This one is my pride and joy, and only the second full Kart I ever restored.

I was fortunate to locate this incredible ‘68 New Breed kart St. Louis, MO (relatively close to my home-base in Kansas City), —and still in the possession of its second-ever owner whose father had purchased it from the original racer in the late 70’s. He and his brother drove it only once before getting into trouble with the neighbors (remember, these were track karts, not yard karts and are extremely loud) at which point their their father took it away and hung it up in the garage—where it then remained in uninterrupted purgatory for the next 40 odd years.

It took me two years of patient negotiating to get him to turn loose of it, as he had dreams of eventually restoring it for his grandkids and initially reached out to the vintage kart community for restoration tips and assistance. Finally, I prevailed—with the promise that I’d keep him in the loop and share all of the in-process restoration photos.

This kart has been a best-of-show winner in the ‘original’ category, which it is eligible to compete in given my election not to strip and re-paint the frame (instead opting for meticulous cleaning and a protective application wipe of WD40 only) and the fact that even the fiberglass sports its original gel-coat and decals. This really is one of—if not THE most—incredible surviving ‘68 New Breeds in the world.

Needless to say, this kart is not presently for sale, nor will it ever be if I can possibly avoid it. That notwithstanding, and with college right around the corner, it’s impossible not to note the fact that several karts not nearly as precious and original as this one have traded for as much as 40k on Bring-a-Trailer this past year. I suppose I’ll have to continue to grapple with the very real possibility that it would buy me a semester or two at one of the nation’s top mechanical engineering universities. . .

To that end, if you’re interested, we can chat about an offer. . .

The kart, having been garaged all that time, was actually in comparatively good shape. In fact, I chose NOT to re-paint or powder coat the frame, since enough of the original (and very rare) Margay Green paint was still in tact that it really was unconscionable to strip and refinish it.

The steel parts on the kart, however, showed lots of surface rust. But with proper restoration, I knew I could make them beautiful. I recall tracking over one hundred hours to strip that rust and gently burnish, brush, or hand republish each piece.

Interestingly, the kart had its original fiberglass Nassau panel and side seat retention pans— which only showed slight visible stress cracks in the otherwise fine-looking cream gel-coat. In fact, the original decals were in tact. With very careful selective polishing and overall cleaning—these parts were brought back to look nearly new.

On this particular Kart, I chose to deploy a McCulloch MC91 M/C engine (though not original to this particular kart, it is absolutely period correct) which was graciously donated to me by my good friend and fellow vintage racer Dean Kossaras. Thank you Dean!!!, I’m forever grateful.

What an incredible and novel piece of engineering! This kart had its original Margay quick-change gearbox in tact. It was seized up from decades of disuse, but nothing that couldn’t be handled with the expert assistance of my good friend and fellow racer “Gearbox Tom” Kelley, out of Lake Villa, Illinois.

Unfortunately, the original vinyl seat had been destroyed by mice and was not recoverable. So I packed up up the seat pans and frame and headed to famous vintage car interior restoration expert and Concours d’ Elegance winner Joe Poindexter of Ace Auto Fabrics. Together, Joe worked with me to re-create the original bolster pattern from vintage photographs and advertisements I’d found. We selected a beautiful sandy-brown Swedish leather and contrasting olive-green piping that matches the original paint perfectly. Joe is over 80 years old these days, and still in the throes of recovering from cancer. He generally refuses new work, but, amazingly, was kind enough to find the energy to stitch this together for me entirely by hand over an ensuing 4 month period. Joe’s work will literally take your breath away, as it has for the 60+ years that he’s been building automotive interiors. Moreover, Joe took the time to work directly with me, teaching me the process step-by-step. What an irreplaceable and incredibly valuable experience.

Do take close note of the wheels, which are fully original but which I disassembled, straightened, and hand re-polished using a motorized wheel-mount spinner I crafted with a large electric motor, belt and pulleys, and a balanced center-spindle mount. A few of the deepest gouges from races nearly six decades ago linger like hard-earned scars which will never fully heal, but might surely tell an amazing story if they could speak from their new-found resplendence.