reasons you bought your Ultima

reasons you bought your Ultima

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Discussion

dal2litrefrogeye

Original Poster:

357 posts

176 months

Thursday 14th March 2013
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Hi all , what was your reasons for buying an Ultima ? , my main one was to crack the double ton , ( box ticked biggrin ) , also to those , like me , who bought theirs already built , what made you buy your particular one , or what put you off a particular one , myself , I went to Portsmouth to look a top spec GTR and in the photos it looked like the bright green you get on a Muria , but when I got there this lovely painted car ( and it was superb ) was a metalic perl / flip , and the colour reminded me of a flower power green corgi beach buggy i had as a kid in the 70s , just couldnt shake the idea from my mind , and it was a top spec / condition car banghead

V8Dom

3,546 posts

201 months

Thursday 14th March 2013
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i bought mine ready built... i wanted to build a turbo diesel v8 car but didnt have the funds... a factory car , built for a Doctor in london with every extra came up for sale .. it even has anti roll bars, rose joint suspension etc etc.

Love it, painted Silver so looked different too... Now there are a few silver cars, but hey ho... one of the best colours I recon.

Dom

Storer

5,024 posts

214 months

Thursday 14th March 2013
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Always wanted to have a go at building a car. Even looked at a Spartan in the mid 1970's (thank God I didn't go there!).

Purchased a s/h Ultima kit that the previous owner hadn't started which I got to rolling chassis stage then sold due to fear of funding issues (which didn't materialise in the end).

Purchased a GTR in need of some TLC. Then got very carried away with the TLC.

A complete rebuild, colour change, chassis and body mods, new engine and fresh trans, custom leather interior, plus most other parts replaced.
I had intended rebuilding to a standard car specification but not having to go through IVA gave me the chance to make a few changes!!!!!!!!!

I think I like the building/tinkering nearly as much as the driving.

Currently refurbishing the old front clip to fit to my chassis mounted splitter. Inner wheel arches on the cards too. Rose jointed front suspension awaiting fitting too.

Must get it all done before Le Mans in June!!!


Paul


Bar Pilot

174 posts

134 months

Thursday 14th March 2013
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Dicovered the GTR records a few years back but had just bought a brand new motor so funds didn't allow at the time. Then desperately wanted a chevy V8 powerplant after Le Mans in 2011 and remembered the Ultima ran one...

F.C.

3,896 posts

207 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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Wanted an alternative to my M400 Noble.

AlexCim

156 posts

153 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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I wanted one of the fastest and best handling cars available for the road without spending $800,000AUD on an Aventador, plus we don't get Zonda's and Koenigseggs here.

Steve_D

13,737 posts

257 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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Built mine because it was the very pinnacle of the kitcar scene. It was all about the build. Driving it just scares me.

Steve

356Speedster

2,293 posts

230 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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No single reason for my choice. I’d been aware of the Ultima for some time and really liked the look / ethos. Back in 2003/4 I built a Chesil 356 Speedster and had it at Stoneleigh for a few yrs. It was a complete show-queen with chrome everywhere (even the fuel tank was chromed and had a Porsche badge engraved in the top of it), but was awful to drive. And slow. I looked at the Ultima back in 2006, but wasn’t happy with a few items, so placed an order for an Ariel Atom.

The 3yrs with the Atom were great, but I still had an Ultima itch to scratch. It felt like the next logical step from the Atom and no other car (for reasonable money), was close to it. After visiting the factory and taking the test ride, I decided that the 90% of the car was what I wanted, but I needed that extra 10% to swing it. After a LOT of research (about 9-10mths), I decided I’d found a way to resolve my final few niggles and the Ultima was the way to go.

I was always going to be running a Can Am as for me part of the specialness of my “toy” cars is having no roof, thus being open to the elements, the sounds, the smells, etc. For me, it makes cars much more of an occasion. Having fast every-day tin-tops on the drive then an open car in the garage, makes it all the more exciting when the door goes up 

Having scoured the classifieds for months and looked at a few cars, it became clear that the only way to get a car of the spec / quality that I wanted would be to build it myself. I was lucky enough to find a Can Am chassis in a garage in London that hadn’t been touched since it was delivered. It was on it’s dolly, with 3-build packs all packaged up still…. Project on!

I’ll not waste any more space with my build spec rationale and just say, I’m delighted with my choice of car so far and really think it’s going to be a keeper. I still don’t see anything on the market that moves the game on and the way the world is going, that noisy V8 is going to be a massive novelty!!

spatz

1,783 posts

185 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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Steve_D said:
Built mine because it was the very pinnacle of the kitcar scene. It was all about the build. Driving it just scares me.

Steve
old fag...........

AndreasW

102 posts

160 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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I was bored.

shithotfast

1,132 posts

267 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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Many yeas ago wanted to build a car with my son for expeience. looked at a few cars, but ultima looked the best, and flushed with some spare dosh went for it. I didnt fit into the sport (pre canam or GTR) so had to be the spyder. Did everything except for the final bodywork and paint - and didnt help that it fell off the trailer whilst taking it to Ultima for final fit etc. My £50 build up insurance policy paid out £10K!! so ultima finished it and painted it.

its been great fun, leMans lots of times etc... most interesting part has been seeing how ultima has changed. Back in 1997 when I started the build ultima was a bit "hand to mouth" - eg pay cash in advance for every delivery etc, and no money to develop new cars, plus 400bhp was seen as quite a powerful car - now it seems everyone wants 1000hp as standard, plus creature conforts like sat nav and music. Mine has the only optional extra at the time - a heater with full function - on and off!

Great fun car - if the sun shines! mine is very old school, SBC, carb, ford brakes etc, but great fun. Done about 30k miles - which is a lot in a spyder in england weather!
Still get a great kick out of it when ever I drive it. Hope everyone gets the same kick!

Drive safe everyone!

Stig

11,817 posts

283 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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Saw it, loved it, was in the fortunate position of being able to buy a GTR a couple of years later.

Sold that, factory convinced me to build a Can-Am smile Kids arrived, sold Can-Am - now biding my time until build No.3 can start.

UltimaCH

3,155 posts

188 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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A dream come true after many years getting the cash on the side to buy my dream. It is also a project to keep me busy and away from other temptations until my wife retires and we can hoon around the mountain roads together...

dandare

957 posts

253 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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AndreasW said:
I was bored.
I think that's pretty honest and covers most of us, well me anyway.
I wanted a car that had the potential for serious (or pretty much ultimate) performance for a fraction of the price of similar cars, mid engine, with room for customisation, and as a test bed for ideas. I also wanted to er, build it myself.

Ult-Jim

624 posts

189 months

Friday 15th March 2013
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AndreasW said:
I was bored.
Me too at work at the time. I was into yacht racing in my free time, but since working on super yachts for the last 15 years I have lost interest in that. So I was surfing the web and discovered Ultima GTR & Pistonheads. Was researching it and a lurker on the forum for a good 7 years saving my pennies before buying a built car in November last year.

drivin_me_nuts

17,949 posts

210 months

Saturday 16th March 2013
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It's the noise for me... Not that I have met god personally... or would want to meet him under this specific circumstance per se... but I am sure the noise of a 'LS something' under full acceleration is similar in noise to the almighty getting off on a cactus as he closes in on the vinegar stroke. That dear reader, is reason enough.

dal2litrefrogeye

Original Poster:

357 posts

176 months

Saturday 16th March 2013
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drivin_me_nuts said:
It's the noise for me... Not that I have met god personally... or would want to meet him under this specific circumstance per se... but I am sure the noise of a 'LS something' under full acceleration is similar in noise to the almighty getting off on a cactus as he closes in on the vinegar stroke. That dear reader, is reason enough.
well Iv never thought of it that way wobble

738 driver

1,202 posts

192 months

Saturday 16th March 2013
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An attraction towards great power to weight ratio machines and moving along quickly.. The Blackbird (Honda, not SR71) became increasingly challenging, due mainly as a result of the unbelievable issue of licenses to loon drivers around the North West !
Had built a couple of kits previously and invariably end up with an oddball/one-off engine combo... The Ultima, despite the moans and niggles seems to fit the bill for now and keeps the grey matter ticking over.

GTRMikie

871 posts

247 months

Saturday 16th March 2013
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Always been keen on kit cars. ( I wanted to be an engineer but was told at school that my "maths wasn't good enough" so became a research chemist instead). Built my first kit, a Mini based Scamp, in 1996. (I still have it. It is fitted with an A C Dodds prepared 1330 engine, everything - totally - adjustable suspension and goes like the proverbial off a shovel. It's basically a roll cage with a wheel at each corner!)
Saw the Ultima Sport at the 1998 Donington kit car show. The quality of the kit was far superior to anything else on display. At home I was extolling the virtues of the Ultima to an uninterested wife, when she said (probably to shut me up) "you can have one as long as you sell the Cosworth". It was sold the next day, a test fright with Ted duly booked, and the kit subsequently ordered. The Sport kit metamorphosed (?) into a GTR during the build. I'm still finding things to do to it (upgraded the headlights this winter).

By the way, the 2wd Cosworth Saphire was probably the most enjoyable daily drive I've owned. However the Merc. C180 CGI (1800cc turbocharged petrol engine) I now own would probably leave it behind. That's progress!

Storer

5,024 posts

214 months

Saturday 16th March 2013
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GTRMikie said:
By the way, the 2wd Cosworth Saphire was probably the most enjoyable daily drive I've owned. However the Merc. C180 CGI (1800cc turbocharged petrol engine) I now own would probably leave it behind. That's progress!
There is no doubt that everyday cars have become much faster over the years. Had a family friend with a 246 Dino in 1973. A quick car at the time. A Ford Focus hot hatch has more performance today (but not those fab curves)!

An Ultima offers one thing that these mega-turbo-supercharged-VVT-quattro-DSG engined every day mass-produced tin boxes can't.......






Theatre on the road.

We can enjoy driving them but other drivers and passers-by seem to enjoy seeing them too.


Paul