samuri Engineering

Good luck to you ZHead!

Hats off to anyone putting money, effort and new life into these cars!

If there is one thing that Samuri does have going for it, is it is certainly well known! got to be good for business :D :D
 
because I figured that as Samuri didn't finish cleanly in the UK for he who left and he who took it over.....

Therefore, poking the sleeping dog in the ribs, would you like to explain how you came to be the owner of Samuri (after speaking to Spike) when everyone including me believed that it belonged to Kevin ?
 
I'm not sure how to put this but what is the problem with "Samuri". Sean I respect the fact that you have a great knowledge of everthing Z related and enjoy reading threads involving yours and the counts input, but both of you seem to look at samuri as a bit of a joke. I've only been into Z's for a couple of years and thou you say all this subject has been discussed many time before i'd be very interested in hearing it again.
 
240z said:
Good luck to you ZHead!

Hats off to anyone putting money, effort and new life into these cars!

If there is one thing that Samuri does have going for it, is it is certainly well known! got to be good for business :D :D
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Indeed, good luck to you mate. If you can get the venture of the ground then it can only do the cars good to have another viable company in the country performing upto date performance modications.

And back to the point, gizajob ;)

Cheers,
Rob
 
Nick, I have no problem, I am not a Z expert (thanks anyway) but I do stick my nose, ears and eyes anywhere I can :) !

I guess it's just that everybody lets the Samuri thang overshadows anything else Z related in the UK during the '70s and early '80s ! Yes, it happened in our back garden but what do we know of Scarbs for instance who, I believe sold many more cars than Samuri ! The point is that it was a very, very small fish in a very big sea. That said, I'm always interested to read new info, please excuse me but I knew about Andys' plans some time ago and cannot explode with genuine enthusiasm now as I already did to myself months ago :)

I wish him every success, I know he'll do it with taste and in respect for Samuris' great reputation and the knowledge already out there on the companys' and cars' history !

Sorry if I sound like a fuddy-duddy, read on the next generation !
 
Interesting Thread. The significant thing is that 'Big Sam' has made a mark
on the Z world.Historically it is remembered with nostalgic pride. it was an Era
where 'that' car or its name, made a mark in the race/tune circles.
They make reicarnated versions of donald campbells Bluebird,or the
Wright brothers plane but The authentic original,well thats irreplacable.
This thread,& all posts make good reading,on the certain contravesial
area's as regarding 'Big Sam'. Why is Tim Riley parting with 'Big Sam, on-
going? DJZ 60.:cool:
 
Okay I can see that. World wide it's a very small percentage, but i still get the impression that thus who know the most about z's seem to think that Samuri's are a bit of a joke.
Obviously 'Big Sam' was a works car before Spike even touched it. But what of the rest. Are all Samuri's different, I get the impression each one was done on different budgets.
This might be a really stupid question but who or what were 'Scarbs'
 
Well, you and DJ have just justified this threads' existance :) !

Scarabs were period V8 conversions (let's go faster boys) in the States. Samuri did the same but without altering the heart of the car (eh Andy :) in the UK !

Tim Riley was never the owner of Big Sam (am I right guys ?) but was it's keeper and entrusted with rebuilding it for Nick Howell !

There were road Sams, super road Sams and then it gets cloudy......
 
The situation is actually deperately simple.

When a company ceases to trade, the name becomes available for purchase again through companies house. I have not spoken to Kevin, neither do I know him so I am unable to speak for him and most certainly bear him not one jot of bad feeling but I assume he simply shut his company down. It would be good to make contact and talk to him as I met him once at the Silverstone workshop when Spike was working on my 260.

Once the name was available I bought it and had a lot of conversations with Spike and Will Galliers about what should I / we do with it.

ALL that Samuri Conversions Ltd is at present is a piece of paper, a registered name, the right to trade under that name. Once my existing company is strong I will look at Samuri, however, for the time being the car being built for me by Lawrence will be the first "new breed" Samuri hence my manic attention to the tiniest detail to try and have it done properly.

As this has come to the fore I will post some "progress" pictures of the first new Samuri.

Spike was the technical man with Bob Gathercole behind him as the businessman - nothing changes, I am no engineer but have ideas of what I would like that need translating into reality by the best Z chassis engineer around, currently Laurence. Half the time he tells me what I would like won't work but he has a much better way to do it - that is why Laurence is driving this project because if he tells me it needs doing a certain way then I have no need to question it.

It may all come to nothing, it may become a recognised name again but one thing is for sure, Samuri Conversions Ltd will need to stand up on it's own merits and not try to bask in some long gone former glory.
 
"It may all come to nothing, it may become a recognised name again but one thing is for sure, Samuri Conversions Ltd will need to stand up on it's own merits and not try to bask in some long gone former glory."

Yeah, right on ! But wasn't Samuri famous for L series Z engines...............:)
 
And just to cloud the issue further Sean, not all Sams were Z based.

IIRC There was a Sukati Samuri based on a 100A, but with an L24 up front that was destroyed at Silverstone.
There were I believe others but would need to have a root round in old mags etc. to confirm
 
Only one Big Sam though! Spike Anderson tuned Z's & the chain term
used to sell his projects were; samuri head, & some started wearing the
browny red colours etc & eventually became classed as samuri Z's ,a kind
of spin-off effect I would say. DJZ 60.:cool:
 
nickknox said:
Are all Samuri's different, I get the impression each one was done on different budgets.
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Nick,

Samuri achieved huge notoriety through racing, everyone has heard of Big Sam but as you point out the road going cars differed quite substantially.

What you have to bear in mind is how tiny a company it was and how hard cashflow was - sometimes things will have changed because a supplier might have limited credit so an alternative was sought (ie the carbs changed). Sometimes each new car built taught lessons that were applied to the next car in any given area.

As with any "custom" engineering work, each incarnation took something from or left something out from it's predecessor, new ideas came in, things were done slightly differently.

My car illustrates the point perfectly - Dominic Frattaroli's rally car broke new ground, a really really well done car once it was sorted out. Larry Horn's car competing in the East African Safari took a lot of stuff from DOminic/s car, lessons learned etc. My car that Laurence is currently building as the first new Samuri is taking into account everything that was learned whilst doing Larry's car. In essence I am saying thank you to Dominic :D
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pmac
........one scrap of metal from a car that was wrecked on a Scottish hillside 35 years ago.........
Actually, the car that was originally stamped with the VIN number 'HS30-00025' was not wrecked on a Scottish hillside. It was crashed on an English race circuit.
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B**ger I KNEW I sholud have checked that out before I said it!
But it was that car ? Wasnt it?

This is unlike other "works" cars in the Carter stable that were purported to be something they were not.
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OOOOOh Yes!
The "Bradbury/Carter cars"!!!!
Worthy of a thread in its own right EH???:confused:
Whos going to get that can of worms open then??
Albrecht??? You gonna kick off in a new thread titled.....Z Car Cloning the Bradbury -Carter method???:rolleyes:
No??
Oh well it looks like thats down to me then.:eek:
Next week maybe, lets get the "Samuri Bashing thing " wrapped up first!!!:D
 
"In essence I am saying thank you to Dominic" err, Didn't Lawrence learn stuff to put in Doms' car from DJ (set-ups/engine etc) ,

Ok Pete, I'll ask, what is/was Bradbury -Carter method ?

I saw the 100A at Billing 4 or 5 years ago - a second one, a clone, the same but re-shelled ?
 
Glad you see the difference Pete :D

We are talking blatant, transparent, obvious identity change for vanity's sake and passing something off as something it is not... HUGE difference and yes it would make a great thread albeit close to the wind I am sure.

I would be impressed if you could bash any harder than I have seen done over the years :D

Just leave the angle grinder out of it please, that is unfair advantage.
 
SeanDezart said:
"In essence I am saying thank you to Dominic" err, Didn't Lawrence learn stuff to put in Doms' car from DJ (set-ups/engine etc) ,

?
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Sean we should leave this one alone as it is unfair on two top blokes - it could affect their businesses and I am not going to go down that route. Trade secrets is trade secrets and the point cannot be argued without divulging things that are between Laurence and Dave.

Sorry to be a party pooper but we really should leave them out of it.
 
SeanDezart said:
"
I saw the 100A at Billing 4 or 5 years ago - a second one, a clone, the same but re-shelled ?
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Umm, you must be the only one who saw that then:eek: , as the rest of us saw a B110, known to the masses as a 1200 coupe:D :D

However, I have heard rumuors that a samuri'd 100A or [cherry] exists in scotland. Mr Yule may be able to add some light to this;)
 
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