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JBA Engineering
Ltd.
Motor Vehicle
Manufacturers
Unit 56B, Bradley Trading
Estate, Bradley Lane,
Standish, Nr. Wigan, Greater
Manchester,WN6 0XQ.
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 Harrogate.
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. |
Safe Driving All the Best Regards Robbie 
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