Javelin

[adrianbutt]

What is the story with Javelin?

I have discovered the Cabrio kit via websites and ordering the May back issue of kitcar... I'm interested in building one with the BMW straight six - so wonder, what is the news...

[dave_kitson]

Re: Javelin

No great mystery, I'm afraid we've had to pull out, and we are hoping someone will take over from us. The demonstrator is up for sale - see classifieds. We will shortly have another car for sale too - Ford based, 2 litre. We remain convinced it is a superb car, as did all three kitcar magazines, but circumstances have contrived against us, and regrettably we cannot supply kits at present.

[Mike]

Re: Javelin

Adrian
Therer are unfinished project Cabrios for sale through ebay from time to time. Or if you are prepared to buy a complete car they are advertised for sale through the club, or again ebay.
have a look at this site to show what can be done with an ebay unfinished project
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johns_marlin_cabrio/

regards
Mike

[Mike]

Re: Javelin

Its a pain not being able to keep this forum open whilst reverting back to other sites, but here is an other example of what can be achieved.
Very impressive - I'm sure you'll agree.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marlin_bmw_cabrio/

[adrianbutt]

Re: Javelin

Thank you Dave for your reply - I'm sad to hear that you are no longer making the car... How many kits did you supply? What is happening to the moulds and tooling?

Also thank you for your links Mike - I really wanted to build a Cabrio from scratch, but too busy to start now anyway so hopefully by the time I get things under control the kit will be available again...

[cabrioman]

Re: Javelin

Adrian

Mine is the car in the first link Mike provided. I have built a few kit cars of the years but this was the first one I have not done from scratch. My observations would be if you can find the right car at the right price taking over a build is a very cost effective route.

My car is substantially complete now and I have all the remaining parts requird to complete the other outstanding jobs.

I have saved litrally £1000's of pounds compared to what I would have spent if I had bought the kit and built it from scratch.

Wisdom of my experience would be-

Plan to have to strip the car to bare components and start again to ensure it has all been done right.

Expect a huge overhead in time correcting things which have been done badly.

Be prepared to except inevitable compromises on how you might have chosen to do things if you had started it yourself, sometimes with the best will in the world its not possible to completely change whats already been done, holes drlled badly in wrong place etc.. etc...

Would I take on another part built kit? not sure is the honest answer. What I can say is I know people who have spent in excess of £15,000 building Cabrios, I fully expect to be closer to a third of that amount. You pay your money and take your choice as they say but if you go the part built route be prepared for it to become part build part restoration.

If you can find an unstarted second hand kit its a no brainer.

Good luck in the future.

John

[adrianbutt]

Re: Javelin

Interesting - thank you for you reply John - when do you predict you will be finished - what area of the country are you in?

Adrian.

[cabrioman]

Re: Javelin

Hi Adrian

Other end of the country to you I'm afraid, in Leeds.

As far as finshed is concerned I am not sure there is such a thing with a kit car! but I am putting in long hours at the moment to put it in for SVA before SVA finshes at the end of April 2009. Just putting in the application at the moment, you can't beat working against a hard deadline.

Cheers

John

[KitCarGirl]

Re: Javelin

Hi Mike

Why don't you open another tab? My PC opens one automatically when I click on a link. Is there a setting somewhere you should check that says open another tab when you open links?

[Mike]

Re: Javelin

Sue
Thanks for the tip. It will be much easier to post links now.
Keep up the good work - there are a lot of us who really do appreciate the time and effort you put in to helping run the club.
Marlin OC Unsung hero award for 2008?
Regards
Mike