The True Ultima Heritage
Discussion
Decided to go into the shop this morning and work on the CanAm a few hours before heading home and watching the F1 qualifying from Indy. (finally get to watch a race live at a decent time). While drilling holes in the bottom panels for the rivets (a no brainer project), my mind started to wander back to all the British cars I've owned and raced, and then back to the CanAm frame I was using as a table while it was inverted on the saw horses. What a beautiful piece of construction, engineering, and workmanship. This car is the culmination of years of trial and error, research and testing that has been going on in England far before I was born, and that was before WW2. Lee, and Ted, and others might be responsible for the present Ultima, but it would never have happened if it wasn't for the English people, and their "can do" attitude.
Strange statements from someone in the States? Not really since I spent the first 35 years of my life where I was born, Toronto Canada, and lived and was brought up amongst mostly Brits, and Scots. One of the first books I can remember is a 1939 Chums Annual, with a colour painting of a Grand Prix car in the center. I got interested in sailing by reading all the Arthur Ransom books. I started bicycle racing in the early 50's when it was a weird thing to do in Canada and we waited for the issues of Cycling to arrive from England to see how Reg Harris and Fausto Coppi were doing. My first racing bike was a $20 hand me down Raleigh that was factory emerald green (don't remember the model), but it had 5130 or 4130 tubing and a home made 8 speed shifting devise. We envied the older members in the club who could afford to have a Claude Butler frame custom made for them in England.
Within months of getting my first car, a 1950 Morris Minor 2 door, I had dual SU's on it and started to race it.
I majored in aircraft at my technical high school, and we had in the shop a cutaway R/R Merlin engine that would revolve slowly when a motor was turned on and you could see the parts moving. What a magnificent design it was. Even at that early age I could appreciate the one main piece of engineering that saved England. There was no other engine around that could power the Hurricanes and Spitfires to the performance they achieved. Of course I don't have to tell you that many of the parts for these planes were made in private homes during the war as part of the cottage effort.
And then the first races in England that started right after the war with anything that had an engine and 2, or 3, or 4 wheels. McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Van Diemen, etc. are all the outcome of this attitude "it might not work mate, but let's give it a try anyways".
This was an outlook that I inherited from my early surrounding, and it did me well later in life when I started my own business.
I've had many years, and many vehicles under me to be able to watch the evolution of autombiles in England, and the Ultima is the culmination of all these efforts.
I hope I've been able to express my thoughts clearly.
Best to all
Jack
Strange statements from someone in the States? Not really since I spent the first 35 years of my life where I was born, Toronto Canada, and lived and was brought up amongst mostly Brits, and Scots. One of the first books I can remember is a 1939 Chums Annual, with a colour painting of a Grand Prix car in the center. I got interested in sailing by reading all the Arthur Ransom books. I started bicycle racing in the early 50's when it was a weird thing to do in Canada and we waited for the issues of Cycling to arrive from England to see how Reg Harris and Fausto Coppi were doing. My first racing bike was a $20 hand me down Raleigh that was factory emerald green (don't remember the model), but it had 5130 or 4130 tubing and a home made 8 speed shifting devise. We envied the older members in the club who could afford to have a Claude Butler frame custom made for them in England.
Within months of getting my first car, a 1950 Morris Minor 2 door, I had dual SU's on it and started to race it.
I majored in aircraft at my technical high school, and we had in the shop a cutaway R/R Merlin engine that would revolve slowly when a motor was turned on and you could see the parts moving. What a magnificent design it was. Even at that early age I could appreciate the one main piece of engineering that saved England. There was no other engine around that could power the Hurricanes and Spitfires to the performance they achieved. Of course I don't have to tell you that many of the parts for these planes were made in private homes during the war as part of the cottage effort.
And then the first races in England that started right after the war with anything that had an engine and 2, or 3, or 4 wheels. McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Van Diemen, etc. are all the outcome of this attitude "it might not work mate, but let's give it a try anyways".
This was an outlook that I inherited from my early surrounding, and it did me well later in life when I started my own business.
I've had many years, and many vehicles under me to be able to watch the evolution of autombiles in England, and the Ultima is the culmination of all these efforts.
I hope I've been able to express my thoughts clearly.
Best to all
Jack
Right on Jack! that a great observation, obviously the kit build is going well at the moment.
It's all true what you say, the problem is we never as an engineering nation are able to make a decent profit because we don't have a mass production mentality.
Enjoy your Ultima, I hope to have one too...
...one day.
It's all true what you say, the problem is we never as an engineering nation are able to make a decent profit because we don't have a mass production mentality.
Enjoy your Ultima, I hope to have one too...
...one day.
Having studied a little English history as part of New Zealand's history I find it interesting that despite the specialisation and industrialisation that occurred during the Industrial Revolution there is still such a wide variety of small, bespoke products available and the wonderful British kitcars and other high performance machines like the Ultima are a shining example of this. There is a theory that many people actually emigrated to New Zealand from the UK to avoid specialisation and to be able to continue practising a variety of trades at the same time. Kit-cars and the like are alive and well down under as well, just look at www.saker.co.nz or www.fraser.co.nz for some of our examples. It was also a New Zealander who gave his name to the MacLaren as well, I'll remind you 
I hope I can one day gain as much pleasure as you all have from your Ultima's. It's some years off yet however!
I hope I can one day gain as much pleasure as you all have from your Ultima's. It's some years off yet however!
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