Runabout by CARCENTRIC

CARCENTRIC's
Runabout
(not just another Gazelle)

Designed to resemble a 1929 Mercedes SSK from certain angles, a finished Gazelle kit car (right) is ornate and elegant with its fiberglass phaeton body style (seating for four), vertical chrome grille, chrome wire wheel covers, white sidewall tires, full windshield, cut-down doors (European-style), running boards, soft-top with side curtains, and this particular example's "deluxe" chrome bumpers.

The raw Gazelle body we have looks like this right now.

Since I prefer simple to ornate, and sporty to elegant,
our Runabout would be svelte but spartan, like this.

Inspired by the 1935 Auburn Speedster

A rounded boattail rear (hinged for boot access)
No rear seat (three's a crowd in a roadster)
Straight-top doors (American-style)
Trimmed front fender tails (no running boards)
No bumpers (and very little chrome elsewhere)
14" slotted alloy wheels (for a hot-rod touch)
A smooth, laid-back "aero" grille and a pair of fold-down Brooklands screens like the ones on this Marlin kit car from the UK (right)
Early '70s VW chassis* and IRS transaxle (engine to be determined later)

* I'll be starting with the floorpan from a '72 SuperBeetle (left), but replacing the framehead and balljoint front axle assembly with those from a '74 Standard Beetle (right).