towards building a kit!

Bluemoon - 22/6/23 at 06:54 PM

Still a active industry, Malvern is new, mail order parts are about. I think fb/social media has taken over forums, but fb is not a spot on a forum as you can't find things on fb.

I would guess people are usig this site as reference..

[Edited on 22/6/23 by Bluemoon]

Mr Whippy - 23/6/23 at 06:32 AM

It think Benzine is mostly correct. Everyone seems to be strapped for cash and the 7 isn't really much of a daily driver. I'm glad there are still people building them from scratch but it's not a locost hobby that's for sure.

I've actually removed FB from my devices as it's virtually malware the way it behaves.

Slimy38 - 23/6/23 at 07:30 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
but it's not a locost hobby that's for sure.

I'm finding even basic materials have really jumped up. Steel in particular is not just a little bit more expensive, I paid more than double for my last batch. Donor cars can be a challenge, although I still see plenty of MX5's on Ebay. Parts are going up though, and I don't remember the last time I was able to go into a scrapyard and start climbing around cars for bits. And of course if the breaker is removing the parts (or even putting them through Ebay) there is a premium to pay.

Even when I started many years ago the 'Ł250' option was a distant memory, but even now the 'on a budget' version is still a bit of a stretch.

simon2b - 1/9/25 at 09:04 AM

I'll be honest. i had only just started posting my build on here, then covid, followed by doubling prices took all our disposible money which was not being used elsewhere(house projects etc).

I had also noticed that most sites have wilted away and gone to facebook, which i am not keen on. Just a few days ago decided to start reposting as a
had managed to spend some time and money on the kit but still cant seem to post piccies so that kinda killed it as i like lots of pics in builds.

40inches - 1/9/25 at 12:04 PM

Just copy the forum [pg] code above your photo and paste it in the message

Description

simon2b - 1/9/25 at 01:17 PM

cheers I seem to only be able to do it by putting them in the photo album, but then they are little. No matter what i do when trying the choose file method seems to work. Click preview but it shows only my text message but not the pic lol. Even after resizing it.

I must be doing something dumb, just dont know what.
I would like the full pic in the post without having to hover of it.

JAG - 1/9/25 at 01:34 PM

I think the response to THIS post has shown there are still plenty of people coming to this website - they're just not doing much to post about

roadrunner - 4/9/25 at 06:02 AM

How many of us still actually have our kit cars ?

40inches - 4/9/25 at 08:58 AM

quote:
Originally posted by roadrunner
How many of us still actually have our kit cars ?

I have sold the MK, but now have a GTM Spyder

Does that count?

SteveWalker - 5/9/25 at 10:09 AM

I still have my Robin Hood, but am concentrating on making my Land Rover Series 2A useable at the moment.

Steve Hignett - 7/9/25 at 12:01 PM

I am back after a long time away (apart from a couple random questions), and am also building again - but a true scratch built this time, not a kit and not for someone else.

I've still got no money (I'll never have any ), so I am going back to my roots and using a 1998 FireBlade engine, with a cheeky chinese turbo lobbed onto the side of it...
Round tube chassis 25mm in 1.5 and 0.9mm wall, with whatever bodywork I have lying around or can buy cheap.
It will have Gaz gold shocks (Cos I found some 2nd hand ones that I could nearly afford ), and all Rose Jointed spherical bearings for the wishbones.

It's a slow progress, when you have little to no budget, but I'll get there....

If someone could figure out a way of getting photos from a Google Photos folder/location, then I'd happily share my progress since January???

Thanks,
Steve

[Edited on 7/9/25 by Steve Hignett]

roadrunner - 8/9/25 at 06:04 AM

I still have mine after 21 years. It's had a 10 year rest in between though. And, I have only just got it taxed just for the last couple of driving months left in this year.

JAG - 8/9/25 at 08:19 AM

I'm in a similar position to the Roadrunner.

I still have the car I built and registered 21 years ago. It's been off-the-road, being improved, fro the last 8 years but I am now close to getting an MOT.

Just in time for the Autumn - oh well

adithorp - 8/9/25 at 08:29 AM

Still using mine 17 years since i registered it. I keep doing little mods just to iron out minor niggles or make it slightly better.

Maybe not used as often as I should. It didn't turn a wheel between coming back from Europe last year and going this year, apart from 1/2mile to MoT.
50,000miles came up during this years trip (2800 around france). Since then I used it to go to a mates birthday BBQ that was a 200mile round trip... just so it wasn't idle.

Sanzomat - 11/9/25 at 05:54 PM

I'm still around (infrequently here) but then I'm quite a recent Locost person. I've had my GTM Spyder since 2014 and my Locost R1 since 2020. The GTM is in regular use and does between 3 to 4k miles each year. The Locost hasn't been MOT'd since 2015 but gets trailered to around 5 track days each year and thoroughly thrashed and enjoyed.

One of my two grand daughters (currently 8) has got the kit car bug and enjoys coming along to local car shows in the Spyder and can even tell apart some of the various 7 types. She even likes to spend time in the garage with me and has learnt a few skills so hopefully there will be people to keep the genre going for a while!