Our theme

Our theme

We decided to go with a yellow and chrome theme as we thought these colours go really well together. We initially thought about going with a yellow and black theme but quickly scrapped this idea due to commonness and the god awful look of black rims. 

When constructing the chassis we asked to have cobra hoops constructed instead of the stand goal post bar that runs across the top of both the driver and passenger. We both agreed that it made the car look more sporty. 

Next was the powder coating process, we were presented with a number of different colours that we could choose from. We thought that the black was pretty nice however we still wanted to stick with the chrome theme, so we asked if there was anyway to make the hoops chrome. Initially we thought this would be very difficult, and might involve removing the welded hoops and bolt on external ones. Turns out that they actually had a chrome coloured powder coat paint that was very reflective. We looked at an example and for a decent fee we payed the difference. The results were nothing short of SPECTACULAR!

Along with these chrome hoops we have got chrome headlight cones, indicators, wing mirrors, possibly the exhaust, instruments and general cabin trim. We also plan to cover the aluminum bonnet with yellow 3M vinyl wrap and half of the stainless steel sides that run from the drivers seat to the nose cone. This will only expose a foot or so of the stainless steel effect down the bottom of the car.

The idea

The idea

We have always had a strong interest with classical and custom built cars, but the first proper time we stumbled across the lotus 7 style cars was at the newark kit car show in 2010. There were hundreds upon hundreds of these cars panned across a huge field. There were loads of brands and design types ranging from the old robin hood sports car all the way up to the high priced Catrham 7's. 

After spending most of the day looking around we ventured into the indoor showroom to find companies that were selling these types of cars. We looked at many different brands ranging from the westfield to the MK. Of course you go round and compare prices, looks and quality. After looking around we felt that the company that stood out from the rest was GBS and there Zero kit car. The team was friendly and answered the many questions we had about the car. They let us have a sit the demo car and showed us existing options available for the build. Another thing that struck our eye was the price, which sat at a not so wallet damaging £2345 for a starter kit. This included the chassis, ally panels, lighting, fiberglass body work and a few other important bits to get you started. The price compared to other companies was pretty small considering what you got.

   We picked up many brochures and headed home at the end of the day with a smile on our faces and a thought in our heads. 

After nearly 2 years of contemplating finance, time and commitment we flew into Gamston airport in our light aircraft and got picked up by Kieth Bird the director of GBS. He showed us around the factory and different kits that were available. We took plenty of photographs and attended a track day at blyton park race track the following month. We were allowed to become victims in the passenger seat of one of these rocket ships with an ex rally driver behind the wheel. The car instantly puts a smile on your face, bolting off the line and reaching 60 in about 4ish seconds. It doesn't end there tho, because of the cars incredible grip corners where being taken at 90-100 miles an hour... WOW. 

We fell in love and few more months we placed an order for a starter kit.

Hello and welcome

Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to our long anticipated GBS Zero kit car build blog. We will be documenting and posting every step of the process. Whether your a fellow lotus 7 builder, mechanic or just someone who wants to see our car come along, your welcome to use this blog for tips, useful techniques and some things to save you time and money.  If you have any questions or queries please leave a question in the comment box below.