Locost - Budget Saab B204 build

Put the Midget up for sale at the weekend. Advertised Saturday evening and it was sold by 10:00 Sunday morning. Either I fell very lucky, or I undervalued it somewhat 😂.

After owning it for 13 years I’m surprisingly not that bothered it has gone - gives me a few pennies in the bank to either get started on the kit car I’ve been sat on for two years, or look for something else (my favourite bit).

One door closes and another opens!

I’ve owned a few kit cars in the past. Generally sh*tting in the shallow end, buying abandoned projects or cars that needed work. After finishing the last one I said I’d not do another until I could afford something decent like a Caterham or Westfield. But mainly something that didn’t need loads of work (I think you can see where this is going 🤣)

Anyway, a couple of years ago something caught my eye at a decent price. With the ongoing Midget build I knew I couldn’t devote and real time to another project - so i bought it anyway and stashed it away…until now.

It’s a GTS Wide. Quite a rare kit that was well designed and decent quality. However, it appeared the manufacturer had some very poor business practices, leading to the company closing.

By it’s name it’s a bit bigger than the usual Locost builds, which suits me at 6’3” and 17 stone. But also helps with the engine bay being a little bigger, meaning a greater engine choice. The plan is circa 600kg and 3-350hp which should keep things interesting

It’s still going to be a budget build as I just don’t want to plough £10-15k into something that’s only ever going to be a weekend toy.


Collected a couple of years ago

I actually started tearing it apart last night (not that there was much to start with), then my phone battery died.

Safely stored:





The main difference with the GTS is it uses a De Dion rear suspension set-up. It supposed to be a halfway house between a live axle and IRS.

It is always good when you discover the bodges, weak points etc early on, and can repair them before progressing too far.

I am watching every move you make, as the song goes.

Silly power to mass ratios rock, mostly.

Had a couple of weeks away in North Devon. Came very close to buying a bucket list car (long story but a TVR v8 wedge). However, a 2 hour traffic jam long and a normally understanding wife meant it just didn’t happen! In hindsight it was probably a good idea as I really didn’t need another car needing work.

Now back home and with a few days left of the holiday I’ve had a couple of days working on the GTS. I’d previously been concentrating in the pedal box and have got as far as mocking up and cutting the panels required.







With a little thought I’ve paused this. The original plan was a dry build, then strip down, blast and re-powder coated frame. I’ve now sacked this off as it just won’t work. I’m going to start on the rear of the car and work forward in stages.

I’ve completely stripped of all bodywork and have been prepping the back of the car for paint. Powder coat is great but even though this car has never even seen the road, rust had got in underneath in a couple of places.







Fingers crossed and it will be in paint tomorrow, then I can concentrate on cleaning the de-deon axle, diff and rear callipers.

Nothing interesting for a few weeks/months, just a load of cleaning, welding and painting (my favourite jobs…..not). Never painted with anything other than cellulose and that was many years ago. It’s on but I may just have seen better come out of the workshop 😂.

Three days of sanding and prep and my poor office boy hands are proper trashed 🙀

Yes, I was there at the time. Royally p*seed off a good few people (quite rightly so).

A bit of a shame, as having built or had involvement with most of the competitors on offer at that point, the GTS was not too bad of a product.

In my experience so far be prepared to need to repaint whatever is on the underside. Between a garage slope that slightly scrapes one part of the chassis and stuff thrown up from the road, this winter I need to give the underside a good clean and repaint. To be fair I just used black smooth Hammerite

I’ve been following you on Youtube for a while now and always look forward to an update - good viewing!