Driving back to work after getting dinner, I drove past a car for sale I've never heard of. It was yellow with black Viper stripes and had the words "Kelmark GT" written on the tail. I couldn't see the front, but the back looked like a Miura with round taillights. I assume it's some sort of kit car. Anyone heard of this thing?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kelmark Engineering was an auto shop based in Michigan, that focused on the production of rear/mid-engined kit cars. The kits were built by hobbyists or professional mechanics manually. Kelmark Engineering would also completely build the kit if the customer ordered a turn-key car. The cars are all "rare" models, but the Kelmark GT body style was the most popular. It was featured in the magazine Car and Driver in 1977[1] and 1979[2]. The car had exterior styling that was distinctive for its debut in 1969. The styling was reportedly influenced by Ferrari and a Corvette concept car.[3]The "Independence" model was a fiberglass body kit for a Volkswagen chassis, while the "Liberator" model was more customized, and could go on a tube frame, Porsche or VW chassis, or even a custom combination[4]. Kelmark also produced a unique car for the time period: a V8 powered Volkswagen Beetle[5]. It was marketed as a sleeper, meant to look like a stock Beetle. There was also a mid-engine conversion for the Chevy Corvair.[6]
A few years ago, I passed one of those moldering outside of a shut down repair shop way outside of town.
I actually ordered the literature when they were 'current' and got a list of the locally sourced parts needed, one item was a Pinto windshield.
I had a trade worked out for a Kelmark about a month ago but the guy backed out and I ended up selling the vair.
I know a guy who has a Kelmark with a 455ci Toronado engine and transmission. Fast car.
One of the few 70's kitcars (along with the Fiberfab Jamaican and the first Bradley GT) that don't make me throw up a little in my mouth every time I see one.
In reply to RexSeven:
I know where that is! I'm thinking of buying it. i like to work on those kits. if want to see other car kit like this priceofhistoys.com has all kinds of them.
Growing up, there was a place near us who made the Marauder kit cars. I never saw a completed one, but the stacks of unfinished body parts & molds stacked alongside their shop always made me drool.
The guy that owned the Kelmark name and tooling owns Spartan paving, a Holt, Michigan based company. For a while on Cedar street you could see most of the company in crates and there was even a few cars left around.
Posted by "Kelmarkalbert" on 1/3/2024:
I recently came across a Kelmark GT literally hanging from a tree branch by a rope near San Antonio (just the fiberglass body and doors - no chassis, suspension or glass). I was there to look at another car but fell in love instantly with the Kelmark (bought both of 'em). I'm hell-bent on putting the Chevy 468 out of the other car into it with either a ZF transaxle or a Toronado front axle (flipped 180*) along with a tubular chassis (custom built by me with my neighbor & good friend "Max-a-million" who is a wood/metal worker, welder, overall great guy & fellow dreamer) and attempting to beat the previous land-speed record for it of 202.7 MPH back in '77.
I'm sure that with today's technology, I can improve on that 202.7 MPH by quite a bit with that beautiful, sleek, fluid & aerodynamic (ahead of its time) body and get into the record books in some way for posterity.
Everyone needs to leave their "mark" in life - mine will be with my Kel"mark"...
kelmarkalbert said:snip
Everyone needs to leave their "mark" in life - mine will be with my Kel"mark"...
any time i see a 2009 thread revived in the 2020's, i assume robo-marketer or worse. looks like my assumption would be wrong in this case. lets see some pix of the Kelmark!
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
So glad someone is looking at these long dormant posts! Yes, I'm legit. Give me a few mins and I'll post a few of the current shell just waiting and itching to be filled and ran...
Kelmark GT pics, as promised (ignore all the other projects...)
kelmarkalbert said:(ignore all the other projects...)
But what if we don't wanna?
Whereabouts in Florida are you? There's a good healthy bunch of us in central Florida.
You should start your own garage thread where you go through your stuff.
Also, I'd like someday to acquire a Corvair and paint it the same 'Evening Orchid' as my '65 Impala (in the background) - one year only GM color, as you prob know (on '65 GTO/Tempest from Pontiac as 'Iris Mist' - very similar but with more pearl). I found a Corvair in South Florida about a year ago, forgot the exact year but it was a 'vert (white). Would've made a nice addition...
I'm in Boca Raton but have traveled near and far for shows/new additions. I have a few more projects as well. Looking to start a car club (officially) and maybe head up to Turkey Run with a group. Just missed this last one though. I may go to Meecum this or next weekend in Orly.
I hear Central FL has lots of serious enthusiasts. Here in South FL, it's mostly super cars or foreign (not that there's anything wrong with that, LOL). I have a buddy with an old Volvo looking to get it road-worthy. He doesn't have a shop so I may make a little space for it and help him out. I'm looking to add an old Mopar B-body if I can find an affordable one that's not rusted out.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Some random AI based post to make it look like a legit post.
AI can come up with some pretty random ridiculous stuff, but no way it's messed up enough to come up with this idea!!
There is an Evening Orchid hardtop 65 Impala in my area and was thinking a Corvair in that color would be nice also. I don't think I have ever seen one in person, but they did make them. Here is what a coupe (which I prefer) would look like:
There was a well-worn Evening Orchid '65 Impala SS in my high school sweetie's neighborhood, 1985-ish. Even as a generic 20-year-old beater (this was before the first muscle car explosion), there was a certain elegance about that car.
and yeah, I'm not ignoring a 67 firebird either.
Welcome aboard, kelmarkalbert!
FYI Back in the day (early 80s) a fellow named Eric (I think) Ford ran a Corvair powered Kelmark in the SCCA national Pro (stage) Rally Series. It was prepared by Joe Bursch in the Dallas area, and it was pretty quick. There are probably photos somewhere. At the time our team was running a turbocharged 66 Monza in the series, there were only a couple of Vairs running in the series. We scored one top 10 overall in a national event (Big Bend Bash in Texas) and second overall at a divisional in Colorado, don't remember the Kelmark's best finish.
EDIT: Sorry, I think my memory messed me up - Joe Bursch's rally car was an actual Corvair which was driven at first by Eric Ford, Ford's Kelmark was Porsche powered by 1982 (just looked it up), I don't think it ran a Corvai enginer. Sorry. But a proper 'Vair powered Kelmark would be a really cool car!
That looks way better than it has any right to be considering what the era's competitors looked like.
So... new threads for the other projects?
I'm not ignorning the e46 M3. I still want an s54 to drop into some other BMW.
And the Kelmark looks great! Kind of a mashup of a Ferrari Dino and a Porsche 904.
Back when I used to get kit car magazine, I always thought that the Kelmark was by far and away the best built of all of them.
In reply to kelmarkalbert : I recently acquired a Kelmark original shop manual in it's original binder. It's complete with other stuff about the car too, but VERY moldy and many of the pages are stuck together, Interested? If you want I can email you some pics or more info.
Steve
My son and I just started looking at the Kelmark we've had for 4 years...
Starting to jump into it as well! Looking forward to hearing and seeing your progress
B
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