Cartel Blue Inc (CRTL)

[Pennimon]

flptrnkng: "You can buy the kit, and a donor Corvette, and some Porsche parts, and build your own." - What you would have here is a new KIT CAR with USED parts (milage?). Richard Oben ( a rec. builder) has completed four of them. One was a complete custom build, and the remaining three were kit cars the owners COULD NOT FINISH!

Both Richard Oben and Dave Borden have stated that a BASIC build with used parts will start at 60 G's - a custom build has labour costs which runs 1000+ hours... (Richard and Dave are on the list of Factory recommended builders you mentioned.) BTW Richard has a "basic" quality built GTM for 94K up for sale.

Did you know that the kit car has over 3000 rivets? Or that the intake and heads needs reversing 180 degrees? Or that the tranny costs mentioned dont include ALL the parts needed for an install? A quality paint will set you back five to ten G's? Quality wheels and tires another five G's? How about the interior work? etc etc etc.

GTM research will show a quality "basic" build or do it yourself will run closer to 80 G's. Thats straight from the keyboard of F5 recommended builders....it takes one of these custom builders at least three months to complete one GTM. If you are gonna build it yourself, you are looking at a couple of YEARS...

Revenge is not on that list of course as they do not have a history of building CUSTOM vehicles for F5 clients. I believe what Revenge will be offering will be radically different from the current GTM AND exclusive to Revenge useage, which is no big deal.

There have been less than 300 sales of the Factory Five GTM kit car in total over the past three or four years, so that wont effect us or current GTM owners a great deal. The Revenge design will most likely address the GTM's current shortcomings including costs, so that the GTM can TRULY be a supercar affordable by everyone and one that can be financed by a bank.

In essence I believe what Peter and Factory Five will accomplish together will result in a production GTM that will be cost comparable to a kit cars completed cost, except this one comes FULLY assembled for the same price, has all brand new parts AND a FACTORY WARRANTY - no assembly time required, and no waiting for parts or completion.

Factory Five may finally see some profit from the GTM once in full production, but the benefits to them will be real. Lower per unit cost to produce and passed on to the client, current design problems addressed, greatly reduced real-world build times and ease of assembly (knowledge and experience) for future kit car builder/owners.

Eliminating the need for a "donor" vette also means that you are not stuck with the gas guzzling V8 vette motor. A standard GM crate engine should suffice, maybe even a V6 instead to allow you 35+mpg on highway, or even a hybrid model...

Some will want the performance, some the beauty of the machine, some both. Some will prefer the GTM off the showroom floor, some will want a custom build.

Will the GTM sell? Well....here's what Shane (custom builder)has to say about the GTM salability - from F5 forum thread "What the coolest thing that happened while driving your GTM?":

"Keep in mind that I don't personally own a GTM....I just build them for others to enjoy, for now.....but all I can say is that the GTM just sucks! When I took them to the alignment shop, both GTM's (the gray/silver one, and the yellow/black one) sucked all of the shop's employees away from whatever they were doing. It sucked all the guys and gals out of the shop's front office and even sucked a few people right off the street into the shop. When I arrived at the shop, there were like 2 people there, and next thing I know there are about a dozen people all standing around it!

When I'm at the gas station with the GTM's, they suck teenagers cars right off the street and right up to the pump!"
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Shane Vacek-VRaptor SpeedWorks, L.L.C.
Supplier of SS Front and Rear Louvers for the GTM!
GTM's Custom Built for You!
http://www.vraptorspeedworks.com


regards,