Kirkhams in Australia

[Donunder]

Originally Posted by damage

So I'm guessing with no car manufacturers in Australia that all of this will change maybe make it easier or is that wishful thinking.

Wishful thinking for sure ...

And you can also bet that the "luxury car tax", designed to bump up the cost of the euro cars to make them more expensive than the local offerings (and provide a nice little earner for the govt of the day!), will remain in place. I wonder how the ladies of the Toorak and Potts Point and Ascot set would feel, knowing that the Beemer that they've just paid through the nose for probably originated in Indonesia or Thailand or Egypt?

[Dimis]

Originally Posted by damage

So I'm guessing with no car manufacturers in Australia that all of this will change maybe make it easier or is that wishful thinking.

I wouldn't anticipate any changes...

If you simmer it down, the government (rightly or wrongly) still needs to protect the rest of the industry, including dealerships selling cars and the logistics and administration that goes along with that, so that employment stays low.

Consider it as a form of working for the dole... or really the government (in their minds) creating/protecting jobs in the form of bureaucracy, so that they don't have to officially count the numbers of the otherwise unemployed.

In any case rules are NOT Kirkham or Cobra specific... they apply to any car.

[Gav]

Hard to know.
Common sense surely will not prevail.

[Towmaster]

How do Superformance do it? I believe they are manufactured in Sth Africa & ? Imported whole minus engine & box ?

Someone should know?

[Dimis]

Originally Posted by Towmaster

How do Superformance do it? I believe they are manufactured in Sth Africa & ? Imported whole minus engine & box ?

Someone should know?

SPF ship in parts... At least they did when I was looking into them.
They may never have applied for SEVS.
Why exactly I couldn't tell you...
They may not have ever know about the scheme?

[Towmaster]

I just checked this list......Well bugger me..... the Robnell is on the list....... must have been when the original owner tried making them in South Africa. (Apologies to Damage)

I still believe that if it could have been done then it would have been done. It says Backdraft is on the list, anyone know of any backdrafts that were brought in using this scheme?

It also says that just because a vehicle is on the list that doesn't mean that it automatically qualifies for approval, unless it meets the cirteria.... Big risk to take given it's not guaranteed.

[DaveW]

I visited Backdraft factory in Late January, great setup and show room.
Cars are spectacular for factory finish.
Reg and his Dad are great to deal with.
Reg told me they have been involved in 4 cars to Australia, 1 white racer, which i have seen this car somewhere around the traps or on the forum, 1 i cant remember the details of, but 2 for the purpose of ADR compliance through a potential distribution deal, which they say they lost contact with.
The South African factory made a number of changes to the vehicle to bring the car up to the required ADR specs but Reg believed that steering lock requirements were the last issue they had yet to overcome when communications went quiet.

[Russell9318]

Originally Posted by DaveW

I visited Backdraft factory in Late January, great setup and show room.
Cars are spectacular for factory finish.
Reg and his Dad are great to deal with.
Reg told me they have been involved in 4 cars to Australia, 1 white racer, which i have seen this car somewhere around the traps or on the forum, 1 i cant remember the details of, but 2 for the purpose of ADR compliance through a potential distribution deal, which they say they lost contact with.
The South African factory made a number of changes to the vehicle to bring the car up to the required ADR specs but Reg believed that steering lock requirements were the last issue they had yet to overcome when communications went quiet.

Backdraft Racing Australia was run by a chap called Kevin Wolfe and was based in Perth. When I first started looking at Cobras I contacted Backdraft in South Africa and was put onto Kevin.Kevin had told me that he had cars on the way and I thought he said 5 but that may be wrong. He also claimed to have one complied and registered in W.A.

At the time Backdraft were advertising turn key minus for just under USD40K out of South Africa but I was quoted $90K for turnkey minus and $125K turnkey out of Perth. My last contact with Kevin was in November 2012, maybe it all got too hard.

Cheers

Russell

[soulman]

Do all Back drafts have the vents?

Kinda rice burner ish !

Soul.

[Zedn]

Just looking again at the ADRs. None of them require you to have airbags. ADR73 includes requirements if you have airbags, but its all performance based.

[DaveW]

No, not all BDR have the side vents, thats thier new GT body,
Most are traditional look.

I do like there blackout version the R3B though.

[guye]

Don't like hacking the Kirkham thread, but everyone else started it!

It so happens that I contacted Superformance directly about an Aussie distributor last month.

They don't have one.

I was directed to a very helpful fellow, Scott Brashier, from Hillbank Motorsport in Irvine, CA. I'm sure he won't mind me quoting part of his response here:

We can build a Superformance MKIII Right Hand Drive Roller to Australian specification. We would have to ship it from the USA. I am forwarding the order form for the MKIII’s, in which you will see in the additional options section the “Right Hand Drive” and “Australian Spec” options. I have also attached our Virtual Brochure, a sample window sticker for an Aussie Build, A list of the Aussie Build Requirements and, Images of the Right hand Drive Aussie Build. The pricing on the order form would be for the chassis delivered to the USA. Production takes 3-4 months before shipping to the USA.

The body and chassis are made in South Africa, but shipped en masse to the USA for final manufacturing to get to the roller or turnkey-minus.

I haven't challenged him to see if I can 'cut out the middle man' at least in terms of shipping. (To be honest is was all a bit rich for my budget, but if you don't ask, you don't know).

[Mark IV]

We can arrange Superformance direct from SA to Oz shipping, but as it is a one car 20' container vs. the 40' "four in one" that comes to the US, the shipping cost saving is minimal. There are some other cost savings in the US duty, etc. but those same costs will be levied at the Aussie port via the broker. Of course if you buy two or find someone to share the container the cost will go down.

[spookypt]

I also remember when I imported that my agent looked heavily into the opportunity to get some import exemptions based on the Oz/USA Free Trade Agreements which were available at the time.

The problem I found was that a high percentage of the manufacturers product content was not from the USA. With South Africa manufacturing Superformance and Backdraft and Poland with Kirkham that opportunity soon lost its gloss.

[blackprince]

Try HAWK cobras in the UK. He builds Kirkhams and many more.

[damage]

Just thought I would hijack the thread back on track.

[/url]

[soulman]

Originally Posted by damage

Just thought I would hijack the thread back on track.

[/url]

Way cool!

Is that yours?

Soul.

[damage]

Yep thats my baby

[dhs.buckley]

here is another $285k
on carpoint

2008 AC Cobra

[soulman]

Originally Posted by dhs.buckley

here is another $285k
on carpoint

2008 AC Cobra

My pants just got tight!

Every time I go off painting my car, I see a painted one and the mind starts ticking!
2008 ? I wonder how long it's been in the country?

Soul.