For years the accounts of Suffolk, who made the SS100 replica (and a damned good one it was too) and latterly a C-type have been showing a substantial deficit. All was revealed yesterday when the liquidators published £850,000 of debts. That’s $1.13 million to you over there. I have my eye on another company at the moment and will publish when I feel able.
Interesting that the administrator reports that they only have £17k in equipment vehicles and stock…i wonder where everything went
Greetings All, and MGCJAG,
I’m guessing things like molds, fixtures and already built inventory are likely now the property or at least disputed and can’t be sold now that Jaguar has flexed their legal muscle.
The liquid assets, might have also been put into an account for later dispersal for a judgement
Wrong. Jaguar lost their copyright case over the Grenadier, a lookalike for the old Landrover built by INEOS… With that court ruling that you can’t copyright a shape in place, it meant any further attempts against makers of C,D, XKSS or XJ13 replicas were bound to fail.
That’s probably the depreciated value on the books. Since they’ve been in business quite a while, they’re probably towards the end of the depreciation schedule on most of their old equipment.
Hi Jeffery…my post was a bit sarcastic…i know there was a new built alloy bodied C type that Suffolk were trying to sell for £119k…i wonder where it went
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I know of one that was sold, and the owner sold it on a year or so later. That car now sits in limbo, the DVLA having withdrawn the V5 registration and insisted that the car passes the IVA test. it will then become a new car, paying road tax every year and after the first three years being liable for the annual MOT. The person who sold the car did so in good faith. He told me that when he bought it new Suffolk did not explain that the car was illegal, nor had they even tried to get it through the IVA. It was shown as a XJ6 on the V5.
Greetings All, Lowdrag,
Thanks. It’s good to know that. Maybe there is a chance for their reappearance as something other than Suffolk?
I suppose that there is a possibility, but finance might prevent that - and anyway, is there a market for it? You can, via the IVA, register the car in the UK, but you can’t in France and most of Europe because the car is not homologated. Lynx are starting up again in Coventry, but their main - and probably only - market will be the USA where virtually anything that has four wheels is legal. There is no MOT either. Gone are the carefree days in Europe when anything went. I was able to register my XKSS here in France because it is - and they needed proof - over 30 years old. Anything younger is refused. We have to face it that the generation that knew and understood mechanics is dying out - and I am part of that generation that was deeply into cars. My kids - literally - don’t even know how to open the bonnet. One arrived with the oil warning light on and hadn’t a clue what it was except that it looked like Aladdin’s lamp. I shall be going to a monthly meet today, and it is no longer a classic car meet but “exceptional cars”, so I will expect to see a couple of classics and a big line of Porsches. I’ll take a couple of pictures to show you.
The good news of course for Suffolk owners is that spares will still be available. Coincidentally though the company that made the bodies for the Suffolk SS 100 burned down a short while back, so I can’t see the bodies being available again.
As far as im aware Suffolk has re formed already under a new name Suffolk Classic Services offering spare parts and servicing also one of the old directors of SSC will be selling SS100s and C types. There is also a new project where they are reportedly going to be making replica Alfa C6 Zagato
Well, that is a great relief to all SS100 owners then. Seems the moulds for the bodies have survived
I’m wondering how people feel about the Panther J72. It is similar to the Suffolk product, but it has an aluminium body rather than fiberglass. It was produced between 1972 and 1981.