There are many kinds of widows whose husbands are still alive. There are golf widows, soccer widows and increasingly these days, PlayStation widows. If your house is full of car magazines, your weekends are busy with car shows, and a purring engine instead of a pretty lady turns the head of your partner, you’re probably a car enthusiast widow. This can be bad news if you’re not interested in torque, pistons, 8-cylinder engines, and fuel injection. It can be good news if you are looking for the perfect Christmas or birthday gift, as a kit-car would fulfill all your childhood fantasies and bring you hours of pure joy.

The kits can be ordered directly from the manufacturers through their websites. They can also be ordered online from a kit-car supplier. Choosing one can be sweet hell for a car lover. You can build anything from big wheeled jeeps to vintage cars. Two-seater sports cars are a very popular option. Consider when choosing them which engine you would like to install, whether you want two- or four-wheel drive, and the type of suspension you want to use. The beauty of them is that you are not limited to any set specification. You can use the base and add almost any feature you want.

Before your kit arrives, it’s important that you obtain a donor car. In some cases you may be able to recover all you need from one car, in other cases more than one donor car may be needed. Finding a donated car can be as simple as knocking on someone’s door and asking if you can buy the junked car in their yard or looking in the local newspaper. Ideally, all of the mechanical components on your donor car should be in good working order. Most of the car is most likely in very poor condition, but you should be able to restore most of it and trade in the rest.

Once you have disassembled your donor car and have cleaned and checked all the parts that you will be using, it is recommended that you read the manual to make sure that you understand everything. Kit-car manufacturing companies have help lines so if you don’t understand something or have problems, you can call them and they will help you. Another good idea is to formulate a construction plan. You can follow the manual to the letter, or you can work with your own program. It all depends on how much knowledge, equipment and time you have.

One of the highlights of building your kit-car is putting your engine in place. This should be done with a proper hoist and shouldn’t be roughed up by you and some of your best friends. An engine is deceptively heavy and once it’s dropped, it can’t be recovered. It is better to spend a little extra money renting a hoist than a lot of money buying and reconditioning a new motor.

When yours is up and running and has passed the road safety test, there are endless hours of pride and joy before you as you drive across the country in a car you built. There is also the possibility of building another car. You can also get out of your comfort zone and try a completely new mode of transportation, such as a helicopter kit or an airplane.