The Car Craft Cyclone

Posted by John Mellberg September 27, 2020

The Car Craft Cyclone

The Car Craft Cyclone - shown in classic British racing green

This rather Seven-esque, kit was developed by Car Craft Ltd in the late 1990's. It's Called the Cyclone and looked to be quite a promising product when it was released! The basis for the design was a mid-engine configuration using a modern donor with fiberglass bodyshell. Here are the details.

Chassis for the Cyclone was a fully triangulated spaceframe. The prototype had a sheet steel floor and bulkheads, but production versions used slightly lighter aluminum. It was an impressive looking structure and was supplied in primer or to the customer's specific color requirement.

The major donor components for the Cyclone center around the Mk l and 2 Vauxhaul Cavalier. The variation between the two is because one is front-wheel-drive while the other is rear-wheel-drive. As such, the front uprights and brakes for the Cyclone came from the rear-drive Mk l (Manta was another option) and were fitted to Car Craft's beautifully fabricated unequal length wishbones with adjustable AVO coil-over dampers. Because the front-drive MK2 Cavalier engine was been moved amidships, the front hub carriers from the later car along with its brakes and calipers were also needed. These were modified on an exchange basis by Car Craft into a quite unusual location set-up best described as a trailing arm with transverse upper and lower arms which once again make use of the AVO coil-overs.

The Car Craft Cyclone - Engine bay with Turbo Vauxhall motor

Engine options revolved around the Vauxhall range of 4-cylinder units. The obvious choice was the acclaimed 16-valve twin-cam 2-litre, but the prototype made a very valid claim for using the more mundane 8-valve SRi lump allied to a standard 5-speed gearbox. It was no mean performer.

Other donor components included the steering rack, column controls, dash pod and a number of other smaller items. From elsewhere one needed, Mini heater and windscreen wiper mechanism, and a Rover radiator.

The Car Craft Cyclone

The Cyclone's radical bodywork was made up of a number of GRP and aluminum panels and consequently most people ended up painting the assembled result. It has to be said that it didn't look the easiest thing to put together and accurately line-up, making for a slightly daunting task for the amateur builder or enthusiast.

The body kit, including the bonded-in windscreen and all aluminum and fiberglass panels, cost £1600 + VAT in 1998. Car Craft estimated that the home builder could get something on the road from around £7000, which compared quite well to most of the mid-range sevenesque kits of the day. The company also expected to provide a number of complete vehicles for customers and pricing started at around £10,000 plus engine and gearbox.

The Cyclone's eventual production run was surprisingly short. The cars were time consuming to manufacture and sales never reached the volume needed to sustain a full business.
After just 32 cars, the project was pulled in 2000 and Car Craft reverted to the servicing, painting and MoTs that had sustained it throughout the time the Cyclone had been in production.