Good things come to those who wait. Whether it's a Pembleton T24 roadster or V-Sport three-wheeler, buying a brand-new, handcrafted, vintage car built to your exacting specification takes time, so we thought we'd explore a little into what goes on behind the scenes after you order your Pembleton.
What is the wait time?
The waiting list for a Pembleton T24 or V-Sport can vary, so it's important to bear this in mind when planning your purchase as you're unlikely to get your car straightaway. The lead time fluctuates from as little as 6 months up to as long as 18 months, but tends to settle around 1 year. Feel free to call or email us to find out the current lead time.
Why does it take so long to build a car?
As you can imagine, our cars aren't mass produced from an automated production line, each is lovingly hand-built by a select team of craftspeople, no two cars are the same, everyone is completely unique and built-to-order, naturally this process doesn't happen over night. Each chassis is fabricated on site, every body panel is painstakingly formed by hand using oak formers and precise jigs, the aluminium skin is then hand riveted to the chassis to form the unmistakable fuselage of a Pembleton. The manual assembly of the mechanical components brings the car to life before individual test driving and setting up of the car to ensure it drives impeccably. Each Pembleton takes 16 weeks to hand-build!
What effects the wait time?
Many factors effect how long this will be; our build schedule, the time of year, our order book and many other things. We have increased our production by 50% over the last 2 years and anticipate increasing this further as we transition into our new purpose built workshops in early 2025. Typically, the more cars we build in a year, the shorter the wait time as we're able to fulfil more orders and keep up with demand.
The seasons effect the wait time too... Naturally with an open top vehicle, it's less on the mind during the winter months than summer months, so we have found our wait time reduces through the winter as fewer orders are made, this can make winter a fantastic time of year to place your order to avoid a longer wait.
How do we know the lead time?
Even though each car is crafted by hand, this isn't to suggest that we don't manufacture to a strict schedule. To insure each car is finished on time, we have developed a custom system that tracks the progress at every stage of the manufacturing process. Every single job on the vehicle is given a duration that makes up a small percentage of the full finished car at 100%, so when each job is completed, the required percentage counts down. The start and end date of every specification is inputed into the system so we can see exactly how far ahead/behind we are at every single stage of every single build, ensuring each delivery is prompt and on time allowing us to schedule into the future.
Why it's worth the wait...
Not only do you finally get the keys to your dream T24 roadster or V-Sport three wheeler, you also become part of an exclusive members club. Beyond the sheer enjoyment getting behind the wheel of your car on the open road for the first time, you're part of the Pembleton family.
We consider one of the most important elements of low-volume manufacturing is the lasting relationship between us and the customer. It's a continued partnership that starts when you first reach out, all the way through the build process to receipt of the car and beyond.
We can help guide you through your specification before your build has started, then once construction has started we welcome customers to visit during the build process to see their car coming together. It’s a great chance to see the car in a way that you wouldn’t normally get to experience. See all the bodywork coming together and the mechanical assembly taking place. It creates a bond between you and your car before you’ve even sat into the cockpit.
Then there's the joy of the open road, the ultimate driving experience. It's hard to sum up how great it is to get behind the wheel of a Pembleton, so you'll have to just experience it first hand yourself.
If you're still dreaming of ownership, but want an escape from reality, heres a snippet of Pembleton ownership caught on camera...
Comments