Anybody ordered anything from Whitby Motorsports

[mohara]

Ordered my Canadian roadster completion kit 6 weeks ago and still waiting ! Anybody have experience buying from these guys ?

[canuck1]

Top notch. Jeff Collins is one of the good guys. Fair prices and he has many of the items you need and a few extras that might interest you as well.

Between Whitby's and Breeze you could build a very nice car with many of the (necessary) bells and whistles.

Have you called him? He's usually pretty good about answering the phone.

Sean



Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app

[Seagull81]

Don't waste your time emailing them.

[mohara]

Yes have tried calling him but his assistant (wife ?) usually answers the phone and she keeps telling me she'll look into the order status and get back to me but never does ! Tried email to but never got a reply !

[blackhawk]

I have ordered lots of items ,all great quality .But I will say they are very slow to send ,I too have had to call them many times .But you will always recieve your order You just have to be patient Aklot of their items are hand built and I think they wait until they can run of a few They make great items just slow to ship

Cheer's
Reg

[Whitby Motorcars]

Guys all the completion kits come in from the factory. It generally takes about 6 weeks to process and ship. We try to explain all of this on our website and when you order. Call or email me your name and I'll check your status. The office phone is forwarded to me 24 hours when the shop is closed. I'm sorry if I seem elusive, it is not intentional. Anita is our office manager and has been with us 30 years, I'm going show this post to my wife hopefully she will think it is funny. We have a staff of about 20, but have been on the road at shows the last two weeks. We are back in full time now with no road trips scheduled. If I had to pick I would say email is the most efficient way to get an answer, but from what I see above I may be wrong.

[mohara]

Originally Posted by Whitby Motorcars

Guys all the completion kits come in from the factory. It generally takes about 6 weeks to process and ship. We try to explain all of this on our website and when you order. Call or email me your name and I'll check your status. The office phone is forwarded to me 24 hours when the shop is closed. I'm sorry if I seem elusive, it is not intentional. Anita is our office manager and has been with us 30 years, I'm going show this post to my wife hopefully she will think it is funny. We have a staff of about 20, but have been on the road at shows the last two weeks. We are back in full time now with no road trips scheduled. If I had to pick I would say email is the most efficient way to get an answer, but from what I see above I may be wrong.

Jeff, I'll call you tomorrow

[wormie]

You know, you don't have to order the completion kit through a third party... All you need is to order and import it separately from the basic kit... You can have it shipped directly to you from FFR just not with your main order.

[mohara]

Originally Posted by wormie

You know, you don't have to order the completion kit through a third party... All you need is to order and import it separately from the basic kit... You can have it shipped directly to you from FFR just not with your main order.

Really ? FF told me to order it from Whitby.

[wildswing]

Originally Posted by wormie

You know, you don't have to order the completion kit through a third party... All you need is to order and import it separately from the basic kit... You can have it shipped directly to you from FFR just not with your main order.

Wormie, please explain. Where did you get this information? FFR has never made their complete kit available to Canadians. They won't even let us order non-compliant parts.

FFR went to great lengths years ago, conferring with Transport Canada, to create a Canadian import compliant kit after TC closed the borders to all kits (temporarily). Allowing Canadians to order non-compliant parts would endanger their relationship with TC.

A complete Canadian kit is available through Al Beix at WCC, but that's different. The parts are sourced in Canada.

[barrhavencobra]

I have ordered many items from Whitby (jeff and crew) and will continue to do so. I have found them great to deal with.

Jim

[MikeJones]

I think you will find in the fine print from TC that you can not order the basic kit and the completion kit from the same manufacturer (FFR) as it is equivalent to ordering a complete car. If you order from two suppliers, they are still car parts. You might be able to do so if the timelines are spread over a very long time, but TC might not agree.

When I ordered mine, FFR wouldn't allow the two orders to be placed to avoice conflicts with TC although that was in 2005.

Regards, Mike

[wormie]

Well, I don't want to hijack this thread, but also, don't want my post to be misleading anyone.

I have decided not to use Whitby nor Al B for my own personal reasons so I cannot comment on their performance or reliability. I heard nothing but positive reference from those I consulted before making up my mind. The fact that Withby is reacting to this thread speaks for itself. Al has done same also in other circumstances.

Both companies offer a service that is convenient to you or not and you may be incline to buy it (or get it at no extra charge, in the case of Al).

After much research and reflexion, I elected to import my kit myself, to pick it up and bring it home myself. This was driven by financial reasons and because I felt these steps in the build process important to me in my exprience in building my own car, myself. By doing so I also realized I cut myself from two very good potential sources of support during my build. I have also imported other parts from other vendors by way of mail orders.

Read the paperwork involved in the import process, namely the Transport Canada letter that approves your import: "although MARGINAL, the parts list does not constitute a complete kit" and the certificate of import that says that you must advise T.C. If you add parts to the import (referred to as the "shipment"). What is T.C. trying to acheive is for another debate, open to multiple interpretations.

The parts removed from the kit are not illegal to be imported to Canada, as evidenced by the fact that you can import them through other sources, even though they still come first from FFR.

FFR has done an AWESOME job with T.C. to streamline the import process and make it easy for us Canucks to import and build our dream cars and nothing should be done to jeoparsize this or antagonize T.C. It's very reasonable for them in their understanding of the law and in respect to their agreement with T.C. to point you to other sources to get the parts removed from the basic kit at T.C.'s directive.

Does that make sense to everyone?

Do I have to spell out the missing piece that is left to be 'read between the lines'? None of wich implied here to be illegal or unethical by the way. PM me if you still have questions.

-W

[mohara]

No problem Wormie. Like you, I too imported my kit directly, drove 10 hours down, 12 hours back, factory tour, met Dave etc. I think we all know the process to get it in having done it ourselves.

The point is since certain parts are not permitted to be imported into Canada as part of the kit, they must be sourced elsewhere. So far, it is legal to import parts from a series of different suppliers that you can use to construct a home built car in Canada. If you order them all from 1 supplier you can't.

The deleted parts cannot be ordered from FFR. They can be ordered thru Whitby, Al Beix or other US or Canadian based suppliers. Where those suppliers get the parts from is none of my business, nor, for now, Transport Canada's and I think we'd all like to keep it that way !

[Slord]

Hi: I ordered my completion kit from Jeff but went down to pick it up myself. It was a good 13 1/2 hour drive but have a buddy who lives nearby and made a holiday out of it. if you have the time it is well worth it to visit Whitby's. Jeff is a great guy and can talk cars and Cobras for hours. I saw many cars, both Cobra and Mustang, in various stages of build or restoration and thoroughly enjoyed the visit. I could have spent the whole day there but felt a little guilty taking up so much of Jeff's time. Recommended. (Plus there is lots of cheap good golf in NC).

[tony hassel]

Ordered my kit thru Al, it took months, landed at my door in a big box. Ordered brakes and rear end, took months. Relax and take your time.
Living in Canada makes you pay stupid shipping and handling charges for
car parts, it's all part of a long process that seems harder here than
state side. Whitby is professional, fast and friendly, products are shipped
properly and promptly. Getting parts has been the worse part of the build.
Stay away from UPS. Enjoy your build, this forum and your car.

[MatthewP]

I don't know why brakes and rear end should take months. I had a rear end from a local wrecker in a few days. The weld on housing ends and other welding were done in a week or so, and the rest of the guts took a couple of weeks to get here. Brakes are the same - a couple of weeks to get from Western Motorsports.

I ordered a bunch of stuff from Whitby about three weeks ago and dropped it on my shop floor today, though it looks like there are a couple of backorder items.

Oh yeah, engine, transmission, control pack, bellhousing, clutch, etc. etc. all are sitting at Western Motorsports waiting for me to pick them up and I ordered them about 3 weeks ago too.

As far as I can see, the biggest hold up on the kit itself is getting a Permission to Import Letter from Transport Canada, and of course I am a week in on that process and still waiting for the letter.

-Matthew

[wormie]

I got the Tc letter back in exactly one week.

[samadhi]

My TC letter came in a week also.

It couldn't have come faster, it's like they opened it, signed off, and put a stamp on the envelop the same day!

They've done this plenty of times.

[MatthewP]

That's encouraging. I'm keeping my eyes open for it! By the way, did you guys get yours in the mail, or email?

-Matthew

[wormie]

Just went back to check the dates. My submission was made by email, I received a PDF exactly 2 weeks to the day. Letter came also by mail and arrived the next day, but I live near accross town from the TC offices.

[mohara]

I got my letter by email exactly 1 week to the day after emailing my application.

Patience is definitely a virtue, especially for us Canucks ! But I'm still smiling !

[AC Bill]

Originally Posted by MatthewP

I don't know why brakes and rear end should take months. I had a rear end from a local wrecker in a few days.
-Matthew

Yeah..But Matthew, that's like comparing bananas to apples. Tony chose new parts vs used..

I suspect that many of the vendors that we connect with, via this forum, are really not all that big of a business. More of a Mom and Pop operation in some cases. You can't really tell from a web site.
This may limit their ability to carry a large inventory of misc. parts on hand. It would tie up to darn much money. It appears that often when a builders order is placed with a vendor, that is when they actually order the parts from their sources. It's not always the place you order from, that is causing the delays.
I'm not suggesting Whitby's is in this same boat, but even then, I'm sure they can't have everything on hand, all the time.

Patience is definitely a virtue when building our cars. Drill rivet holes in the meantime..

[MatthewP]

Originally Posted by AC Bill

Yeah..But Matthew, that's like comparing bananas to apples. Tony chose new parts vs used..

Well, the rear end housing is the only used part going into my project, and right now that is the only way to get a fox style 8.8 rear end housing. You can get a new 9 inch style rear end with fox Mustang mount points, but not an 8.8.

My point is that the vast majority of parts that you might need which are not included in a kit such as engine, transmission, rear end parts, engine management, wheels, brakes, seats, gauges, or whatever are readily available from a wide array of suppliers, including my friends at Western Motorsports, within a couple of weeks of placing an order. Even a small specialty supplier like Whitby delivered my parts in about 3 weeks. If you are waiting around for months for stuff like an engine or brakes, you are simply doing it wrong.

-Matthew

[MatthewP]

I know this is an old thread, but I am just going to provide an update to my status. I got my Permission to Import letter yesterday, just about exactly one month after I applied for it.

-Matthew

[wormie]

Well, what are you waiting for???

[MatthewP]

Originally Posted by wormie

Well, what are you waiting for???

I'm not quite sure what you mean. I have the entire driveline including a new Coyote Aluminator and T56 Magnum transmission and the Whitby parts sitting here and my 33 hot rod kit has been ready for some time so now it can finally ship. Like I said earlier in the thread, the biggest delay is the paperwork with Transport Canada.

-Matthew

[wormie]

Oh... What I meant is there's nothing stopping you now to get started is there?

[MatthewP]

As soon as the crate arrives, I will get going. I have already been working on getting the rear end ready which is about the only item I could really work on prior to the arrival of the chassis. It's probably still 14 days or so away from Alberta.

-Matthew