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Hi Steve,
You should find a nice car out there for £50k, there's a smart one in classifieds (no link to me) for £50 ish with a 383 serviced by Charles Dunn, it would be worth a look.
Many cars are built to personaly tastes, some have stereo's some have lots of dials, some stripped for the race look and some nicely cushioned for long er distance touring. Try to identify what you want to do with the car (trackdays/touring/Sunday blasts), go see a few and you'll get a feel for the things you like which will help narrow down the choices.
The latest engines are LS7s but as you can see the older engined cars are still ballistically quick.
You should find a nice car out there for £50k, there's a smart one in classifieds (no link to me) for £50 ish with a 383 serviced by Charles Dunn, it would be worth a look.
Many cars are built to personaly tastes, some have stereo's some have lots of dials, some stripped for the race look and some nicely cushioned for long er distance touring. Try to identify what you want to do with the car (trackdays/touring/Sunday blasts), go see a few and you'll get a feel for the things you like which will help narrow down the choices.
The latest engines are LS7s but as you can see the older engined cars are still ballistically quick.
£50K has to be happy hunting ground for a nice Ultima. Spec is going to be tricky as the cars are rarely the same (unless they are vanilla factory cars). I'd set some base requirements and go from there.... so: SBC or modern LS... G50 side change or 996/7 centre cable.... std interior or bespoke.
After that most cars should be broadly the same: AP brakes, adj dampers, A/C, which then brings it down to final fit & finish. Buying on condition / mileage is very important.
With many cars covering fewer than 1,000 miles in a yr (just look at the classifieds) and knowing you'll want to drive it, you'll need to protect your investment by getting one with decent mileage. It's not that it's an issue for the car, but it will affect value / desirability at the other end.
Luckily for you, Steve, the market is deader than the dinosaurs, so you're in a very strong bargaining position.
After that most cars should be broadly the same: AP brakes, adj dampers, A/C, which then brings it down to final fit & finish. Buying on condition / mileage is very important.
With many cars covering fewer than 1,000 miles in a yr (just look at the classifieds) and knowing you'll want to drive it, you'll need to protect your investment by getting one with decent mileage. It's not that it's an issue for the car, but it will affect value / desirability at the other end.
Luckily for you, Steve, the market is deader than the dinosaurs, so you're in a very strong bargaining position.
356Speedster said:
£50K has to be happy hunting ground for a nice Ultima. Spec is going to be tricky as the cars are rarely the same (unless they are vanilla factory cars). I'd set some base requirements and go from there.... so: SBC or modern LS... G50 side change or 996/7 centre cable.... std interior or bespoke.
After that most cars should be broadly the same: AP brakes, adj dampers, A/C, which then brings it down to final fit & finish. Buying on condition / mileage is very important.
With many cars covering fewer than 1,000 miles in a yr (just look at the classifieds) and knowing you'll want to drive it, you'll need to protect your investment by getting one with decent mileage. It's not that it's an issue for the car, but it will affect value / desirability at the other end.
Luckily for you, Steve, the market is deader than the dinosaurs, so you're in a very strong bargaining position.
Hi Mark, I'm keeping my eye out for the right car and appreciate I'll have to compromise in one direction or another as I don't think the ideal car is there unless perhaps you build it yourself. After that most cars should be broadly the same: AP brakes, adj dampers, A/C, which then brings it down to final fit & finish. Buying on condition / mileage is very important.
With many cars covering fewer than 1,000 miles in a yr (just look at the classifieds) and knowing you'll want to drive it, you'll need to protect your investment by getting one with decent mileage. It's not that it's an issue for the car, but it will affect value / desirability at the other end.
Luckily for you, Steve, the market is deader than the dinosaurs, so you're in a very strong bargaining position.
Having come from Ferrari it's quite strange to consider a marque where its almost the norm to modify and tinker with your car. If someone told me they had put a new engine in a Ferrai I wouldn't even have looked at it. Mileage is the other thing, I tend to drive my cars at weekends and holidays more than a lot of people drive their daily hacks.I got out of my 430 due to mileage concerns I hope this doesn't prove to be a concern with an Ultima. Perhaps I should focus on lower mileage cars.
Thanks for comments
Steve
MarkWebb said:
I feel that very few Ultimas have got too many miles in them. In fact I would be more concerned about a very low milage one having not been driven enough to iron out any minor probs with the car.
I see the logic in this, I did buy a very low mile Griff 500 once, turned out to be a bloody nightmare.cheers
Steve
qwick said:
I agree low mileage can point to issues, but high mileage just doesn't seem to happen in these cars, anyone got one that's done more than 35k?. My gut feel says high miles in a normally aspirated car could be more problematic than with more modern FI cars.
I think there's a middle ground. A 3yr old car with 1,000 miles on it (to me), wouldn't be the best buy as it's clearly not been used. While I wouldn't want to buy someone's track slag, I wouldn't want to buy a museum piece either. Cars stood for a long time can suffer a number of issues, not least of which is the brand new tight engine, not getting an oportunity to bed in.Without buying a car thats done a load of miles (unless prices is adjusted accordingly of course), I think the middle ground for a second "toy" car, used (sensibly) in good weather has to be around the 2-4,000 mile mark. For most folks, that'll be a car that's had some excercise, but still remains fresh.
Of course, you buy on condition and build / service history plays a big part with these cars too.... just a few things that strike me about buying an Ultima, which with so few cars on the market make it a tricky exercise.
I have an Ultima Canam for sale at the moment. But I remember from when I was buying in early 2009 that it is important to bide your time until the right car comes along but also to look at as many as you can to see the differences in build quality which are indeed huge! My car has now covered 8000 miles but 5000 of those were driven in a 3 week period on a tour of europe. 8000 road miles are a lot different from track miles! I have also spared no expense to keep the car in tip top condition and have spent upwards of 10000 on improvements in the time that I have owned it.
MarkWebb said:
I have an Ultima Canam for sale at the moment. But I remember from when I was buying in early 2009 that it is important to bide your time until the right car comes along but also to look at as many as you can to see the differences in build quality which are indeed huge! My car has now covered 8000 miles but 5000 of those were driven in a 3 week period on a tour of europe. 8000 road miles are a lot different from track miles! I have also spared no expense to keep the car in tip top condition and have spent upwards of 10000 on improvements in the time that I have owned it.
Hope you are coming to see me Webby, BEFORE you get rid of the bloody thing! 
sone said:
Its a good point actually I never considered servicing. I assumed it was a diy job considering people build these cars themselves. am I wrong?.
I expect there's a mix of home / factory / specialist servicing. The important thing for me would be regularly documented servicing and a good pile of receipts from reputable suppliers. Remember, as a rule of thumb: 1 track mile = 3 road miles, so servicing should be amended accordginly.In the same vein, even a car that's standing around doing very little (except looing pretty), should be regularly maintained to ensure everything is in good shape.
so you really want the roof version, so you can get cooked.......try one first !
I have not given up on the hardtop for the canam, my GRP guy lost me prototype and mould for the finished bulkhead,
so I have to start over again. With the hard top the CanAm should be quite ok even for driving in rain if you dare to do that.
I have not given up on the hardtop for the canam, my GRP guy lost me prototype and mould for the finished bulkhead,
so I have to start over again. With the hard top the CanAm should be quite ok even for driving in rain if you dare to do that.
The LS3 has better flow through the heads and 200cc bigger capacity, i think the 2 actually feels a little quicker on the road as it makes its torque a little lower down in standard form but i doubt you would notice much difference between a LS2 or LS3 in an Ultima. They are both great engines.
Ive just bought a 100k LS1 engine and that is still nice and strong, the LS range of engines are great and quite simple.
You need to focus on the complete package not just the engine ie transaxle, interior, brakes, etc etc. Also work out what you want from the car ie mainly road use, trackdays or just shows and shine??
Ive just bought a 100k LS1 engine and that is still nice and strong, the LS range of engines are great and quite simple.
You need to focus on the complete package not just the engine ie transaxle, interior, brakes, etc etc. Also work out what you want from the car ie mainly road use, trackdays or just shows and shine??
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