Den Tanner gives discount shock!!! (hee hee)
Discussion
Den,
I helped Chris Wicks (Norwich) build his Pilgrim cobra and he has nothing but praise for it! Ended up costing him £7500 including £1500 on the engine and £1000 on paint. He was offered £10000 from Hallmark Cars but he kept it, despite the profit he would have made, because he wouldnt part with it. So I guess thats 2,
Phil
I helped Chris Wicks (Norwich) build his Pilgrim cobra and he has nothing but praise for it! Ended up costing him £7500 including £1500 on the engine and £1000 on paint. He was offered £10000 from Hallmark Cars but he kept it, despite the profit he would have made, because he wouldnt part with it. So I guess thats 2,
Phil
daxtojeiro said:
Den,
So I guess thats 2,
Phil
From 1st Feb 1985, when I gave up my day job to start Pilgrim, until 8th April 2002 when I skulked out of Pilgrim
leaving it in the capable hands of Tony
, I’d sold a total of 5,000 kits to about 2,500 delighted customers
, 2,490 happy customers
and about 10 tossers
. After 9 months of advertising
Fib’s found one of those tossers and used his very distorted, one sided and inaccurate account to put me out of business
. This after the matter was decided in my fovour in the small claims court!!!!
The difference between success and failure
in the kit car game comes down to the last kit each week. If you sell it, you’re profitable, if you don’t you make losses. After 5 years I cracked, but strangely
I haven’t disappeared like other of Fib’s victims. Another box of pins is needed, me thinks
. Den
PS Peter,
, , I'm over here,, kitcarman said:
I’d sold a total of 5,000 kits to about 2,500 delighted customers
But Den, I thought the customer was always right..
Bollocks! Some of 'em can be a right pain in the arse, I have run my own business for nearly twenty five years, and if they annoy me I tell 'em where to get off....
.....Lol!
kitcarman said:
Den,
So I guess thats 2,
Phil
After 9 months of advertising
I havent bought a mag for over a year now, mainly because I don't go down the city and never see them in my local newsagent, but i used to buy them both all the while. Thats why I'm not up to speed on this arguement. Is the above about a peice of suspension failing or something similar? I do recall reading it a few years ago.
Phil
PS. The thing about 2 people being happy wasn't a dig, I helped him build it and we very often go out together in both cars. Many people comment on how good they both are, I put it down to my expertise
daxtojeiro said:
I havent bought a mag for over a year now. . . . .
You naughty boy! daxtojeiro said:
I do recall reading it a few years ago. . . . . .about a peice of suspension failing or something similar?
Yes, I sold a second hand Sumo. After a few months the brakes went ‘soggy’ and the car was taken to a garage to have them fixed. The garage proprietor ‘phoned
me for advice on where the components came from. He’d evidently not fixed it first time around and was desperate for help. About two weeks later I heard that the car had crashed, apparently because a nut holding the lower wishbone to the upright had come undone. The customer sued me on the basis that I’d negligently supplied him with a car with a latent defect, that I’d refused to assist and that my service was lousy.
On the day of the hearing Fib’s
was in court and heard the whole case
. The Judge said that on the balance of probabilities he reckoned that the nut had probably been disturbed whilst the brakes were being fixed 
and therefore I could not be held to account. He lambasted the customer for refusing to allow me to fix the brakes in the first place, criticized the customer’s evidence as inconsistent and said that he accepted my evidence that he’d been cantankerous, unreasonable, rude and argumentative (illustrating his finding with the fact that the customer interrupted him, the Judge, 3 times during the short hearing and had contradicted himself on a similar number of occasions). 
Two weeks later in the February 2001 issue of Which Kit? there appeared THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what the Judge actually found with a reiteration of the case that the Judge had rejected. The article said the customer “won his claim and gained damages” and “Mr Tanner remained arrogant and unhelpful”. It concluded, “whatever you do. Don’t buy a Cobra from Den Tanner at Pilgrim Cars.” 
It still hurts to this day. All I got was an apology made out of legal expediency. I’d hoped it was sincere. Wonder why I’m angry
? daxtojeiro said:
The thing about 2 people being happy wasn't a dig. . . .
I realized that, but it provided a good excuse to tell the story
. Den.
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