Sonic 7 Kit Car Build

Custom cage being made by Tom from Tube-Bender.

Finally back at home where she belongs...

Just received the confirmation that our Sonic 7 has passed the IVA TEST – this means it is now road worthy and all we have to do now is register it and we’re good to go. What an amazing project and fun journey it has been.

Throughout the build my son Raj and I have received a tremendous amount of help and support and we’ve made some amazing friends along the way. Raj was just 12 when we started the build.

The amazing people who helped and supported me and Raj with the build:

Fellow Sonic / Rocket owners from the MEV Owners Forum provided great advice and guidance through the build.

Sukwinder uncle was amazing. His expertise and help with all of mechanical side of the project and coming down from Birmingham to Warwick to help was very much appreciated.

Ray (my lovely neighbour) who provided guidance to me and Raj throughout the project.

Richard Aaron - popped over from time to time and offered great ideas and help with some of the mechanical aspects.

Dave Bloxham and Jordan from James Camden Engineering have helped throughout the project, making a number of components which we could not have made without their help.

Dave Fitton who was kind enough to spare some of his precious time to drive down and help us get through the most challenging phase of the build. Yes, it was the dreaded wiring – what a nightmare!! We spent weeks scratching our heads wondering where to start but Dave helped with figuring out what we needed to do...

Darren Barnes (from RS Auto's) then helped us finish off all of the remaining wiring.

Guy Hedigan (Daydreamer) with his excellent technical advice during the build, emailing pictures.

Nigel and Ben from Spa Fastners where we purchased most of our nuts, bolts, washers, rivets and rivnuts - cannot believe how many we needed in the end!

Vicky from Crystals Car Body shop who helped with all of the welding needed to make our bespoke seat brackets during the Christmas period.

Thanks to Steve from Model Ideas for his help with the design of the dashboard and Stuart Offer from 3TRPD for printing the dashboard.

Sukh Uppal, my dear friend who is on his own build journey as he’s building the Ultima GTR . Thanks to Sukh for his advice on what tools to buy and helping with the dashboard design.

Thanks also to mum, dad and my daughter (Priya) for always picking up the mess we left and my nephew Pardeep and brother Amandeep for their help when we needed an extra pair of strong hands lifting and moving the car.

Last but not least, Raj and I want to thank my lovely wife for:
1) putting up with all of mine and Raj's (mainly Raj's) tantrums
2) clearing up our grease marks left on doors and walls around the house – don’t worry dear, Raj will repaint the house, after a few road trips in the new car :)
3) keeping us fed during those many all nighters me and Raj worked in the garage - there were far too many of those...
4) the many trips she had to collect tools and parts from Toolstation, Screwfix, Eurocarparts, Spa fasteners and god knows where else to pick up parts, drop off parts, exchange parts we no longer needed....it was never ending!

Throughout the 16 month build, Raj and I have had the most amazing time together. Amazingly though best thing is not the car itself, (through it is cool). The best part was being able to spend hundreds of quality hours with Raj doing stuff and talking about stuff that we may otherwise never have had the time to do given the many distractions we have these days such as the PlayStation, TV, mobile phones and not forgetting work :( these things always get in the way of spending time with family)...We have had many head scratching and stressful moments, many arguments, so many “wow” moments as well as a lot of laughter and joy throughout, and somehow we managed to complete the build in tact – I would not have changed a thing!

I am eternally grateful for having been blessed with this opportunity and having such amazing family and friends helping us emotionally and physically on our fantastic journey!

What next….well, we have to get back to work as we have some final tweaks/adjustments to make and roof to be added, we have submit the papers to get the car registered and insured before we can officially drive it on the road....😁 no rest.

Lookout, we could be whizzing past a road near by fairly soon. We ain't stopping though 😉

Thanks to Mark Boothman from Automotive Solutions & Racing