John,
I'm one of the ones who bought an unfinished kit. Mine is a DRB(now GT40 Australia). Original owner had it for about four years and gave up on it. It was somewhat a roller. Had a rebuilt engine that had not been fired up. I made all the classic mistakes in buying it and have written an article on buying and paying for an unfinished or used kit. It was published in the "GT40". The official magazine of the GTD 40 Car Club. I wound up violating most of the suggestions in the article, my experience(hence the suggestions). The car had a number of problems. The brake calipers were ancient corvette units which had outlived their usefulness. The rebuilt engine had been left out in the rain, and there was rust in several of the cylinders etc., etc., etc. The article is really very informative and full of useful suggestions to save the potential buyer a lot of headaches and money.
I will make copies available to any of the members that would want it. It is sitting on my computer. Buying an unfinished kit is a bigger challenge than most realize. Unless you have a dedicated time frame and a budget to match, along with an understanding wife or girl friend, the project will take at least 3 times your time frame and one and a half times your budget. I think others will agree, that life's little inconviences have a way of popping out of the woodwork, slowing you down to a snails pace, and depleting your budget. I had planned on 6 to 8 months to finish mine. I had money put aside to purchase, and completely finish it. Now 3 years later, it still sits on its stand(it has been down a time or two for paint and rollcage etc.). A tremendous amount of progress and $20K later, it is still not on the road. It's just the way life is when you have a house and two kids to keep up. You just work on it when you can, and you think of lots of ways to save money.
Bill