Strip or Kit?

So it appears that the most common way to make your own EV is to take a standard run o' the mill car, strip everything off of it, steam clean it (hopefully you remembered that step), and then build it up.

I am wondering if it might be better to do a Kit Car instead. There seems to be advantages and disadvantages to both... Let's take a look at a couple of them...

1. Kit Cars are (usually?) fiberglass.... Pro: Lighter weight = more efficient for EV. Con: more likely to cost a LOT of money if you get into an accident.

2. Kit Cars come with very limited pieces... Pro: The few they come with should be most of what you need, and they are already clean. Con: Realistically, a used car is generally going to cost less than a kit car, unless you count labor into the cost.

3. Kit Cars have to be put together.... Now, while you may think that I would have to do the conversion of a standard car (and thus that would count as putting it together) -- the fact is that a used car already will generally roll, etc... kit cars will take a lot of effort to get them usable at all.

It sounds like I am really opposed to kit cars... I am not. I just really want to find a reasonably priced one... Take this one for example. That is a damned sexy car. However, for $20k, I can't justify buying that car body. Hell, for that price, we could get a used Delorean.

So I think the first part of the decision is going to come down to whether or not we can find any reasonably priced kits. If we can, I will seriously consider buying an already clean body that doesn't contain all the crap I am going to toss anyways.


Of course, based on this picture, maybe I should have him make me a body... :)