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I'd guess there are a fair few people around with pretty little open top (& damp) sports cars that would not be in the happy position of kit car ownership had you not created the range...[/QUOTE]
That's certainly true in my case. I'd always wanted a classic Porsche replica - a 356 Speedster, 718 RSK or early 911 (never really liked the 550 though), but knew that I would never be able to justify the £14 to £16K necessary to build one properly. Just as I'd resigned myself to building a beach buggy Gary turns up with a car that looks every bit as stylish as the Porsche replicas (to my eye), with a realistic build cost of less than a third of the average kit car.
As for the delays in filling G46 orders, that's the nature of the automotive industry at every level I fear. I once bought a very expensive new motor car from a franchised dealer. Having paid a sizeable deposit delivery dates came and went, phonecalls went unanswered and sales people evaporated when I went into the dealer to find out what was happening. Which turned out to be the dealer going into recievership. I eventually got my car but there was a long period where I thought thousands had gone down the Swanney.
Buying something as left field as a Sammio is always going to be more of a risk than playing it safe with a Caterham, but I feel what Gary needs sometimes is a little patient prompting rather than a browbeating. I think he's done pretty well staying in business this long and selling, and, crucially actually supplying as many Spyders as he has so I'd like to think you'll get your G46's eventually. Even if I don't think they'll ever be as pretty as a Spyder...
Anyway, that's me done with the soap box for now. Next!
Not many people can find a job that is their hobby and when the enjoyment goes its time to change things.
Done the work/ home life thing and ended up on my own!....so hope things settle back down and you can get the fun back into "work".
Thank you for the reply Gary . i hadn't realised things had been so challenging. hope you can start enjoying work again soon . and i do appreciate that the only way many of us will get the style of car we want is through the work you and mike are doing there .
I am okay to move back a slot in the G46 queue if it helps. Of course you might prefer my cash. Email me as to when you want to give me the shell. We can agree this via email rather than the forum. Top job so far.
Cheers
Wca
Sounds like a great plan Gary and having met Andy at Stoneleigh can fully understand why you choose him for the job.
Do you think things will be in place at Preston for me to be able to collect my Cordite package from there as it will be a massive plus for me if I can as i'm in Manchester?
If it means being put back a couple of weeks then that's no problem
Sorry I've not been as active on the forum this last week as I have usually been but I took a week away from the computer to put my own ship in order once I took the Sammio helm.
Things are moving, some more tectonically than others but my own processes are largely in place, the web site is launched, and will continually be improved, both technically and in content, the unit in Preston has been set up and I'm working with couriers to work out a delivery service at minimum cost passed on to the customer. (This may take a week or so but I'm looking at shipping a few advance kits 'up North' to economise on the transit costs). Of course, as production will, at least for the foreseeable future, be based in Dorset, Gary has kindly offered to continue to act as a distribution point for those customers wishing to collect (or have their kits collected from) his workshop.
As Gary said in his post, we will be working very closely together to maintain and grow the Sammio brand. His real strengths are in the design and build of these fabulous cars and by taking the retail effort away, he will be able to devote his own efforts in that direction. Once the G46 is ready for mainstream sales, I will be negotiating a deal with him to bring the product into the Sammio fold. Until that time, he has orders outstanding which he will be dealing with in Dorset. I hear on the grapevine he has some other ideas that may be developed over the year(s) to enhance the product range but more of that when any of them are ready (Certainly not going to put any pressure on).
I see great value in this forum and will be continuing to contribute and enjoy your company. I will also be starting a thread here and there when I think a customer's point of view will help, such as one I'm about to start regarding a 'bonnet badge'. Feel free to ask any questions regarding this move and, as long as the answer would not have commercial implications, I'll answer as quickly as I can.
Hi Andy, nice to meet you at Stoneleigh all be it briefly and I hope every thing goes well, I don't know if Gary has told you I've started a variation on a theme and will be starting a build thread for Skippy 2 the sequal soon, anyway don't trust to luck just work all the best in your endeavours and weather dependent may catch you at Newark? PAT
Thanks Pat, and I hope to catch up soon for a chat about skippy2. As far as Newark is concerned, it's been too quick a transition for me to be ready to put up a stand but I'm hoping (weather and work dependant) to be there myself for at least One and possibly both days. Whilst I'm on here, how many Sammaniacs are likely to be there and what is the consensus of which day you're likely to attend?
Those with eagle eyes may have noticed in Nick's G46 build thread that he picked up his kit from Tribute Automotive rather than Gary's workshop and wondered what is going on..
Since I took on the Sammio line, we have been having our fabrication done in Gary's mezzanine area, kindly provided free of charge as an interim measure with a view to giving his space back as soon as we found an alternative. With Gaz taking on the G46, things got far too big to have both little and large shells being produced there so the race was on.
As it happened, Chris Welch of Tribute Automotive offered his spare capacity to enable us to move fabrication of all Sammio marques to his facility, at least for the time being. Chris has been a friend of Sammio for some time, knows Gary well and has been instrumental in some of the pre-production artwork of the Cordite so knows the product as well as any. We have seen and admired the design and standard of his own line of kits, including the ill-fated B**ntl*y lookalike of last year and now the lovely Ferrarish body conversion for the MX5, the MX250:
So we know the Sammio range is in good hands. Many thanks Chris.
Hey guys, Bruce and I would like to import 2 Sammios and 2 Cordites to the U.S. We are are serious and have the funding. (sorry, a divorce took the wind out of my sails for a bit) Bruce is our POC on this, can you guys get back to him? Thanx!
Hey guys, Bruce and I would like to import 2 Sammios and 2 Cordites to the U.S. We are are serious and have the funding. (sorry, a divorce took the wind out of my sails for a bit) Bruce is our POC on this, can you guys get back to him? Thanx!
Dave
Dave, have you contacted the company direct? +44 7927 175580
Hi Dave, Bruce,
Sorry about the delays. Getting a reliable shipper isn't as easy as I'd thought but I am on the case and will get back to Bruce soon.
frankenstang57 wrote:
Hey guys, Bruce and I would like to import 2 Sammios and 2 Cordites to the U.S. We are are serious and have the funding. (sorry, a divorce took the wind out of my sails for a bit) Bruce is our POC on this, can you guys get back to him? Thanx!
hwell: