Text and photos by Jim Youngs, Editor Emeritus

If there ever was a fairytale story in the kit car ranks, the nonfiction account of the K1 Attack is certainly a Cinderella tale. And to tell it properly we need to go back to its once-upon-a-time beginning in a land far, far away. And yes, there was a castle and a handsome prince involved.

Once upon a time there was an enthusiastic kit car builder who longed to offer a slick product to the American DIY public. Back in the late 1990s, Dick Kvetnansky from Slovakia communicated with me on a pretty regular basis. He had built a Lamborghini Countach replica and a Ferrari Koenig Competition replica that he was considering exporting to the U.S. That was, of course, before some Italian lawyers shot down his intentions.

Frustrated with the downside of replicas, Dick started working on an original design re-body based on the ’82-’92 Camaro/Firebird platform. That handsome kit was introduced as the Evoluzione, along with a second iteration, both of which made it to the U.S. shores.

While the Evo was a very cool car with lots of performance potential, I always had a gut feeling that the ambitious and affable Dick Kvetnansky had even bigger ideas. This feeling was proven out during a trip in 1999 to Slovakia when I was on hand to photograph the prototype Evoluzione at a 15th Century castle in the countryside. Dick, a prince of a guy, showed me some secretive drawings of a stunning, sporty roadster in the works, penned as the Evo by Juraj Mitro a VW Europe designer working after hours for K-1 Styling & Tuning. The design hadn’t been completely fleshed out then, but in my view it had to come to fruition.

About a year later, in May of 2000, Dick planned to debut the Evoluzione at the Carlisle Import/Kit Nationals in Pennsylvania, but his show car got hung up in New York customs and thus couldn’t make an appearance. During this time frame, the Carlisle show organizers began including the burgeoning tuner-car scene in this show (which quickly overtook the event and ultimately got a different date for the show grounds). 

Disappointed that all he could do without a display was be a spectator, Dick credits that show for giving him ideas and plans for his next car, the one in the secret drawings that I saw. This new car would be based on components of some of the hot sport compacts in attendance at Carlisle, specifically the Accord, which benefits from a large and enthusiastic aftermarket support for Honda powertrains. In fact, before boarding a plane back home, Dick purchased a Honda in Washington D.C. and had it shipped to Slovakia to get started on the new car.

At the following Carlisle show, Dick showed up with a full-size cutaway display of his Attack sports car sitting on a completed proprietary tubular steel chassis. To say it was a hit is a giant understatement. The attention received by this concept greatly boosted Dick’s confidence that he’d hit on a winner.

I couldn’t but agree more. Given that I had been writing for some time about the future of the kit car business, I recall saying that this new Attack is one of the most important projects to hit our ranks in quite some time. Part of that future as I saw it was a vehicle that could take advantage of what was happening in the tuner, sport-compact segment of the automotive scene, in order to appeal to younger car guys. This was it. And apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought that way. Once word got out that the Attack would become a reality, several forum websites cropped up rabidly, spreading the word about this exciting car.

 Well, even with such significant interest in the Attack, there were inevitable delays in getting everything correct on the design. It took three years before anyone could see and touch a completed car. The eye-searing yellow prototype Attack showed up in the flesh for the 2003 Carlisle show. Getting close to it in booth of Euro Works Exotics took plenty of patience and elbowing as it was certainly the hands-down hit of the show.

Afterwards we met up with the beautiful car in Ohio for a personal look-see and even a stint at the wheel. It was everything we expected and more. It was well executed, exotic and stunning.

Long distances and a somewhat distracted manufacturer, took its toll on the launch of the Attack in the U.S. market. As near as we can determine, only 19 cars were sold in here, and something near 33 cars total were manufactured. Dick went on to develop a version of the car as a formidable and quite successful European race car, but sadly let the Attack kit fall by the wayside. 

Well, there’s a bright spot in this fairytale in the form of a company, also in a land far, far away. In 2011, the Czech firm B-racing, under the guidance of Petr Benes, was established to once again offer the K-1 Attack in kit form, as well as parts for the original cars.

The car you see here is actually one of those 19 original Attacks imported to the U.S. Bob Duxbury, a consummate car guy and retired engineer, purchased the unassembled kit in 2009 from an individual in northern California who had two complete Attack kits.

The Attack chassis was originally designed to use a bunch of components from a donor Honda Accord (’90-’96) and came with other suspension components such as late-model Audi front suspension and brakes, steering joints and those cool Audi Racing coil-over shocks sticking through the bonnet. The front suspension is a pushrod set-up with Audi lower control arms.

From the outset Duxbury knew that he wanted to use a V6 FWD package in his Attack, and thus chose a 2003 Acura 3.2L with a five-speed automatic transmission. To accomplish that he had to modify the rear mounting locations of the frame to use a complete Acura TL cradle. He also modified the frame’s upper and side bracing to clear the different power plant.

After fitting the engine with Megan Racing stainless steel headers and a K&N cold air intake, Duxbury judges the output near 300 hp, or as he says, “powerful enough for me.” He left all the engine’s emissions equipment intact. Additionally he modified the rear to accept Cadillac calipers with integral e-brake. Also reconfigured was the steering rack placement, by employing a Honda Prelude rack instead of the Accord unit, in order to better eliminate bump steer. This Attack rolls on 225/45HR18 Cooper Zenon ZPT rubber wrapped around seven-spoke Sport Maxx 18x7.5-inch wheels.

Aside from the upholstery, Duxbury accomplished the Attack build, including the paint job, in his own five-car garage. The shiny paint is about five coats of Summit Racing single-stage urethane, topped by seven coats of clear and “about a month of hand rubbing/polishing to correct/finalize my work.” To contrast the orange metallic, he applied silver urethane on the grille maw, windshield frame, taillight surrounds, roll bar covers, and interior trim.

Auto Trim Specialists, in Denver, did the cockpit upholstery in cinnamon marine-grade vinyl with matching top-stitching. Duxbury incorporated Acura TL instruments in the dash with several Faze gauges added in the center dash for monitoring temperature, boost and electrical charge. A Kenwood sound system is installed in the center of the dash and includes XDMA6415 CD, MP3, iPod player plus Bluetooth, all connected to O2 Max speakers. He describes his air conditioning as “Open-air—Colorado’s finest.” Five-point racing harnesses keep occupants secure in the unique upholstered-pads fiberglass bucket seats.

The Attack seems to be finally a viable kit car for the U.S., and apparently a lot of online enthusiasts agree. We’re thrilled that building one is still a possibility and if Duxbury’s project is any indication, the Attack is a force to be reckoned with.