The call for classic kit cars has given the funniest results. Because who would have come up with the idea of the Hustler 6 even after an excessive consumption of Pils in the heat? British beer turns some people into foorball hooligans. But it can always be even more exuberant.
That this miraculous creation is the result of a design by William Towns, the draftsman of the Aston Martin Lagonda must be a textbook example of 'Britishness'.
Also read: Kit cars, some reader comments
Hustler: intended as a revenue model
The Hustler was a Mini-based project designed in 1978 by Aston Martin Lagonda designer William Towns and later developed into a kit car by his Interstyl design studio.
The Towns Hustler started out as a simple yet striking modular concept conceived by William Towns in July 1978 to demonstrate that such a car could be viable for small series.
When the first prototype appeared in the fall of that year, it was a car that had never been seen before. Built around a pair of Mini sub-frames joined by a low-slung, self-supporting steel floor pan, the lower body panels and clamshell hood were formed from fiberglass. While the body's styling combined an angular front with a box-shaped hatchback-style rear. The car was covered with so much glass that Snow White had felt very comfortable in it.
The whole was crowned with a vinyl covered roof. Made of waterproof glued plywood. The finishing touch was provided by a pair of Matra Rancho-style spotlights mounted on the top edges of the windshield. Inside, the car was just as unusual. The chairs came in the simplest form imaginable. Stackable, plastic canteen chairs made of injection molded work. While the floor was covered with practical and stylish black rubber mats.
windows?
A bag hung from the simply designed dashboard, which served as Town's idiosyncratic interpretation of the glove compartment. Access was gained through sliding glass panels - 'windoors' in Towns-speak - on either side. With an upward-hinged tailgate at the rear.
Credit to British Leyland
It used the front and rear subframes and mechanical components of the British Leyland Mini, Metro or BMC1100 / 1300. The Hustler came in four and six wheel versions. The six-wheel version used two Mini sub-frames at the rear. The style was based on the purest off-road / utility / fun approach.
Wood is sustainable
A wooden version was introduced at Earl's Court Motor Show in 1981, using plywood and solid wood for the structure and body. Wood made production and shipping considerably cheaper. A sportier version was also introduced shortly afterwards. With the same lower steel construction, but with a lower upper construction. Around the same time, an open version, the Sport, was introduced. The vehicle kits were sold directly from William Towns' home in Stretton-on-Fosse, near Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, where his design studio was located.
Hustlers in many flavors
The Hustler concept seemed viable. There was even an eight-wheeler. There was a Hustler with a Jaguar V12 and an amphibious Hustler.
The Hellcat was introduced in 1982. A very simple open-top, Jeep-like version that dispensed with virtually all exterior body panels. Except the hood. Again, this version was also offered with four or six wheels. The following year, Towns added the Huntsman to the range. With a revised design, larger diameter wheels and Hydrolastic or Hydragas suspension. Indicating that this new model was not based on the Mini, but on ADO16 or Metro parts.
About 500 Hustlers were made.
Martin Bijleveld is happy with his sentence:
“Yes, Dolf Peeters: I do have a kitcar….
No, not based on a Beetle… Based on a Mini. Or actually one and a half Mini ...
Not designed by a well-meaning amateur. But by William Towns, who we also know as the designer of the Aston Martin Lagonda ...
And the last no: not just with four wheels, but with six.
My Hustler 6 is from around 1980, but has a registration from 1968. Because one of the three (!) Mini subframes is from that year.
The fact that Mr. Towns designed and produced it doesn't make it any less ugly. And with those six wheels, only two of which are powered, it's possibly the most pointless car on earth.
Let me love that ...
Martin Bijleveld ”
We are grateful to Martin for his message. We share his taste. The Hustler is not in the first version of the buggy bible of the General Buggy Club Netherlands. We have not yet received the new, revised version of which only 1000 have been printed. We are curious.
Seeing the photo above this article, I thought someone tried to create a Rancho in a terrible way.
Funny that in the text that Rancho is called.
But when is something a kit car?
You would think if something like a kit was delivered, such as the Lotus Elan.
But creations on a strange base plate are also known as a kit car.
But then the aforementioned Rancho would also be a kit car, just like the Opel Corsa that is on the bottom plate of the 208, but they really aren't.
There are also kit cars that were never delivered as a kit, and one-off, entirely own creations, which go through life under the name kit car.
Mrs. Ruska, long dustcoat, one long and smoking like a heretic, did not want to know anything about kit car, we build buggies and his car manufacturer.
Yet buggies go through life as a kit car, but is that correct? Matra also built a Buggy, but it is really not a kit car.
Dolf help! When is something a kit car?
A kit car was essentially a trick to bottle up the tax authorities. In the UK, taxation on a 'kit car' was much lower than that on a factory model. The market bravely responded to this. Later the name has gained wider coverage. But the essence remained that something new was made from (often used) parts of donor cars and delivered complete or not. . In terms of construction, we are now in NL on the “1 / 3rd regulation” From engine chassis, bodywork may be replaced within some standards. Because that is 1 / 3rd and if you have a VW or 2CV chassis that is nice and easy. But please note that "shortened" VW bottoms are no longer allowed! And that little has changed was evident from the stupor that there was when Burton wanted to register as a car manufacturer at the autoRAI or something. The real manufacturers / importers did not approve of that. But if you put together a car using parts from donor cars and you tinker a body on it, then you have a kit car. But not necessarily a kit car with registration.
First thought that comes to mind: Long live the man of the SRV van je hip hop peephole. But dam in a Mini version.
And let's face it, you can't argue about taste.
You could also say it's the British interpretation of a Duck, or an Ural, or a Buchanca.
Mwahh. Households have become smaller. Perhaps an SRV car for modern relational forms?