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Z Cars Update


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#16 MINIDREAMS

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 01:52 PM

Anyone got a price list for zcars kits?

#17 nicklouse

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 02:10 PM

Anyone got a price list for zcars kits?

why not ask direct?

https://www.zcars.org.uk/



#18 MINIDREAMS

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 03:45 PM

Already have via Facebook and email, no reply.

#19 MINIDREAMS

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 04:10 PM

Already have via Facebook and email, no reply.

#20 minigbg

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 06:06 PM

Hi
Also been in contact with Zcars to buy parts and get some information about my kit but with no luck.
Seems like they have some sort off problem with the service already.
Mikael

#21 Painter man

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 07:06 PM

They do take a while to get stuff sorted but i have heard from a friend that steve from the old zcars is building stuff for people at the old workshop in hull

#22 MINIDREAMS

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Posted 15 September 2017 - 07:07 PM

Hi
Also been in contact with Zcars to buy parts and get some information about my kit but with no luck.
Seems like they have some sort off problem with the service already.
Mikael


Not sure what's going on!

#23 beanc*unter

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Posted 17 September 2017 - 07:35 AM

Already have via Facebook and email, no reply.

 

Apologies for the delayed response.

 

I am about 2 weeks behind on the written enquiries that can be considered as rational queries where the email sender seems sane. As you can imagine I receive more than my fair share of bizarre ideas and as much I'd like us to have the engineering talent and imagination to put a Tesla engine in something straight out of Captain Scarlet/Thunderbirds albeit with wheels, sadly this is not for us. That being said I do respond to each one and let them down gently.

I also get my fair share of enquiries that need to be passed through a translation service. Given the undercurrent on this trail, maybe I should put my response back and forth through service to see how random it came out just to lighten the mood. Again I try to respond to these, dispelling the myth we British are useless at languages...

 

On Facebook, where someone asks for a brochure I reserve the right to steer these through the info@ account, so we can log them and manage them. My mobile is 07967 648749 if you'd like to help me home in on your correspondence so I can give you the info you require and apologise in person, today will be fine. I can also share with you - as you deserve an explanation - what happened at my end last week.

 

Then you can let rip at me about various matters as a disgruntled enquirer, and in the event you are dissatisfied with my updates, then as is your right, you can get back on the forum and tell everyone all about it. May I suggest capital letters and a good dose of hyperbole...Obviously that is tongue-in-cheek, but let me get this off my chest, as I do understand this is what Forums are about, but my mobile is there, send me a text and I will respond, it takes a few minutes.

By the time I get home from a day of fire-fighting on 3 new automotive ventures still integrating on reception and ops, ( Z Cars shares premises, workship equipment, some staff, to leverage synergy) and dealing with property interests as that are being pumped into the automotive side to keep it afloat as this is not a venture to make me money this side of Brexit, I am on fumes, and not the kind that come through those old aluminium bulkheads...

 

And yes I was tempted to write that last piece in CAPITALS...



#24 beanc*unter

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Posted 17 September 2017 - 08:36 AM

They do take a while to get stuff sorted but i have heard from a friend that steve from the old zcars is building stuff for people at the old workshop in hull

Hi C,

 

On the former, an honest assessment. If I may respond in kind, although we may have spoken about these in person, but since this is now a forum matter, I have to respond using the same medium. Some might think such candid updates are a Gerard Ratner-esque faux pas, I prefer to just be upfront, tell it as it is, if it's held against ZCE then so be it, but then again, how conducive is that to current owners residual values.

 

I have taken on the following to - unashamedly - bring income in to protect the rebooted company:

 

- a group buy of GTM Libra kits at a discounted price to overcome the distrust caused by ZCPE, and to try to get a little production run efficiency going. The jigs were difficult to follow and the levels of deflection we encountered, have caused a few headaches. We have now got on top of these and will start to produce and dispatch these kits as these customers have been patient and understanding, empathising with what has occurred.

- building one-off larger - tubular diameter is 38mm - front subframes to help build an exclusive limited run of five £125k Minis pass EU crash-testing. This is not a 'remastered' A-series with some leather and aluminium billet knobs to try to disguise all the 'character' of the 1275 reconditioned engine/gearbox, but a 2.0 TFSI with a 6 speed gearbox with EU road-use approval. In exchange we are able to accelerate our own kit of the same engine. I felt this is a good move for the rebooted business, and I am delivering these to Switzerland this week.

- finish a few builds for customers that had originally given up on completing their builds.

 

We are now recommencing the retrofit of the new modular kit into my white B18c-engined car and test it thoroughly before launching the new range of cradles and offering the retrofit service to which you were originally interested earlier this year.. I apologise for the delay in getting on to this, but if you were in my position, you might have wanted to generate some income as R&D is a killer. The Libra kit and the Swiss Mini have taken much longer than anticipated. I accept I have delayed you getting your car completed, but in light of the paragraph, a thorough testing regime is the way to go otherwise you could be further inconvenienced. Happy to have a call at your convenience.

 

Furthermore we have had a number of issues with some of the jigs we used to sell the odd older kit and supply manufactured parts to customers missing parts of their kits, for example wishbones and trailing arms (never supplied by ZCPE). The lack of precision has caused (Steeve from France, Neil  P and another Steve this time, in Scotland) so much pain, their patience and support has gone way beyond. The jigs it seemed needed an allowance here and there from someone who knew them intimately. We do know!! Consequently I decided to build my car first before releasing new product without using customers as unofficial development test pilots, something the former company was accused of doing.

 

On the former ZCPE employee Steve McManus being based on Gallows Farm, this is true, Steve trades under Arcadia Automotive. I understand he was finishing a few builds left over from the ZCPE demise, and sells a Smart Kit, the latter is something I did not want ZCE to sell. We have no affiliation although on occasion I call Steve for some information. Please see my later response to Mikael (during today). If customers want Steve to build their cars instead of ZCE, that is their choice to make.

 

I will also be explaining why - in my opinion and those of some customers I have run this issue past - the former ZCPE customers expect too much from ZCE. I am not ex-ZCPE, and after Chris Allanson who did not get a penny for Z Cars from ZCPE, I was the next worst affected. Please see my earlier posts. So to emotionally blackmail me that I should not be able to charge the market rate (in the South-east of England) to make-good the numerous wrongs of ZCPE is asking too much of ZCE. And before I get a barrage of anything, consider this - what would anyone reading this do in my position? Would you give parts away? No. Would you charge £25 per hour (in the South-East? Of course not.






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