THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Jimmy Price says he would hate to be standing next to one of his cars when a knowledgeable car person walks up to it and says: “Not bad! But it’s a pity about the body ripples. And the door shut lines. The orange peel on the paint. And look at the shortcuts taken with the wheels, the windscreen and the leather upholstery.”
The culture Jimmy has created at his car factory, Hi-Tech Automotive in Gqeberha, doesn’t even countenance the concept of shortcuts. Every single aspect of the massive 25 000 m2 facility is dedicated to creating the best continuation-series cars in the world. From concept to final execution, the Hi-Tech-built cars bristle with quality, attention-todetail and, above all, authenticity. They are, quite simply, the best of their type to be found anywhere… and the market he plays in is well aware of this.
“The Cobra is the most replicated car in the world,” says Jimmy, now well into his 70s. “Right now, there are about 20 companies building replicas. The fact is, we are pretty much at the head of the pack.” Hi-Tech doesn’t just build Cobra recreation cars. Over the past three and a half decades, the company has built close to 30 different makes and models, including GT40s, Shelby Daytona Coupés, a continuation series of the 1962 Corvette Grand Sport, steel-bodied 1932 Ford hotrods, AC Brooklands, the Lotus 7 style Z1, the mid-engined Noble and Rossion sportscars, the amazing Zagato Z One, four Wesbank Modified and 22 SASCAR racing cars, as well as prototypes of the electric Joule, the ill-fated South African project of Optimal Energy that eventually closed its doors in 2012.
Over this same period, Hi-Tech came close to taking on several projects that included TVR sportscars, the De Tomaso Pantera, the American Mosler, Gumpert Apollo, AC Cars, Galmer and even a Mercury Marinedeveloped jet-ski project.
As of the beginning of 2022, Hi-Tech Automotive has built over 6 000 cars, with
