With a touch of the “Bug-Eye” Sprite around the front end, the Maxton “Rollerskate” was what the manufacturer referred to as a “component car.” The concept was similar to that of a kit car, but owners could choose to take delivery of their vehicle as either an unfinished roller or they could be supplied as a complete car that was ready to be driven and enjoyed. I really have to send out a big thank you to Barn Finder Roger for referring this 1992 Maxton through to us. It has been with the current owner since 2009, but after a decade of enjoyment, he has decided to part with the vehicle. It is located in Lyons, Colorado, and has been listed for sale here on Craigslist. All that you need to do is to hand the owner $19,500 and you can drive away in a great little sports car.

When it came to color choices for the owner of a Maxton, that came down to personal preference. Rollers were delivered to the owner unpainted, while the colors for completed cars was specified by the prospective owner. Red was a popular shade, with at least nine cars finished in a selection of different hues, but this particular car is the sole example that was finished in Alfa Romeo Maroon. The car received a repaint in this original color back in 2014, and it is a job that has held up quite well. Hiding under the fiberglass body is a beautifully engineered tubular space-frame chassis, which was designed to combine overall strength with light vehicle weight. The owner doesn’t specify any issues with rust in the frame of the Maxton, but that never seems to have been an issue with these cars anyway. The paint has a nice shine to it, while the Maxton comes equipped with its original soft-top, along with the tonneau and side curtains. The original Revolution alloy wheels appear to be in good condition, and the car comes with a matching spare.

The Maxton philosophy was to deliver to the potential owners a well-engineered vehicle with fit and finish standards which were well in advance of those provided by other kit car manufacturers. Nowhere was this better demonstrated than when examining the interior of a Maxton. It may not have been up to the standard of some of the market’s top-end offerings, but the interior was clean and functional. The owner found themselves confronted by a significant collection of gauges that allowed them to monitor the vehicle’s overall health. They made all of their observations from body-hugging bucket seats, and whilst gripping a thick and comfortable sports steering wheel. The overall condition of the interior looks to be very good, with only some edge wear of the carpet on the transmission tunnel. This isn’t even terribly noticeable, and the majority of potential owners will probably choose to leave it as-is. As seems to be common in the Maxton, the lid for the glove compartment doesn’t fit particularly well, but the rest of the dash looks to be in very nice condition. The seats have recently been treated to new upholstery, so there is little for the next owner to do but to slide behind the wheel and let the fun begin.

I love the term “scary-fast,” and it is one that would seem to be apt with the Maxton. Tipping the scales at a mere 1,680lbs, this is a vehicle that really is a lightweight. The drive-train is derived from a 1st Generation Mazda RX7, meaning that under the hood is a Wankel rotary engine, backed by a 5-speed manual transmission. The rotary is an engine that doesn’t produce a lot of torque, but when wound up, they can be an absolute giant-killer. They are also an engine that can be modified to produce additional power with relative ease, and the inclusion of a Dellorto carburetor on this engine sees power sitting at a claimed 200hp. The result of that sort of power in a car so light is a 0-60 time of around 5.5 seconds, while that little 13B rotary will propel the car all the way to 127mph. Combine these attributes with a low center of gravity and almost perfect weight distribution, and when the going gets twisty, the drivers of most other sports cars don’t have a chance of seeing which way the Maxton went. The presentation under the hood of the Maxton is very neat, and the owner reports no issues with the car. The radiator has been fitted with a larger fan with an adjustable thermostat, a new battery has recently been fitted, while the Sumitomo tires wrapped around those Revolution alloys appear to be fairly new.

The Maxton “Rollerskate” deserved to be a success because it is a beautifully engineered vehicle. The fact that so much intense work went into its development only for it to be released during a recession was just plain old bad luck. The result was that apart from three prototype vehicles, only a total of 51 production examples were ever built. However, survival rates have been extraordinarily high, and of those 51 cars, 42 are known to still exist today. At the asking price, it isn’t particularly cheap, but for a Maxton in this sort of condition, the price is very realistic. Of course, if you want to put a dollar value on sheer fun and driving enjoyment, then this Maxton would offer the next owner great bang for their buck.