Well, remeber THE country is Scotland. There might be a couple of others somewhere but if so, they're not very active on Social Media or FB. The 7 of us are all in the FB group and all in a separate Wotsapp group for arranging random meet-ups and runs. It works well.
How does the factory keep going? Well, interestingly (perhaps) this ties in a wee bit with the cost / values thing in your rant(s). They do very well indeed!!
The new Ultima model, The Ultima RS, will cost circa £130k as a factory build, will set you back about £90-100k as a basic kit (depending on engine spec) and they have a 3 year waiting list for factory build cars. I think if you want a kit you should be about 12 months. Within a week or so of the public release of the RS they had 40 orders from all over the world (to be fair, the weak exchange rate is helping them) so it shows that there are enough dafties out there ready to hand over a fair chunk of dosh for a bespoke "kit / component" car.
When I say "£130k" I bet most folk are saying, "golly, that's a lot". But I doubt anyone looking to buy one would be bothered if it was £140k or £120k.
Second hand values of Ultimas are in a really good place. I said earlier that when I look at Stratos Replica asking prices I always think they are lower than I might have expected. Perhaps because I have an LB being built at the moment that's just wishful thinking from me but I'm not really doing mine to lose money. The second hand asking prices for Ultimas is really strong. There's never many for sale and there are always more folk wanting to buy one than there are cars for sale. I've never seen a "bargain" car being sold. Assuming you can afford it the quantum of money isn't really the issue. For Ultimas the barrier to entry isn't really the cost but whether you want a totally impractical, uncomfortable, compromised, selfish, road-legal track car or not. Good second hand earlier non-RS cars like mine at £60k/£70k/£80k (the engine fitted tends to determine the rough price bracket) can change hands without being advertised.
IMHO the Stratos replicas are on an even higher level. There's a history to the originals, the difference in cost between a replica and an original is such that they're not in the same ballpark. There's so much more to wanting a Stratos replica than simply wanting a fast car. However, anyone who sells at their asking price can't really complain.
... and breathe
Jim
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