Everett-Morrison

[Larry Hills]

Does anyone have any experience with Everett-Morrison of Odessa, FL.

[mg2166]

Yes, I am currently building an Everett-Morrison 427 replica. I have completed the rolling chassis and I am waiting for the body to arrive (beginning of August I hope). What kind of informaion are you looking for?

[Larry Hills]

Have you had any problems with your E-M 427? e.g.: Is the fit & finish of parts good, if not did E-M take care of problem. Were parts delived as promised? Were there any missing parts? Were assembly manuals clear & complete? Have you had any reason to call E-M? Were they helpful?

[Dennis Mosley]

I have an EM cobra and all I can say is they were great to deal with.

I have a number of Cobra people in my area that came by to look at my car as I was building and many of them said they could not believe how well it was constructed and how easy it went together.

If I ever build another cobra, I would not have any reservations about making it an EM.

Sometimes they take a little longer to ship out add on parts like tops and tonneau covers but I think when I ordered I got my chassis in 3 weeks and I think the body was ready 3 or 4 weeks after the day I ordered it.

Bob over there is a great person to deal with and was a tremendous help during the build.

I can't say enough good things about their service as far as I am concered.

There are however 2 things about the car I would change.

I have a 428 in my car and it sits very low giving me very little clearance at the oil pan. If you plan on using a big block tell them you want the engine mounts raised....they will know why.

If you choose the corvette suspension and don't have it narrowed (which I didn't), you will not be able to use true knock offs.

Given that those are really my only 2 gripes with the kit, I would say call Bob or Buford and get one today!

[mg2166]

So far the overall quality of the kit has been good, but I did not buy a complete kit. Instead I am buying what I need as I complete each stage (spreads the cost out over time for me). Delivery has been 50/50 (50% of the time the parts are as promised, 50% of the time the parts are late). My understanding is that they do all the fabrication in house in order to maintain quality, but this seems to cause long lead times. Perhaps not enough personnel. The assembly manuals are OK. When I have any questions about an assembly I just call. They have been very helpful.

I did have one major problem with my kit. Everett-Morrison offers 90" & 96" wheelbase models. I ordered the 96". After installing the suspension and engine I made a measurement for the wheel base and was surprised to find out I had a 90" . To correct the problem, Everett-Morrison sent a flatbed towtruck to my house, picked up the assembled rolling chassis, corrected the problem and returned the car to my house. They even installed the headers and fuel tank that I had on order at no charge while the chassis was in their shop. They also corrected a problem with my sway bar. In my opinion, they did a very good job of correcting the error.

I will let you know if the body comes in on time as promised.

Have you visited their production facility? It is a nice operation. Several cars were on the floor being assembled when I visited. Overall quality seems excellent.

[Mike I]

Larry,

I built my E-M Cobra over a period of about ten years buying parts and small kits as I went along, similar to how mg2166 is building his. As such, I have had plenty of dealings with Brett, Bruce & Buford Everett and Bob Spedding. I will tell you honestly that they all were always courteous and helpful and never put out by my many requests and questions. The assembly manual had never been updated while I was building my car and consequently it was quite out of date. I talked to Brett about it and it was on his list of things to do, but I don't know if they ever accomplished an update. Truthfully though, it was never a problem because as Dennis said, it is a simple car to build and they were always helpful if there was a question.

The quality of their fiberglass is very good, The chassis is very well constructed and overall the car is very sturdy. Most parts fit the chassis/body with minor trimming & shimming. I went with the Corvette suspension option and as Dennis said, without performing major surgery to narrow the rear, my tires are near the point of being too wide for the wheelwells. My only other complaint is that the fiberglass body & 4" dia. steel tube chassis are constructed so heavily that the car ends up weighing a couple hundred pounds more than it should, but for a street car that's not a bad thing.

On the road, my car is absolutely stable and comfortable at any speed. The car tracked and handled perfectly even before I had the front end aligned. Everything functions properly and I am very pleased with all aspects of the car except one. The Corvette brake system without vacuum assist is marginal. I cannot apply enough pedal pressure to stop the car quickly or even lock them up. For normal driving it's acceptable, but if I need to make a panic stop I'll be in trouble. I have not swapped the semi-metallic Corvette pads for softer organic pads yet, to see if this the way to go, but I believe that it will solve my problem.

In summary, E-M is a good choice depending on what it is you're after in a Cobra replica. There are quite a few very good kit manufacturers out there and one of them will suit your needs, so do your homework and pick the one that is best for you (kind of like a wife).

Good luck,

Mike

[nimble]

Ditto on everything Mike said.

I am finishing up my 5 - year build up. Quality is great, and E-M is good to deal with. My only complaint is that sometimes it takes a while to get parts. Major things like the frame, and body were not a problem, but other smaller custom made stuff takes longer than expected. Apparently, they have gone through some shop staff turnover, recently, but are catching up on there backlog.

All in all, I would highly recommend them!

[Dennis Mosley]

Mike,

I do have vacuum assist and with the stock pads experienced the same sad brake perfomance as you.

On the reccomendation of a friend, I went to Autozone and picked up a set of the Performance Friction Carbon Metalic pads...problem solved.

The ones I got were part # 412Z and 413Z (0413.10).

[Jack Zupan]

I must say up front that I have no first hand experience with E-M, but just out of curiosity have you read the post (quite long) on Cavaliere Cars in this forum. E-M does not shine in that saga.

[Mike I]

Dennis,

I think you and I have already had this conversation once before. I'm ashamed to say that I still haven't followed your advice, but as soon as the temp cools down a little here in FL, I'm going straight to Autozone and buy those pads.

BTW, what type of vacuum assist did you install? Could you post a pic or two?

Thanks,

Mike

[Santiago Fonseca]

I recently noticed this post and I wanted to add my two cents worth to this saga.

First, Jack (Zupan), Thank you for pointing out my post for everyone's perusal (You say: "...but just out of curiosity have you read the post (quite long) on Cavaliere Cars in this forum. E-M does not shine in that saga...").

Now, I want to go on the record - once again - about my experience with E-M, and their product. Let me tell you what I think of the Cobra "Kit" I have. It is a SOLID piece of work. The body is true, the fibergalss is - not flawless, but very good, the doors, hood, trunk, etc., do not sag, and close with a solid,
reassuring "thump", the chassis is not only very well built but actually "pretty" to look at. I have NO PROBLEM with the E-M product.

I expect that if I had had E-M build the car for me, and I'd dealt directly with them throughout the experience, their customer support (again, I expect) would have been a similar experience.

I met Brett Everett when I picked up the body to my car, and found him to be a very personable guy, a guy that, even being the #2 (or #3) big cheese owner of the company, did not even "sweat" getting down on his knees/stomach/back on the dirt helping us load my body on the truck. He allowed us to look anywhere, photograph anything, explained and answered any question I had in a friendly manner. I was thrilled to the bone to have decided - at the advise of Cavaliere - on an E-M product.

Now for the dirt. My beef with E-M is NOT because my car is a piece of crap. My car is a piece of crap because Candido Cavaliere of Cavaliere Cars, Inc., built my beautiful E-M Cobra with $1,500 worth of junk-yard parts - end to end, painted it in his backyard, and charged me $33,000 and change for it.

My beef with E-M is because that fine day when Brett was so friendly and cordial and helpful, he told me Cavaliere "was one of their preferred builders", that he'd do a great job for me, but when Cavaliere defrauded us, Brett did not even take the time to look at my car, ask for pictures, ask for details, or offer any assistance in "persuading" his preferred builder to get with the program.

E-M ignored every e-mail and phone call I made to them and had the gall to outright refuse a certified letter I sent them about my problem WITH Cavaliere. All I was asking Brett was "why did they modify my chassis; what was Cavaliere expected to do with the unfinished frame; did they recomend the proper components for the modification; did they offer him any coaching; were they comfortable with Cavaliere finishing a rear end/suspension mount on an unfinished E-M frame???"

The LEGAL answer to that is E-M was NOT responsible for any of it. E-M sold the kit to Cavaliere, and even the modifications they did - as ordered by Cavaliere - were no longer their responsibility. Nor was the fact that Cavaliere was (is) a major crook (and probably had NO INTENTION of building a good car for me) any of their concern the second we pulled out of their parking lot. "...E-M's preferred builder..." he said? I don't have that in writing - only my wife as a witness (and that your Honor, is hearsay). Cavaliere and his helper - Larry - built the piece of crap, not them.

The MORAL and BUSINESS RELATIONS answer should have been Brett doing his darned best to get Cavaliere in line, intervening for me (an E-M Cobra owner) to get my E-M Cobra rebuilt to specs; offering factory support/pressure to get my problems resolved with their preferred builder, offering to look at my car, telling me that they would NOT sell Cavaliere squat until - and IF - he resolved my problem, or even offering ME a discounted rebuild - forget Cavaliere - but nooooooooo, ladies and gentlemen, E-M chose to look at the legal angle and said "screw this guy", we're not responsible for any of it. Let him fight Cavaliere on his own. We GOT our money up front...

Now THAT's my experience with E-M. If you go to them and they build your car from scratch, you may have better luck. I can at least tell you their kit is very good. But it's just going to cost ME over $12,000 - above and beyond the $40K-and change I've spent so far on the car, AND fixing MANY things myself just so I can barely drive the piece of crap E-M Cobra that I have.

They are in the business of selling dreams, yes, DREAMS, but in my case, the nighmare I continue to have, is not their problem.

Santiago Fonseca
sefh@earthlink.net

[SpitzSpitz]

Wow Santiago, sorry for the line of Bull you've been up against, I sure hope it works out as well as possible. I just finished my EM and I wanted to address the problem with the amount of time it takes to get parts from EM. I built my kit from start to finish in about 8 months, it was hard to get some of the parts that are manufacture in house but I found that if I called Bob and told him what I had to get done the next weekend comming up, I, in most cases got my part that was holding me up, They will work with you and try to meet your schedule. If EM was located close to me I would hire Bob away from them because he is, in my opinion EM.

[Mike I]

Santiago,

I followed the referenced threads regarding your unfortunate plight as it was unfolding and I must admit that it appears you have been unfairly taken advantage of by Mr. Cavaliere. Not knowing your full story I will not comment on anything but what I have read on this forum and what I do know about E-M and their product.

From reading your posts I am of the opinion that you are an intelligent and reasonable individual and I am certainly sympathetic to your continuing problem. I assume by your statements, that E-M has been legally exconerated of any responsibility in this matter. While I can somewhat understand the reasoning for E-M not to be held legally responsible, it seems to me that as a matter of good business practice, they certainly should have, at the very least, shown you the courtesy of listening to your grievance and responded in some fashion. Furthermore, I agree with your assessment that E-Ms assertion (even if it was only verbal) of Mr. Cavaliere's "preferred builder" status puts E-M in the position of being morally responsible. While I have no reason to bash E-M since overall I am very pleased with the way I've been treated by them and with my car, I must admit that I am disturbed by their refusal to intervene on your behalf.

If my memory is correct, someone (MiamiCobra?) posted a similar thread recently about a problem with his Unique FIA Cobra, also incorrectly assembled by a recommended builder. In this thread, Unique (unlike E-M) apparently stepped up to the plate and accepted full responsibility for the mistakes made by this builder and made things right. This speaks volumes for Unique!! My opinion of Unique has always been high and after reading about how they handled that situation, I would certainly give them top consideration in any future purchase.

You seem to have a rational perspective of your options and all I can offer you is my sincerest regrets at seeing a fellow cobra owner get mistreated. I don't know how far you are (Pembroke Pines?) from the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area, but if there is any way I can help you out (mechanical labor, locating parts, etc.) I will do whatever I can to help you get your car right. Feel free to e-mail me if you think I can be of help to you.

Mike

[Santiago Fonseca]

...both of you for the moral support and the kind words.

Mike, you're right, E-M should have made an attempt at SOMETHING as opposed to just washing their hands of me.

Were they exonerated? I don't know for a fact, but I assume the first e-mail they received from me sent them running to their lawyer - or lawyers, who assured them I could not touch them. They then just proceeded to ignore everything. At first I was just asking for help, asking questions, not blaming them (I never did).

I am just sadly disappointed at how my dream car experience turned out and I'm reminded of it every time I go in the garage for something. The lame beast just sits there, askew on its frame, dripping fluids from every seam and plug. My ol' E-M Cobra.

You know how it is, you spend your early years lusting for that machine, you work your tuchus off buying your houses, your cars, feeding the family, doing the vacation thing, but never quite come close to saving 30+thousand to buy your dream car outright. But then, 40+ years later, you're there; so you do the research, talk to people, visit the factory and are assured this guy is the guy you want building your dream.

The guy talks the talk, is charming, seems to know the subject matter and intelligently dispels the miths, so you just grab the indsutrial can of Vaseline, apply it extensively and ask for it hard. My wife saw right through his BS. I should have listened to her but I was down half a can of Vaseline by then and there was no going back...

Anyway, we've beaten this horse beyond death so we'll just move on. I WILL stay on Cavaliere's ass and ensure that he does NOT come back to life as someone else (different name company). I will stay on top of the DMV and I will research the courts system for small claims avenues - on top of all he still owes me over 2 grand in penaltty money for NOT rebuilding the car on time (he boned me again by rebuilding it with more junk).

I will build a web site where I will post pictures of the crap he delivered, and I will send Bill S, the same, and other pictures for a diffrent web site he's volunteered to build for me. I've included a picture of the rear suspension he delivered. It is self explanatory. I don't know if it'll display. We'll see.

Last thing, Pembroke Pines is just north of the Miami-Dade County line in Broward County (West Hollywood?). I live right off I-75 (Turnpike/Sawgrass Expressway). I'm about 4+ hours from Saint Augustine and probably about 5+ hours from Jax. We used to live in Melbourne, on the Coast, about three hours closer to you then.

Thanks again for your support, and the mechanical help offer. Maybe I'll see you at the next Flash, Dash and Crash (or is it Flash, Dash and Trash???) near West Palm Beach.

Later!

[bravoj]

just finished putting together an e-m with ho 351 and corvette suspension. few comments overall all fit and finish is excellent. few minor problems that i ran into 1: radiator bracket was upside down and not noticed until i had trimmed some inside fender fiberglass. 2: it has 2 single roll bars that i installed, the three small holes for each of the roll bars in the delivered body were not in the correct position, this was only discovered after drilling the fiberglass for the roll bars!!!.
other than that, no problems with chassis and body. i bought frame and engine assembled and body about one year later.
engine was built by southern auto and had 2 nuts work loose and wound up double nutting all.
also am looking for an upgrade on the disk brakes, am not used to " no power brakes"
overall, a little expensive but worth it

[427sharpe]

I have had my EM for over 10 years, and I can say without reserve that I have been extremely satisfied with all aspects of the car and company. The car is very well engineered, and I have had zero trouble out of any aspect of the car (bad welds and such..) The car has been used...enthusiastically, shall we say?... and has never failed me. The support of the company is excellent as well. Usually, if you call you will wind up with one of the owners (the Everett's) and most likely get invited to the plant, which is great fun in and of itself. The only negative I can think of is that my body came with the edges of the cockpit and hood/trunk turned in a sideways 'L' shape rather than being fully returned like a 'U' so that the edges looked better. I fixed this during my build so that all the edges are fully returned. Not a major problem, just time consuming.

[Santiago Fonseca]

You may have missed the point of my postings. By reading your comment, I assume you have not read them - I know , it's a lot of reading - but when (and if) you do, you'll understand my point (Look at "Cavaliere Cars" in the Consumer Watch forum on Club Cobra).

I have never said EM products were bad. I am happy for your good experience with their kit and their support.

Mine is a solid kit too, but as far as calling and getting one of "the Everetts" to support my problem, their support has been dismal to say the least. Invite me to the factory?? Yeah, right. Brett has not even been interested in seeing what Cavaliere did to their kit. Not even "please send me some pictures..."

Yes, EM did not build the car, yes, they're not responsible for what Cavaliere did with the kit once he removed it from the factory, but Brett praised Cavaliere as "one of their preferred builders" when I came to the factory. Also, EM modified my chassis based on Cavaliere's request, but they have not EVER taken the time to explain to me "why/what for", though I have asked Brett on e-mail, on the phone and on a certified letter. He's never responded - to any of them. All I have is a note from Brett to the first mechanic who inquired about the poor set up on my chassis, and that's all.

You're happy for the support you recieved, well, I'm happy for you too, but they failed ME miserably. They hid behind the fact that they had no legal obligation to me and washed their hands off their "preferred builder" and left me hanging.

Could they have done anything? I don't know. Should they have fixed my car on Cavaliere's behalf? Probably not fair to them. Should they have just ignored my problem and put their heads in the sand? Not On Your Life.

This could have been a public relations coup for them - Keeping a "once removed" Everett-Morrison owner happy AND the EM product flawless, but since they have customers like you, happy all around with them, the people like me fall by the wayside. They don't need the aggravation. This is a classic example where all the "Attaboys" outshine the one "Aw-sh*t"

Had I been Brett, I would have said "Cavaliere, you destroyed one of our kits; you put it out on the street in shambles; you ripped off an EM owner; you misreperesented yourself to us; you lied to DMV about one of our products, and until you fix his problem, AND resolve YOUR problems you are not welcome at the factory. You'll have no access to parts, to advise or to anything else"

But then again, I'm not Brett, and my EM Cobra is still a piece of crap.

[SpitzSpitz]

Hi Santiago, I replied to you back on 8/2/01, When I wrote that reply I had not read your post (story) since then I have read the entire string and I must say I am speechless. I have never had a problem getting through to anyone at EM but I was not in your position. If I had read that string brfore I choose EM I sure wouldn't have choose one of their pick companies to build my car. I am very sorry for the BS you have gone through and I agree with you 100% that they should have been in your corner. I just wonder if they have sent anyone else to that builder since this situation. As I said they (EM) was beyond excellant to deal with for me but customer service really starts when there are problems. Good luck in the future, I sure hope you can enjoy your car just a little.

The Spitz

[Santiago Fonseca]

Thanks brother. I also appreciate the fact that you took the time to read through my posts. Shoot, they give ME a headache.

And you're right, a company's real value comes when there are problems. But I think they have so many other happy customers that they decided not to waste their time with me. Stupid I say. They could have really had a public relations coup worth much more than any kind of advertisement could have bought them.

Can you imagine if they'd come to my rescue? Especially not being their fault or responsibility? They could have spent 2-4 grand fixing my car, possibly less being that it is the factory (I would have paid for replacement components myself to be fair), they could have condemned Cavaliere publicly, ban him from the factory, parts, support, etc., etc., and the publicity would have been worth their combined weight in gold. Cavaliere is a crook, why would they stand behind him??

Brett told me once that "Without talking with Cavaliere, he could not lend any credibility to my claims" I invited him to come down or send some one to see the car, OR that I'd send him pictures. He did not want to get involved - he "was sorry" and hanged up. Yeah, Brett, my hero. Did he even talk with Cavaliere??

Oh well. Business opportunities lost. Free advertisement... but I guess they have enough business.

Thanks again.

Santiago

[427sharpe]

Contrary to input, I have read the entire thread and I merely mentioned that I have never had a single problem of any kind with my EM or the staff of the company. I choose to build my car myself (which was the purpose of the exercise) and I have found all of the Everetts to be forthright, engaging and helpful. I have steered at least 5 buyers to EM, and I have assisted them in building their cars, and have never heard a single complaint from any of these new friends. Most of these folks I have met at car shows, races, etc.. and struck up conversations about my car. I find it odd that Buford did not invite someone to the Fla plant, as he really pushed me to do so when I was deciding on a car to buy. I visited the old plant in Tampa, and was treated extremely well by all of the staff. I have since visited the new facility in Odessa, and the reception was the same. While it is regrettable that any enthusiast has problems fulfilling his dream, I stand by my wholehearted and enthusiastic endorsement of EVERETT-MORRISON. I believe that no company can satisfy 100% of the people 100% of the time, but in my opinion, based on my track record, I would not hesitate to strongly reccomend EM to any potential buyer.