I Have Always Wanted To Build An Ultima Or Caterham

[Roy]

I never sell anything So unless it gets stolen or written off it will be going into my personal museeum off what I once thought was cool.

I have purchased a few of those kit car magazines out of the UK trying to get an understanding of which cars are good, and which are rubbish. The Caterham appears to be the clear leader, with Westfield a distant second when it comes to the quality of the suspension, mostly rear end and brakes/handling etc. If someone with the relevant experience can point to another, cheaper kit then I would happily look at it. At the moment every 3-4 weeks I just search for an Academy car or R300 Race Car with a view of rebuilding it and putting Honda S200 running gear in it

[tweety bird]

Caterham don't do kit cars in aus

With the new Ford powered models about to become available, Caterham decided to enter the Australian market in its own right as a manufacturer in 2006.

In former times, various importers had represented the brand in Australia, some building up kits supplied by Caterham from the UK and others bringing in factory built cars.

However, with Australian Design Rules (ADRs) becoming ever more strict and with the Australian Government discouraging "kit" cars, it has become extremely difficult to

register a car built from a "kit".Consequently, a decision was taken to only import factory built Caterhams that comply with Australian Design Rules.

It should be noted that the Australian cars are in fact based on European Type Approved cars and that none of the cars as sold under the SVA registration

system in the UK are eligible for ADR compliance.

http://www.caterhamc....au/release.php

[Roy]

But your sister can buy you a kit in the UK and send it over for Xmas. The Aus dealer is a criminal and the costing means its no surprise you dont see any locally. Though to be fair about the prices, there are probably reasons why they charge what they do, doesnt change the fact you would have to be pretty cashed up to pay for one from an Aussie dealer

[tweety bird]

but you can't register the car if you do that, right?

btw pricing.

• 5% Import Duty
• 10% GST
• 33% Luxury Car Tax

government strikes again.

[Roy]

Last time I looked you could register it as an Individually Constructed Vehicles. Depends on the state, but in Vic you just get your VASS engineer to sign it off

[samstain]

There are a few people on a clubbie forum I'm on that have imported and are in the process of registering clubmans from the UK, however they are ones they built/owned over there before coming out here, and they are doing it because they are 'attached' to it, not to save money

I you want to get one here and are worried about the price the cheapest way is to just buy a used local one that is already registered, if you really want to build one, as silly as it sounds the best way is again to buy a finished & complied one, pull it apart and then put it back together. Recently in NSW itt has been virtually impossible to get one registered, but apparently its all about to change, the other states aren't as bad.

I very nearly bought a Ultra Car a couple years back, but we were about to start a family and didn't have the time or room to build it, so ended up with a registered SR20DET Puma. I just wish I had the time to drive it more. Although the power is crazy, and I'm yet to find a car that will beat it in a straight line... I sometimes wish it was a NA as the way it delivers its power doesn't always make it fun (or even possible) to drive to its limits.

Edited February 22, 2012 by samstain

[tweety bird]

looks like you will have to buy one in europe (if you go there) and then bring it back.

[The_Seth]

Or if your willing to get something a bit more local you could have a look at these websites:

http://www.prbaustralia.com.au/ (these guys even run their own race series)

http://www.birkin.com.au/birkin-kits-and-pricing.php (these guys have put together two very nice packages)

http://www.strykercars.com/sports-kit-cars-specifications.php (offer multiple production stages to buy from eg: Starter Body/Chassis Kit to Turn Key)

http://www.arrowsportscars.com.au/products.htm (good starter prices)

There are many options open to you.

[djr81]

Last time I looked you could register it as an Individually Constructed Vehicles. Depends on the state, but in Vic you just get your VASS engineer to sign it off

The Birkins are pharken nice. There is a yellow one over this way (You may also have seen it at the Aus Super sprint championships)that goes well hard on the track. Worth looking at especially with all the carbon bling you can get on them.

[Nee-san]

Good son of rajab they want some money for them !

Looking into one for this year, but at the prices I'm seeing you would build your own, from scratch !