tddnepa: ....Just an FYI: say something negative about Shelby around here and you're in a world of hurt. Of course, if you say something bad about ANY manufacturer, people will defend their products AND their choices. Pretty simple........as well as understandable.
I was in the market a couple months ago myself, and in the final few weeks heard some "strange" news about the SA plant. One comment was that the plant seemed to be closed down. Of course I heard this from "another mfgr" that also has a plant in SA, so I took it with a grain of salt. But then a buddy of mine was in S.Africa on business. He made it a point to look up the Shelby plant wanting to check it out for himself (he was also in the market for a roller......still is in fact), and said that he went there 3 times in a matter of a couple weeks and all 3 times the place was a ghost town. No signs of any cars parked anywhere either.
Prior to his visit, I spoke to someone from Shelby and obtained information on the SA rollers. Everything was mailed to me right away and the spec's on the car looked pretty good. I also have pictures of the "proto-type".......which also looks good. .........Then I hear of a "delay" in production. People that were told they would be getting their cars in December were pushed back to Feb. The time frame on getting a roller almost doubled. Originally I heard January........then February......then late spring, maybe early summer. All of a sudden, I got to thinking about the things I heard about the SA plant........and then I started to think about the Series 1 cars and the folks that had deposits on those vehicles.............yikes.
I didn't want to purchase a car without seeing one in person (and not the proto-type.......they are built to sell cars off of). I'm sure the SA cars will eventually come out and most likely be a very good product. I just didn't want to wait, that's all. I have a thing about forking over money before actually seeing / touching the product (and I don't car WHO'S name is on it!). Waiting for these cars to finally hit the street, find someone who has one in my area that I can look at, and THEN place an order and wait for who know's how long to get it, just wasn't for me. I was thinking I probably wouldn't get a car until summer of '05, and if I wanted to wait THAT long I would have gone with my original choice, ERA.........who I ALREADY knew made a top notch car and has been doing so for many years.
If the "name" means a lot to you, I would wait it out and see what happens. I'm sure the SA Shelby cars will make it to the states before too long, and will probably be a good product. If it doesn't matter who's name is on it, then there are other companies out there that we already know make great cars at the same price point (or less). Whatever you choose, I'm sure you will be happy. However, if you are looking at this as an "investment" (your reason for going with the Shelby name?), then you may want to check out some GT-350 or 500's.
By the way...............Tubes, or solid state? Maybe we can start bashing some of the makers of amplifiers! He, he, he.
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