New triumph based kit...ac ace

[redratbike]

Just spotted this on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC-Ace-rec...item27f24dda71oddly they have started their own forum

http://martletandcrown.freeforums.ne...it-information

[garyh]

Lovely looking.

[davecymru]

That is a really nice looking car and what seems to be (at first glace) a nicely thought out kit!

I will admit that this bit:

"The original Triumph engine and gearbox are mounted on custom mounts further back on the chassis and an alternative triumph propshaft replaces that of the Vitesse."

Did worry me on first read, as from all my reading of the "Chassis modification" rules over the years i had thought this was a no-no.
But... i will admit when i'm wrong! and after re-reading the advice and guidance clarification notes to ACE:
http://www.the-ace.org.uk/chassis-an...-modification/
I can see that this mod is allowed -

So good on em

I look fwd to seeing how the Mikes (Sammio/Miglia) step-up to respond to this upstart,as at the end of the day they are all fighting for the same shared and ever-dwindling pool of donors!

[oxford1360]

Dave, I agree that the donor pool is the same, but I think that the market is a different one - £5k cf <£2k.

I like having no qualms about cutting and changing the base Sammio. I would be terrified to drop a spanner on the Ace. It does look good.

These are the same guys that built the nappy-brown Sammio Spyder with the aeroscreens and black wire wheels. From their site it looks like they had to paint it white to sell it -
http://www.martletandcrown.co.uk/martlet-special

Leaving the rear outriggers in place didn't really add to the look!

[Mister Towed]

Looks very pretty. The price is a bit hard to swallow though, albeit competitive with the price of a 356 Speedster body shell from the likes of Martin and Walker. M&W don't expect the customer to tackle their R&D work for them though. Hmm, would I trust that company with five grand of my hard earned?

I also had to do a double take when I saw the bare body in the last couple of pics on the ebay ad as I thought it was a Miglia shell.

At that price for the body it's not going to be a cheap build, if it was my business I'd be looking to Chesil's model and churn out turn-keys for around the £20k mark, but not kits. Otherwise, their real competition is Hawk cars who are well established and charge a similar amount for their kit -

http://www.hawkcars.co.uk/hawk289/hawk18_26.html

[peterux]

The business is already up for sale........

http://www.martletandcrown.co.uk/investment



caveat emptor.............

[davecymru]

Hope it wasn't due to something we said?