Kit Car Builder, December 2003

In developing the RSK, Thunder Ranch was able to employ a 550 Spyder windshield, but offers acrylic windscreens similar to the ones on the original race car. In addition, the RSK has a 550 dash treatment that holds 3 original Porsche style VDO gauges. Since there are very few electrical systems in the car, the dash is kept clean and simple with only two switches and the ignition.

A leather wrapped Grant wheel handles the helm duties.The seats are a pair of modified Thunder Ranch Speedster seats covered with Mercedes replacement vinyl upholstery. German square-weave carpeting covers the decks. You have to remember too that this car is a slightly civilized race machine and as such cockpit occupants are up close and personal with chassis parts, brake lines and throttle cable. Little concession has been made to creature comforts and luxury appointments. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

The fiberglass pieces are molded with Slymar DCOD blended polyester resin with alternating layers of 1.5 - and 2-ounce matt, 10-ounce S cloth and reinforced with 2mm Coremat and 4mm Tubus core material. All the parts are hand laid and delivered in a sandable primer finish. This feature car was painted Polar Silver with Dupont, two-stage Chroma base covered by lots of clearcoat.

If you get the idea that we like this car you are not mistaken. In fact, we like it so much that we've decided to do an in-house, build-up on the car and chronicle the process is several stories we will publish beginning early next year. Like any project story we do, this one will have plenty of information that can apply to specialty cars other then this RSK.

We're still in the process of making our wish lists for the project, but Thunder Ranch has already started building the chassis and it looks like we might even have a brand new engine we can brag about. We can already think of many broad based story ideal we can accomplish during the build, things that many of you can surely utilize on your own projects - bodywork and paint, wiring, brake plumbing, and others immediately come to mind.

When you consider that an original Porsche 718 RSK would cost in the neighborhood of half a million bucks, the #13,945 kit price tag for the Thunder Ranch version seems downright reasonable. And not only that, you are no doubt more likely to drive the replica every day and drive it hard. The turnkey car you see on these pages was built for Jeffery Laudenslager, an artist who designs and builds mobile sculptures from stainless steel and titanium. The price tag on this little silver bullet was $27,800 - not too bad for this bit of mobile sculpture.