It is easy for Marketing Blurb or any pundit to ridicule the auto industry. We should go easy, because we cannot pretend we could build our own car. But maybe we are 
wrong! It just so happens that the build it yourself car kit market is growing. The largest supplier is Factory Five Racing in Wareham, Mass. They offer five different models, and will sell 800 to 1000 kits this year. The MK 3 Roadster pictured here is only 12,990—but that does not include your non-union labor. Do not try this one at home unless you have restored cars in the past, and are comfortable with tinkering under the hood. A typical assembly project takes from 6 to 12 months. Oh, and remember to check with your state department of motor vehicles. Not all states make it easy to register home-built cars. But sometimes you can encounter a bonus like a 2006 Austin Healey replica which you can actually register in Illinois as a 1962 model and avoid emissions testing. Marketing Blurb has decided to let the unions build our cars for the near term—it’s the least we can do to save an industry. Photo Credit: Business Week
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