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[h1]No Assembly Required: A New Kit-Car Law Could Spawn a Repli-Mod Industry[/h1]
JUNE 15, 2016 AT 5:02 PM BY JEFF SABATINI | PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREG PAJO
From the July 2016 issue
Wouldn’t it be great if the coolest cars in history could go back into production? The currently finite supplies of fragile vintage metal could be augmented by reproductions updated with modern engines and technology. Well, fantasize no longer; a provision in last year’s FAST Act highway-funding law lays the groundwork for such a reality.
[h3]300:[/h3]
Today the DeLorean motor company is just a restoration shop specializing in the iconic gullwinged sports car. By next year, it could be building the first of 300 replicas with modern mechanicals.
Originally introduced as the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015, the law allows manufacturers to apply for an exemption from NHTSA safety and crash-test standards for up to 325 “replica motor vehicles” annually. These repli-mods still will have to meet current-year emissions standards, which will require new EPA-certified production engines and emissions controls. NHTSA will grant a waiver only to companies building fewer than 5000 vehicles worldwide annually, and the replicas will need to be licensed from the original manufacturer. That last detail is exciting, as it creates a potential profit motive for carmakers to sanction revivals of their most memorable designs.
The immediate beneficiary is today’s kit-car industry, which will be able to sell turnkey Shelby Cobra clones and Ford hot rods with engines already installed. While that intent is clear, the language concerning what constitutes a replica opens further possibilities. Apart from requiring a new engine, the law merely states that a replica be “intended to resemble the body of another motor vehicle that was manufactured not less than 25 years before.”
“That definition is a gray area,” admits Stuart Gosswein, senior director, federal government affairs at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), which helped draft the legislation. Another issue that remains unresolved by the federal law is how states might change their registration processes for these cars. While SEMA is officially focused on shepherding the law through its initial implementation, others hope the new legislation leads to a cottage industry of specialty-car builders similar to that in Great Britain.
One of the first ventures announced in the wake of the law is a plan to build new DeLoreans. Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company intends to use its cache of millions of new old-stock DMC-12 parts to build 300 copies of the iconic gullwing coupe, with prices in the $80,000-to-$100,000 range. The cars will be upgraded with modern instrumentation and larger wheels and brakes to handle up to 375 horsepower. Vice president James Espey says his company will start production in the spring of 2017, “assuming the EPA and NHTSA stay on point.”
[h3]http://blog.caranddriver.com/no-ass...kit-car-law-could-spawn-a-repli-mod-industry/[/h3][h1]Bill could launch new American classic car industry[/h1]
By Gary Gastelu
Published June 17, 2015
FoxNews.com
Facebook Twitter livefyre Email Print
Superformance MKIII (Superformance)
There could be more classic cars hitting the road soon. Cars that look like classics, that is.
The Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015, introduced this month in the House of Representatives, would allow small companies to produce and sell ready-to-drive replicas of classic cars without subjecting them to the prohibitively expensive safety and emissions tests the major automakers’ vehicles must undergo.
Hobbyists build hundreds of Shelby Cobra, Ford “Deuce Coupes” and other vintage clones each year. State-by-state laws today allow the sale of component “kits” which must be assembled by the buyer or a third-party shop. Under the new rules, registered companies would be allowed to produce and sell up to 500 finished cars in the U.S. each year that would carry a federally issued Vehicle Identification Number.
The bill, H.R. 2675, co-sponsored by Reps. Mark Mullin (R-Okla.) and Gene Green (D-Texas), is supported by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), which represents the kit car and aftermarket parts industry. It would require these cars to use modern engines that have already been certified by their suppliers to meet current emissions standards, but it would exempt them from the most stringent federal safety regulations.
Perhaps most importantly, the cars will have to be exact visual replicas of vehicles that are at least 25 years old, and their original manufacturers must license the designs. Stuart Gosswein, SEMA’s senior director of federal government affairs, said previous attempts to create this type of low volume classification were stymied in part by opposition from some major automakers. Allowing only classic, and not unique, designs should make it more palatable for the industry to accept, he said.
A spokesman for The Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers said the group was reviewing the legislation and had no comment at this time.
“The current law does not take into account the unique challenges that small auto manufacturers face when it comes to recreating historic cars,” Mullin said in a press release accompanying the bill’s introduction. “We can’t expect these companies to be able to comply with a law that was established in the 1960s for automakers that mass-produce millions of vehicles every year. We need to encourage growth in our manufacturing market, not create unnecessary barriers.”
Gosswein predicts the impact on the auto industry will be small, eventually accounting for only about 1,500 cars a year, but even that number could create hundreds or thousands of jobs nationwide.
Lance Stander, whose company, Superformance, sells Shelby Cobra, Ford GT40 and Chevrolet Corvette replicas without drivetrains, expects his business will expand within a year from 20 to 100 people if the bill passes, and that it will make it easier to export its California-assembled products. He said a business like his would have to invest over $100 million under the current regulations to become a fully-fledged manufacturer, even at the low volumes being targeted. He said he’s excited by the prospect of potentially dozens of companies building new cars, likening it to the pre-World War II automotive industry before it consolidated into the Big Three.
David Smith, owner of Massachusetts-based Factory Five Racing, the largest manufacturer of kits, said he will continue to focus on that end of the business, but he added that the law would open up new avenues of innovation by allowing small companies to develop cutting-edge automotive technologies by using these replica platforms.
Smith, who sells several products that feature modern, original designs, said he thinks the restriction to classics is unfortunate, but he added that they attract people to car shows and other events, so the more of them out there, the better.
H.R. 2675 has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where it awaits further action. To qualify, companies would have to sell fewer than 5,000 cars worldwide each year.
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/06/17/bill-could-launch-new-american-classic-car-industry/
JUNE 15, 2016 AT 5:02 PM BY JEFF SABATINI | PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREG PAJO
From the July 2016 issue
Wouldn’t it be great if the coolest cars in history could go back into production? The currently finite supplies of fragile vintage metal could be augmented by reproductions updated with modern engines and technology. Well, fantasize no longer; a provision in last year’s FAST Act highway-funding law lays the groundwork for such a reality.
[h3]300:[/h3]
Today the DeLorean motor company is just a restoration shop specializing in the iconic gullwinged sports car. By next year, it could be building the first of 300 replicas with modern mechanicals.
Originally introduced as the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015, the law allows manufacturers to apply for an exemption from NHTSA safety and crash-test standards for up to 325 “replica motor vehicles” annually. These repli-mods still will have to meet current-year emissions standards, which will require new EPA-certified production engines and emissions controls. NHTSA will grant a waiver only to companies building fewer than 5000 vehicles worldwide annually, and the replicas will need to be licensed from the original manufacturer. That last detail is exciting, as it creates a potential profit motive for carmakers to sanction revivals of their most memorable designs.
The immediate beneficiary is today’s kit-car industry, which will be able to sell turnkey Shelby Cobra clones and Ford hot rods with engines already installed. While that intent is clear, the language concerning what constitutes a replica opens further possibilities. Apart from requiring a new engine, the law merely states that a replica be “intended to resemble the body of another motor vehicle that was manufactured not less than 25 years before.”
“That definition is a gray area,” admits Stuart Gosswein, senior director, federal government affairs at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), which helped draft the legislation. Another issue that remains unresolved by the federal law is how states might change their registration processes for these cars. While SEMA is officially focused on shepherding the law through its initial implementation, others hope the new legislation leads to a cottage industry of specialty-car builders similar to that in Great Britain.
One of the first ventures announced in the wake of the law is a plan to build new DeLoreans. Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company intends to use its cache of millions of new old-stock DMC-12 parts to build 300 copies of the iconic gullwing coupe, with prices in the $80,000-to-$100,000 range. The cars will be upgraded with modern instrumentation and larger wheels and brakes to handle up to 375 horsepower. Vice president James Espey says his company will start production in the spring of 2017, “assuming the EPA and NHTSA stay on point.”
- Great Scott! This Is the Awesome Jacket We Got on the 1981 DeLorean Press Trip
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[h3]http://blog.caranddriver.com/no-ass...kit-car-law-could-spawn-a-repli-mod-industry/[/h3][h1]Bill could launch new American classic car industry[/h1]
By Gary Gastelu
Published June 17, 2015
FoxNews.com
Facebook Twitter livefyre Email Print
Superformance MKIII (Superformance)
There could be more classic cars hitting the road soon. Cars that look like classics, that is.
The Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015, introduced this month in the House of Representatives, would allow small companies to produce and sell ready-to-drive replicas of classic cars without subjecting them to the prohibitively expensive safety and emissions tests the major automakers’ vehicles must undergo.
Hobbyists build hundreds of Shelby Cobra, Ford “Deuce Coupes” and other vintage clones each year. State-by-state laws today allow the sale of component “kits” which must be assembled by the buyer or a third-party shop. Under the new rules, registered companies would be allowed to produce and sell up to 500 finished cars in the U.S. each year that would carry a federally issued Vehicle Identification Number.
The bill, H.R. 2675, co-sponsored by Reps. Mark Mullin (R-Okla.) and Gene Green (D-Texas), is supported by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), which represents the kit car and aftermarket parts industry. It would require these cars to use modern engines that have already been certified by their suppliers to meet current emissions standards, but it would exempt them from the most stringent federal safety regulations.
Perhaps most importantly, the cars will have to be exact visual replicas of vehicles that are at least 25 years old, and their original manufacturers must license the designs. Stuart Gosswein, SEMA’s senior director of federal government affairs, said previous attempts to create this type of low volume classification were stymied in part by opposition from some major automakers. Allowing only classic, and not unique, designs should make it more palatable for the industry to accept, he said.
A spokesman for The Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers said the group was reviewing the legislation and had no comment at this time.
“The current law does not take into account the unique challenges that small auto manufacturers face when it comes to recreating historic cars,” Mullin said in a press release accompanying the bill’s introduction. “We can’t expect these companies to be able to comply with a law that was established in the 1960s for automakers that mass-produce millions of vehicles every year. We need to encourage growth in our manufacturing market, not create unnecessary barriers.”
Gosswein predicts the impact on the auto industry will be small, eventually accounting for only about 1,500 cars a year, but even that number could create hundreds or thousands of jobs nationwide.
Lance Stander, whose company, Superformance, sells Shelby Cobra, Ford GT40 and Chevrolet Corvette replicas without drivetrains, expects his business will expand within a year from 20 to 100 people if the bill passes, and that it will make it easier to export its California-assembled products. He said a business like his would have to invest over $100 million under the current regulations to become a fully-fledged manufacturer, even at the low volumes being targeted. He said he’s excited by the prospect of potentially dozens of companies building new cars, likening it to the pre-World War II automotive industry before it consolidated into the Big Three.
David Smith, owner of Massachusetts-based Factory Five Racing, the largest manufacturer of kits, said he will continue to focus on that end of the business, but he added that the law would open up new avenues of innovation by allowing small companies to develop cutting-edge automotive technologies by using these replica platforms.
Smith, who sells several products that feature modern, original designs, said he thinks the restriction to classics is unfortunate, but he added that they attract people to car shows and other events, so the more of them out there, the better.
H.R. 2675 has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where it awaits further action. To qualify, companies would have to sell fewer than 5,000 cars worldwide each year.
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/06/17/bill-could-launch-new-american-classic-car-industry/
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