I joined this Club for proper punctuation, acceptable grammar, structured sentences, sensible paragraphs and some evidence of a vaguely coherent thought process being committed to paper. If you can't provide that, and on the evidence before me I recon even the Supreme Court would struggle to define the terms of reference wide enough to include the above... then I'm off!!
only kiddin
If that's what you need Jim, PistonHeads is that way>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Pistonheads: A place to be seen and not heard
Re the Insurance / Valuation thing: My Ultima has an agreed valuation with the insurer. The insurer wouldn't accept a valuation from the Ultima Factory. They insisted it was an independent valuation and, since I'm in the Ultima Owners Club (known to you and me as the Facebook Group for Ultima Owners) they said they would accept a valuation from me if it was supported by something from that group. That support was a screenshot of a short online FB discussion with me beginning with "hey, I need an agreed valuation for my GTR, I've proposed £X. Would you guys who know the car well and have seen it agree that was about right?.. and all my mates agreeing that this figure was more than reasonable and infact might be worth even more" Simples.
Re meets: We had an Ultima breakfast meet last month and 5 out of the 7 cars in the country turned up. That's over 70%. Bunch of sad gits tho
Re sales values: I don't think you can quibble if you get what you are asking for. I've yet to see a Stratos replica for sale where my first thought was, "Crikey, that's expensive" and it's more usually "Hmmm, I would have expected that to be asking a bit more" and that goes for the cars that have recently been up for sale and sold.
Chris - yep, the legal side had crossed my mind, but other car clubs offer this service so it must be doable. Is it because it just comes under the concept of "advice"? Are you not asking for a knowledgeable 2nd opinion, but as with anything to do with people, it might not be 100% perfect? Maybe you offer the service along the lines of "best endeavours"?
Valuation - well, I've actually been asked by a couple of people about providing that...as Jim says, it could be as simple as a few members giving an opinion. On the car, I mean, not the state of the planet
Meeting attendance...to be honest, it doesn't matter to me personally, cos people can do (or not do!) what they want. But the "where's everyone gone" comments after various do's got me wondering what's changed and what it is that folks want? And because of these low attendance numbers, maybe people DO disappear after a build? I'm just trying to find out, cos this club isn't just a website (I hope). I mean, the whole raison d'etre of a club is that it's a social thing!
What does concern me, though, is when someone puts a load of effort into organising something, and then just a few people turn up. Can be quite disheartening. Doesn't apply to my Northern Run events cos I boost the numbers with a few pals, but for something like Silverstone and Castle Combe where you need to provide actual Stratoses, it's tricky (none at all on the Northern Run this time, which I found highly amusing). Think it was 5 turned up to C.C. last week, just enough to meet the minimum stand number? We lost Curborough after last year, when I think there were only 2 cars, and some who said they were going didn't bother.
Jim - think you know very well what to expect from this club, especially in terms of immaculate prose...there ain't any! And you're deffo out of luck with committing it all to paper - unless you wanna print it offOh, and you forgot "spelling", which is convenient cos the word is "reckon", hahaha!
I'm with you regarding PoisonHeads...sorry, Pistonheads. Great idea, unfortunately spoiled by egos. Hey, maybe I should join??
By the way, are there really only 7 Ultimas in the country? How does the factory keep going??
Oops, forgot to endorse Jim's "sales values" comment - I'm thinking they're a bit on the low side still. But that's why I'm proposing something that might pull it all together so we're all singing off the same sheet...or the same song...or whatever the analogy is!
Phil's kicked the thing off with what he got for his car. Jim, do you know how much your helicoptering mate got for his, and would he mind you sharing that?
I'm pretty sure I pitched Phil's at a not too high or low price of £45k when we first discussed it in passing. It was just my opinion, 'nothing more.Originally Posted by Normb666
It seemed to take long enough to sell at that. 'Nellie' might have gone for a little more, but how long does a seller want to wait, and how soon does the seller want to move on?
Norm, I think you might be missing the point with MGBs, E-Types etc.?
You're buying a 'look'. Of course the technology of old 1960s British sports cars is awful.
Being used to the high build quality of modern cars doesn't help.
Dear Chairman Norm
Re the setting up the a network of like minded people who could give an unbiased revue of a vehicle for people who have no clue what they are looking at is a good idea, However…
There are people out there who are absolutely clueless about Strato’s replica’s or even the history surrounding the original, but are prepared to spend vast amounts of money because “it looks a fantastic car and I want one”
If people choose to buy a car “blind” then that is their prerogative.
The chap who bought Nellie didn’t have a Scooby Doo regarding the type of kit, engine spec, brakes suspension etc… She was just an eye full of car to him. He did bring his father in law over with him who was a ex rally man and knew mechanically what to look for. But their familiarity of the Strato’s and it’s replica’s ended there. They were both really nice guy’s but I have a feeling that I could have got away with stretching the truth if I had the mind to !!
I also feel that there will be several cars “lost” to the club, Nellie being one of them, I have given Sylvain (the new owner) all the contact details I can and also extolled the virtues and benefits of our club, however as yet he has not joined. Maybe in the future ?
There does appear to have been several cars sold in recent years and disappeared from our club, but there’s the rub… not all people want to be a member of a club… any club.
Which leads on to our club, it has evolved into a “different” club to what it used to be when this dinosaur was one of it’s first members, my number was 6 (I think), back then when the industry was starting to turn out proper great looking replicas rather than “sheds on wheels”. The various manufacturers were selling Kits, whereas now more and more completed Cars are being sold. I went to my first club meeting just outside Doncaster and remember talking extensively to Geoff Turton who had finished his car immaculately, he had made all sorts of parts himself which was not included in the kit, his attention to detail was superb, again something which was not in the build manual but was achieved by extensive research, a proper engineer. There was more talk about a bracket for this, how does this go together, where did you find that, who sells this, etc because it was all fairly new to us all and we were all prepared to make things from scratch.
There were also more people competing in rallies, sprints and hillclimbs than there appears to be now. For a few years at Abingdon we had our own Strato’s category with up to 9 or 10 cars entered in the sprint and one year in total 21 cars attended, what a sight that was.
We have evolved into a different club with a different personality with a different type of member, so nowadays what do the members want?... personally time permitting I like to build, mend, make improvements to my cars, go on tours either weeks or weekends (now that I don’t compete anymore), I don’t go to as many shows to display my car as I used to as to me I have “been there and done that”, So for me personally things have changed over the years.
Whatever each individual want’s from the club I don’t know but the website is a very important focal point for us all.
Phil the Dinosaur
Ta Chris, this is why I'm wondering if we can get some sort of consensus. All prices are just an opinion...a guess
I know what you're saying about the old tackle, but there's gotta be more to it than looks (or I'd never get any wimmin!). Unless they're just going to sit in a garage, you have to drive the things, and yeah, they're somewhat lacking in sophistication c/f new cars, but you accept that. I just think the "classics" have got overpriced, is all. Reason I mentioned MGs and Healeys is because they're supposed to be the "cheap" and "affordable" ones....
You're right, but I think it's getting back to the, err, 'norm'.
I saw a nice Fiat Dino Coupe recently auctioned in the teens, when the dealers are still trying to get £40k.
It's mint 80s hot hatches that are going silly now.
Dear Dinosaur Phil,
Will we be seeing you in the next Jurassic World movie? Hope so...although you might now say "not on (in?) my Nellie"
All points taken and agreed. I have to ask the questions and rock the boat cos as Chairman, that's my job - to keep the boat afloat and heading in the direction the rest of the passengers want! If the world's changed and it's mainly about the Forum, that's great, cos it makes life much easier for the Committee having to do nowt/very little
I get that some don't want anything to do with clubs. I'm actually one of them...I initially joined as a fact-finding exercise and then realised that here, we don't have the usual "core Mafia" that you find in bigger outfits, who run the club for their own ends, and I was mightily gratified. I'm determined to keep it that way, friendly and open to all. That's why I need to gather opinions!
As for buyers of our cars, well, how they do business is their concern. I just don't want any negative fallout from a bad experience to impact on the club, so I'm floating the inspection/valuation idea - even if no-one ever uses it, we could point to it and say it was available.
Slightly off-topic, I remember Geoff Turton building his car back in the day, as I was doing my Allora. It made for quite a depressing feeling when I'd pop round to see how he was getting on, making all those bits, altering the chassis, etc. etc. cos there's no way I could do any of that (and I couldn't afford his replica inside door handles either). But then, he makes a living as a fabricator! It did contribute to my feeling of inadequacy regarding my car and why I was never truly happy with it, although looking back there was really no need to feel that way as I'd built it to the best of my abilities. And nothing ever fell off it and it never let me down!
Anyway, come on, everyone - all opinions welcome...remember, if you want something to happen, and you don't tell anyone, it probably won't
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