Locost
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Image:Locost front SRF 2005.jpg
The Locost is a low cost (hence the name) Lotus Seven look-alike described in the book "Build your own sports car for as little as £250" by Ron Champion (ISBN 1859606369). The automobile can either be built from scratch using the book or bought in kit form.
The car features a space frame chassis usually welded together from mild steel square tubing. Front suspension is usually double wishbone with coil overs. The rear has many variants including live axle, independent rear suspension or De Dion tube. Body panels are usually fiberglass nose and wings and aluminium side panels. Each car is highly individual due to home built nature.
The car described in the book is build using parts from a Mk1 or Mk2 Ford Escort with front spindles from Ford Cortina, but people building the car have used parts from many different cars to make their version of the Locost. Recently in the UK the Ford Sierra has been the most popular choice. In North America everything from old a Toyota Corolla to a Mazda Miata to small trucks have been used.
Both Colin Chapman and Ron Champion have a background in the 750 Motor Club and the design of the Locost is based on a Clubman's Race Car designed and built by Ron Champion in 1963. The rear is of course "inspired by" Lotus 7.
Many different companies make and sell parts and complete kits for building the car, some examples are MK Engineering (who have continued on the concept and now offer their MK Indy, based on the Ford Sierra), RaceTech with their Lada based ESTfield, Coveland Motorsports (who also makes a chassis for using Mazda Miata parts)[1], DD7 in Umeå, Sweden[2] and many more.
The Locost is not to be confused with the similarly named Locust which is also a Lotus Seven inspired car. In contrast to the Locost's space frame chassis, the Locust uses a ladder chassis and a body constructed from plywood skinned with aluminium.