Rick Williams
12-14-2011, 03:16 PM
It's been over one year since I placed my order (through Whitby) for the Mendeola transaxle. Last week with help from Jeff Collins I finally found out where I am in the pecking order for delivery. Suffice it to say I'm not at the top of the list. Given Mendeola's track record on delivery schedules I have no idea whether that means I'll see my transaxle next week or June of 2012. At this point I don't care. I've decided to throw in the towel.
After discussing this with Jeff he made a hugely generous offer. Whitby is building their own GTM which is not quite in the go-kart stage but does have a G-50 transaxle installed. Jeff offered to trade for my yet to be delivered Mendeola so that's what we've done. They pulled the transaxle yesterday and I'm picking it up Friday. I won't go into the financial details but I'm swapping him my Mendeola order, Exedy clutch kit, plus my axles and a few other necessary Mendeola parts. I'm getting a G-50 with all the upgrades necessary to support 450 HP plus limited slip and re-geared 4th and 5th. I'm also getting the clutch assembly, slave cylinder, starter, and axles ready to go. It will truly be a bolt-in affair. All in all I'm very pleased and must thank Jeff Collins at Whitby Motorcars for his generous support.
I know some of you will think I'm nuts after waiting so long and being so close but I'm tired of trying to figure out what "so close" really means. It's been "so close" to delivery since last Spring. The truth is, I was on the fence from the beginning about ordering the Mendeola. See this post (http://www.ffcars.com/forums/42-factory-five-gtm-forum/262216-transaxle-choices-gear-ratios-again.html) for my concerns about the tall 1st. What tipped the scales towards Mendeola over a year ago was price but what good is that if you don't have the transaxle? You can tell me all you want about the Swiss watch quality and precision engineering but it's all words unless the product is in your garage. All in all I'm happy about paying a few bucks more to get a transaxle geared and rebuilt the way I want and supported by multiple companies that have much better delivery track records than Mendeola's.
After discussing this with Jeff he made a hugely generous offer. Whitby is building their own GTM which is not quite in the go-kart stage but does have a G-50 transaxle installed. Jeff offered to trade for my yet to be delivered Mendeola so that's what we've done. They pulled the transaxle yesterday and I'm picking it up Friday. I won't go into the financial details but I'm swapping him my Mendeola order, Exedy clutch kit, plus my axles and a few other necessary Mendeola parts. I'm getting a G-50 with all the upgrades necessary to support 450 HP plus limited slip and re-geared 4th and 5th. I'm also getting the clutch assembly, slave cylinder, starter, and axles ready to go. It will truly be a bolt-in affair. All in all I'm very pleased and must thank Jeff Collins at Whitby Motorcars for his generous support.
I know some of you will think I'm nuts after waiting so long and being so close but I'm tired of trying to figure out what "so close" really means. It's been "so close" to delivery since last Spring. The truth is, I was on the fence from the beginning about ordering the Mendeola. See this post (http://www.ffcars.com/forums/42-factory-five-gtm-forum/262216-transaxle-choices-gear-ratios-again.html) for my concerns about the tall 1st. What tipped the scales towards Mendeola over a year ago was price but what good is that if you don't have the transaxle? You can tell me all you want about the Swiss watch quality and precision engineering but it's all words unless the product is in your garage. All in all I'm happy about paying a few bucks more to get a transaxle geared and rebuilt the way I want and supported by multiple companies that have much better delivery track records than Mendeola's.