RIDING AROUND Classic car kits latest cart rage

Today golf carts are found a lot more places than just the golf courses.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CHAMPION -- There was a time that the only place you found golf carts was on the golf course.
But that's not the case these days. Just ask Dave Bennett.
Bennett, the owner of Champion Golf Cars, has watched his business boom in recent years as more of his sales and rentals have nothing to do with the golf business.
He's renting and selling golf carts to fairs, camp grounds, horse and dog shows and to people who have a lot of acreage around their homes.
Latest in cart design
This is one reason that the 41-year-old Champion native has taken on a new design for his carts, the classic car kits.
"You go to a camp ground or a fair and there might be 100 carts in use there and people are trying to figure out just what cart is theirs," Bennett said.
"Now they are looking for a cart that they can identify quickly as their own and these new classic car kits are an easy way for them to do it," he said.
Bennett, who has been in the business for himself for over 20 years and before that worked for others in the golf cart repair business, has 12 different classic car kits available.
"We have kits that look like Hummers and we have a '49 Dodge Pickup kit as well as a '47 Mercury and a '57 Studebaker and several others," he said.
Kits available
Bennett will sell the carts completely finished or he will sell the kits separately for the do-it-yourselfer. He said that he has plenty of new and used carts available at his shop.
He gets his kits from a dealer in Florida and he said that he checked out several dealers before finally settling on one.
"One thing about our kits it that they can be tailored to the individual," he said. "We can paint them any color or you can do it yourself."
Bennett says that he's still in the golf course cart business and rents to area courses on a daily rental or by fleets for the season, but he finds that he's doing more and more business outside the golf courses.
"I started in this business in my garage on a dead end street here in Champion until the business got too big and I had to look for a place."
Business in Champion
His business is now located on Mahoning Ave. (Route 45) in Champion right next to Willow Lake Camp Grounds. He also lives above the shop with his three children.
Bennett says that his kits range in price from $1,500 to $3,000 depending upon just what kits and what extras the buyer wants.
He has kits that include coolers and can adapt from carrying just people to being used on the golf course.
"These are the only vehicles around today where you're actually encouraged to drink and drive," he joked. "So they have to be pretty durable."
Bennett says that his kits will adapt to most recent models of golf carts, but he has put them one some as old as 1983 models.
"Everybody is looking for the cheapest buys they can find when they come looking," he said. "We've got some good used carts here and it's tough to find good used equipment."
Favors gas carts
He favors the gas run carts over the electric ones.
"Today the electric carts have close to the power of the gas carts, but with electric you know that in three or four years the batteries will have to be replaced and that's a pretty big cost, while with gas, if they are properly cared for will last a whole lot longer than that."
Bennett says that the next big kit that he's waiting for is the 1965 Mustang kit which he hopes will be available shortly.
"I've also seen a couple of NASCAR kits, but those are sold through the drivers or the circuit," he said. "We'd certainly like to have a Dale Blaney kit available some day here."
For more information about the carts or the kits contact Bennett at (330) 847-0812.
mollica@vindy.com