Kit cars, some reader comments

We were talking about recently kit cars. And whether those kind of endearing (or brutal) bastards could also be 'classics'. We jubilantly think so and fortunately we also found kit car owners among the AMK online readers after our call. If you are a subscriber to our monthly magazine Auto Motor Klassiek (that is easier and cheaper than going to the newsstand. And you get the magazine a week before the single sale starts) then you will read more about it.

But on this hot day we already address two of the reports: The Biota of Jos Niessens and his brother has been in family possession for thirty years. The brothers even created a site about Biota: www.biota-kitcar.nl, and we also have contact with Johan Melis. The funny thing is that these kit cars are not on a 2CV or VW platform, but that they are respectively 'mini-based' and based on R4 / R6 technology.

The Biota was a cheap alternative to the Lotus Super Seven and was presented in 1969. During the RAI of 1971, the Biota was introduced to the Dutch market by mr. JAMM Sontrop (source: The buggy, our Holy Cow). A maximum of 30 Biotas must have been made and sold.

The other kit car

The British-looking two-seater, the 'project' in the photo is a Dutch project. A project with a history. Read what the builder said: “This was a project that I wanted to bring to the market 3 years ago. I then gave up my bodyshop after health problems. Last week the car was taken out of storage to prepare and pick up the project. And then I got your message in the mail of the article about the kitcar. There is currently a Dutch registration. And mine has already been pre-inspected at RDW. It is now for sale. The kitcar is made in such a way that it fits on a chassis of an R4 or R6 without great effort. Mine is on an imported 6 R1979. It has standard disc brakes, reinforced torsion springs and a 1100cc 48hp engine. Signed: Johan Melis

Also nice: the usual suspects

The other responses were, as expected, Burton's. Lomax and VW buggy owners.

But the whole story has made it clear that buggy enthusiasts feel like classic enthusiasts anyway. At the moment it's too hot to drive, let alone build. But it is never too hot to dream
So we scored second-hand that 'Holy cow' book. Of its successor, 1000 have recently been printed. ISBN 978909032659 Buggys, Bajas, Kitcars & Replicas. With luck, there are still a few left.

'The new buggy testament'

You don't make books to get rich, but out of passion. After years of careful work, archivist (Buggyclub) Jan van der Lit and Henny Jore, the makers of the aforementioned 'The buggy etc' have completely revised this reference book of self-build cars that is unprecedented in the Netherlands. We have a lot of respect for that.

The new book contains no less than 350 pages of history of what happened in the field of Buggies, Kit cars and replicas, but then focused on the cars built in the Netherlands and Belgium.

In Den Beginne: The Meyers Manx Buggy

The godfather of the Meyers Manx buggy also speaks and most of the buggy derivatives are discussed as well as illustrated material such as advertising campaigns where these cars were used up to miniatures.

In addition, the series “from Apal to Zebu”, known from the Buggy Club, will be discussed extensively. Here are countless illustrated self-build creations that (have) made their way onto the Dutch road. All this comes from the archive that Jan van der Lit has collected over the past 50 years.