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Three Kits Out the Door: V1-553, V2-002, and V2-004

V1-553 V2-002 V2-004

Written by Adam Doyle on Jun 3, 2026

Three Goblin kits left the shop today: V1-553, V2-002, and V2-004. All three are first stage kits (Stage 1 for the V1 and the Running Stage for the V2s), which makes for a decent side-by-side comparison of how much goes with each first stage.

Three Goblin kits staged side by side before pickup, with V1-553 on the left, V2-004 in the middle, and V2-002 on the right.
From left to right: V1-553 (Stage 1, with hood), V2-004 (Running Stage), and V2-002 (Running Stage), staged together before Cunningham Transport pickup.

V1-553: Headed to Ohio

V1-553 is going to Dereck in Ohio. He's building his Goblin using a 2010 automatic Cobalt with the 2.4 liter powertrain from a 2006 Cobalt. The 2.4 will give him almost 20% more horsepower than if he had used the 2.2.

V2-002: Second Goblin for Justin

V2-002 is headed to Justin in South Carolina. This is his second Goblin. His first is V1-014, which he's turned into a dedicated hill climb car. He's planning to do the same with his V2.

If you want to see what V1-014 looks like in action, check out Justin's YouTube channel for the V1 hill climb runs.

V2-002 is the gloss black chassis we wrote about back in April. Check out Justin's V2 build log to keep up to date with his build.

V2-004: Third Goblin for a Father and Son

V2-004 is headed to Jim in Kentucky. This will be his third Goblin. His first two are V1-421 and V1-483, both of which he and his son race in hill climb events alongside Justin's V1-014. They're planning to put V2-004 into the same rotation.

Cunningham Transport Handled the Pickup

All three kits left the shop on a Cunningham Transport rig today. For builders who haven't shipped a kit car before, Cunningham is different from standard freight. Their trailers have a crane system built into the rig itself, which lets the driver load and unload chassis and kit components without needing a forklift. That matters a lot for kit cars and kit planes, where the builder receiving the kit usually doesn't have heavy equipment in their driveway.

A Goblin V2 chassis in gloss black being loaded onto a Cunningham Transport trailer at the DF Kit Car shop, with shop staff inside the trailer guiding it into position.
Loading one of the three kits onto the Cunningham Transport rig at the shop.

Expected transit time is a matter of days, not weeks. Dereck, Justin, and Jim should all have their kits in the coming days.

Up Next: V2-003

V2-003 will be back from the powder coater any day. We'll share more when it gets here.
Adam Doyle
Written by Adam Doyle

Adam is a co-founder and co-owner of DF Kit Car. He has helped hundreds of builders go from donor car to first drive, and is hands on with design, operations, and support. Outside the shop he's into auto racing and tabletop games.