Locust is a kit car inspired by the Lotus Seven. It was first developed in the mid 1980s as a cheap kit car to be built onto the chassis of a Triumph Spitfire, it was later developed into a full kit car which used its own fully designed ladder chassis - unlike others using space frame. The car was famed for its cheap to build construction using MDF in the body, the last kits were produced in early 2000.
The original Locust kit was based on the Triumph Spitfire or Herald chassis to give the finished vehicle the look of a Lotus 7, this was quickly superseded by a all new Locust using its own developed chassis with the choice of using a Triumph Spitfire or MK1/MK2 Ford Escort for the donor vehicle parts to complete the car. The original design was by John Cowperthwaite and it was sold as the JC Locust by J.C. Auto Patterns. [1] The Locust used a ladder frame and a body constructed from three 8 ft by 4 ft sheets of 3/4" thick exterior grade or marine plywood alternatively MDF sheets. Once complete, the body tub is skinned with aluminium sheet.
Later vehicles were sold by T&J Sportscars who also introduced a larger Locust to compete with the Robin Hood kit car, this vehicle was Ford Cortina-based called the Hornet.
In 1995 the escort based Locust was taken over by White Rose Vehicles (WRV) who continued to sell the same model until 1998, seeing that mk1 and mk2 Ford escorts were becoming rare they developed and introduced the new Ford Sierra-based Locust SIII. The series 3 used a new ladder chassis with the Ford Sierra rear diff and could be built with Pinto or Zetec engines.
White Rose Vehicles closed in April 2000 so the escort based Locust classic was taken over by BWE Sportcars [2] who also made the Hornet [3] and the Grasshopper electric car for children. [4] The Sierra-based Series III was taken over by Road Tech Engineering which was renamed to the RT Blaze, this company closed in 2006 but only sold 15 kits. Bev Evans of BWE died on 10 April 2014. BWE Sportscars is no longer trading. [2]
"The Locust" - Early vehicles based on Triumph Spitfire or Herald
"The New Locust" - Using its own chassis with either Triumph or Ford Escort mechanicals
"Locust classic" - Slightly designed, now using only Ford Escort mechanicals with Ford Cortina front subframe
"Locust Hornet" - Later just called the Hornet, same construction as the classic Locust but based all around the Cortina for a bigger vehicle
"Locust S111" - The Locust for the new millennium, using more modern ford mechanicals
A Locost is a home-built car inspired by the Lotus Seven. The car features a space frame chassis usually welded together from mild steel 1 in ×
The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight two-seater open-top sports car produced by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars between 1957 and 1972.
A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor vehicles or purchased new from other vendors. Kits vary in completeness, consisting of as little as a book of plans, or as much as a complete set with all components to assemble into a fully operational vehicle such as those from Caterham.
The Ford Cortina is a compact car that was built by Ford of Britain in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s.
The Ford Kent is an internal combustion engine from Ford of Europe. Originally developed in 1959 for the Ford Anglia, it is an in-line four-cylinder overhead-valve–type pushrod engine with a cast-iron cylinder head and block.
Westfield Sportscars are manufacturers of both factory built and kit versions of several two-seater, open top sportscars. Their main product line is a Lotus Seven inspired car - vehicles originally designed by Colin Chapman with only the bare essentials for motoring in order to give the rawest and most exhilarating driving experience.
Lotus Cortina is the commonly used term for the Ford Cortina Lotus, a high-performance sports saloon, which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The original version, which was based on the Ford Cortina Mark 1, was promoted by Ford as the "Consul Cortina developed by Lotus", with "Consul" later being dropped from the name. The Mark 2 was based on the Ford Cortina Mark II and was marketed by Ford as the "Cortina Lotus". Lotus gave the model the type number designation Type 28.
Robin Hood Engineering Ltd was a British kit car manufacturer based in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire. The factory covered 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) and was on a one and a half acre site.
Ginetta Cars is a British specialist builder of racing and sports cars based in Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Dutton Cars, based in Worthing, Sussex, England, was a maker of kit cars between 1970 and 1989. In terms of number of kits produced, it was the largest kit-car manufacturer in the world.
Sylva Autokits is a kit car manufacturer based in Lincolnshire, England. Sylva was founded in 1981 by Jeremy Phillips and has developed and produced a number of small and lightweight sports cars. Sylva cars have won a number of 750 Motor Club Kit Car championships.
JC Midge is a hand built car i.e. a "plan and pattern" car designed by John Cowperthwaite. Like the Locust the body is made of aluminium skinned plywood or MDF and using a purpose made grille or one from a donor, such as a Wolseley 1500. Unlike a Kit car only a few parts were available, the rest being from the donor car or hand made by the builder by sticking paper patterns on plywood or aluminium and cutting round them with a jigsaw. The starting point was a set of patterns and instructions costing £35 and the designer claimed it was possible to put a car on the road for £800.
Ford of Europe GmbH is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company founded in 1967 in Cork, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany.
Marc Nordon Racing is a kit car manufacturer specialising in bike engined cars or BECs and in particular, Lotus Seven Replicas. They are based in Harrogate, England.
Spartan Cars was a manufacturer of kit cars based in Pinxton, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, which operated from 1973 to 1995. The company was founded by Jim McIntyre.
Marlin is a British sports car manufacturer founded in 1979 in Plymouth as Marlin Engineering and now located in Crediton, Devon, England.
The Ford P100 is a car-based pickup truck that was built by Ford from 1971 to 1993, initially in South Africa, and later Portugal. It was based on medium-sized Ford passenger cars, originally the Ford Cortina and from 1988 the Ford Sierra. Initially marketed as the Ford Cortina Pickup, the P100 name was adopted in 1982. The P-100 name had previously been used on a small North American panel van in the 1960s.
Haynes Roadster is a replica of Lotus Seven home-built according to a book Build Your Own Sports Car: On a Budget by Chris Gibbs (ISBN 1-84425-391-0). Ford Sierra is used in the car as a donor for drivetrain and suspension components.
Eagle Cars Limited was an English company, based in Lancing, West Sussex, originally operated by Allen Breeze, although it has undergone a number of ownership changes since. Originally making a Jeep lookalike called the RV, between 1981 and 1998 they built several iterations of a gull-winged car called the Eagle SS. The SS was based on an American kit car called the Cimbria, and was brought to the UK by Tim Dutton. In 1988 Eagle Cars moved inland, to nearby Storrington.
Almac is a New Zealand based kit car company founded in 1984 and located in Upper Hutt. Almac cars is a part of Almac Reinforced Plastics Ltd fibreglass product manufacturing a company founded in 1971 by Alex McDonald. McDonald's interest in kit cars started while he was living in England, having purchased a Jem Marsh Sirocco. Jem Marsh founded the Marcos car company.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Locust . |