♫ ‘You gotta fight… for your right… to buy replica cars!’ ♫ says SEMA, and they’re backing that up by suing the U.S. Department of Transportation—but will this change much for the average enthusiast?

SEMA filed a lawsuit last week against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), contending that the federal government agency is dragging its feet in fulfilling its obligation, under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (The FAST Act)—a bill signed into law by President Obama in 2015—to enact regulations that would create a more favorable playing field for low-volume manufacturers of replica cars.

While the legislation as a whole addresses a wide range of issues related to highways and transportation, it also includes SEMA-supported provisions for regulations that would apply to replicas that resemble conventionally manufactured vehicles from more than 25 years ago.

From a legal perspective, these replicas, which would be limited in production volume to 325 units, would be current model-year “clean cars” with engines that meet current emission standards. However, the regulations would relax certain other policies, such as crash test requirements, that apply to regular production vehicles.

“Regarding safety standards, it will be impossible to construct a 1933 hot rod, 1963 Cobra, 1964 Mustang, 1983 DeLorean, etc., that will meet all 2019 motor vehicle safety standards (roof crush, air bags, TPMS, electronic stability control, etc.),” said Stuart Gosswein, SEMA Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs, in an email.  “The U.S. Congress recognized this when they enacted the replica car law.”

Part of the rationale behind pushing for regulatory policy to translate The FAST Act into action is that it would put small replica manufacturers in a position that, according to SEMA’s press release announcing the lawsuit, is consistent with “the common sense approach to overseeing kit car production that the agency has employed for decades.”  

If SEMA succeeds in enhancing the feasibility of replica-building for low-volume manufacturers and, in turn, making replicas more accessible for enthusiasts to purchase, that’s a good thing for the automotive hobby, in theory.

But, realistically, would the regulation chagnes make much different to the average enthusiast?

Before taking on that question, let’s take a look at some of the history behind replicas and kit cars. 

Once upon a time, you could flip through a magazine like Popular Science and find ads for fiberglass-body kit cars that you could order through the mail. The VW Beetle was a common platform for these projects. Among kit car manufacturers, one noteworthy example of a producer that advertised heavily in print magazines in the 80s was British Coach Works, who manufactured kits enabling enthusiasts to build replicas of classic vehicles like the MG-TD on a VW Beetle or Chevrolet Chevette chassis.

According to Caroholic, the British Coach Works MG TDs were available “from 1980 through 1985 for $5,995, or as a turn-key factory-built car for $10,995.”

If you think about it, $5,995 in the 80s, even for an unassembled kit before factoring in the cost of a good chassis and powertrain, wasn’t crazy-expensive. For the sake of being reasonably conservative, let’s take the approximate midpoint of the year range. In 1982 dollars inflated to September 2019 dollars, $5,995 is equivalent to about $16,325, according to an inflation calculator from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For some perspective, that’s in the same ballpark of today’s price of a base Nissan Versa, for example. It isn’t cheap like a sub-$10,000 used car, and it’s a price point in today’s dollars that would be unlikely to make a kit car accessible to an entry-level hobbyist on a limited budget who would probably also need a solid daily driver. Today, someone in that situation who just wants a nice sports car would probably be better off starting with something like a well-used Miata. 

Kit cars were never really meant to be a cheap way of entering the sports car or classic car hobby. Rather, they were priced for someone who was serious enough about the hobby to make a serious financial commitment. But for an enthusiast who simply wanted to possess a vehicle with the looks of a very expensive classic, the economics made some sense—under $17,000 in today’s dollars.

Not all kit cars of the 70s and 80s era were reproductions of antique and classic vehicles. There were also original designs. Some adolescent boys, especially those who had not yet had the opportunity to refine their automotive tastes through life experience or the influence of more car-savvy parents or older siblings, saw ads for and dreamed of building the Bradley GT. And some grown men and women actually bought them.

The Bradley GT was a tacky gull-wing sports coupe sold as a kit car, also advertised in magazines like Popular Science. It was almost like a DeLorean before its time, minus the stainless steel. Bradley GT kits were also made to be built on the VW Beetle chassis.

Anecdotally, these kit cars didn’t always have a great reputation, to say the least.

Here, for example, is how the San Diego Union Tribune (February 27, 1988), based on one owner’s comments about his experience, described the driving dynamics of the Bradley GT: “it bounced around a lot, bobbing along the highway like one of those football dolls with wobbly necks.”

According to Hagerty, about 6,000 Bradley GT kits were sold from 1970 through 1981.

Since then, however, kit cars and “replicars” have come a long way. And the availability of complete finished vehicles, rather than kits for DIY assembly on an existing chassis, creates more options for those without the wrenching skill or inclination to put a kit together—as long as they’re willing and able to shell out the bucks for a complete replicar. They’re much better than kit cars of 30 or 40 years ago, but they’re not cheap.

An outfit called Superformance, based in Irvine, California, says they have been building “licensed factory spec continuation models” of cars like the Shelby Cobra, Ford GT40, and Corvette Grand Sport since 1996.

A replica from Superformance is anything but a kit car of sketchy quality like the “bouncy, bobbling” Bradley GT described above. While some owners use Superformance replica vehicles as road cars, they’re also built to handle serious competition on the track—and some buyers acquire them to use exclusively for racing.

An article posted in 2012 on the Superformance website references a production level of about 400 cars per year for the company.

In the context of today’s new-car prices, the cost of the Superformance replicas doesn’t seem so outrageous either, considering what they are. A 2017 article posted on the Superformance website references a sticker price of $84,670 for a replica Shelby Cobra. That’s not far beyond the prices that consumers are paying for new trucks and SUVs from The Big Three, for example.

Compare that to the seven-figure price that a mint original Shelby Cobra might fetch at an auction.

So the value proposition is clear for a car that promises to deliver a comparable experience to the original, at a cost that is theoretically accessible to an upper-middle-income buyer. It’s a significant financial commitment, no doubt. But for many it isn’t out of reach.

For some replicars though, the picture is quite different. Consider the Eagle E-types, painstaking reproductions—or, perhaps more accurately, reconstructions—of Jaguar’s iconic 60s and 70s sports car.

According to Workshop magazine (December 2017), a team of 22 at Eagle produces two Eagle E-types per year for the company. That’s about as low-volume as you can get. While some units end up being “entirely new,” most of their productions begin on the bones of an original Janguar E-type donor car, with the team making an effort to preserve as much of the original vehicle as possible.

An article that AutoNewsblaster published last year estimated a cost in U.S. dollars of around $835,000, based on data from Autocar and the exchange rates at the time, for an Eagle E-Type. And that’s a good transition into the question of what the economics of replicas are likely to look like once regulations to fully enact the provisions of The FAST Act are in place.

It’s important to understand the emphasis of this legislation, and of SEMA’s support for it, on small, “boutique” manufacturers producing very low-production replica vehicles—no more than 325 units each year.

Generally, a low-production vehicle means a much higher price point, compared to mass-produced vehicles. If relaxing regulations such as crash test requirements opens up the economics enough to enable these producers to make replicas of a wider range of preservation-worthy models from 25 or more years in the past, that’s great.

Maybe we’ll start seeing, for example, replicas of classic Nissan Skylines that, currently, can be had only via the used JDM market. The possibilities tantalize the imagination. But, of course, it remains to be seen what will actually materialize from the industry, and what the costs will be to the enthusiast.

“SEMA welcomes the opportunity for niche automakers to produce cars that help celebrate America’s automotive heritage,” Gosswein related. “Implementation of the law will provide common-sense regulatory relief, create auto sector jobs, and provide U.S. and foreign consumers a chance to buy unique motor vehicles.”

But don’t hold your breath waiting for The FAST Act to enable you to buy a brand new replica that offers the looks and experience of a vintage exotic sports car if you’re working with what is basically a used-Miata budget.