The Fiberfab Jamaican was a seductive thing, bot in appearance and its come-on: “If you can’t afford $21,900 for a Lamborghini how about $895 for a Fiberfab Jamaican?” How irresistible, even if that’s just for the basic body. But hey, how hard can it be, to find an old MGA chassis, drop in a V8, and let ‘er rip.
R&T decided to take more than a surface look at the reality of a kit car. To give it the best shot, they tested a Jamaican built Fiberfab, not the dude who lives next door. You’d think that would rather skew the outcome, but the painful reality was that even a kit car built by professionals was still…a kit car, and all the many attendant shortcomings. There’s a reason folks don’t generally build their own cars, and it has nothing to do with how seductive the body looks.
Yes, the Jamaican was seductive; the best looking kit car body of its kind. I very much remember seeing the ads and thinking…wow; maybe I should rip off the body of my perfectly good ’64 Beetle and put on one of these. How hard can it be? But would a 40 hp Jamaican really be that…seductive? Hmm…
This Jamaican built by Fiberfab involved a $175 1959 MGA chassis (with drum brakes), a quite tired ($200) 215 Buick aluminum V8 and its rather unusual Dual-Path Turbine Drive automatic (only offered on Specials/Skylarks in 1961-1963, and quite unusual automatic transmission), a $45 Chevelle rear axle, and a slew of other parts from various donors. The total cost in parts and body was $2522. That’s not counting any labor, which of course will be provided by your for the next 163 consecutive weekends, and 243 evenings. Or something like that.
Note: that $2522 is exactly $148 less than the price of a brand new 1968 MGB Mk II. Or for a couple hundred more, a very brisk Datsun 2000 Sports. Or a BMW 1600. How seductive is that sexy Jamaican looking now? And the MGB doesn’t overheat constantly, the seats are comfortable, and everything else works properly.
The litany of shortcomings on the Jamaican took up most of the review. Exhaust heat and noise. No sun visors. Throttle pedal on left side of steering column. Very hard seats. Crappy old drum brakes. Hard ride. Gaps in door seals. Overheating. Tired engine making ominous sounds. Etc.
The very fat 8″ wide wheels and tires did give it powerful adhesion in curves (on smooth pavement), but R&T rightfully wondered whether ye olde MG front suspension and steering were up to such greater loads.
R&T’s summation: “It comes down to whether the enthusiast is enthusiastic enough about that sexy-looking body to risk pouring his money and time into something that may turn out to be beautiful but nearly undriveable”.
I remember these being advertised in the enthusiast magazines. They always reminded me of the adage about supermodels – “Lovely to look at, but best to do it from a distance” (or something similar). Kit cars were popular in Southern California, but I never saw one that made me want to join the club.
It seems to me that the VW route would be the way to go with one of these, if you had to
have one. In retrospect it is surprising the kit car industry was as large as it was, once upon
a time.
I think more one donor strategy would have made for a more satisfying car over all. Like they suggested a lightly rolled TR6 with would have been ideally suited for this conversion. The chassis with complete drivetrain could have been used and performance would have been similar to a TR6 that lost a few pounds. This one had an odd collection of parts. I assume it was not an official Fiberfab tester car but rather a customer car they were asked to build as the ailing engine and drum brakes seem very short sighted choices.
Years ago when I was a summer camp, one of the counselors had a kit car. I was quite surprised when he drove if off the road and up a steep grass-covered hill. It hadn’t been aware that it was built on a Jeep chassis.
Only in America.. A kit car with a 2 speed auto… Properly to add to its appeal in a increasing ” shiftless ” society Never mind the car looked great. Dare I say better than a Corvette. Och… sorry! Dash very English 50s with centre mount gauges . Some one surely fitted a 350 V8 or a big block to turn it into a Cobra Daytona rival?.
Interesting road test, this and the Mangusta.
One big advantage of an automatic transmission in a kit car is that it obviates the need to adapt or contrive clutch and shift linkages, which can be a big headache. Even a lot of factory shift linkages of this era were pretty awful! The transmission probably came out of the same car as the engine, so there were presumably no issues with adapters. Also, the Dual Path transmission is light and air-cooled, and so relatively easy to mount and not in need of special radiator plumbing. So, there’s something to be said for that.
The Dual Path transmission was a surprisingly good performer: It had a higher stall ratio and taller first gear than Powerglide, so it had good step-off performance, a higher shift point, and reduced slippage. Its input torque capacity was limited (which was why Buick abandoned it in favor of the Super Turbine 300 two-speed), but behind the aluminum V-8 or Fireball V-6, it worked pretty well. Obviously, a four-speed would be more in character for a job like this, but the automatic had its advantages.
The article makes clear that the donor vehicle is of utmost importance as well as ones mechanical abilities. It reads like an indictment against kit cars in general. They seem to have forgotten all the happy Manx dune buggy owners zipping around. Had they taken into account Jamaica isn’t nearly as prosperous as the US maybe they would empathize with having to make do with the limited resources available. The tone comes across as rather douchey to me. If we fast forward to today and they sourced an old Miata or Nissan Leaf for the donor I think the result would be much more positive. Maybe it’s because I have a soft spot for kit cars. True most kit cars are far from perfect but I always respect the owner that has taken all the time and dedication to make something unique.
Never seen one, what a gorgeous cool ride. I would rock the hell out of one of these…!!!