We have been asked by several customers, “How much will it cost to finish the 289 car on e-bay?”
Well, that depends on how much you are willing to spend, how accurate you want the car to be. If you are willing to sacrifice a SMALL amount of authenticity, then you can save an incredible amount of money finishing the car. Do you want to complete the car “exact as original”, or do you just want a really cool car. There are even some things which can be done to improve the car—for less money, such as brakes. Authenticity is expensive.
Also, “exact as original” is really dependant on what you think was original. There were only a few of the FIA ever cars made. All were heavily modified over the years to make them more competitive. What year of “exact as original” do you want? All of them were different. The last “completely accurate”, (or better said, most accurate we could figure out), FIA we made sold for 75K--no engine, trans. Are you really interested in the correct color wires in the wiring harness, correct fuse boxes, correct fuses, correct tach, switches, (original switches are almost non-existent), Girling brakes? Some of those parts are unbelievably expensive...like the tach. How about an ignition switch…FIA cars didn’t have them. Are you sure you want a button on your dash so ANYONE could reach in and start your car? Do you really need an original type differential in your car, or are you willing to have a virtually identical differential in your car—for $3000 less.
20K to finish the car will make you a great car. Our 20K quote would get you a car that is extremely close to the original...without all the expensive parts. 99.999% of all people in the world will not know the difference. 20K would let you finish the car with Wilwood racing brakes, bare interior, (remember, some of the original FIA cars did not have expensive carpet or leather in the interior as they were really race cars. They were just painted black). It really depends on what you want in the car to figure out how much you want to spend.
There are many ways to keep the cost of finishing the car down. If you put aftermarket brakes on the car--almost everyone does now--you can save quite a bit of money as well. The original gauges are expensive and if you use Autometer gauges, you can save some money. Original switches on the dash are extremely expensive. If you use 427 switches, you can save quite a bit of money and who, besides Computerworks, can tell? I don't see a problem finishing the car for 20K if you make those kinds of adjustments. All of these suggestions are quite acceptable and most “experts” will never know the difference.
Also, most of the cost in finishing the car can be held down if you don't spend too much money on the engine. A standard engine straight out of the box is enough to have some real fun with. You won't be competitive at the track, but most of our driving skills--mine included--can't drive these cars as fast as they will go anyway. Most customers are just fooling themselves thinking they are Mario Andretti.
We are happy to help you work through all of that now, as the bidding won't end for a while yet. Just let us know what you would like and we will be happy to quote it for you so you can make up your mind however you like.
Now, some people are saying that Kirkham doesn’t make an exact as original car anymore…well, YES we do…it just costs a lot more. We are just trying to expand our market to include more people.
Thanks for the interest,
David
