A plethora of pages dedicated to the Unipower GT has found its way to the world wide web in the last couple of years, with a new one being launched this week, claiming to be the only official site.
From the message I received: "The intention is to build on this initial content and maintain its currency to make it interesting for all going forward."
But wasn't just that the idea of the earlier ones, too? First there was the website of Portuguese Unipower owner, racer and enthusiast Rui Sanhudo, by now pretty much outdated but still going strong online. When UK based Unipower owner and enthusiast Tim Carpenter started a new fresh website a couple of years ago I was very keen. Tim owns his car for a long time, but only started using it more fanatically since he rolled it out of its long-term hiding place more recently, by which time he found there was no good information to be found online, too, filling in the gap.
Not much later UK based Unipower owner and well-known figure in classic Mini circles Peter Flanagan started a Facebook page for fans of the Unipower GT, which soon grew to hundreds of members and opened up lots of new information, too. A separate Facebook Group was started some time later by Pete for members only. They are another up-to-date source for anything Unipower.
And now there is the new website started by Unipower owner and enthusiast Gerry Hulford, who ran a Unipower GT register back in the 1970s and 1980s and who owns the original factory records. A couple of years Gerry told me that these records would be donated to the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, but I don't think that ever happened. Gerry now wrote: "I would like this website to be a portal for the sharing of information for the benefit of all", and "I have deliberately avoided providing details of the cars/owners themselves as I have always maintained confidentially of all ownership details for obvious reasons."
But with all the information already online, a proper register of cars actually may just be the only thing missing? I have once started to make a database with cars, put in order by their chassis numbers, but thought I'd better leave this to the dedicated Unipower owners / fans. What do you think? Is it good to have as many enthusiasts making their own club / register / database / page, or should they all join forces?
Click on the links below to take you to the websites as mentioned above, to see them for yourselves
unipower-gt.com
unipowergt.org.uk
unipowergt.uk
Unipower GT Facebook page
Unipower GT Facebook group
Finally, there is by now quite a lot of Unipower information on these pages, too.
This link sends you to all the 82 Unipower GT related articles that I wrote in the last 9 years or so.
From the message I received: "The intention is to build on this initial content and maintain its currency to make it interesting for all going forward."
But wasn't just that the idea of the earlier ones, too? First there was the website of Portuguese Unipower owner, racer and enthusiast Rui Sanhudo, by now pretty much outdated but still going strong online. When UK based Unipower owner and enthusiast Tim Carpenter started a new fresh website a couple of years ago I was very keen. Tim owns his car for a long time, but only started using it more fanatically since he rolled it out of its long-term hiding place more recently, by which time he found there was no good information to be found online, too, filling in the gap.
Not much later UK based Unipower owner and well-known figure in classic Mini circles Peter Flanagan started a Facebook page for fans of the Unipower GT, which soon grew to hundreds of members and opened up lots of new information, too. A separate Facebook Group was started some time later by Pete for members only. They are another up-to-date source for anything Unipower.
And now there is the new website started by Unipower owner and enthusiast Gerry Hulford, who ran a Unipower GT register back in the 1970s and 1980s and who owns the original factory records. A couple of years Gerry told me that these records would be donated to the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, but I don't think that ever happened. Gerry now wrote: "I would like this website to be a portal for the sharing of information for the benefit of all", and "I have deliberately avoided providing details of the cars/owners themselves as I have always maintained confidentially of all ownership details for obvious reasons."
But with all the information already online, a proper register of cars actually may just be the only thing missing? I have once started to make a database with cars, put in order by their chassis numbers, but thought I'd better leave this to the dedicated Unipower owners / fans. What do you think? Is it good to have as many enthusiasts making their own club / register / database / page, or should they all join forces?
Click on the links below to take you to the websites as mentioned above, to see them for yourselves
unipower-gt.com
unipowergt.org.uk
unipowergt.uk
Unipower GT Facebook page
Unipower GT Facebook group
Finally, there is by now quite a lot of Unipower information on these pages, too.
This link sends you to all the 82 Unipower GT related articles that I wrote in the last 9 years or so.
Pretty ridiculous, and now there's a second Facebook page set up to rival the first one. Would put me off owning one.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately 'Anonymous', the first Facebook page 'Unipower GT' had so much misinformation about the cars, that whilst it certainly provided discussion, it left the uninitiated with information that would go on to confuse the history of both the Companies behind these cars and the cars themselves. This is why the Owners Club & Register, that has been supporting these cars since 1972, found itself having to invest heavily in starting a website (to supersede as was agreed at its launch and with my approval, the temporary website put up by Tim Carpenter called the 'Unipower GT Register') and because of the need these days to satisfy social media, also both Facebook 'Unipower GT Owners Club & Register' and Instagram 'Unipower Owners Club' sites. The presentation and information you will find on these and www.unipowergt.uk is both factual and unbiased, based on over 48-years of knowledge from both personal ownership of 4-cars, world-wide correspondence from owners, as well as original factory documentation. There is no fee for membership of the Owners Club and all Owners benefit from its archives as well as DVLA authentication of the cars. Essentially that is why it is now referred to as the Official Owners Club, something that for 42-years it has never had to do, until those with a vested interest became involved and who also have benefited considerably from the Club's knowledge, but have neglected to acknowledge. so in brief it is the same original Club of 48-years that launched the new website recently and to suggest that it does not have a purpose here, is to be ignoring its history and the huge efforts it has made in supporting these cars over the years, something the cars Founder Ernie Unger, has acknowledged in his Forward on the Club's website. I would encourage you to look at the Club's website on www.unipowergt.uk and hope that this will restore your confidence in perhaps owning one in the future.
ReplyDelete