Kirkham vs Shelby

[nkb]

Status as of December 6, 2023

Almost to the day, 2 years after placement of my order, my CSX alloy roller has just departed Hi Tech in South Africa. Headed east with stops in the UAE, India and China before arriving in Los Angeles. Seven weeks in transit with 3 different ships. In a 40 foot container with another CSX 8000, a CSX 7000, and a GT40.

Current position by satellite on the open sea is between Mozambique and Madagascar.

By the time the car gets to me it will have more than circumnavigated the earth. Poland to Provo, to Norfolk,VA to South Africa to India to China and back to the US. Well over 30,000 miles before it ever hits the pavement.

I don't know exactly when the body/frame was created by Kirkham in Poland as the roller already existed in Utah when I placed my order. But, from scratch it has probably been on the order of 2.5 years and counting. By the time it gets here for finishing (including drivetrain, paint, SB 100 registration) it will easily be 3+ years in the making.

The current process to supply an alloy Shelby CSX is incredibly inefficient and time consuming. It took 7 months alone to accomplish shipping the already partially assembled roller from Utah to South Africa. Then another 17 months on site in South Africa.

Along the way I was promised a much, much shorter time frame by the powers that be. Still to go, 7 weeks transit to the US and then further outfitting in Irvine of the Kirkham diff, wheels/tires, seat belts, etc. And then finally to my garage in Northern California where I can get to work fitting the drivetrain and finishing everything else.

Carroll accomplished the production of an original alloy Cobra much, much faster 60 years ago! Incredibly, the entire production of 655 original leaf spring CSX's took substantially less time than my single car!