i would love to make one for each mark… its just cash really… i think i will make one for the mk2 and then use any money made to make a set or molds for the mk1 as well…
… oh … and thanks for the offer of help… i am sure i will need all the help i can get 
I have a friend who is a mould maker and such like please pm me your details and I will pass them on
I used to make moulds for GRP and carbon fibre pody panels. I worked in a double garage and we stored the moulds for bumpers, bonnets and side skirts in the loft. Making moulds isn’t that tricky, and making GRP parts is a doddle. Even making decent carbon panels can be done without too much trouble. It does take lots of time and effort though.
From my experience profit margins on these things are small enough without paying someone else to make them.
Like others I think the front looks good (though not quite sure about the scoop…) but not so keen about the back. The extended lip spoiler looks a bit big and I would prefer 2-light treatment (think Hella LEDs) rather than 1 big one each side.
Good luck with the venture, though
I love the smell of resin in the morning
From the look of the sketches the back panel looks pretty much like a flat blank panel. Mould it as one flat panel with no cutouts. The builder than then fit single round, twin round, square, oblong or whatever other shapes or combinations they can come up with.
a have had a little play with the rear of the car… slightly reducing the duck tail to give a slight cut off look (only slight) and twin rear lights…
i think this design looks good - let me know if you prefer this or the original :)
i was thinking of either doing that or making a few options for back panels so the buyer can decide… im not sute which way to go at the moment.
and here is the original design to compare it to:
here is a third design with angled twin rear lights and a slightly dropped bottom line of the rear cut away.
All of those designs look very tail heavy to me.
im pretty limited by the dimensions of the mx5 unfortunatly - i would like to shrink the whole rear end if possible to cut out so much rear overhang and reduce the height of the boot.
however for ease of construction i want to make the make the boot a skin of the existing boot lid to retain all the catches and hinges, plus i dont want to get into cutting the existing boot short for the same reason.
Love it. Very subtle change to the lip but the result is spot on. Twin lights look great too.
i like it
looks stylish, Italian and purposeful
The Horror:
The kit is about £3k, but I don’t see the point. £1500 to get a MX5 that isn’t terminal, but will probably need £500 of patching up (this month’s STHT shows, at least to me, a new area for rot in the front chassis legs that looks pretty terminal), £500 on sundries putting the thing together, £2k for a non-embarassing paint job. So you’ve put in £7500 for a car, with maybe a 130hp engine, and a similar weight to the original. Meanwhile, you can get an Elise for £7-8k without too much effort.
My personal opinion is that, in the UK, the market for MX5 “rebodys” (outer panel changes to basic unibody) is always going to be limited due to the lack of suitable donor cars (cheap cars, with sound mechanics and cosmetic rust). MX5s, when they rust, generally don’t rust “cosmetically” (flakey doors, holes in bolt on wings). When they rust, its usually structural. I don’t see why someone can’t put more effort into a decent looking kit based around the MX5 subframes and PPF, and thereby not being constrained in styling by the MX5 body. Maybe someone can make a decent body for the Exocet, so it doesn’t look a total embarassment when going for a sunday drive.
This sort of thing drives me mental. I can understand the urge to design* your own car, I’ve done it, but why copy other cars? There is no creativity there, no pride to be had from incoherently assembling other peoples work. I can’t believe that the creators of these things truely think their product is beautiful, they just think “that’ll do” and bang out some kits.
* although all this stuff is “styling” rather than “design”.
i agree with both of you guys… i dont get the replica kit car market? it seems a bit pointless to me. I hope you dont think im trying to simply copy what is already out there - the reason im doing this is that the car i want does not seem to exist… i want something with modern running gear, which is exciting and practical to use everyday… but i also want classic styling but with a modern twist. The closest cars to the type of car i want to make are the Alfa 8C and the MG RV8.
Seeing as, for you, the styling is the main effort, it seems to be you are unnecessarily constraining yourself by restricting yourself to a MX5 superstructure. All rebodies of MX5 superstructures have always appeared to me as being proportioned badly.
I love your enthusiasm but can’t help but see the car below every time I look at your images. I appreciate the reasoning behind your design but you need to create something different to anything else currently available to really stand a chance of making a viable business from it. This kit is a little over £2k, I’ve met and chatted to the chap that owns the company (I keep toying with buying a poorly, knackered old Mk1 and making my own Sunday car to sit alongside the current one) and he has a good solid background in fibreglass construction. This is your real competition. What I love about your design is the bonnet; any car that secretly harbours aspirations to take styling cues from the great 50’s/60’s Ferraris MUST have a scoop! And its missing from the Retroforza/Italia shown below.
i love the look!!!
So lots of other people have come up with vaguely similar ideas. Some are blatent copies and some are very similar to a particular car.
IMHO the design above takes some great classic features, brings them together very well and moves them on a step. Don’t know if ‘modern retro’ makes sense to you but it does to me.
It’s often the detail that brings kit cars down such as grotty perspex covers on bodged lights. This design uses standard MX-5 Mk1 / Mini / Land Rover 7" round headlights and it just looks so right.
Give the guy a chance, take a long hard look at the design above and tell me it’s not gorgeous. I dare you!
I apreciate what you are saying about restraining myself by using the MX5 as a donor. But my main restraint is my ability and expertise. This is why i want to take advantage of aspects such as a soft top roof and doors etc… these are aspects of car manufacture that are far beyond my ability to recreate in an affordable package.
My idea is to retain the doors, and roof… but replace the front panels, and wings… and then make a new rear section. So yes it definatly constrains me… but it also allowes me to design and make something that will work. What i want to try and do is make a car that i like the look of and ‘flows’ so it does not look like a body kit that has been bolted on.
Thanks for the input :)