Hi Lee,
I run both the DNA and Extreme owners club sites. You're quite correct that I closed the extreme owners club site so only extreme owners could view it. It's a long story but in brief I will try my best to explain why and .. again now why it's reopened.
... Once upon a time, Extreme purchased a Murcielago / repaired it and then took a mould from it. This then after a lot of R&D mounted onto a MR2 mk2 and kits were then ready for sale. A few kits were sold but somewhere along the line it was splashed and then these copy kits were sold as extreme kits but of course didn't come with all the bits. I know of a couple that were sold as extreme kits and the buyers were told to just contact extreme to obtain the needed parts to complete. Now, this is where problems first started really. You had customers thinking they had purchased an extreme kit and wanted bits to complete but when in actual fact they had bought a splashed kit and weren't really entitled to get any bits. What made it worse was there was a change in management during this time at extreme and what agreements were made in word with customers didn't get passed over.
I'm not defending extreme as it was then but I can understand some of the problems they faced. You had customers who thought they had purchased a extreme kit and wanting parts posting on the forums saying I want this / that etc which didn't make good reading.
The forums like this DNA forum is for owners and it was getting to the point I had to go on everyday and edit / remove posts that just weren't very productive. In the end the decision was made to just make them private. Rightly or wrongly this was my decision.. I was just getting fed up of all the crap that was going around, it was either make private or close them down.
So, when extreme decided to close there doors I then decided to open the forums up and try my best to help others left in a pickle. A long time extremeoc member who I've spoken to a few times decided to take over the Extreme name and started to sell there kits and help people who required parts to complete. I'm unsure if keeping the Extreme name was the best move on there part but there you go. I'm just happy that it just wasn't left to disappear.
There are of course many other sides of the coin, I don't wish to start a big debate about it all but they were my reasons.
Hope this helps answer some of your questions.. O.. and why do I run both sites? Well, I started off building a DNA360 and now I'm doing a Murcielago :-)
Steve
Thx for that excellent reply Steve,,,,I was waiting for you to reply.i was gonna ask how yours was going,I'm sorry to see its still not finished as its been some time hasn't it.
As far as extreme goes I just hope that existing customers and new customers get a fair deal as these cars cost thousands
Lee