How about a Honda S2000 or a MX-5/Miata? There are Locost (Lotus 7) kits/builders out there making them from both. Though, that is usually a “build a car from stuff you cut/unbolted out of another car” rather than “bolt on a body kit”. Things like the VW conversions discussed here near the latter sometimes, though.
On the plus side, the Locosts can be a lot faster than the original 7s, or even the finest Caterham has to offer. Since some people build them out of scavenging a V-8 Mustang, they can sometmes be pretty brutal.
Yeah, that’s why you generally see less of it. Even in the case of the MX-5 based Locosts, they’re usually fabricating front spring perches, and using the lower a-arms from the MX-5 (geniuses design a double a-arm front), then cutting the rear sub-frame out of the unibody and welding that to their tube frame in a way that’s sound.
Hehehehe, this description makes it sound like you drove a Beetle. I’ve driven several of them. No throttle travel, OK but kind of stiff clutch, kind of vague brakes and a very vague shifter. My singer’s mom has a 356 hard top. The only time I was given a chance to drive it was after a hard night of whiskey, two sets and mushrooms, so I refused. I was scared the residuals would screw with my perception and risk screwing up a very nice old car. I’ll have to take them up on the offer if I get another chance. If nothing else to see how different it is from its predecessor.
"course, the best thing you can do with an air cooled Beetle other than preserving it was to build a Formula Vee out of it. Sadly, we live in a reality where even if such things were street legal, you’d surely die in short order because nobody is expecting something that low and tiny. So, it requires race tracks.
