Modelworks 1901 Locomobile replica kit

[Simon Cast]

My name is Simon Cast and I jointly own a model engineering company called Modelworks. I have started a post on the main discussion forum and we will be producing a FULL size replica of the 1901 Locomobile. We are a model engineering company based in Daventry in England:-

www.modelworks-int.com

All our live steam models are supplied with the boiler fully assembled and also fully certificated. The locomobile boiler will be a welded sheet steel example, and the wooden bodywork will be supplied as a flat packed self assembly kit. The leather seats will however be sent out fully upholstered and assembled.

Our models are supplied on a "build as you buy concept" This means that each month a set of components are sent out so the locomobile will be built up over a 12 month build. This way the cost (I anticipate it to be between $30-32,000)can be spread out over the 12 month build programme.

We are currently running a waiting list and it is just that a waiting list. When we are in a position to start taking deposits (anticipated to be 20-25%)we will contact everyone on our waiting list to ask if you still wish to build one of our Locomobile kits if not we will thank you for your interest and move on down the list until we have exhausted it. Then we will actively market the Locomobile as normal. In view of the massively unexpected levels of interest we have experienced with the Locomobile project that is why we have started a waiting list because we will only be producing a maximum of 100-120 kits and we already have about 25 reservations so at this rate I do not think it will be long before they will all be sold out.

You can register your interest on:-

s.cast@ntlworld.com or:- info@modelworks-int.com

Alternatively you can contact us at:- 00 44 1327 301030

[Simon Cast]

There is a webpage dedicated to our Locomobile project. It has been set up by a steam car enthusiast by the name of Peter brow in san Diego. The webpage address is:-

www.angelfire.com/space/peterbrow/locomobile.html

On the site there is a lot of information about the Locomobile and about Modelworks. There is also a link to an independent website of a lady who is building our 4" scale Burrell traction engine. As I say it is an independent site she is not an employee but if you have concerns about Modelworks it tells you about the quality of components we produce, how easy is one of our models to assemble, and also what is our customer service like, which is absolutely vital to know about in a 24 month project in my view (the Locomobile will be a 12 month programme by the way).

[Simon Cast]

Hello again

I thought I would let you all know about the latest development in the Modelworks Locomobile replica project. As you may have read in the post above this one, or possibly even have found some time to maybe read Peter Brow's webpage, you will know by now that he is a very enthusiastic supporter of our Locomobile project. He is a steam car designer/enthusiast based in San Diego and has extensive knowledge and access to superb archive materials for steam car's the like of which I have only ever seen in Museum's. I have been in transatlantic dialogue with Pete for about 4 months now, keeping him informed of where Modelworks are in the development of this project. I mentioned to him about our safety concerns regarding the original Ottoway burner, and also the safety valves which were not man enough for the original boilers either. Pete has now taken it upon himself to completely re-design the Ottoway so we are completely happy with it's long term safety, and he is ALSO, completely off his own back, now decided to totally re-design the safety valves so that we also have zero safety concerns there as well. I explained to him that the re-designed burner should ideally be a fuel vaporizing type, original as is possible to the original 1901 Locomobile, preferably to run on gasoline although Kerosene would I feel be an acceptable compromise (no Propane under ANY circumstances) Pete is flying over to England hopefully in April or May to run his burner and safety valves on our 14" steel boiler and Mason Regulator engine so we should be able to finalise the design's by June/July which would enable us to take reservation deposit's by maybe as soon as May/June (this is the absolute best case scenario though) On hearing this new's from Pete on Tuesday I felt that with his input and expertise, and also with our own in-house designers progress that the Locomobile project may now be able to be moved forward by possibly 2-3 month's. The reason for telling you all this is that our waiting list of potential Locomobile builder's is now over 30 with comfortably over 150 enquiries, and we will as I have explained earlier, only be producing 100-120 at the most so, ludicrous as it is to say at this early stage, with kit 1 not going out until October/November 2004 at the earliest, but urgency is now becoming an issue to register with us to avoid disappointment when they all become sold out. As a typically reserved Englishman I have to say:-

"American's you gotta love em'!"

[Simon Cast]

Hello all

We have had some very encouraging developments in the last 2-3 weeks regarding the 1901 Locomobile replica kit's that we will be producing towards the end of this year. We now have over 300 enquiries and nearly 40 reservations for kit's. The stanley Steamer museum in Maine have been very supportive of us from day 1 of this (in fact I approached them initially before we even contemplated starting this idea to find out if we would be infringing on any copyright's and to gauge their support or offence to this project) and in the current (Fall 2003- they are behind in chronology because of the Stanley Steamer book they have been working on to be published) Stanley Steamer Museum's quarterly bulletin they are running a full page editorial on Modelworks and the Locomobile project.

We have agreed with the Stanley Museum to supply to them a Locomobile kit so that each quarter they will be able to build 3 kit's, to write about assembling it in the Museum's quarterly bulletin, and to test our claim's that no formal engineering skill's are required to build our model's. In the case of the Locomobile though it will just be a FULL scale model, the only difference compared to all our other large scale live steam kit's that's all. The Stanley museum have also agreed to carry our Locomobile brochure's in the Museum's gift shop, once the Modelworks Locomobile is completed I believe they may even display it in the museum, but I cannot verify this as yet.

The split of those 40 or so reservation's so far has been very interesting and not what I was expecting at all. I was anticipating a 2-1 ratio in favour of North America/Canada because the Locomobile was after all an American idea and concept not a European one. We have had approximately a 50-50 split for North America/Canada compared to Europe and the rest of the world. We now have reservation's from as far afield as Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, Holland, Belgium, 2 from France, and of course about 8 now from the UK.

Any further developments or new's I will of course keep everyone updated ASAP.

Simon Cast Modelworks

[Simon Cast]

re:- Locomobile Replica

The Modelworks Locomobile prototype is now starting to take shape. The wood and leather supplier we will be using in England has now started to build the first Locomobile bodywork kit and is in the process of assembling it as I write this. The wood will now definitely be Ash and the leather will be black and in a deep buttoned style. The burner has almost completely been resolved now and we are considering offering extra cost options with the Locomobile. Mudguards, Brass lights, and rear disc brakes. The rear brakes we might offer in standard form as an additional safety feature (legislation may mean we will have to anyway I suspect)

Our waiting list now comprises over 50 names and addresses, with some well known names from the steam car community that has really impressed me. With heavyweight support now being enjoyed by this project we are now optimistic of securing deposits possibly by mid summer July/August-ish I am hoping.

Any further news I will of course keep you all informed and up to date ASAP.

Simon Cast Modelworks

[1937hd45]

Simon, Good luck with your project, steam cars are wonderful.I've attached an ad from the January 1, 1902 issue of Country Life magazine. The Locomobile office and showroom in London was 39-40,42-43, Sussex Place,South Kensington,S.W. The car in the photo is unusual, I've never seen a Loco with a top (hood),I think it would make the car unstable on a windy day.

[1937hd45]

The attached photo is from the December 21, 1901 issue of Country Life Magazine, Mr. Hubert Egerton and his 1901 Locomobile that covered 881 miles in eleven days, from John o'Groat's to Land's End. I've never seen another early Loco with a condenser.

[1937hd45]

Same car "At Speed", what is wrong with this photo?

[1937hd45]

1901 Locomobile at Land's End. Note the rear facing sidelamp, this is to illuminate the water level gauge that is on the side of the body just behind the vertical tiller rod.

[oldford]

I can't help but ask, If it is 'at speed', why are the wheels not turning???? Maybe it was a staged photo to appear 'at speed', unless the speed it 'was at' was zero....

Frank

[1937hd45]

Frank,Look at all three photos of this car again,all I did was crop them, they are as they were printed in the magazine.

[oldford]

By Jove, I think I've got it.... The 'at speed' photo has the controls on the 'other' side....

Frank

[1937hd45]

You are correct Sir! I wonder how many negatives were flipped and printed incorrectly over the years?

[Simon Cast]

Thanks 1937 for the wonderful photo's you have posted it has boosted interest in the Locomobile kit's and the enquiries we have had at Modelworks tremendously. This is the main reason why I have posted this time to tell you all that we now have less than 30 Locomobile kit's left that have been "advance-reserved" if there is such an expression. If there is anyone out there who has read this or these post's in general and are seriously contemplating building one of our Locomobile kit's I strongly advise you to get in touch with either myself or the Modelworks office via either e-mail, snail mail or a phone call to register your interest. These replica's will be allocated on a first come, first served basis only, so to avoid disappointment please register your interest with us as soon as is possible.

We are now hoping to accept securing deposit's of 25-30% by July/August 2004. We have already had 1 gentleman pay a deposit. We did not want to take the full amount, but we did agree to accept a £250 fully refundable deposit very, very reluctantly. As we explained to him the Locomobile still might not happen, we might still encounter unforeseen engineering/mass-production issues that we just cannot overcome. So we wrote a letter with his receipt explaining IF the Locomobile does not happen for whatever reason his £250 will be fully refunded. I did not want to accept his card details but he was insistent, he obviously does not trust our waiting list system! Kit 1 of 12 will be sent out in November/December 2004 and I anticipate it will be the wheels and tyres possibly 2 but it may well be all 4. That depends entirely on how complex the other 10-11 kit's are looking likely to be. I must thank you all so far for your wonderful enthusiasm and interest people have shown in the Modelworks Locomobile replica. I thought last year it might be a good idea for us to do, I honestly, genuinely, and sincerely had no idea just how high people's affection for the Locomobile was. This has only made our resolve to produce an authentic, sympathetic, and high quality replica even greater, and I thank you all for your support so far, it has really meant a great deal to us all at the Modelworks factory and offices in England.

[Simon Cast]

I thought I would let you all know that we now have only 25 of the Locomobile replica kit's left unaccounted for on our waiting list. We have had over 500 general enquiries now, and we at present have 75 letter's and e-mail confirmations of people from around the world, who have said they would definitely like to build the 1901 Locomobile replica we will be producing later this year. To say we are pleased with this result would be the biggest understatement possible! Thank you all for your interest and enthusiasm levels for this project I cannot begin to express how grateful we all are at Modelworks in England. I was quietly confident and optimistic that we would have reservations on maybe half of our 100 kit's by the time we began production. At the rate we are going I now expect to have all 100 locomobile kit's reserved by the end of the year and no need to even advertise the Locomobile kit's, which would indeed be a stunning result. We may then consider producing another batch of 25 in 2006, or possibly look to us developing a far more ambitious replica steam car kit. I personally would love to do a full size replica kit of the 1912 "coffin-nosed" Stanley. We would only do a maximum of 50-60 worldwide, and it would probably need to retail for about $80-90,000. No doubt a number of steam car enthusiast's would be very interested in building just such a kit over perhaps 24 month's, but at the moment the Locomobile is very much our main focus. That is quite complex and involving enough to be going on with at present!

[Simon Cast]

Thank you all for your enquiries at the factory about the H5/H4, however it is still very much a BIG "if" we do it. So thank you all for your enthusiasm for a kit that does not exist, that may not ever exist, but if it ever did would POSSIBLY (and it is a big possibly nothing more) might be available in about 2007/8! I will be far more careful in the future about mentioning what would clearly be an enormously exciting project for a lot of people, but sadly guys not at the moment. We have now less than 20 Locomobile reservation places available on our waiting list. I reserved one yesterday for an English gentleman who is in Spain and will be building it where he lives on the outskirts of Marbella/Peurto Banus. He also asked me about the H4/H5 replica kit, and wanted to reserve one of those as well as the Locomobile replica kit! Word of mouth enthusiasm does indeed travel fast in the Steam car world doesn't it.

Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm once again.

Kind Regards

Simon Cast Modelworks

[Simon Cast]

Well I hope this is the post that you have all been waiting for. We will be sending out the Modelworks Locomobile replica brochures next month, and we will be accepting securing deposits for the kits from that point on as well.

The initial figure for the Locomobile full size kit will be £10,995 ($20,495) The deposit will be £1570 ($2855) with the 12 subsequent kits being £785 ($1470) All these sterling/dollar conversions are based on £1 equalling $1.84 at the moment.

Kit 1 will be the four wheels and tyres and that will be despatched in December, possibly November, if we can produce them quickly enough. You can contact Modelworks via either,

e-mail:-

admin.modelworks@btconnect.com

or landline:-

+44 1327 301030

or snailmail:-

Modelworks International (Sales) LTD

3 Riley Close

Royal Oak

Daventry

Northants NN11 5QT

U.K.

Thank you all for your enthusiasm, interest, and support you have all shown for the Modelworks Locomobile replica project so far. This time next year 100 lucky Locomobile builders around the world will have HUGE smiles on their faces as kit 12 is finished and that initail first run is completed!

For any other Modelworks information or to browse our other models we offer at present please log onto:-

www.modelworks-int.com

[Restorer32]

How will these replicars be distinguishable from the originals, or should we expect a flood of "barn find" Locos over the next few years?

[Simon Cast]

Good question Restorer32.

We have established a databank with the Vintage Car Club of GB and the Stanley Museum in Maine. Every Locomobile replica will have a unique Modelworks chassis number allocated to it. This will be on a plaque easily viewable and also in a location unknown to the builder of the Locomobile, but known only to Modelworks, the VCC, and the Stanley Museum. This way our replica's can be identified relatively easily and quickly if you know where to look on each vehicle.

The chassis number along with the owners name, address, and contact number will be sent to the VCC and to the Stanley Museum so that once the replica is built it's subsequent history can be "tracked" This way if one of ours comes onto the market for sale and the owner tries to sell it as an original it can be traced by it's chasis number as being a replica, not an original car. Undoubtedly our replica will have an intrinsic value once built, but clearly nowhere near an original, authentic, and mint condition original Locomobile.

We anticipate the resale value of one of our replicas to be similar if not the same as it's purchase price. In much the same way that a replica 427 Cobra will be worth roughly the same value as it's replica kit price is, once built up. In the UK for example there are many Cobra kits available all costing anywhere from £15,000 to £30,000. All these cars once built, when they come onto the market are invariably worth what the builder paid for the kit.

Perhaps I am overestimating the popularity of the Locomobile, it will clearly not be anywhere near as popular as a 427 replica Cobra kit for example. I just happen to think that the Locomobile has a lot of in-built personality, a high fun factor, and a genuine feeling of building something "completely different" thats all.

[Simon Cast]

This is just a quick post to let you all know that in view of the unprecedented levels of interest that we have experienced and continue to experience regerding the Locomobile replica kit that we are now accepting securing deposits and have been since Tuesday the 17th. We will be producing no more than 100 Locomobile kits and we have now received 10 securing deposits. One gentleman in the UK has reserved 5 Locomobile kits by the way! We will be running an ad in Hemmings in October, January, and possibly March but at this rate they will all be sold out anyway.

The securing deposit is £1289 ($2350) and Steve Baldock our senior designer has reviewed the Locomobile project and come to the conclusion that we should now offer the Locomobile over 18 and not 12 monthly kits. Each monthly kit of components will now be £595 ($1100) His reasoning is that we try to aim for all our models to require 10-15 hours each month to assemble the monthly kit. As the Locomobile is more difficult than we had anticipated and a full size model as well, we now feel 18 months would make more sense, plus it reduces the monthly figure which is a nice little bonus. Perhaps difficult is the wrong word, more fiddly than we first thought is probably a better expression.

So to reserve your Locomobile replica kit please contact Modelworks via e-mail at:-

brad.patton@btconnect.com

or you can contact us directly on:-

+44 1327 301030

Please bear in mind that we are 5 hours ahead of EST in England.

Brad is our sales support/office manager and he will be happy to secure your Locomobile deposits and kits for you all. We will be sending out brochures to interested parties from September as well so if you are interested please get in touch soon, the remaining 90 will not last long at this rate.

Kind Regards

Simon Cast Modelworks

[Simon Cast]

I thought I should keep you all up to date with the Locomobile project. Our website is now updated and has a page dedicated to the Locomobile. We took 10 orders for the kits last week and so far we seem to be accepting at least 1 sometimes 2 orders a day. To say this has been an unprecedented success would be putting it mildly. All this and we don't start sending out our brochure until next week! We will be running an ad in Hemmimngs from the 1st October and by the time production begins in November with kit 1 being despatched early December (the tubular chassis by the way) I would not be surprised to see most if not all the Locomobile kits sold out. If you are, or have been considering building a replica Locomobile, please contact us as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Seriously at the rate they are selling the 100 we will be producing will not last for much longer. Dare I say it, and at the risk of incurring the wrath of dear old Henry Ford, shades of the original Pony Car from the early sixties.

Kind regards

Simon Cast Modelworks

[Restorer32]

Good to see that "the power of positive thinking" is still being used to sell things. Personally, my feeling is, if you want a Loco Steamer why not buy an original and restore it. Isn't that what the hobby and this forum is supposed to be about? Are we now in the "replicar" business? Why not start a street rod/replicar thread?

[Simon Cast]

I am sorry if I have offended you restorer32 but all we are trying to do is to re-kindle the unusual and quirky nature of the steam car hobby and following. The main reason I contacted the Stanley museum before we even considered attempting a Locomobile replica project was to identify just this concern I had regarding the possibility that we would cause offence or upset all the antique car enthusiasts out there. Given the response we have had and continue to have on a daily basis I do think that perhaps there are a number of people out there, around the world particularly and not just limited to America, who really do seem to be a little more sympathetic towards our cause than perhaps yourself. We have always said this would be an 85-90% accurate replica and my own personal feeling was that I was a little concerned we would offend the guys who would only consider building and driving a vehicle if only it was 100% authentic and accurate down to the last nut and bolt. Happily a large number of our clients have realised just exactly what we are doing and perfectly understand and accept the limitations we unfortunately have had to work within given the complex nature of modern safety standards and what we have achieved to date. If unfortunately you don't like what we are doing and it has offended you then I am genuinely sorry.

Kind Regards

Simon Cast Modelworks

[Restorer32]

I'm not offended at all and I certainly appreciate the engineering and effort that has gone into your project. I have no objection to street rods or replicars, just think they don't belong on an AACA Forum. Of course it's not my place to determine what belongs here and I certainly read lots of street rod chatter and do realize that this forum, especially the buy/sale thread, is regularly mined for streetrod projects. Perhaps a separate "Street Rod/Replicar" thread?

[Simon Cast]

I have not posted on here for a while because we have been very busy for the last 8-10 weeks or so. We now have 24 left of the Modelworks Locomobile replica kits. As I was expecting over half have been sold in America, surprisingly most have been on the East coast. I would have thought for open air driving the West coast would have been the obvious choice.

Most kits have now been sold in New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Washington, and 4 I think in Canada. We have sold a few in California but not as many as I would have anticipated. We have now also sold a number in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa which has REALLY surprised me. The remaining third of the initial run have now been sold in Europe and the U.K.

Once the remaining 24 have been sold we will then have a major decision to make. Do we start designing the 1912 20 h.p. Coffin-nosed replica for an initial run in 2007 or do we progress a little more slowly and perhaps do a Locosurrey replica? My heart says the 1912 but I am open to suggestions guys.

I have made little effort to research the 1912 but my initial feeling is that it would need to be available in replica kit form for around the $50,000 mark and offered over 24 not 18 months like the Locomobile. I am also of the opinion that the 1912 replica would have the same Derr/Winslow boiler (but obviously uprated) as our Locomobile replica will carry. It is a far better boiler than the original's fire-tube one and it is far easier for us to build and get certificated.

[Restorer32]

I reference my previous post on this subject. Since AACA does not allow the showing of replicars, is this an appropriate place for this commercial advertisement? If this isn't an advertisement then what is it? Again, should there be a separate forum for replicars and streetrods? Certainly an interesting project but does it belong here?