Cat S 3.5 on YouTube

[Fastlane]

I thought it might be useful to start a thread on the Cat S Atom 3.5 that is the subject of these two YouTube videos, and is being discussed on the Ariel Owner's Club Facebook group, in case this car ever ends up on the open market:




The car is currently registered AA03 BYE and I enclose a copy of its MOT history which shows that, despite being first registered on 1st August 2013, its first MOT wasn't until 03/07/18 showing 2135 miles. I also enclose a copy of 2 photos taken at the scene of its crash.

[John Scherrer]

Hmm .. I think they've bitten off a lot more than they can chew ..

When I first saw the registration plate in the photo, I was surprised as AA03BYE was assigned to the "All Red" Atom 2 that the factory swore they would never do again. Presumably the plate was sold on ..?


Here's one of the many posts describing it :-

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15854

Here it is with the AA03BYE plate at the factory for a service in July 2015.

[Peter255]

Definitely significant chassis damage there! So unless it goes back to Ariel its future safety is unknown!

That has me very worried.

[Hedge]

Unless they've got it for pennies, they've bought a pup. There is soooooo much needing doing..

Cheers,
Hedge

[autobackup]

Having watched the videos I think that Ariel would probably charge somewhere in the region of £25,000 - £30,000 to fully rebuild/restore it to pristine condition.

If they repair it themselves as a 'project' they could probably do it cheaper but I sincerely doubt that they would be able to fix the frame as it will need a jig - so they will need to strip it down to the bare frame and send it to Ariel's frame supplier/builder to be repaired or, alternatively, buy a complete new frame (if they can?)

Whatever they decide to do - it would be politic, after it's been repaired, to send it back to the Ariel factory to be thoroughly checked over before either using it or selling it on!

[Fastlane]

Unless they've got it for pennies, they've bought a pup. There is soooooo much needing doing..

Cheers,
Hedge

I believe they paid £20k for it...

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

[8_enj]

If they did pay £20k i think it will owe them more than its worth when its done

[staffsatom]

Hi Guys,

This car was local to staffordshire, can be seen on instagram on. my_supercar_adventure, it was in a collision with a transit connect before going backwards into the hedgerow also.

[Atlarge]

Wow, I though it looked like a complete mess until I saw the whole red Atom2 pic...... not surprised the factory didn’t want to go there again!?

I hope the one in the videos doesn’t make its way back to the market, it looks like a complete write off to my untrained eye without a frame.....

Wonder if they will part it out - would seem like a better bet!

[John Scherrer]

"Fixing" the Damaged Chassis :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_fAYaJpun8

[Jerry]

"Fixing" the Damaged Chassis :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_fAYaJpun8

The process of rectification totally scares me, if they are being serious with their diagnosis and chassis repair.

[Atlarge]

The latest installment was a bit of a worry but its interesting to watch in a morbid curiosity kinda way (at least for me).. I wonder if the factory are keeping an eye on the progress?

[K20A2]

From my experience the factory know a lot and I could imagine, that they already added an interesting notification to the file of this Atom's ID number.

[Atlarge]

;-) I'd expect so too!

[Fastlane]

Given how sensitive Atom's are to their suspension set up, I can only imagine how this will handle once they have repaired it, and I can't see the factory agreeing to check it over either. From a safety point of view, it simply isn't sensible to bodge any repair of an Atom, let alone the chassis and suspension.