Homebrew Sheep In Wolf's Clothing For $12,500!

Driving your own kit-built car means the satisfaction of individual accomplishment. Driving somebody-else's means you're pretty brave. Today, Nice Price or Crack Pipe asks, do ya' feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya'?

Yesterday, the wishful thinker-owned Essex elicited a 91% vote for curtain two. For the unfathomably motivated 9% that voted Nice Price, we'd like you to get in touch with us; we have special high-performance air for your tires that we would like to sell you, it adds 50mph to your top speed!

Speaking of speed, nothing looks faster than a McLaren M6GT. And, as there were only a handful of those ever built, your best bet to satisfy your M6 stiffy is by grabbing a Patty Duke Show-styled Manta Montage kit car, like the one we are contemplating today.

The builder of a kit car is looked upon much the same way Noah was by his neighbors when he started putting together that big boat in his back yard. The pointing and the snickering; the way mothers quickly herd their children past the house; the late night realization that, 50 cans of Krylon later, maybe you can't sand it smooth. It's not something people typically call out on their resumé.

But that's not a problem with this Thank god it's friday faux famous flyer of fiberglass, because it's already been slapped on a donor Vee-Dub chassis, and is ready for you to plunk your sweaty ass down in the dime store-vinyl seat of it's non-ventilated cabin, fondle the exposed fasteners, and make like Bruce McLaren.

Now, this Montage is claimed registered as a 1969, which is the likely birth year of the sport-tuned beetle-base upon which it rests. The seller made a point to add the information that it was used in the movie Leman w Steve Mc Queen as a back drop car, which is questionable as LeMans was filmed over the course of the 1970 race, and Manta Cars, the instigator of the Montage homage, wasn't even incorporated until 1973. When they did, brothers, Brad and Tim LoVette created a car that was a faithful replica of the M6GT. Many kit cars used expensive-to-make parts from other cars; Pinto tail lights, Karmann Ghia windshields and Mustang backlights, but the Montage used a purpose-built windshield and lexan rear window. Neither of these pieces are still in production – Manta Cars having folded in 1982 – so you better hope, on the way home, you don't get one of those irreparable stone chips, or an errant motorcyclist through the windscreen. Doing so could set you back even more than the cost of the car.

That matters little in determining the appropriateness of a $12,500 asking price for this flat-four 1935cc-powered monster. Its all-fiberglass body is actually pretty good for a kit, having inner-fender wells and a claimed 16 cubic feet of trunk space. Registered as a '69, it is less encumbered by power-robbing emissions controls, and the 1640lb curb weight also works to that small engine's advantage.

So does that price seem like a deal considering all the work has already been done? Or does that price for a VW-based kit, send you into a fit?

You decide!

Nice Price or Crack Pipe: '1969' Manta Montage for $12,500.(survey)

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