The Highs And Lows of A Kit Car Manufacturer's Year 

The clocks have gone back, the nights drawing in and I have realized that we have reached that time of year when we can reflect on the events of the last kit car season.  This will finally draw to a close with the Exeter show this weekend November the 20th.  

The very slow start to the kit car season in late Winter / early Spring was a big disappointment after the investment the company had made in new sales literature and the setting up of an extremely innovative Web site. 

At this stage my first thanks go to Phil Whittiker for suffering a very cold Winter's day with us at Southport, where his car was photographed for use on our Web site.  Anyone visiting the Web site must agree that his car, ( two tone TSR ) looks superb.

The show season started in March at Bingley Hall where I can only blame the poor response on the uncertainties still lingering over the SVA kit car regulations.  Although nothing much happened to improve business for the next couple of months, events told us that hopefully things were about to change: owners were reporting SVA passes at first attempt.

Stonleigh was an excellent exhibition ( possibly due to Top Gear magazine's involvement ) and certainly due to an impressive owners' club display. 

The number of enquiries increased to the highest level for a number of years.   Things continued to improve as more and more owners cars were reportedly undergoing SVA with ease and sales were improving.  It may be difficult to determine when the turning point came  but it certainly culminated at JBA's factory open day in October.

That week-end did not start with much promise....the weather was atrocious and the signs were not good but in the end the event turned out to be more reminiscent of the boom days of the late 80's / early 90's.  We did test drives all day, took orders all day and no-one mentioned SVA - all day!

My thoughts and thanks must go out to all owners who travelled through the horrendous weather that day, to make it a memorable occasion.

We have talked about kit car sales and obviously without these the company doesn't survive, but without a doubt the biggest buzz for me comes from seeing the owners displaying their cars with pride in their achievement.

In general, JBA owe a lot of owners a lot of thanks; for turning up at open days and kit car shows and speaking enthusiastically about the product, for supporting the owners' club and of course, for supporting the company.  There are many people deserving of our special thanks and their efforts are remembered and appreciated.

Included amongst them are:- Derek Bintcliffe and Keith Morrish who continue to exhibit their cars on our behalf, after owning them for many years.
Glynn Whalley for exhibiting his car at Harrowgate.
Burman Parker for exhibiting his newly-finished V8 Falcon at Donnington.
Also Phil Whittaker, Bernard Telford, Mick Sykes and John Rodwell for their obvious enthusiasm and support.

My thanks must go out to the owners' club chairman, committee members and all the other representatives who have helped to make the JBA owners' club one of the biggest and best kit car clubs in the world.

Thanks indeed to all who have helped us to finish this year on a high! 

JBA Engineering Ltd.

Copyright JBA Engineering Ltd.1999. 2000.