Michael Satterfield
The art of building bespoke bodies for sports cars is generally considered a function of Italian craftsmen banging away in backroom shops in small countryside villages. While the term Kit Car conjures images of “Mercedes” and “Ferrari” replicas on a VW pan and some metallic flake in the paint. But every once in a while there is a designer or company that just get the lines right and produce an amazing exotic looking sports car that, due to its humble roots is surprisingly affordable.
One of these companies is Simpson Design, based in Clinton, WA and headed by Jim Simpson, they are producing some of the best looking rebodied sports cars on the market. Unlike many of the retro rebodies that are on the market that simply graft a classic car nose to an existing body, the entire body is sculpted to from nose to tail, giving it a finished production quality that many “kit-cars” lack
Based on a second generation Mazda Miata Simpson Design will build your car to spec,and can build it on your car or one they find for you. The cost of the conversion (not including the original car) is $25,000 this includes the fitting of the new coupe body, high-quality paint, wheels and performance tires. Once the ink is dry on your contract with Simpson Designs you will have your new sports coupe in 4-6 weeks. Seeing as many kit cars cost nearly $25,000 and you still have to put them together, this looks like the sports car deal of the century to us. You get a hand built car that can be serviced at the local Mazda dealer… it does not get much better then that.
One thing I would like to see is a race version of the GTB…
For more info on Simpson Designs CLICK HERE to visit their website.
