what do YOU want to see reproduced??? as in...

in reponse to merc man, 49 merc parts dont sell, bought out a old merc dealer awhile back had a pile of nos sheetmetal, 40ft trailer load could not get rid of the stuff guys would not buy nos doors for $75 or fenders for $100. thought we found diamond but got stuck with a lemon. after six years of trying to sell 49 merc stuff it went to scrap yard.

 

You know now that you mention it. You are right.

 

Real High School shop classes for our kids!

A truck load or two of ethics would help also.

DUB

 

I would like to see 1962 Chevrolet Full-size stock car hoods reproduced in steel. I do not think that they make them, but I have heard for years now that they are in the works. I still cannot find any myself. Maybe more 1961-1962 interior Super Sport parts too such as Grab Bars and Consoles etc. If anyone has any Info about parts for anything I mentioned, let me know. I would be grateful! Thanks!

 

yea i agree with the 5 on 5s , plus door skins for my 64 GTO .

 

'33 Ford 3W bodies in steel - would sell my wife for one...or at least rent out

Steve

 

Radial tires with the look of a bias ply.

 

As a person who was in the business on the manufacturing and distribution end for over 20 years I understand your interest in wanting new reproduction parts made but also have first hand knowledge of the costs and problems involved in making those dreams come true.

First of all, as someone mentioned previously, the cars we all know and love were, by and large, the low-priced ones and in "the day" even many of the high-priced ones just didn't have the fit and finish desired by today's rod and custom builders. So, as I found many times over the years, even NOS parts aren't necessarily going to fit every car just so, or maybe even a great percentage of them just so.

Someone posted that they wanted an affordable 35 Ford grille, and a 30s Dodge grille. Well, years ago, there were affordable 35 Ford grilles and other makes being made as replacement parts in Argentina. These were imported by a couple of USA distributors of early Ford and other make parts and received well in the early days, then the market began began to mature and better quality parts were demanded. Problem was there was plenty of desire for better quality parts but very little desire to pay for that quality.

What a quandary! The market wants better quality but is unwilling to pay for better quality. What to do? Well, one thing that happened was that the lo-buck 35 Ford passenger car grille was discontinued and so were the Mopar, Chevy and other grilles that had been acceptable before(all you could get) but the customer base was not willing to step up to the price of developing quality parts. So, many available usable parts were dropped from production.

Other parts were made, some had never been reproduced before in any quality, some had. Some were received with great enthusiasm by the marketplace, others not so well.

There are companies who based their reputations on "Made in USA" quality and who now have virtually no US-made parts to offer OR bring in parts from overseas and assemble them here thus making them "Made in USA"(??).

It is only sensible to look overseas for quality manufacturers since all this stuff we do and want is the stuff of short-run manufacturing (less than 10K pieces, most often less than 1K) and there are virtually no US manufacturing facilities that do short-run stuff at an affordable price, plus the cost of the tooling(stamping dies, die-cast moulds, extrusion dies, etc) in the US is cost prohibitive in most cases.

We, rod and custom folks and restorers, often think what a great market we are and how the guys selling us stuff are often ripping us off. The fact is that the market is small, very diverse, and love of the hobby is often what makes the merchants spend their cash to make, or get made, a part and then carry the financial load for the customer base until they make a profit on the first production run OR, often enough to be discouraging, DON'T.

We had a rule of thumb that served well over the years. Never make anything new that you can't make a profit on in the first 90 days after introduction to the marketplace. Sometimes we would be in the profit column in less than 30 days, YAHOO...a home run!! Sometimes
that day didn't come for a year or two, HMMMM, a grounder to third. Sometimes that part, oh so desireable by customer survey and retailer response, was a total dud and that folks is a pop fly straight to the shortstop.
You see, the problem with that rule of thumb is this, your best and only real source of information happens to be your GUT! This market is so full of ebbs and flows and fads and oddball influences that a GUT FEELING is as good as it gets.

Some vendors have become millionaires doing this old car thing, many have lived comfortably, many have done pretty well, and a goodly number have done not so well. As with all things, it takes hard work, a boatload of money, ambition, a boatload of money, a bit of luck, a boatload of money, and the willingness to do without when you have to to get to the next step up.

Of the items mentioned here, probably 3-5 have a potential for making any money(the purpose of business), but ARE YOU WILLING to pay for that opportunity to buy parts you want or not?

What is the potential customer base for sets of window garnish mouldings for 32 Ford Fordor sedans versus 5Window Coupes?
What about 34 Plymouth Coupes? What about 40 Willys coupes?
And what about those 32-34 Ford pickup doors or 26-27 Ford Model T Coupe and Tudor/28-29 Ford Model A Closed Cab Pickup doors(and don't forget the differences in door hinges between them!)?
What about those 50 Merc grille surrounds, what is the market? How many Mercs are there out there? And Crestliner steering wheels, is there a market for 1000 of them?
GUT FEELINGS and your wallet have the answers.

 

Appleton 112s...i mean real working exact repo 112s...not dummy spots

 

Another vote for 32-34 Ford truck doors.

It seems they are produced out of unobtanium and those who have them know it!

 

and for brookville to add a 26-27 t roadster to their line up

 

47-53 buick super eight torpedo back door sills.....I cant find the SOB's....least not in any better shape than the ones I have...

 

39 lincoln taillights.

 

'60 Ford F100 Front Fenders, not the stupid half of a front fender you have to weld in, the whole damn thing, because all of my fenders are rusted. Also '60 F100 styleside bed sides and the end caps where the tail lights go, and a tail gate. And then fenders and front bumper and grill for a '57 F750, because i have on i want to turn into a hauler and the front clip is shot. and then does any one make a filler panel or the whole wood frame for the roofs in model A's??

 

YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

60's Chevy/GMC fleetside bed sides.

 

56 Packard taillight lenses have been reproduced. So are some of the Guide headlights everyone has a hard-on for lately. But a good portion of this stuff you can still find. You can't just sit at your computer dreaming about it though, unless you want to win a bidding war on eBay - you have to get off your ass and go look for it. For instance...

53 Buick trim, I have most of a set tucked in the garage, and I saw another set go to the crusher last fall. It's not hard to find. We did get a good '56 Chevy hood out of that yard though. Paid like $20 for it. Heck, the paint on it would probably polish out, it's that good. Got a whole '56 4dr out of there with a decent front clip and bumpers with the accessory guards front and back - rare parts.

Have a Kaiser bumper guard now, hell I have the whole bumper, had another one last summer; they can be found.

I can't give away '57 Plymouth hubcaps for a buck each;

a guy in Australia is repoping a lot of the hard to find Mopar taillight lenses;

if '56 Buick caps are the ones with the red plastic disc in the center I must have 5 sets of the damn things;

I was given a '54 Packard light for free - they're less popular than 55-56 and can be found, one yard I was in there was half a dozen 54-56's and the only one with lights was the '54. 56's can be found, I know a guy with like 10 sets on the shelf - the catch is most Packard diehards won't sell them if they think they're going to go on a hotrod.

59 Bonneville lights can be found, but they are prone to cracking the lens down the middle. Being a GM Guide lens, NOS lenses and aftermarket period NORS stuff is going to be out there.

I've seen complete trucks for 60-63 Chevy/GMC for sale for less than $500 with good windshields. We even junked one a couple years ago.

and so on. Some of the things people have mentioned are too oddball for anyone to make, I think, or if they're made they'll be almost as expensive as a good NOS original. I would think that since a nice original 41 Chevy spinner steering wheel is good for $2000-$2500, you'd see someone repop them for around $1000 each. Guys will buy shitty cores for $400 and even go so far as to "weld" cracks in the potmetal in the center in the process of redoing them.

So far as I know these things aren't available and I agree they should be done:

53 Stude grille pan
50 Merc grille shell/surround
Stepdown Hudson rear frame rails - should be able to make one part for all 48-54 cars.

 

low deck 4 bbl hemi and poly intakes.241,259, 260, 270.

Please...I'm begging.

Derek

 

anything for COE's.....shit we get nothing!!

 

how bout marilyns snatch?

 

SamF,

Reproduce this great lady..................

Cruiser

 

Jungle Pam in different ages. So I can collect em all!

 

when and if theres are market some will fill it.look at 50 pontiac and 39 chevy tail lites just out.

 

Marilyn.... Manson????

 

Noooooooooooo!

 

I'm with you man..........

Divco milk trucks????? Or the 18" wheels commonly MISTAKEN as Divcos?
The wheels are being repopped.........

 

Considering the right woman comes along.........................Me.

 

more good looking red heads

 

I 100% agree here. You should be able to build an aftermarket 49-51 Merc just like you can a tri-year Chevy or a first gen camaro. Mine needs EVERYTHING, yet I can find NOTHING!

Cadillac speed parts 331-390.

 

I'd like a real steel front bumper for a 62 Galaxie. Damned glass is all that's available.