As KIT CAR magazine travels around the country, we stop in at various shops to see what they're up to. While in northern Alabama, KIT CAR stopped by Unique Motorcars in Gadsden to check up on the Weaver family and see what's new.
Unique Motorcars is still a family-run business, even though they've had a successful and long history in the replicar market. Two brothers, Maurice and Alan, plus their mother, Jean, have worked for almost 30 years to keep Unique at the forefront of the aftermarket Cobra industry, though it didn't start out that way!
In the mid-'70s, Maurice and Alan, along with their father, were in Phoenix running the Antique Car Restoration Center, where they restored classic and special-interest cars, many of which would eventually find their way into serious car collections and museums. The name Unique Motorcars was owned by Bill Close, who had started to sell Cobra kits in Phoenix, where he rented space from the Weavers.
The Weavers also worked for a time as the exclusive restoration company for the Grand Old Cars Museum in Scottsdale, Arizona, (which was the world's largest collection of convertible automobiles under one roof) and they also restored numerous Mustang convertibles for A & G Classic Cars. With the neo-classic phase of kit cars in full swing at that time, the Weavers even built some Auburn boat-tail Speedsters an occasionally an Intermeccanica Porsche Speedster replica.
But everything would change for the Weaver boys in 1979 when they decided to purchase Unique Motorcars from Close and start manufacturing their own Cobra kits. Maurice and Alan had already helped Unique by creating the jigs, body molds, and fixtures used but, after the purchase, they completely redesigned the molds, eliminated some of the mold seams (for a smoother finish), and re-tooled for increased production quality. They also turned their attention to the vehicle's frame, which was redesigned and lightened.
But if buying a company and going into the kit car business weren't a big enough change in their lifestyle, then the step they took in 1981 certainly would be! Packing up the jigs and molds, the Weavers relocated to Gadsden, Alabama (60 miles north of Birmingham), which is where their family is from originally (in fact, mama Jean still works in the front office). The decreased cost of living and reduced business overhead in the smaller town allowed them to maintain the quality they wanted but still stay competitive in the marketplace.
Production went into high gear, and Unique began creating some of the parts and pieces that were becoming harder to find (such as the LeMans filler cap, Plexiglas side windows, brake and oil lines, as well as an original spec steering column). In 1989 they retooled their 427 body and created a new body mold, which again resulted in a product that required less prep time by a body or paint man. And, where some body manufacturers aren't faithful to the '60s-era look, the Weavers reshaped their car's nose and wheel openings to follow the original's design.
Filling the requests of customers, Unique added a 289 Cobra to their line in 1991. The first of the Unique 289 vehicles debuted at the AHA Fun in the Sun kit nationals at Knott's Berry Farm in Southern California, where it caught the eye of Patrick Bedard, an editor at Car & Driver. Bedard was researching an article on the Cobra replicar industry and, after a visit to Unique Motorcars, he featured their 427 replica on the cover of the December 1991 issue of the magazine (a definite high-point for the industry, let alone Unique).
In July 1993, Unique Motorcars expanded its facility by adding almost 4,000 square feet of warehouse space, which allowed them to double its assembly area and increase production by 50 percent. The Unique Motorcars factory now covers roughly 25,000 feet, all under one roof, and it's broken up into seven divisions (sales, fiberglassing, welding, pre-assembly, parts, component shop, and final assembly).