Cobra Kits Australia

[Zeus]

Originally Posted by puttputt

Mate, nothing you have said needs an apology imo. You have started an interesting thread
that is relevant to all folks that are at the same stage as yourself, heck, you even got Absolute Pace to respond, and it is nice to hear from the manufacturer.
So keep on firing away, because that is what the forum is all about.

I was very keen on the A/Pace kit, but decided I preferred a steel chassis, and they only seem to do aluminium, (but if it was a motorbike, then i would only want aluminium).

So good luck with your research, the only dumb question is the one asked when it is too late !

Well said puttputt

I think what you have to consider is that everyone is going to be loyal to the brand they have chosen and the decision that they made to choose their particular car.

But to throw some fuel on a fire.

I'm sick and tired of all the BS about the pace car, its why I don't bother with this forum.

I actually suggested a friend of mine in NSW look at the Pace car but he gave up as his emails went continually un replied and phone calls not returned.

Clinch point for him was that when he approached an accredited Engineer in NSW, was actually the recommended Engineer from the NSW Cobra Club he was warned off the kit.

Out of curiosity I called the Engineer myself although I have absolutely no interest in ever building one. He said he had 3 customers intending to build pace kits but he would not look at them until the design fault in the suspension had been rectified.

It was something about a design fault that would cause the vehicle to be dangerous should a spring or shock failure. He was astounded that Pace were continuing to offer the kit to the public in its current design.

I must admit, I am blown away with the number of people who have committed to this kit when there is not even one that has been registered.
Not even a Factory Demo or R & D vehicle.

Perhaps Mr White could elaborate on these two points. I know that he is aware of the issue as the Engineer had discussed with him personally.

I'm not attacking Craig as I accept that his reputation and ability are 1st class but if it is correct that the Pace was released almost 3 years ago why are there none completed.

If I was in his position I would have wanted some more piece of mind that my customers were going to be safe by way of building and registering a car rather than trusting in a computer drawing programme that it should all be ok.

To then actually accept orders from customers who have acted in good faith on the hype that you have created when not even one had ever even hit the road.
Wow that's balls.

Thought it was pretty curious also how Mr White just seemed to vanish off this forum when he was confronted by Damage over his dealings with Absolute Pace on his Kirkham. (Last I heard AP now has a lawsuit to answer on this one).

I'm on my 3rd Factory Five in just under 3 years and couldn't be happier. The product is 1st class and the support ( not that I needed any) was there if I did. Cobra went together like a meccano set and flew through full ICV rego. The 33 Hot Rod was a little more challenging but all done inside 12 months and now I'm onto an 818.

And Absolute Pace has 20 employee's?? Well what the f#*k are they all doing.
If the kit is as complete and superior as you say then why don't you just stop them for a day or two and build a car. If it was a Factory Five you could.

And to all those Pace boys with your spread sheets, how bout you wait til you have a registered car and have added up the receipt file before you get too sucked into spreading all the hype about how good these cars are.

$85k already on a spreadsheet for a gel coated finish car with stick on stripes, good luck with that.

Ok boys kick away, Only thing I'll add is that unless you have built and registered your Pace 427 please don't bother.

[400TT]

Zeus, thank you for the apology. I have only just seen your posts.

As to why we have taken the approach we have to production. I believe we had no choice. Due to the expertise, equipment & quality processes required to produce our major components to the level we wanted, we had to set up our manufacturing facilities in house. e.g. Chassis Fabrication Shop, Composite (Body) Shop etc. We have outsourced this manufacture in the past and knew of the limitations of outsourcing some of the critical aspects. Also we just could not produce just one, to produce one, meant setting up facilities and people that need to be fully utilised moving forward.

We launched the kit when we had the Starter kit finished and ready for sale. Basically what every other manufacturer sells. At this stage we had not fully developed all the components for the more complete kit offerings and that is what we have focused on for the past 12 months. Even to the stage where we have dozens of options etc offered.

Our last item to develop is a full wiring loom offering. High spec, oem quality wiring loom that is virtually plug in and go. We already have a kit loom offering.

Also to be fair, most major Cobra manufacturers that I know of, sold their initial kits before they had a complete car. So our approach is not uncommon.

Originally Posted by Zeus

I know that he(Craig) is aware of the issue as the Engineer had discussed with him(Craig) personally.

Just to clarify I have not been contacted directly by any engineers about any issues. Although we welcome any feedback.

Are we just talking about outer bump stops in case of shock failure? A spring failure will not cause this issue as we already have rubber bump stops at the shock.

It is not common to see a Cobra with outer bump stops. Actually I could not even name a Cobra that has front outer bump stops.

But we are not just producing any Cobra and have bump stops planned for supply to owners as it fits in with our focus on safety. The chassis is already designed for them.