This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.
I have just secured a deal with the Dutch Kit car dealers Kitcarcollection . They are a company selling used kit cars and some new products in Holland.
They are going to be my distributor for the Formosa packages and the idea is to supply each package with a rolling Triumph chassis and documentation . This enables the buyer to self build in Holland with less issues than many other kit options.
Bas , the owner , is no stranger to the Kit Car market and he is able to register these cars very easily in Holland and once registered there , export into Germany , Belgium , France etc is much easier than direct from UK too ...
My deal is to give Bas exclusive rights for Holland , any enquiries to me from there will be directed back to him ...I would recommend any interested parties in Germany , Belgium etc. to deal with Bas in Holland too ...as I think he is of great value to a buyer/builder in the registration process ....
First package has been ordered , a suitable donor chassis and V5c is in place , I will create a rolling shell to be shipped ...pictures to follow ...
Thank you ....the law changed in Holland fairly recently and a once fairly relaxed system got very tight over night ...kits cars built post 1998 , I think are very difficult to get on the road now ..they have to be tested like a new car ...so Bas buys older builds to stay in business ...The concept I created with the S*mmio and its kin works in Holland , they have a 2/3's original ruling , a bit like our 8 point system and the Formosa qualifies and retains the same advantages a classic car does in Holland , ie. road tax exempt etc...so even new builds are ok to register , cars like MEV Replicar , Cobra's etc. are not going to appeal to the home builder anymore ....so happy days !!
Just goes to show that the Europe thing has not worked for many. It was meant to be a level playing field with equal rights and rules across the board. This is a good example that it isn't the case and that some countries within the EU are more equal than others !
Anyway, good luck with your exports, it looks like you have hit the ground running. Those bodyshells look really good quality and value for money, you will do well with them.
Thank you ....Bas was telling me to get a new build through the test now , paying the revenue etc. could easily cost around 20,000 euro's !!
Thats mad ....
Thank you ....Bas was telling me to get a new build through the test now , paying the revenue etc. could easily cost around 20,000 euro's !!
Thats mad ....
First body in the workshop , frame arriving tomorrow and then a quick assembly onto a rolling chassis exercise on Monday and we are good to go ...first one off to Holland next week ... pictures to follow !
Shipped by a company called TOMAC TRANSPORT ...They collected from me about a month ago ,after several date changes they finally wanted to pick it up at midnight ..I said no ...so it was collected the following morning ...Bas was told he would have it a week later approx... about a month later , after several date changes , he got the phonecall ...''we will be with you at midnight !! '' He is more tolerant than me and agreed ...they were late ...
I strongly advise no one to use this company ..god knows where that kit has been in the interim period ....or how safe it was etc.
I thought that too Red ..but the tape , door frames and panels inside look like they are undisturbed .....
To be honest , the minute I suspect anyone is about to copy it , I will withdraw the kit from the market and only supply finished turnkey cars ...
Why would you punish genuine potential customers? You would just drive them towards the bandits? I can understand why you might go that route to keep the value high though.
If it helps I know a guy who will deliver a car any where in Europe!
I have used him several times and find he is reasonable, very reliable, safe and most importantly his work is a door-to-door service.
He has just quoted me £960 to deliver the Bugatti from Swindon Wilts to Feriburg Germany.
Beats the other quote of £1,880 hands down.
If it helps I know a guy who will deliver a car any where in Europe!
I have used him several times and find he is reasonable, very reliable, safe and most importantly his work is a door-to-door service.
He has just quoted me £960 to deliver the Bugatti from Swindon Wilts to Feriburg Germany.
Beats the other quote of £1,880 hands down.
THANK YOU ...That sounds like it might be Cedric ? I have used him before but lost his details ...found him on Shiply ...nice guy ..
Why would you punish genuine potential customers? You would just drive them towards the bandits? I can understand why you might go that route to keep the value high though.
I do understand where you are coming from Barber , but you are approaching the debate from a customer / enthusiast perspective ....I have to look at it with my business / survival hat on ...
I am not just in this game for monetry gain ...I am a genuine enthusiast , so fully get what you are saying ....I created the S*mmio because I had no realistic options presented to me when I decided I want a 50's Sports car ...
If I pulled my body from the market , the options are still plentiful nowadays thanks to the current trend towards all things retro ...
I have invested a lot of time and money into this bodyshell , spent money I shouldn't have , made sacrifices I shouldn't have , literally lived on virtually no money for 18 months , did jobs I didn't want to do for people who took advantage of my obvious hunger , etc etc etc...not going to cry about it , but I equally would be pretty pissed off if I gave somebody else the opportunity to profit from my efforts .....so , if someone copied it , I would pull it ...anyone who simply can't live without a Formosa could still approach me and I might release a body , or they could buy one from Blackbeard Mouldings ...
You are right , restricting access to the bodies and building turnkeys , like DNA did , could push the value up ...maybe , but prices are rising off the back of the classic market anyway ...ironically , rising values is what makes piracy even more attractive ...
If I only offered turnkeys and someone bought one and copied it , at least I would have taken upwards of 20,000 of their pieces of 8 off of them ...at the moment , just over 3 grand gets someone into the game , plus moulding costs obviously ...
Bas has ordered a second kit with a third in the pipeline , but interest appears to be going toward LHD option .
I'm not ready to mould a LHD version yet , and we agreed to supply the first one as a cut and altered example initially ...
I made a start yesterday ...the body was moulded minus a headrest , to give me a start ...the headrest was made seperately ..
The buyer is considering 2 humps now ...so I might be grafting the deleted one back on !!
Here's the beginnings of the dash conversion ...
I will sand it up tomorrow and carry on with the boot mods ...
Yes the hinged access is cool ...funnily Bas and myself were talking about the very same a few days ago when the double hump conversation was going on and I sent him pictures of an opened rear on an SLR ... I like it , its a bit of faffing around on a glass car to get tight gaps and thin enough edges on panels without them being too thin ...
