In 1986, Ronald Reagan was President, the Soviet Union was still around, “Top Gun” was the highest grossing film, and someone out west ordered a Gazelle kit car.  37 years later, “Top Gun-Maverick” is still the biggest movie out there and that kit is still sitting in its original box waiting to be put together.  If you missed out on the whole kit car craze of the seventies and eighties, God has smiled upon you yet again.  Feast your eyes on this genuine, in the box from 1986, Classic Motor Carriages Gazelle kit for sale on craigslist in Sparks, Nevada.  While you may need to add a drivetrain and some other odds and ends, the $2,00 asking price makes this puzzle on four wheels an outright bargain.  Thanks go to Robert P. for this fiberglass find!

You had to be there to understand just how widespread the kit car craze was back in the seventies and eighties.  People had a lot of time on their hands and the space and tools to take on big projects.  Magazines like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science sometimes had articles on building kit cars.  Road and Track even featured a Westfield Lotus replica put together and driven cross country by Peter Egan.  For kids of the eighties, the magazine Porsche, VW, and European Sports Cars (among its many names over the years) always had a number of VW powered kit cars advertised within its pages.  Most notable were the VW Beetle based Porsche Speedster replicas.

Among the manufacturers of Speedster replicas, along with other types of kit cars, was the Miami, Florida based Classic Motor Carriages.  They were likely the largest of manufacturers, and one of their best-selling kits was a loose interpretation of the 1929 Mercedes SSK, which was marketed as the Gazelle.  You had some drivetrain options when you ordered your kit, but most ordered them set up for either a more conventional Ford Pinto or Chevrolet Chevette drivetrain.  If you had a junk Beetle in your back yard, you could even get one set up as a rear engine vehicle with an air cooled Volkswagen powerplant.  Interestingly, like a lot of businesses in Miami during that time, CMC got in a spot of trouble with the law over their business practices.  You can read about the struggles here.

The story on this kit is that it was ordered directly from CMC in 1986.  By the looks of the invoice below, this is one of the versions that took a Pinto drivetrain.  Before you scoff at the notion of a Pinto powered kit car, remember that the inline four cylinder engine in the Pinto is still used in motorsports with plenty of spped parts available for it.  The engine also stayed in production until 2001.  By that time, it displaced 2.5 liters and packed 119 horsepower and 146 ft.-lbs of torque in a Ford Ranger pickup.  A 2.5 should bolt right up engine mount wise, and if you could adapt a late model Ranger five speed and rear end you would probably have a pretty fast vehicle.  Best guess on the weight assembled would be around 2,00-2,100 pounds.  That is a great power to weight ratio.

Before I put the cart before the horse engine wise, there is the matter of the kit.  The writer of the ad is helping the family sell this crate of parts.  The crate has been sitting out of the elements for probably all of its existence and would likely be easy to put on a roll back or maybe winch onto a trailer with some careful maneuvering.  The problem is that foam was used to keep the parts from rubbing together when the kit was transported.  I am sure I don’t have to tell you what has happened to that foam after all of these years sitting in a Nevada garage.

The bill of sale above lists the car as having a primrose body with brown fenders.  In other words, the color is already part of the gel coat on the fiberglass.  You could always strip the car and repaint it if you wanted another set of colors or damage from shipping was too extensive.  The best idea, if you like a primrose body with brown fenders, would be to disassemble the kit and either repack it or wrap everything up and stuff it into a U-Haul truck and be on your way.

At a $2,000 asking price, this could be a great bargain.  Gazelle prices are surprisingly high, and this could be the nicest one around when finished.  It would also be a fun project for someone with some skills, especially if a more modern drivetrain could be installed.

Would you be interested in taking on this unfinished Gazelle project?  Would you make any changes or modifications?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments.