Contemplating a Pace 427 build

[PGR]

Hi all,

Just thought I would try to gauge the sentiment out there re Absolute Pace.
I am currently thinking of parting with my Harrison which I dearly adore in favour of building the Pace 427.
I recently (about a week ago) tried to call someone at Pace and also sent an email to the "sales" address requesting answers to some questions about the kit and build process etc. however I am unable to get any reply??.
I have read some of the threads and am a bit wary of parting with deposit money and embarking on a build if this fellow is not looking after his customers.
Has anyone had any recent experience, pro/con that they are willing to share
Regards
Graham.

[madt2007]

Hi Graham,

I had the opportunity to visit the factory unannounced on Thursday (9/1/14) morning and met Craig for the first time.

Craig spent about an two hours showing me everything he could about the PACE 427!

The operation and what they are doing is truly amazing and surpasses everything I have seen to date.

As for not being able to contact Craig, when I was with him his mobile rang no less than 5 times and he ignored each call as he was talking to me. This showed his true professionalism towards a potential customer.

Do yourself a favour and make the effort to get to the factory and see the operation, you will be parting with your $$$ before you leave

Let me know if you need any further info from what I experienced during my short visit.


Cheers,

Dani

[albanycobra]

I would not have a problem giving Craig a deposit for one of his cars.

[Zedn]

There are many threads on this forum about AP and the majority are all positive. Since you have brought it up there has been one complaint on here. Other than the complaintant and AP I don't think anyone can/should comment. It comes up in several threads but it is one case (it's not actually a pace car it relates to).

Although pace is fairly new, the owner is not new to the cobra business and has been active in the cobra community for many years. Apart from the aforementioned I haven't heard a bad word said in the 4.5 years I've been on here.

There is no question about the quality of their car if that is the sort of thing you are after. Although one hasn't been registered I would be surprised if there were any compliance issues given Craig's knowledge of compliance. I have coresponded with Craig in the past on ADR issues and he is well across everything current and future.

If I wanted a pace and had the money I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them. Sounds like there is a wait, but it is a handmade car, and I know from building my car how long things take to complete.

If you are interested go and visit. If you are concerned about the bad feedback on here you could ask the people involved privately (including AP) and form an opinion based on this.

[byroncobra]

I would not have a problem giving Craig a deposit for one of his cars.

in fact if he'd return my call I might even give him a deposit for a Pace GT40...

Craig IS a hard man to catch. But persevere, once you nail him down he's very polite, personable and compassionate about his products.

[Zedn]

At this time of year, one should also remember there is a huge holiday disruption to most businesses.

[Cobra01]

Hi Graham,

I have to take Craig's defense here about phone calls and not responded to e mails.

His phone rings incessantly all day with inquiries and e mails which would drive anyone mad.

I run a Taxi base with 100 active drivers at any one time and my phone doesn't ring like Craig's,if it did i would be in a nut house.

About the build :

The best thing is that everything FITS you don't need to modify anything to get it to work.

All the nuts and bolts are supplied (as far as i can tell) with the section of the build that you order.

The level of expertise and experience at Absolute Pace is better than 1 st class if that's possible.

The design and construction surpasses anything that i have seen .

I have bought a Pace 427 so i am biased but i will make this statement to you.

If you don't want the Pace 427 Cobra after you have started on the build then I will buy it from you no problems.

Sometimes the hardest things in life are the ones that you have to work and persevere for.

Sorry I am sounding like a salesman

Cheers

Brad

[Russell9318]

Hi Graham,

This is my first post on this forum so you could call me a newby but your post has brought me out to say some things.

Making a decision on which way to go is always a bit of an issue and I look back on my own experience and where I have come from in the 2 years since I made the decision to build a Cobra and if you are interested in the ramblings and mental state of an aging devotee you are quite welcome to go to a blog I created just for the purpose and see the chops and changes I made to my thinkingin the lead up to laying down some cash. Cobra Dreaming

The amount of research that I carried out put me in a position to determine just what I wanted to achieve and how I was going to do it

I got a first hand insight to the Pace 427 at the Cobra Nats last year and was able to speak not only to Craig White (Pace owner) but to Brad who is in the final stages of a Pace construction and several other interested lookers on and I was mightily impressed with what was on offer and the comments recieved. I had determined that I did not want to spend my days running around wrecking yards and found that Pace offered me exactly what I was looking for, they will supply all the components to what ever level I want to build the car.

Prior to seeing the car in the flesh I has been communicating with Pace for some months just asking questions and getting answers, sometimes at midnight and a multitude of photos of the body, chassis and other parts started to roll in.

I had looked at various other manufactures and was impressed with all of them and what they are doing but my decision to go with Pace was the completeness of the component list and the ease of the build and also the fact that it was unique so straight after the Nats I placed a deposit to get in the que.

As madT2007 said, do youself a favor and visit the factory. I did this in late November and got the cooks tour and walked away after completing build sheet No. 27 absolutely convinced that my research that also included the opinions of Victorian Cobra Club members had steered me in the right direction.

All my communication with Pace outside of meeting face to face has been via email and the response has alway been with in a very acceptable limit.

As others on this post have indicated, the negativity is coming from a souce that is obviously a little upset and he may well be justified, that is not for me to judge however, I wanted to tell you my experience with Pace has been a good one so far and nothing seems to be too much trouble. We have set a delivery for March but the more important criteria is that the order is complete on the day the car is picked up and yes, I am getting for that day.

I wish you well in your decision which ever way it may be but work out what you want to do then set a budget, double it and multiply by 10 and you should be ready to go.

Cheers

Russell

[400TT]

Zedn, guessed the reason we are behind. I have had a lot of guys away from early December and even this week we are still down 30% of staff. Being extremely busy means that we need to pick up the slack and emails etc are left unanswered for longer than I would like.

So unfortunately we have been behind on calls and emails. We prioritise our correspondence to answer queries and questions from our existing customers first and then respond to sales inquiries as soon as we can. I haven't had much time for the forum, so have any been posting here only when I found it necessary.

I actually worked every day over the xmas break and my production manager and one of my CAD guys also worked over the break to help with the workload.

Graham, I am working my way through emails again today and will get the information you require to you asap.

We have poured our heart our soul into the PACE 427 and very proud of what we have achieved. As it's a new product we still have some finishing aspects to do, but we could already have a far more complete offering than our competitors.

When we are talking about registration compliance we really are talking about safety initiatives, that is really the end goal. With that in mind, we have left no stone unturned in safety aspects in the vehicle. From Carbon/Kevlar reinforced door skins with wide anti-intrusion bars in the doors, to full aluminium interior tub that forms a passenger safety cell, to relocated fuel tank, oversized brakes as standard, optimised brake bias, spot caliper handbrake, 3-point structural roll bar, optimised suspension geometry and suspension design, full LED rear lights(taillight & high brake) for added brightness and visibility, full aluminium frame seats that far, far surpass ADR 3/03 & 22 strength requirements, a very deep seating position etc.

I just help it, attached another small teaser exploded rear suspension assembly from the build manual. Enjoy.

[d488y2]

The 3D modelling work in the build manual looks amazing, keep up the great work at AP!

[PGR]

Thanks Guys, and thank you Craig, I will anxiously await your reply, I have a guy that seems interested in my Harrison and don't want to part with it unless I am absolutely sure that Pace is the way to go for me, I certainly like what I have seen so far but have not embarked on such a project before and need to satisfy myself that my son and I have the, room, skills tooling etc to complete as we are not just around the corner (located in Cairns).

[Tonus72]

Hi Graham

There are plenty of AP fans around...

I have been to the factory twice - once was a 2 hour tour with Craig (I was tired at the end, I do not know how he does it!!). The second trip I met Brad building his car at AP as well as some of the staff - I was free to roam for nearly 3 hours. I have heaps of photos if you want to see them.

Before I paid my deposit I grilled Craig on the phone with 100 questions for over an hour. I am sure he missed lots of calls just to be polite to me.

I have been very impressed with the product as well as the people.

I am also a long way away too (Tassie) so I know it is a tough decision.

Best of luck anyway

Tony

[PGR]

Thanks Tony, I can see why and I think I will just have to find the time and go down an look and meet for myself.
I will see if Craig will sell me a video first and that should give me a better idea of what I'm in for.

Cheers
Graham

[400TT]

Graham, highly recommend you coming down to visit and see the facility and PACE 427 in person. All of the main components are manufactured in house, so we have an 1800 sqm facility with plenty to look at.

[damage]

Graham,

Just make your own decision, from what I can see here the feed back you've received is from 2 people that have their kits and one who is till waiting the rest of the people probably haven't done business with Craig so are just vouching as mates.

I won't bag the Pace 427 because I know very little about it it looks nice the body work is perfect the engineering appears to be satisfactory.

My dealings with Craig as outlined above in someone else's post are nothing to do with the pace 427 and there is nothing wrong with the car that I have either.

I'll leave my comments at that I have already more less been called a liar by other forum users so I won't bother with all the details.

I hope you enjoy your experience.

[byroncobra]

Just make your own decision, from what I can see here the feed back you've received is from 2 people that have their kits and one who is till waiting the rest of the people probably haven't done business with Craig so are just vouching as mates.

DON'T assume that the rest have not done business with Craig.......I certainly have.

Pull your head in mate

[albanycobra]

Damage sounds like you should list your problems with AP on your own thread once and for all , then we can all move on.
list them out one by one ,let Craig reply then we are done.

[damage]

Originally Posted by byroncobra

DON'T assume that the rest have not done business with Craig.......I certainly have.

Pull your head in mate

Wow read my post again I said "probably haven't". That's distinctly different to me saying "haven't".

Perhaps I should reword it to suit you better got any suggestions?

Albany cobra I've already moved on you might note that I haven't listed any problems at all, all I said was make your own decision.