Steve's GKD Legend

Steve's GKD Legend
Still, On the road again!

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Saturday, 20 August 2011

Good and bad news!

First the good news!

The longest test drive the car had done up until Tuesday was about 8km around Tullinge. The drive to Gothenberg for the test was 1000 km round trip (600 miles) so to be slightly cautious we decided to take a "support vehicle" driven by Neil full of tools, spare this and spare that and also a trailer just in case of breakdown or thunderstorms.



We left the trailer about 120km from Gothenberg and drove the rest of the way together - must be skiing season!

The car performed far beyond my wildest dreams. Not one single problem during the trip down or the 300 mile trip home again so the trailer wasn't needed! I threw caution to the wind and gradually towards the end of the trip wound her up to around 90mph! Fantastic acceleration, road holding, steering, suspension, fuel consumption, in fact everything was fantastic! It even rained at one point for about 10 minutes and the rain just blew over the top with a few drops landing on the dashboard, so I know the electrics can handle a small shower. The temperature gauge stayed exactly on half the whole way, oil level was the same when I got  home as well as water level.
In the blue corner - the car weighed in at 686kg which included a 3/4 full tank and a bag of tools in the boot. So raw weight I would say is 655kg, a little heavier than I thought but at least I had no issues with it being too light. 

DEKRA is quite a new company, all the lifts and tools were squeaky clean
This is how it looks after 300 miles, I was well pleased and got some nice comments from the guys in the shop. 


Now the bad news!


Some small issues were found but nothing that had anything to do with how the car was constructed or how safe the car was, nothing that said the brakes or the steering were hazardous, I would have completely understood if it was not 100% mechanically safe and would have been only too glad to fix anything that was potentially dangerous, in fact I had done this earlier when I changed the brake pipes,  steering rod and track rod ends. I wasn’t prepared though for failing on:
  • Seat belts. I had problems with this earlier so I was prepared to some extent but here is the rule. The rules in Sweden state that the belt must be a 3 point belt ie attached to the vehicle at 3 points. The 4 point belt that is common in the UK for open top, sports type vehicles and proven to be safer than 3 and e-marked throughout the EU is not allowed!
    • Easy to fix with a new set of belts.
  • Head Lights. The glass I have is of the type “Nuetral” which means it can be used in both left hand and right had drive vehicles. I can drive here and I can drive home to England without disturbing oncoming traffic. In Sweden this type of glass is okay for motorcycles but not for cars. Cars have to have the correct angled glass for driving on the right.
    • Also easy to fix with new glass. 
Okay both these issues I can accept although they go beyond logic and I’ll fix them but the show stopper was one small paragraph in the rules VVS 2003:22 Kap 41 paragraph (http://www20.vv.se/vvfs/pdf/2003nr022.pdf) which goes like this:
Amatörbyggt fordon
Fordon som tillverkats av enskild person för eget bruk eller fordon som ändrats av enskild person för eget bruk i större omfattning än vad som avses med ombyggt for-don enligt definition ovan.
Med amatörbyggt fordon avses inte fordon som från tillverkaren levereras helt eller delvis i bygg-sats och som därefter monteras ihop av enskild person för eget bruk.



The first paragraph roughly translated to:
The definition of an Amateur built vehicle is:

“Vehicles manufactured by individuals for personal use or vehicles modified by individual for personal use to a greater extent than is provided in converted vehicles as defined above” (Rebuilt vehicles).

Which is fine, completely understood. It’s for my own use, I didn’t built it for profit and I definitely, after the blood sweat and tears I have shed over the 350 or so hours won’t be going into serial production! This is where the rules should stop but there is more!

Then there is the second paragraph:

“Amateur built vehicles are not vehicles supplied in whole or in part in kit form from a manufacturer and then assembled by individuals for personal use”
I understand to some extent that they want to discourage individuals from buying complete kits as they may start pumping them out from their cellar production lines but the statement “OR IN PART” will probably kill off kit car building in Sweden. It’s basically not possible for an amateur with limited or no welding skills (like me) to build a car like this without buying some parts from professional companies who specialise in home built vehicles. So there will always be parts supplied IN PART from a manufacturer.
It's basically implying that it's better to have a car on the road that has been welded by an amateur than one that is welded professionally. Also one has to be a professional welder to build an amateur car!


I now need to appeal the decision by sending a letter to the transport authorities as well as documented evidence! I'll do that by sending a copy of this blog (maybe taking away some of the politically incorrect comments related to Swedish law J) and hope the decision is reversed.

However, once the disappointment had subsided slightly it was time for the drive home.

It was actually quite cold at speed and a little noisy from the bufferting wind. I tried ear plugs and the improvement was dramatic, a real pleasure!

At a steady 50-55 mph the fuel consumption was around 7 litres per 100km or approx. 40mpg. On the way home with the foot closer to the floor between 65 and 90mph the consumption was 36mpg or 8ltrs/100km.

I tried and empty tank test but bottled out when the needle was just about to drop out the otherside of the red so there were a few more miles in there. Distance 262  miles (422km) on 33 litres of fuel. If I had reduced speed to a steady 50-55mph I estimate a tank would last almost 300 miles (500km) which is fantastic for such a small tank (approx 35 litres).

I had to try didn't I, it's okay for a first test but I could have hung on longer in the gears and had a heavier foot!


It's a real disappointment and I'm devastated having the car fail for completely illogical reasons but I have my fingers crossed and I'm generally a positive person so I hope within the next few weeks I'll get the news I need.

I've fallen for the two tone and may keep it this way. I'll get the black fibreglass filled and painted I just need to find a way to preserve the finish of the brushed aluminium.

1 comment:

  1. Car looks good... that is awful news about the ameteur build thing though. Worst case: ship it over to Peter, he can IVA it and register it in the UK, and you will have to import it. It will be expensive, but at least there is a way to do it.

    Very jealous of your fuel economy, I'm still getting 20 mpg :-( I think I'm starting to home in on the cause though (rear brakes dragging)... I just can't work out why or how to fix them.

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