Ultima Sport / Spyder History

When Ted and Richard Marlow acquired the Ultima brand in 1992 they kept the spaceframe architecture but engineered a proper road-going package around it. The Ultima Sport was a tightly proportioned mid-engined coupe — 3,880 mm long, around 900 kg — with butterfly doors, adjustable suspension, and a choice of engines ranging from rotary to a 500 hp Chevrolet small-block V8.

An open roadster derivative, the Ultima Spyder, joined the lineup in 1993 with a cut-down windscreen. Both cars were offered primarily as owner-built component kits but Ultima also delivered the first factory-completed car in 1993, establishing the turnkey option that would continue with the GTR.

By 1999 the Sport and Spyder were replaced by the thoroughly evolved Ultima GTR and Can-Am, which shared the basic space-frame concept but with a refined body, more power options, and an explicit assault on production-car performance records.