For $13,500, Could This Be The Day Of The Locost?

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman sure had a hell of a lot of names for someone who advocated simplicity and parsimony in design. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Locost is a homage — not to Chapman's name, but his ideology — but will its price prove too heavy a burden to bear?

Not withstanding Hardibro saying yes to the dress whenever it drapes anything Merkur-ish, yesterday's '89 Scorpio couldn't manage anything better than a 66% Crack Pipe loss. That was even despite its RS trappings and the fact that it's probably the nicest example of that fated breed still on the roads here in the Colonies.

That Merkur - while not tickling anyone's fancy at its current asking price - was still a fine example of a car modded for an individual's personal taste. That's all well and good when there's something out there that is intriguing enough to serve as a basis for a symbol of your individuality, and your belief in personal freedom, but what if no such foundation exists?


Should that be the case you can just go on ahead and build a car yourself - just like the owner of this Mustang-powered Locost did. Of course, building a car is pretty effing hard so you might as well buy this guy's ride, seeing as he has it for sale and all.

The ad says it's based on the Haynes Roadster specs, only with a little more length and roundth to account for the fatty Ford under its minimalist aluminum hood - oh, excuse me all to hell - bonnet.

That fuel-injected 5.0 is of indeterminate age, but is backed up by a shifterlicious T5. That's not all the Mustang to be had either, as the two-spoke steering wheel and gauge cluster centered in the tree-sourced dash panel are also easily spied as refugees from Ford's Fox-body pony. Looking around there's not much else in the tight confines of the cabin - no radio, no climate controls nor power windows.


In fact there are no windows nor doors should you choose the topless option the car affords. The seller does say that the car comes with a full top and vinyl-covered aluminum doors. He notes with seeming sincerity that these provide some level of protection in the event of a side impact,- a true statement if you acknowledge that none is a valid demarcation of that statistic.

But then, Sevens have never been about safety, if they had been then that Brad Pitt movie about all the people getting killed and his girlfriend's head in a box wouldn't have been named after them. This one, being a Locost, plays a little loose with the traditional details visually, but seeing as it's rocking an engine that's basically three to five times the size of what Champan originally intended the 7 to carry, I think we can cut the seller here some slack.


What the car DOES look like is a hoot 'n holler to drive. That torquemada V8, motivating what's likely to be about 1,800 pounds, probably means that you could be very very bad in this car - whenever you wanted to. There's also the fact that this looks to be a pretty well-conceived car, and the seller's note that he'll throw in some track wheels and tires, still with some tread left, might just be the icing on the Locost cake.

On the downside of course is the fact that you're essentially buying someone else's kit car - and a Canadian one at that - which means that you have to live with all of the decisions that builder made, both good and bad, and any licensing issues inherent to the breed and its nationality. And that brings us back to the question of building your own car - you know, one that serves as a symbol of your individuality, and your belief in personal freedom?

The question for today is whether it would be more advantageous to take that road, rocky as it may be, or the one here, that's already paved. The toll, it should be noted, is $13,500. What's your take, is that a price that makes this turnkey Locost a no-brainer? Or, is this a home built that's not worth the mortgage?

You decide!

Kijiji Guelph or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Aiden for the hookup!
