Fiberfab was one of the longest-lasting kit car manufacturers, though mostly forgotten to many today. They began making accessories and body parts in 1964 and then expanded into kit cars. One of their products was the Jamaican, which physically resembled a Lamborghini Miura. We don’t know how many were built and we saw this one here on Barn Finds about a year ago. Nothing much has changed except now that it’s offered here on Facebook Marketplace for $8,900, $600 less than it was last time. BTW, the location is still the side of a house in Barnhart, Missouri. Our thank to Barn Finder PRA4SNW for the deja vu tip!.
Our Jeff Lavery did a good job of digging up what is known about the cars. Sources say the Jamaican surfaced as a Fiberfab kit in 1968, though the seller says 1966. That may be referring to the mechanical bits of the car which were based on a Triumph TR4 (not a VW Beetle like so many kit cars). Later versions of the Jamaican were called the Jamaican II and could be had with a V8 engine.
We suspect this kit car has been sitting outside for a number of years and someone wants to get it out of the way. One of the neat features of the car was the use of genuine knock-off wire wheels and the ones on this Jamaican seemed to have survived though their condition may be suspect. According to the seller, this project has just 35,000 miles, uses Corvette front glass, and the rear glass from a Porsche. What it will take to get this thing going again is anyone’s guess. Who’s interested in taking this off of the seller’s hands – a trade may be in the equation?
Considering it’s condition I’d say $890 is as high as I’d go. After sitting outside for that long the TR chassis is probably junk.
Hmm, it doesn’t look like much of a project. It looks like it was a finished, running, driving, street legal car at one time. This already puts it way ahead of 90% of other kit cars that you see for sale that aren’t even finished being built.
By far the most attractive of the kit cars made in that era and a huge plus that it is not on the beetle pan.
Jamaicans also used the Austin Healey chassis and running gear. This one definitely doesn’t have an Austin drive train. It does look like triumph as stated. I would like to see a picture of the chassis. Most Healeys had wire wheels. I think most TR4s had steel wheels.
Well I am a rare duck here as I have owned one back in the day and built it. The hardest things about building one of these is already done. Hanging the doors and getting the door locks and windows to work properly is most easily described as a total BITCH to do right. That is at minimum a 3 person job and a huge pain in the ass. I think that factor alone killed the FIBERFAB Company. Too many of those that got these kits could not get beyond this stage. You see this on all their kits. The wiring and interior are not that bad. I personally think if they shipped these cars with the doors hung and door windows and lock installed we would be looking at FIBERFAB as an amazing low production manufacturer still.
What you can see here his how beautiful this car is. Much like a 240Z in general form. In details it was even smoother and this is again one of those cars where paint color is critical. It needs a dark rich color. I have seen some blue, wine red and a metallic brown one that really work. White, yellow and orange just don’t. This is a 3 to 4000 Dollar car at most. It will need a total rebuild and as noted by others. The chassis could be very rusty but that is far easy to fix then dealing with the alignment of the front, the doors and the rear trunk. That work is both highly frustrating and time consuming. Strangely wiring is not that difficult.
If you do run into a unbuilt kit you need to make certain which chassis the body was built for. Some were made for Austin Healey 3000 chassis, Triumph TR-3 / 4’s and I think a few were made for MGA’s but I am not certain about this. I have yet to see a Jamacian II. The V-8 engine chassis is a good idea but keep it small if you wish to keep the smooth lines of the body as the available tire width is not that great.
Last note this could easily fit on a TR-6 chassis with a rusted out body of which there are more than a few. That would let you have a far better suspension than the TR-4 solid axle of this car and that engine is easily capable of between 150 to 180 HP. Which puts it in the BMW Z4 territory. Hmmmmmmm. To those that have read my posts in the past yes I am still restoring that Lotus Europa S2 so I will pass on this one but it is tempting.
There was also an upscale version. The “Jamaican Mecrazy”.
There is a large community on facebook to get the correct informations.
About 70 Jamaicans out of the 250 produced are still known, but only a few are road worthy.
Fiberfab Jamaican is the name of the group.
I say put it on a ship an take it out to sea an drop it for sea animals to hide an play in. Drain all the fluids first..
This is definitely interesting… could be a lot of fun if the glass bodywork is salvageable… but $8900?… Nope.
Definitely different but not a collectable kit car, this ain’t no Cobra kit car.
they do this cuz part of them doesnt wanna sell them.
Stop the tease~
If reallly wanting it gone its priced so…
I havea ’83, 3.3/200, i6 on the fl in the back room I’d
like in something like just this waiting
My brother and I are credited for the design of the Fiberfab Jamaican produced years ago. I still have the 1st body to come out of the mold and had built an Austin Healey verssion of the car seen in this advert.
I see the lower/rear ‘legs’ of the bonnet have been cut and possibly attached to the chassis, as I did to my car.
This looks to have sat unattended/unused for a LONG while, and nothing good can result but for keeping the miles low. Nothing improves from setting. If the engine ran and one could learn if the trans, steering and brakes worked at all, that would help with feeling the asking price is reasonable.
I’ll be interested in this sale, will inquire as to where it went if it sells.
Wow ChipsBe! Thanks for sharing.
Having had the good fortune to meet with you once however briefly years ago it’s of no surprise that this car design rocked the automotive world at one time. Nicely done, sir.
Have seen the Healey based car. The workmanship on it is off the chart. It’s got to be the best Jamaican ever built. Got close to buying a kit after seeing one displayed in Reno, NV but the Vietnam thing got in the way.
Are you or your brother Chris Beebe of Wisconsin that Peter Egan has written about so many times?
I spent hours looking at ads for this car in car and Driver, back in the day. A great design.
There was a perfect one on a VW pan up around Daytona a year or so ago.
If it had the gulf paint scheme, it’s for sale in Daytona….. they are asking $25k. It’s actually gorgeous, if the same. If I hadn’t picked up a new Challenger, I may have been a player. Love the car….. love mine better. Lol
ten50. Do you know where it is advertized?
More interested in what that car in the foreground is. Interesting- Center hinged hood, External headlamp pods– unknown nose piece?
At 15 years old In High School, I was enamored by the Jamacan. I purchased a Devin instead. My Dad thought it would keep me in the garage tinkering. Never stopped to this day! HA!
If you rebuilt the power train you would be DOUBLE upside down and you still would not have anything. Get rid of all the british stuff, keep the frame, adapt a more reliable power train and finish the car. Then you would only be slighty upside down. Yes $890. tops. Your second choice would be to buy the one in Georgia That’s a V8 one on a VW pan, put a Porsche in it. A much better deal IMO
Russ, I thought this one looked familiar when I saw it. After sitting in tht same position for another year, you would think that the seller would drop the price a bit more than 600 bucks.
I agree. Just the right kind of buyer is going to want this project.
Something to remember about fiberglass is that while it does not rust, it does suffer from ultraviolet light. And this one looks to have had a lot of exposure.
Somebody put the instruments on the wrong side!