Complete Kit Car – September 2019

http://www.completekitcar.co.uk September 2019 3

COMMENT | WELCOME

I

t felt like lighting the blue

touchpaper. As soon as I hit

‘publish’ on a Facebook post

about West eld Sportscars’

acquisition of the Chesil

Motor Company, I knew there would

be a chorus of ‘oh no, not another

GTM.’ Sure enough, almost all the

comments mentioned West eld’s

unfortunate handling of the GTM

marque, with many of the comments

coming from disgruntled owners.

I have sympathy with their view.

 e long-lived GTM marque was

one of the industry’s  agships for

ambition and achievement. I still have

a major hankering for a Libra. Even

21 years after its launch, it appeals as

a contemporary GT-cum-sports car.

Back in 1998, it made a huge impact.

I’m as disappointed as anyone that

for almost a decade you haven’t been

able to buy a new GTM kit. But I

also reckon the market for such a

car would be tough. With so many

second-hand production cars that do

the same (or similar) job to the Libra,

it would take a kit car diehard to

choose the self-built car over a Lotus

Elise or Porsche Boxster. Factor in

how much it would cost to build a

Libra in today’s money (and nobody

knows, of course, but I’d hazard a

guess at maybe £30,000) and the

conditions would be tougher still

for GTM. As much as it pains us to

admit it, I think the days of a kit form

car in the Libra’s mould are over...

after all, nobody rushed the  ll the

gap the Libra left.

@AdamWilkins_

[email protected]

ADAM

WILKINS

Editor

Adam Wilkins

Editor

@CKCMagazine

@CKCMagazine

/CKCMagazine

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And it’s for that reason that I don’t

think Chesil will be another GTM.

 e Speedster has a timeless appeal

that’s impervious to anything the

mainstream sports car market can

throw at it. We also have evidence, in

the form of its Lotus Eleven replica,

that West eld can  nd a market for a

classic replica. It’s an entirely di erent

proposition to GTM, and one that I

hope we’ll see  ourish.

But I’m also with everyone who

mourns the loss of the Libra. A new

GTM would be a very exciting thing.

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