I thought I would posts this up and see if anyone can help dig up some info on this body kit and what is going on with it. I heard it was a father son design that was stolen by the sons partner when the father died. It dissappeared for a few years but, now it seems there are at least 3 different versions of it popping back up. One as recent as the last Bugorama.

The Veloce XR Roadster from Henry Clay Motorsports in Texas
Stage I Kit ($6,995*) includes:
*special introductory price
    * Fiberglass body, complete
    * Hoods (both front & rear, deck lid, lower rear engine panel
    * Windshield and side door fixed windows    * Mounting hardware
    * Instruction Manual



The "Dena" from R Motorsports Ltd in New York
Body Only Package: Introductory Price $4,995.00
                                   
This package is designed for those that would like to utilize a shortened VW Beetle floorpan or build their own chassis. We can also provide names of other chassis builders. Or you can come back to us later and buy our custom designed Dena chassis.

Includes: Complete fiberglass body, left and right doors, front hood, rear deck lid, engine cover, windshield, side windows.


And the AC8 from GTInnovations Sonoma, California
The Basic Kit price is ($4,200) *special introductory price
This includes: The main body, front hood, deck lid and rear engine hood all finished with a sandable grey
gel coat ready to be finished with the paint of you choice.
The roll cage coated with Gray primer and a windshield.
Option available # Carbon Fiber hood deck and engine lids. # Powder coating of the roll bar.

John, I found an old post on the samba that was from ''Manxxman'' - manxxman is the owner of MGM/FRP
Anyway he posted that the Veloce went out of business owing Fiberjet a lot of money. I would suspect he would know something being that involved in the industry.

Bart,
I think Scott is on this site.
I had been talking to him about selling him my go kart dune buggy body for him to put it into production.
John

I just found the Dena in this months Kit Car Builder listed with the same pics and a different manufacturer.
The body kit is listed for $9995 body only from PK Designs.

http://www.carconceptdesigns.com/

This person should at all costs be banned from ever making another car.
Here is another site he started, then went out of business. As you see in here, he has been in the business 27 years, and the other site, 47 years. He has more names and differant company names than anyone I have ever met.

http://www.velocemotorsports.com/company.html

http://www.carconceptdesigns.com/

http://www.gtinnovations.com/

Here are a few of the different names he uses.

Merlin Cofano

Barry Goldstien,   Our artist designer, Merlin Cofano, a.k.a. Barry Goldstien has been in this industry for over 47 years. This URL will take you to a site which depicts the past history of his work. http://www.eaglegt.com/index.php?section=history

Baryla Khodorkovsky

Merlyn Cofano

Merlin Khodorkovsky

Stay as far away as you can, this man is a scammer..  He lyed to me and started to steal all my clients, and then he was stealing all my supplys, I through him out with force. Take this thread and post to all clubs around. Here is the new address of his company,

466 Primero Ct. Cotati, CA 94931 ~  number to call, must be his cell..
415-320-0678

Thinking about buying this kit, can you provide some more detail about how your relationship went 'South' with this person?

Jon, thanks for posting about your experiences. You can't believe everything you read on the Internet.

Have you decided to purchase?

Jay

Here is an explanation taken from the link provided by Jon in the post above as to the confusion of the names that this one fella has used:
There seems to be some concerns or confusion regarding the name(s) which our designer goes by, so here is a brief biography : 'Merlin' a nickname was born a Russian Jew, Barla Goldstien. Merlin as he prefers to go by, chose to use Barry instead. When his parents were killed he was raised by his Russian grandparents 'Khodorkorsky' - pronounced "coe door cos key". Merlin created art and sculpture works under that name in honor of those grandparents.
In the years which followed, he married an attorney with her own firm and took on her last name to avoid changing all of the business 'stuff' - 'Cofano'.
After the bottom fell out of the art business, Merlin used his art skills to design cars, a re-entry into that field from his past experiences.
In 2007 he affiliated with PKDesigns.
Since PKDesigns.com was a taken Domain Name on the internet, we chose carconceptdesigns.com instead.

Jon lets hope your experiences are pleasant. Keep us posted. I know I think this body is a HOT body!

Jay

I'm very torn now, after seeing what is coming down the pike from PKDesigns. One of their prototypes is a "GT" styling type vehicle which I believe is going to knock your socks off!
I have a local upholstering company in Cotati giving me an estimate on making a canvas removable top for the Dena, and they will work on the framing for it alongside the production team. The body's price seemed a bit high to me,[$7995.00, not $9995.00 as listed in the other post] but after seeing what is all involved with putting this thing together, I think that it falls into the ballpark with other "buggy" styles. As the design is more a street legal hot rod than anything else, I would have to say that this is not "your mothers dune buggy!"
My dilemma is that of spending however much money this will end up being, to waiting and putting it toward this new "GT" when it hits the car shows, because they will not produce it until they get a certain number of deposits for it. How long it is going to be I don't know, but they are very close to making the "SPLASH MOLDS" off of it and putting up spy shots on their web site.

Time will tell!