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  #1  
Old 14th July 2011, 10:59
Inspace Inspace is offline
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Default Classic Replicas Beware!

CLASSIC REPLICAS BEWARE! CLASSIC REPLICAS BEWARE! CLASSIC REPLICAS BEWARE! CLASSIC REPLICAS BEWARE!
This company offers to make you a Ferrari Dino Replica it is still running and at present have a large sum of my money with no sign of a promised car or returning my funds.
I was told by GORDON AINSLEY (owner of Classic replicas) I was buying a part built car from a customer who was unable to take the car.
My experiences of this man now puts this in question.
The car was promised to be ready in April /May. Then with out contacting me it moved to June. When I called to see how it was going and subsequently visited (in June) I was told End July. When I got there I found the car no where near complete. No doors, Boot, bonnet, Glass, lights, not sprayed, no wheels,No bumpers, no interior ordered as well as many other issues.

Gordon who seemed like a nice guy when I first met him but he has avoided me since the first set back and now will not take my calls.
I am forced to pass messages through his secretary and even then he still doesn't respond.
He has left me no choice but to consider Legal action against the company as I have tried ever other way to make this deal work, even offering to take the car as it stands and have someone else build it.

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE. GORDON AISLEY CAN NOT BE TRUSTED DO NOT HAND OVER ANY MONEY. I even mentioned the negative comments posted on this site once when I was there and he suggested it was a bad customer. I really wish I had spoken to that customer instead. Do not be fooled or you will be sorry. With out doubt he will be on responding and I welcome it.. He will say 'call me' but they are hollow words as he won't speak to me. He will suggest there are two sides as with a previous customer. You just need to read between the lines. This is a small business unable to produce more than 2-3 cars a year, if that the same cars have been there every time I visited.
Ask to speak to a satisfied (unrelated) customer if there is one. I have never come across such a crazy situation. He is letting himself down and a potentially good idea go to waste. His staff are always helpful but without GORDON AINSLEY keeping his word they are left to pick up the pieces.


I AM POSTING THIS TO WARN OTHER POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

If you are a someone else who has had bad dealings with CLASSIC REPLICAS or GORDON AINSLEY then please get in touch and lets join forces.

Contact me at ugotme.austin@gmail.com

Last edited by Inspace; 14th July 2011 at 12:33..
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  #2  
Old 21st July 2011, 07:12
Inspace Inspace is offline
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Exclamation Update

Just To keep others aware I have had No contact from anyone who is a satisfied customer of Classic Replicas UK. Or for that matter has a good word for Gordon Ainsley who owns Classic Replicas UK.

I have had contact from customers who have and are having the same experience with this company. Gordon Ainsley refuses to contact them. One previous customer has told me that he has been trying for over 4 years to get a car from Classic Replicas and has still no satisfaction. They also offered him the option of taking a part built car, incomplete in components, unregistered and with no build manual (because there isn't one).

Another customer who after the same process of delay and not receiving his car when promised, was offered the car but called Gordon's Ainsley's bluff and took the car from Classic Replicas workshop in Bridgwater. A very expensive mistake for him he reflects. The car was so badly build that most of it has had to be rebuilt. Front suspension out of line, rear suspension, out of line and an endless list of problems. These are all words from the customer to me.
There are others who tell me that his chassis will not pass the road safety registration so he is using Deon Chassis to get them passed (if he ever gets that far). This again is not my experience but a previous customer who has passed this information to me.

Gordon Aisley says the moulds are from an Original 246 Ferrari Dino. No one seems to believe this and I have spoken to lots of people trying to get the truth. The main thread that stays constant is he bought the Deon moulds from the company when it went bust. Owing him money as he owned a haulage company and transported their body's around.

NO ONE apart from Gordon Ainsley, has ever seen this Ferrari Dino that the moulds were taken from. It could be they just haven't come forward yet.
If your out there please come forward. I would love to speak to you?

I am not tired of receiving emails about this company so please keep them coming. If nothing else I can update others to make them aware what this company actually does to make money.

It may also serve to help those customers who still have no car from Classic Replicas UK, get their money back!

How does a company offer a self build car without a build manual?
Then you find the owner Gordon Ainsley in this case, won't talk to you!
Can't make that build easy.....
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  #3  
Old 25th October 2011, 20:32
ballroom ballroom is offline
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Hi Inspace, Has anything changed since July?
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  #4  
Old 25th October 2011, 22:10
Inspace Inspace is offline
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Sadly no Classic replicas have made no effort to contact me even though they know I would like my money returned. Even though they initially agreed to return it. They have also stopped completing the car they promised me in April. Another customer has contacted me and told me that the car that was sold to me belongs to him and Classic Replicas took 11,000 pounds of his money then stopped communicating. DO NOT TAKE THE RISK OF DEALING WITH THIS COMPANY OR LOSING YOUR MONEY.
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  #5  
Old 26th October 2011, 18:08
jas1159 jas1159 is offline
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Hi mate,

sounds like you have had a nightmare i have experienced something similar n the past,

Have you got any paperwork that prooves the money transfered and the details what you were expecting in return for your money?
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  #6  
Old 26th October 2011, 21:06
Inspace Inspace is offline
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Yes I have all of that and it is being processed but it is so disappointing that a company like Classic Replicas is able to still do business without the law stopping them. If you do a search you will find I am not alone and yet they are still advertising a service they are unable to produce. If nothing else for the mean time warnings like mine may save other being misled and losing money, not to mention the time it wastes. In my opinion there wants to be more legislation & monitoring of companies like this to safeguard the public.

Last edited by Inspace; 27th October 2011 at 23:15..
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  #7  
Old 15th November 2011, 01:14
Inspace Inspace is offline
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I have had a further contact from another customer today in the same position who is very concerned. He feels there is a problem as the company is not responding to him. Please bare in mind these are his words not mine!
I am so sorry to see the list growing.
Please take great car before you become involved !!!
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  #8  
Old 26th December 2011, 02:23
nilfish76 nilfish76 is offline
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The classic Replica car is amazing, i have been to there workshop and seen it first hand, very very impressed with the keen eye to detail but to hear such bad rep on hear and in many other places makse me want to vear away from dealin with them, to have a dino replica is difficult and only seemed to be one so try out dehavilland on facebook, i am very impressed uses a doner car for part of the rolling chasis, really looking forward to see there finished article, i want to know how they are going to finish the interior. is there anybody else that do a dino replica?
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  #9  
Old 27th December 2011, 13:20
Inspace Inspace is offline
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One of the guy's on here has been to meet the DM producer and he was impressed he is also some one who has had problems with CR.
There is no doubt that if CR did do what they promised the chances are a good replica would be the outcome but there is as yet no evidence of a completed car on the road that they have completed.
When you visited did you see a car complete? Road ready?
I have not been able to see one since my first visit in Feb nor have I found anyone owning one. The cars that have been there are the same. The one sold to me, an older deon that is stored for a customer ( according to GA) a part built black GT and on my last visit a blue part built car.
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  #10  
Old 29th December 2011, 15:47
nilfish76 nilfish76 is offline
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When i went to visit CR there was a near complete GT in paint shop and a Black GTS which was apparenty brought back after passing IVA tomake look original, items such as interior finishes, changing steering wheel, fitting Dino gauges to dashboard etc , I could have been fobbed off quite easily as i was just amazed by the originallity of the GTS. I am just pausing on doing anything untill i have seen the car from Dehavilland for my own eyes. I am building a kit car not for the want but to keep costs down as i could never afford an original Dino and i will be doing the work myself and learning as i go along. CR don't offer a build manual and i am not convinced that i could carry out the build, However Dehaviland are desgning there car with a complete build manual in mind, which is much better than CR.

Inspace would you be building the car yourself? If so i would like to stay in contact, advice on these things is invaluble.

Cheers
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  #11  
Old 30th December 2011, 00:17
Inspace Inspace is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nilfish76 View Post
When i went to visit CR there was a near complete GT in paint shop and a Black GTS which was apparenty brought back after passing IVA tomake look original, items such as interior finishes, changing steering wheel, fitting Dino gauges to dashboard etc , I could have been fobbed off quite easily as i was just amazed by the originallity of the GTS. I am just pausing on doing anything untill i have seen the car from Dehavilland for my own eyes. I am building a kit car not for the want but to keep costs down as i could never afford an original Dino and i will be doing the work myself and learning as i go along. CR don't offer a build manual and i am not convinced that i could carry out the build, However Dehaviland are desgning there car with a complete build manual in mind, which is much better than CR.

Inspace would you be building the car yourself? If so i would like to stay in contact, advice on these things is invaluble.

Cheers
I can only assume the information regarding these cars was given to you by Gordon Ainsby and so has no real bearing on what is really happening. I saw the black GT on my second visit back around late March and I cannot say that it looked a great deal different when I saw it on my last visit in Nov.When I saw it I was surprised because at the time I lead to believe that my car would not be delayed and this car would have no effect on the completion date of mine. It was in November when myself & the previous owner of the car sold that Gordon sold to me visited to attempt to understand what would make someone sell a car belonging to another customer and not refund their money or offer any reason for doing so. Then later decide not to continue building the car and retain my money. Had this man Gordon Ainsby not done this I would not have been forced to look into his background and previous behaviour. All of which is available to anyone who would consider buying from him or offering him a deposit on the promise he would build them a car be doing a company search. Then I found people contacting me one of them being the previous owner of the car Gordon sold to me. Something Gordon Ainsby had forgotten to mention when I was putting down my deposit for a complete car which should be done by April/May of this year (2011).
I also thought that the cars looked good when I first visited Classic Replicas with Gordon Ainsby telling me that they are moulded from a real Dino. Look at the other forums links there is not many other people who believe that. There are a lot of people who feel it is something quite different in fact. Lets face it how many real Dino's do you see and unless one was beside a replica would you spot the difference. That is not the real point here! It is there are so many warnings about this company that you would be crazy to even go back at all. Run for the hills.
Even if the kit were great, the chassis were road worthy, the fact is the fault is with the Behaviour of certain individuals.
I would like to see the Dehavilland company do well because at least they are following a tried and tested formula. Attempting to get a workable prototype on the road and iron out any bugs. Then sell this to customers once with some pride or at least thats what I hope they are going to do. In the days where we had no such luxury as forums and email we would have found it hard to inform each other of misfortune. Today it is a considered process for information before any purchase, especially one so costly.
Lastly no I will not be building a kit or a replica in the foreseeable future. I have been intrigued with all I have found out about building a car but this has largely been caused by the hassles I have had with Classic Replicas & Gordon Ainsby. I have rebuilt several production cars from the ground up and worked in several body shops in my time but would I build a car without a build manual? NO WAY! You would have to be crazy.
Once I have had my money returned from this company I may also visit Dehavilland.

On a different point can I ask what colour was the car you consider near finished? Why do you consider it near finished? I mean did you sit in it, did it have an engine, seats, glass? Did you see a wrapped up car on top of a container outside? This was the car sold to me but belonging to someone else and I was told this car was near completion in fact it would be ready in 10 weeks and that was February.

I am happy to offer you any advice should you require it. Remember that there are at least 5 other users of this site with opinions on Classic Replicas that all have there stories to tell if you have still any doubt.
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  #12  
Old 30th December 2011, 00:25
Inspace Inspace is offline
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Just been on the DeHavilland facebook page and they could not be more open about there business. Thats a good sign.
Its also looking quite good
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  #13  
Old 31st December 2011, 14:29
thecarbuilder246 thecarbuilder246 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nilfish76 View Post
The classic Replica car is amazing, i have been to there workshop and seen it first hand, very very impressed with the keen eye to detail but to hear such bad rep on hear and in many other places makse me want to vear away from dealin with them, to have a dino replica is difficult and only seemed to be one so try out dehavilland on facebook, i am very impressed uses a doner car for part of the rolling chasis, really looking forward to see there finished article, i want to know how they are going to finish the interior. is there anybody else that do a dino replica?
I've been following this thread for a while now. Can you be sure this is an actual cr car from the ground up? Several early cr cars were infact deons that were either finished off for deon customers or went in for centre console modifications to appear more like originals. The black gts used in their advertising is a deon that they brought from a deon owner and claimed as they own. The moulds they have supposedly taken from a real dino were in fact taken from a deon that they finished for a deon customer in rerturn for being allowed to take the moulds from. I know this as I visited cr when the moulds were being made.Luckily gordon was in america on holiday. The guy who was making the moulds ( marus king ) explained everything to me about gordon ainsbury's plans for classic replicas ,where deon came in etc etc. The car in question was fitted with a ford 2.9 v6 engine and the completed rolling chassis was in gordons unit where he traded in the hgv and haulage business , which incidentally was right next door to deons unit!!!
He had big plans for the car, altering the backbone chassis updating the running gear and brakes and fitting alfa engines, most of which were all done on a deon car (the black gts). Another car was half built again a modified deon body chassis but with a new bonnet moulding which quite honestly was very poor. I don't know of an actual ground up cr car on the road.
I really don't know why this replica has a bad cloud following it.Such a beautiful car too. Jhclassic's started it,deon followed on in the same way and now classic replicas is carrying on the tradition. I know a guy with a jhc car and I have a deon!!! Maybe dehavilland will break the moulds
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  #14  
Old 31st December 2011, 18:07
simmos simmos is offline
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It makes sense that Classic Replicas took their body moulds from a JH Classics AKA Deon car as the Classic Replica Dino shell they produce looks horrific with patch marks and gauges running all over the main body that would suggest plenty of botching from 3/4th generation moulds and needs hours of labour to give them an exceptable finish before paint, to be fair to Deon their bodyshells were of a good quality and they didn't skimp on the fibreglass....i think the reason for this was more to do with the outside company they used to make their moulds and produce the shells for them than anything that went on under JH classics roof.

I am pretty sure that Classic Replicas have produced their own moulds from a Deon and do their own fibre glassing hence the amateur finish.


Both Gordon Ainsbey AKA Classic Replicas AND John Hurst AKA John Hurst Classics/Deon are a pair of chronic bullsh!tters, and i challenge either of them to come on here and say otherwise.

Last edited by simmos; 31st December 2011 at 18:22..
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  #15  
Old 31st December 2011, 19:53
thecarbuilder246 thecarbuilder246 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by simmos View Post
It makes sense that Classic Replicas took their body moulds from a JH Classics AKA Deon car as the Classic Replica Dino shell they produce looks horrific with patch marks and gauges running all over the main body that would suggest plenty of botching from 3/4th generation moulds and needs hours of labour to give them an exceptable finish before paint, to be fair to Deon their bodyshells were of a good quality and they didn't skimp on the fibreglass....i think the reason for this was more to do with the outside company they used to make their moulds and produce the shells for them than anything that went on under JH classics roof.

I am pretty sure that Classic Replicas have produced their own moulds from a Deon and do their own fibre glassing hence the amateur finish.


Both Gordon Ainsbey AKA Classic Replicas AND John Hurst AKA John Hurst Classics/Deon are a pair of chronic bullsh!tters, and i challenge either of them to come on here and say otherwise.
I have a deon bodyshell and as you say they didn't skimp on the fibreglass,but to be honest they still need alot of work before the paint gun goes anywhere near them. they were produced from the very same moulds jhc produced his from but as you say an outside company made them. these very same moulds are the ones dehavilland are using/updating.
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  #16  
Old 19th January 2012, 23:04
Inspace Inspace is offline
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[QUOTE=He had big plans for the car, altering the backbone chassis updating the running gear and brakes and fitting alfa engines, most of which were all done on a deon car (the black gts). Another car was half built again a modified deon body chassis but with a new bonnet moulding which quite honestly was very poor. I don't know of an actual ground up cr car on the road.
I really don't know why this replica has a bad cloud following it.Such a beautiful car too. Jhclassic's started it,deon followed on in the same way and now classic replicas is carrying on the tradition. I know a guy with a jhc car and I have a deon!!! Maybe dehavilland will break the moulds[/QUOTE]

How difficult is it to make one of these cars? Why has no one come forward with one. saying I love it, come see it??. The website makes out they make cars and have for years in fact this version of CR is the at least the 3rd and not one of them doing any accounts. Is that the mark of a successful company. There is more but I am restricted from posting.
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  #17  
Old 20th January 2012, 22:37
Bikidude Bikidude is offline
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Well in answer to your question as to how difficult can it be to make one of these cars , well how difficult can it be after all you just have to do is the following

1st you have to find a reliable and dependable producer of a dino kit car.
2nd read the build manual
3rd arrange the delivery of a quality kit or a completed quality car
4th Bolt together following the build manual
5th Get it certified and taxed/insured
6th Proudly drive car

Any help in getting past step 1 would be appreciated.

It must be remembered that the majority of kit car manufacturers are honest and decent and have been around for a long time. It seems a shame that the manufacturers themselves do not police there own industry although I suppose a code of conduct would be ignored just as easily as everything else that seems to be bushed aside.

Any way lets see if DeHavilland Motors can break the mould so to speak , so far it is looking good and am looking forward to seeing the completed car soon
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  #18  
Old 26th January 2012, 00:11
Inspace Inspace is offline
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Has anybody taken moulds from a real Dino? There seems to be no truth in the story that CR have. The chassis they have is designed by who I wonder with what Qualification to design chassis?
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