GRM Exclusive Reveal: Exocet Spec-A

I might be the minority, but I don't like sacrificing quality for faster production.

I'm with Xzone on this. It took 32 weeks for me to get my frame (still counting the weeks for bodywork). I don't mind the wait one bit. I understand that this is a small company that has run into all kind of set backs. They have a great product that I am very happy with, but the fact that the Exomotive website currently states for potential customers that the wait time is 14-16 weeks is downright shady.

Holdbrooks wrote: I might be the minority, but I don't like sacrificing quality for faster production.

You're not in the minority. We've all stated the exact same thing.

I'll repeat what I've already said many times. I understand the delays and I'm not upset about them. It's the lack of communication with paying customers that is unacceptable. I have to come here and complain to Warren to get any info because the business side of the house has not returned a single email or voicemail or provided a single status update in almost 6 months. I guess they're too busy looking for more suckers willing to drop a $2,000 deposit.

/soapbox

In reply to 4moshin:

Good to know I'm not alone in this. Hopefully they will see this and take a hint. I don't mind the wait as much and certainly don't want to sacrifice quality, this was more to let potential buyers know that everything isn't as perfect as the website shows. I don't think anyone knows when they invest 10k+ in a project like this right now that they are preording a complete kit that doesn't even exist yet. I really think that they should have continued to provide old bodywork with kits until the new bodywork was done, then they could sell upgrades to the new kit to old customers, they would win twice. Unless there was some political or financial reason why they were no longer allowed to use the MEV style bodywork. That would have at least allowed finished kits to be on the street which could only provide good publicity for the company. I guess "it's done when it's done" is all we have to go on now since this is all the information we can get.

I have enjoyed this thread since Post #1. Saw this bottleneck coming but not as an all bad thing.

Moving on to a new topic. Since a lot of these puppies are going out the door, how long before they start to show up on the second hand market? Or showing up as unfinished projects?

When they do, I wonder what kind of price they will command?

I know its early days, but exomotive should start to think about a "refresh kit" for these second hand owners.

To my knowledge, there has been one resale of a completed US frame (with UK bodywork). Stock NB2 donor, fresh suspension components, clean build. The sale price was in the territory of a well-equipped Mustang.

As far as a "refresh kit", we plan to offer the bodywork pack as a separate item, at least once we catch up to chassis production. I can't really think of anything else to refresh other than the stray damaged aluminum or side panel, which we can handle on a case-by-case basis.

Those that have suggested that there were other reasons for discontinuing production of UK bodywork: there is some truth there. The particular UK-style bodywork molds we had were, how should I say this, inherently unable to maintain continuous production at the rate we needed. I can't say more on that topic.

For the record, I could slap semi-perm mold release on the molds right now and spit out parts. The reason why I haven't yet is because small defects from my temperature sensitive buckmaking method were visible at 5~10ft. It looks great in pictures and video, and if we were actually trying to scam people into deposits, we could have released that media already and told people it was done. Instead, we want to make it right, so I took the molds down and hand-repaired each blemish (in gelcoat) so you can proudly show it off at carshow-distances without excuses.

The crushing responsibility of the bodywork production delay is felt. Acutely. After this, for anything else similar, it's back to CNC routers and machinable foam. I'll design and build my own machine if I have to; it would have been less work.

Warren - I know it's hard to say, but do you have ANY estimation as to when you might be shipping the first customer sets of the new bodywork at this point?

In reply to ihmcguinness:

This is coming from me personally, I don't want to put words in Kevin's mouth: closer to the end of this month. Cowl and fender need new females made. Thankfully the moldmaking area is now climate controlled, and we haven't seen the same problems since that happened.

The nose, hood, and trunk will be in production sooner than that, and our fiberglass guy will be cranking them out as I do the required moldwork for the cowl and fender. We will have four fender mold females, too. That is the best way to catch up as fast as we can without sacrificing quality.

We are using the Chemlease system on the molds, which means with the work I'm doing now to the females, they will come out polished, which saves a big step. Kevin has pallets, appropriate shipping boxes, and packing material ready to go for the bodywork.

Thanks for the update. That helps a lot.

Warren, please relay to Kevin i would like my body work delayed until you guys get fully caught up i bought a 2nd set from David Chow & dont need mine any time soon.

Sean Castner

In reply to mrvwcastner:

Thanks Sean, you just made everyone behind you a day or so happier!

That orange set is very pretty, probably one of the favorite ones I made.

A portion of the delay is due to the powder coating process. My frame was done minus powder coating the first week of May. I took delivery of it a little a little over a week ago. I ordered it back in December. Yes it's been a long wait. It is also been worth the wait. The quality is absolutely awesome.

I have friends who know nothing about cars or welding or anything mechanical comment on how nice the frame looks. The ones who are in the know will walk around the frame over and over noticing new details with each lap. I think I may have my neighbor almost convinced to buy one.

If, as a buyer, you are looking for fantastic quality and equally fantastic speed you may have to look elsewhere for the time being. I suspect a fantastic price tag will accompany the other two. If, on the other hand, you want an affordable kit manufactured to high standards the Exocet is likely your best bet.

Quick, quality, cheap. Pick any two.

That being said it doesn't sound like the delay is the issue, it's the lack of communication which is killing this cool project

In reply to icaneat50eggs:

I wouldn't say the delay isn't entirely a non-issue, I can't think of anyone who wouldn't be frustrated ordering something and expecting it to arrive in 14 weeks and being over 40 weeks out and still not have everything listed at the time of order. The lack of communication just added to the frustration and gave that disconnected feeling from the company. With that being said, once this issue is resolved they shouldn't have this issue again and should only get better turn around time since this is a one time change, they may just need to work on their PR skills a little and assign someone full time to answer questions and update their website with current information.

I ordered my Race chassis the week of Christmas. I was figuring that it would be here by April or early May and I would have time to do the build out in time to debut it at Caffeine ad Carburetors for Father's Day. Production delays are what they are and I am happy to be in on the ground floor of these machines. "Nadine" was kit number 6 sold by Boss Frog. I spent 3 years gathering parts for what ended up being a 34 day build up. That summer she spent 8 days in my buddy's garage and he and his 2 sons did a fantastic job making all ten cars that she was built from into one beautiful machine! I plan on spending more time on this car but then again, with the body in Gel-coat and the chassis powder coated it is more of an assembly process than what Nadine was. Right now my engine is ready to go, the trans and clutch are here, the Wilwoods sit on the shelf, the rear diff is prepped and painted, and I have almost all of the suspension ready to go. I even have mirrors and another set of GPS gauges ready to go! All I need is a chassis. Waiting this long just means I am closer to having the correct body work with all the bugs worked out when the rest arrives. Warren, please let Kevin know that I don't mean to pester either of you. I think we all know that you guys are working your tails off. I can only imagine how many personalities you are dealing with each day and yes spending time answering emails and being on the forums does take away from time to build, but good customer support and communication will make or break a business. If I could get my wife to move I would have knocked on your door for a job long ago.

Warren can you send me details of how body typically attaches? I didnt get any brackets or HW from David Chow. Is it going to be the same on both versions (i'm planning on early orange body for track/daily & newer grey body for pretty times). I also have the newer headlights.

icaneat50eggs wrote: Quick, quality, cheap. Pick any two. That being said it doesn't sound like the delay is the issue, it's the lack of communication which is killing this cool project

I did not realize it was dying...if anything, Id say its wriggling out of its cocoon, and morphing into something beautiful. Its a shame that there were frustrations, but I would say that, as an objective observer (I have no skin in the game...yet), yes I would be disappointed if I was told X, and in reality, I got Y in terms of dates or product. But given the potential of this opportunity: the quality, the pricetag, the performance potential, the modular/customizable nature of the product, etc etc etc....you're getting WAAAAAAAAY more for the dollar than anywhere else in the kit market.

An awkward launch? Yes. A death spiral? hardly

I doubt that this will help anyone feel much better, but what the exo guys are doing is a real tightrope act - there's that saying about "speed, quality or price, pick any two". It's true, and what's more, often companies will only give you one, or sometimes there's deficiencies in all three. The tightrope was that Exo tried to supply all three, and have fallen off the wire somewhat on speed. Importantly, they are still trying very hard to nail the remaining two, and frankly very few companies in the kit car business have been able to do even that. Ask yourself who has a product with a comparable set of assets to Exomotive? Nobody. I love Factory Five, Love the Catfish, love the Stalker, love the Beck 550s, but they inhabit a different place in the overall scheme of things - all are more expensive, and it could be argued that Exo beats their quality in some areas. In business I tell people that as long as everyone in a relationship is honorable and well-intended, things can be worked out. Unless Exo shows themselves to be deficient in those areas, I recommend gritting your teeth and realizing that the life of the early adopter isn't always the easiest.

Thanks for the well-wishes guys. We were unable to escape the proverbial project triangle, and yes, we definitely have chosen to sacrifice speed to maintain our quality and cost targets.

This week in particular has been quite busy. This afternoon, we just took delivery of the remaining steel (well, not all of it, but enough to crank frame production back up). We spent the downtime building the sub-assemblies we could (noses, propshaft tunnels, floors), so that should help welding speed.

The hood mold just started the polishing process; it should be ready for production starting Monday. Check out the pictures, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. That's the trunk mold in the background. The nose mold is out of frame.

mrvwcastner wrote: Warren can you send me details of how body typically attaches? I didnt get any brackets or HW from David Chow. Is it going to be the same on both versions (i'm planning on early orange body for track/daily & newer grey body for pretty times). I also have the newer headlights.

Hey Sean,

The UK bodywork does not come with any brackets or hardware; that was left to the builder. The instructions can be found here: http://guides.exomotive.com/hc/en-us/articles/200180878-Mounting-the-GRP-Body-Panels , and you can find more mounting solutions on the MEV forums.

The US bodywork mounts are a new thing that increases the scope of the kit and simplicity of the build process. If you wish to run both the US and UK bodywork on the same car, you will need to install both sets of mounts with riv-nuts and small screws.

Keith Tanner wrote: Took me a long time to realize what FMIC meant once the Subaru crowd discovered that intercoolers didn't belong on top of a hot engine. We were there first The car looks so cool with no bodywork. Love that total lack of rear overhang.

I allegedly have a 289 Lemans replica being built in Pittsburgh. If a fella were not a huge fan of the rear bodywork on the Exocet, a fella could use a tank like this and probably put it behind the rear bulkhead - like in a 289 roadster, FFR 818, etc. Then that fella could fab up some .040" aluminum to trim out the rear area and cover up anything they thought appropriate to cover. Not that I've thought about doing this, of course...

Warren could you send me the us mounting HW/instructions so i can get an idea of how much will cross over? My thought is to run both bodies. The US works will be my show & shine the UK will be track & daily.

Warren v wrote: Thanks for the well-wishes guys. We were unable to escape the proverbial project triangle, and yes, we definitely have chosen to sacrifice speed to maintain our quality and cost targets. This week in particular has been quite busy. This afternoon, we just took delivery of the remaining steel (well, not all of it, but enough to crank frame production back up). We spent the downtime building the sub-assemblies we could (noses, propshaft tunnels, floors), so that should help welding speed.

Warren, Thanks for the update. What is the best way to find out my spot in the build queue?

Sorry for the delay, I've been in the trenches and haven't checked this thread. We have all of the steel, we're back to frame production at 6 days a week, and production hoods are being made. Trunk mold and nose are getting ready, fender and cowl are close to having pristine molds made. In short, we're rockin out.

The bodywork mount guide is awaiting physical pictures. We just got the mount pieces from manufacturing.

ashneyder wrote: Warren, Thanks for the update. What is the best way to find out my spot in the build queue?

If you can't reach Kevin, Keith is up to date on all the FM orders. From my production info, it looks like you're in good shape due to a lack of powdercoat. Uncoated cars get sent out much faster.

I should take pictures of the hoods. Pretty happy with them.

Straight from the mold.