On Mon, 15 Jan 1996, Robert L. Abernathy wrote:
>
> There is a complete TD replica kit for sale localy for $1000.
> I called the owner and he said it was ready to mount on a
> VW pan. Has anyone built or owned one of these?
>
> What other chassis might it fit?
>
> How much is a replica worth anyway?
I think replicas make sense sometimes--when the original car is incredibly
expensive, and the replica is really close to the original in styling and
spirit. A good replica should be difficult to distinguish from the real
thing, should offer the same driving pleasure, and be much, much cheaper.
No TD replica I have ever seen on a VW chassis fills these criteria. If
you know TD's you can tell a VW replica from a block away by sound and by
sight. And a well-built replica probably would end up costing nearly as
much as a sound original TD. Once built, it would depreciate rapidly,
while the original would not.
On the whole, I would say that a rear-engined air cooled fiberglas
replica of a TD isn't likely to be a good car, or a good investment, or
even a good driveway ornament. There is a company in England that makes
realistic TF replicas (Hutson, I believe), and there is or used to be a
company in the US that I understand made excellent front-engined TD
replicas, but I have not seen either of these in the flesh.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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