Bought my race car(SSC Civic). Ran it for a few years in Regoinal SS classes (back when we had 10-15 SSC cars at a Regional...). Converted it to ITS when it moved to IT. Then got it moved to ITA. Been building/fixing it for over 10 years now. Didn't build it, but have 'built' it in upgrades and repairs (more than I like to think about in 10+ years) and know the car inside and out.

We built my brother's Civic, but had a perfect shell to start with. Would have been cheaper to buy, but had a great starting point with tons of go-fast parts and many years of experience with the model. (Having hundreds of spare parts makes the build easier!)

If you want to have the fun of building - go for it! It really is FUN! You will know the car inside and out when it is complete!

If you want to race ASAP - write a check and have fun! You will still go thru the car after purchase (Prior to racing it), so you'll 'kinda' know the car.

I'll buy my next race car (unless I want a break and feel like taking my time to build one - AKA: too poor to race and need an excuse to not be... ).