Ultima rebody?
Discussion
dazm said:
I'd love to talk to some other kit manufacturers to learn about sales figures
Best of luck with that!If you find out anything, and you can be sure it's accurate, then post it here because I for one would love to get some of that!
Anyway, my advice concerning the rebody thing would be to consider getting someone else to make you a chassis to your own requirements. This type of car doesn't have a lot of leeway body-wise. Probably the most defining characteristics will be the wheelbase and the height of the engine. A lot of other things follow from those two.
rebodied ultima is no new thing and has been done loads of times, your best bet is to do research to find if what you are looking for has already been done... If it hasnt, then its highly unlikelly it can be done on a Ultima chasis.
Why not do a few pics of what you want and post them up to see if anyone can help point you somewere.
Why not do a few pics of what you want and post them up to see if anyone can help point you somewere.
A couple of threads from the Ultima Forum on here.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
pilbeam_mp62 said:
thescamper said:
pilbeam_mp62 said:
Ferg said:
Chris71 said:
......I don't think many people would say it looks bad.
Me.Would you like to borrow my Ultima for a weekend, and see if you change your mind ?
Regards
I do find that slightly ironic Ferg as I know you're a fan of mid-engined cars and the Ultima looks like such a stereotypical mid-engined sports racer. It looks like it took a wrong turning on the way to Le Mans!
ajprice said:
A couple of threads from the Ultima Forum on here.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
A couple more based on the ultima chassis i think
Edited by ezakimak on Wednesday 27th January 12:23
Edited by ezakimak on Wednesday 27th January 12:28
dazm said:
Singlecoil - I'm well aware it's like getting blood from a stone when trying to find out about kit sales and some company figures, and to be honest I was hoping you'd chime in as you seem to know quite a bit about the kit world and with your own kit in development I was hoping you'd have done your market research already! Needless to say if I can get any details I'll let you know.
There are some figures on Ultima's own website that might help.You could always start by buying an entire Ultima, whole or kit, and then redoing the body, that's probably what the others who have done alternative bodies did.
You will find the comparatively short wheelbase of the Ultima very limiting
Having built and thus dealt with Ultima I have the same view as Steve D (who owns and builds Ultimas) that you might get one chasis as long as they dont know your intentions. (not dissing Ultima BTW, its just their business model thats proved very sucessful).
I also agree with Singlecoil in that you are defiantelly better off designing your body and then having a chasis made to suit... as a designer you will definatelly find this less restrictive as well
there are plently of people out there that can help/do with the chasis design etc
I also agree with Singlecoil in that you are defiantelly better off designing your body and then having a chasis made to suit... as a designer you will definatelly find this less restrictive as well
there are plently of people out there that can help/do with the chasis design etc
Jonty355 said:
ezakimak said:
more here-
http://www.joss.com.au/
Having developed my own (very simple I would add) car from scratch, & bearing in mind that I have an engineering & bodywork background so have made/designed virtually everything myself & also used a cheap donor vehicle I would say that the project is viable only if you are prepared to bury a large chunk of money - probably at least £100k for possibly zero return.
Having advertised your intention on here of using/copying the Ultima chassis I would have thought if you ever brought anything to fruition they would sue the pants off you for copying their chassis (& rightly so in my view).
Surely if you are serious about this you have 2 options, one approach Ultima & offer to do a redesign of a new body which would fit their chassis & running gear, some sort of joint project whereby you would supply the new bodywork which could be marketed by them as an option. A bit like the new front end Aeon used for their 3 seater, it was first made by a customer, they then took moulds etc. I would be amazed if they've not had similar approaches b4 &, presumably have turned them down. 2nd option is to start from scratch, nothing to stop you looking at the Ultima suspension geometry/mountings etc so that you finish up with something that works without needing to redesign the wheel, but if you're paying someone to design something workable to what is basically just you're artwork this could be a fairly bottomless pit.
Getting back to the looks of the Ultima, I have never understood why anyone would not like it, but apparently lots of people aren't keen, it obviously looks a little dated now & I would have thought a modern LMP front end would certainly help bring it up to date, or something more aggressive - Apollo Gumbert (spelling???) looking perhaps. Hoeever as mine is the ultimate "marmite car" perhaps that's why I can't see the detraction!
Having advertised your intention on here of using/copying the Ultima chassis I would have thought if you ever brought anything to fruition they would sue the pants off you for copying their chassis (& rightly so in my view).
Surely if you are serious about this you have 2 options, one approach Ultima & offer to do a redesign of a new body which would fit their chassis & running gear, some sort of joint project whereby you would supply the new bodywork which could be marketed by them as an option. A bit like the new front end Aeon used for their 3 seater, it was first made by a customer, they then took moulds etc. I would be amazed if they've not had similar approaches b4 &, presumably have turned them down. 2nd option is to start from scratch, nothing to stop you looking at the Ultima suspension geometry/mountings etc so that you finish up with something that works without needing to redesign the wheel, but if you're paying someone to design something workable to what is basically just you're artwork this could be a fairly bottomless pit.
Getting back to the looks of the Ultima, I have never understood why anyone would not like it, but apparently lots of people aren't keen, it obviously looks a little dated now & I would have thought a modern LMP front end would certainly help bring it up to date, or something more aggressive - Apollo Gumbert (spelling???) looking perhaps. Hoeever as mine is the ultimate "marmite car" perhaps that's why I can't see the detraction!
ezakimak said:
Only just found this thread...
That car was indeed based on a modified Ultima chassis though you have to be very, very small to fit in it!
I like the Joss though... A design like that would be very appealing to me, as long as it could fit a man over 6'3".
Edited by dom9 on Wednesday 3rd February 09:00
Gassing Station | Kit Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff