HAPPY 75^TH ‘BIRTHDAY’ TO THE UK’S KITCAR INDUSTRY – 1949-2024

A warm WELCOME to totalkitcar online … If you went to the Newark Kit Car Festival last weekend expecting to see us there, I have to apologise. A last-minute family-related issue meant that we couldn’t attend. By all accounts, it was a good show and we had a contributor there taking photos for us, so we’ll have a pictorial show review in the next issue.

I was down at a local garden centre on Sunday morning with ‘er indoors. She was looking for some edging bricks and I was delighted to see the items pictured here.

They are a range of stone-effect products made from recycled tyres. Old tyres are notoriously and expensive to recycle, so something like this is a superb solution.

They look really effective and have done the job perfectly. Highly recommended.

TKC MAG – Sept/Oct 2024  issue of TKC MAG is OUT NOW. You can CLICK HERE to order your SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 copy NOW.

We have loads more with which to entertain you, dear reader  – indeed, this one is jam-packed with good stuff

Look Who’s Back – Tim Dutton – the grandmaster kitcar seller – he’s back with a brand new Series 5 Phaeton – now based on Mazda MX-5 Mk3

Industry Greats – Barry Treacy – Delighted to be featuring Barry Treacy in this issue. If the name isn’t familiar Wolfrace wheels, Sonic six-wheeler and Evo locking wheel nuts might be! A marvellous career oh … and a wondrous collection of cars that includes Ferrari F40, F50 and Enzo!

Reader’s Drive – Ian Deakin’s superb EXO Rocket

Tomcat Motorsport – Neil Winnington recently spent a day with some owners of Tomcat Motorsport’s product. He had a great time and an ideal feature to reacquaint ourselves with these fun, capable off-road kits

Two Scamps tackle St Leonards to Frankfurt and back – Scamp owner, Chris Westgate and his friend Jonathan went off to Germany in their Scamps (a Mk1 and a Mk2) to visit the brilliant International Mini Meeting. They had a joyous time. Chris tells us all about it.

WMT Oldtimer – Steve Hole was on holiday in the Black Forest area of Germany this summer and visited a beer market to collect a few supplies and saw this unusual-looking, very specialist, electric car parked outside

Plus lots more …

Alternatively, you can CLICK HERE to pre-order your SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 copy NOW.

Search YouTube for the ‘totalkitcar YouTube Channel’ or follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/@tkcmag. NEXT VIDEO TO DROP IS A HISTORY FILE ON CHESIL

A little plug (well, it’s my website and I have good things to make you aware of!) for the digital version of TKC MAG. If not having a hard, paper copy of the mag in your mitts doesn’t bother you then may I recommend the digi edition.

An EXACT replica of the paper version it currently costs just £23.99 for a TWELVE MONTHS DIGITAL subscription to TKC MAG ANYWHERE in the world. Visit Pocketmags.com and type in ‘TKC MAG’ and all will be revealed. Alternatively, you download our APP on your mobile and download single issues or a subscription on your phone or tablet.

We are getting a lot of new subscribers on the totalkitcar YouTube channel. If you like this website, you are sure to find something you like on the ‘totalkitcar YouTube channel’? In addition to our usual monthly video upload, we now have a weekly series called the ‘totalkitcar History Files Series. The latter isn’t rocket science. We verbally look at old kitcars with photos added, but we seem to be capturing peoples’ imaginations.

As the name suggests we look at some of the classic marques, great cars, not so great cars, plus the personalities, events and designers who have graced this wonderful industry over the last 75 years.

If you don’t already subscribe to our channel (just search ‘totalkitcar YouTube Channel’ on YouTube) please do, as it’s free and if you click ‘all’ you’ll be notified every time a new video drops. Finally, may I ask you to hit the thumbs up button please as that helps the channel greatly.  THANK YOU, dear reader.

History File Series, in association with the Enwin Motors channel. Don’t miss out, subscribe for FREE now.

TKC MAG – WHY NOT CONSIDER A SUBSCRIPTION THAT LASTS A WHOLE YEAR? – ACTUALLY, IT LASTS LONGER THAN THAT IF YOU USE THIS SPECIAL OFFER, AS IT WILL LAST FOURTEEN MONTHS. WE’LL ADD AN EXTRA ISSUE TO THE STANDARD TWELVE MONTHS PACKAGE. https://bit.ly/3RxuLgU 

By the grace of Royal Mail – if you live in the United Kingdom – we can pretty much say with confidence that you will receive your copies at least two or three days before shop or digital publication dates.

Our popular TRACKDAY CALENDAR is where you can find out where, when and how much by CLICKING HERE. Now updated to cover September, October and November 2024.

IF YOU LIKE CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS you are in luck. Clicking that button will take you back in time with features on old kitcars, personalities and generally interesting companies who worked within the specialist car and sixties motorsport movements. I really hope you are enjoying them. Not all of them are kitcar-related per se but they all celebrate the underdog and often feature the wonderful world of sixties motorsport.

A lot of classic clubman motorsport features highlight underdog artisans that we hope will appeal to you dear reader, the sort of companies that we’ve often all heard of but on whom detailed information is often hard to find. Shorrock, Wade Turbochargers, Jack Knight Developments, Cannon Cars, Tom Killeen, David Ogle the list goes on and on. The sort of companies and individuals that our specialist and kitcar forebears from the sixties would have been very familiar with. You’ll find these subjects contained in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS.

This time in Classic Kit Cars & Specials we look at the amazing land speed record breaker on two-wheel Burt Munro whose ‘up to 1000cc’ world record in 1967 still stands… CLICK HERE to go there.

SNIPPETS 1 ……. The organisers of the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show are on a mission to encourage the younger generation into the classic motoring community and have joined forces with YouTuber DadCars to create the DadCars Family Zone at this year’s 40th-anniversary event.

Held at the NEC from November 8-10, the DadCars Family Zone will offer a welcoming hub for families. Free activities will be on offer including classic car colouring in and car treasure hunts to encourage children to spend time looking at the wonderful cars on display with their parents.

DadCars founder Ben Marshall said: “There has never been a more important time than right now to get this next generation passionate about internal combustion engine cars. We need as many children as possible to understand these are not simply old, noisy, polluting cars. They are a very special part of our history. The best way to do this is to share our passion with them and make fond memories.”

The DadCars Family Zone will also include Mini Rovers offering little ones the chance to experience the joy of getting behind the wheel and navigating the twists and turns of an obstacle course for a nominal fee. More family-friendly names will be revealed as the show nears.

Speaking of family-friendly, DadCars and the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show are asking all clubs and exhibitors to embrace a new icon that will alert families if their stand is ‘family-friendly’.

Ben, who is father to four young children, explains: “Visiting car shows with young children, you get a mixed response from car owners and exhibitors. Some welcome you with open arms and know that they were that child once. While others look horrified as parents with young children come anywhere near their pride and joy.

“I understand the fears, however, the vast majority of parents have an excellent sense of etiquette to watch their children closely when looking at special cars. I witness adult spectators just as frequently at events touching cars without the owner’s permission and getting awkwardly close to them, but we shouldn’t let the few spoil it for the majority.

“By displaying the Family Friendly Icon, parents know which stands and exhibitors welcome them. My hope is it engages more young people leading to conversations and experiences with these special classic cars.”

Tickets are now on sale. Check the website www.necclassicmotorshow.com or sign up for the newsletter at www.necclassicmotorshow.com/newsletter for the latest updates and special offers.

SNIPPETS 2 ……..This Half-Term from October 26 – November 3, the British Motor Museum is inviting families to enjoy a range of activities inspired by the evolution of car design! From the classic sketchbook to 3D digital imagery, families can come along and learn how technology has allowed some of history’s best car designs to be brought to life!

Half-Term at the museum kicks off with the Great British Model Railway Show on Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 October. This special weekend is dedicated to model trains and features over forty layouts of various scales. The event is one of the biggest model railway shows on the calendar and one of the best in the West Midlands.

Pickle and Pumpkin’s Design Techsplosion Science Show – takes place from October 29 to November 1. The resident gearheads, Professor Pickle and Doctor Pumpkin have been busy in the lab, investigating car design. Professor Pickle is a firm believer in pencil and paper when designing a ‘horseless carriage’, but the forward-thinking Doctor Pumpkin is all about new technologies. Children will need to help the scientists settle their debate before their experiments get out of hand!

Tracing Tech Family Tours take place from 26 to 28 October & 2 to 3 November. Families can embark on a journey with one of the resident car designers, Dottie or Dougie, in search of how technology interlinks with design.

Craft activity Graphite Lights takes place every day, offering children the chance to explore one of the fascinating ways in which design and technology collide first-hand. Using graphite pencils, children will create a drawing that can transform into a circuit to power a lightbulb!

The Black Cat Trail takes children on a spooky hunt around the museum in search of the mischievous Black Cats. Using torches to note down the colours in their eyes, visitors can claim their reward once they have all been discovered!

The car design-themed, It’s All In The Detail, Family Trail will be in place throughout the holiday. The car collection at the museum shows off so many shapes, styles and colours from over 100 years of motoring. Children can follow the trail of ‘pods’ and have a go at sketching different elements of car design and answering questions at each one. They will discover grilles, wheels, wings and more! Along the way, they can collect letters which will tell them the location of their final design challenge …

Emma Rawlinson, Lifelong Learning Officer at the British Motor Museum, said: “We have so much planned this Half Term for children of all ages with our Tracing Tech Family Tours, exciting Graphite Lights craft activity, mind-blowing experiments in our Science Shows, spooky Black Cat Trails and finally our ‘It’s All in The Detail’ Family Trail!

Museum entry is just £43 for a family in advance or £49 on the day, £16 for adults in advance or £19 on the day, £14 for concessions in advance or £17 on the day, £9 for children (5-16 years) in advance or £10 on the day and under 5s are FREE. There is also the option to Gift Aid or donate your entry fee and get an Annual Pass in return at no extra cost.

To find out more information about half-term activities, please visit the website at https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/whats-on/october-half-term.

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STEVO’S BEER TIP – BA CRANACHATOA CRANACHAN DOUBLE STOUT

CHAMPIONING THE BEERS OF THE UK’S BRILLIANT CRAFT – AND MICRO-BREWERIES.

Nothing like enjoying a beer after an afternoon in the garage or following a drive out. OBVIOUSLY, we don’t condone or promote drink driving at totalkitcar.com/TKC MAG but once the driving is done there’s nothing like a quality drop of real ale.

I’ve been amazed at some of the low-volume craft beers that have been appearing. The names of some of them are crazy enough, some of those I have tasted have been off the charts. A recent one that tasted like Battenberg or breakfast pancakes springs to mind.

A reader sent me a very special beer this week (thanks Jimmy!) which hails from Knaresborough-based micro called Turning Point Brewery. The beer in question is an incredible one, actually. BA Cranachatoa Cranachan, a double stout of 8.4% ABV, is the beer in question.

It starts life as a creamy, smooth grist of oats, lactose and dark brown sugar, a complex mix that also contains seven varieties of malt. When the time is right, raspberries and honey are added.

What sets it apart is its maturation in barrel-aged blended bourbon, Cognac and PA (Pedro Ximénez) sherry casks. Drunk in moderation like a fine wine or sherry this is a veritable taste explosion! More from www.turningpointbrewco.com.

So, that’s about it from me for this week, so I’ll bid you a great week, with plenty of enjoyable driving and I look forward to welcoming you once again next Friday – OCTOBER 4 – La vie et belle!

Best regards 

 

 

Steve