New 32 Ford 5 window steel bodys!

I dig the fact that in this economy someone is fronting the $$$ to repop a deuce 5/w. I would dearly love to hear that this Co. found an underworked stamping plant (and some out of work stamping plant workers) serving the big 3 and made a deal to stamp out the parts domestically on 3rd shift and put some Americans back to work. A proudly made in the USA sticker would look too right on this body!
We've heard Brookville has talked about doing a 5/w. They had their chance and now these guys have filled the void. The reality is that with the labor costs and all the bullshit business hoops (licenses, EPA, insurance, etc.) a domestic startup has to go through, i's no wonder entrepreneurs set up manufacturing off shore. Cars and body panels are made everywhere. I'm sure there's stamping plants on every continent that could stamp parts, so I'm guessing they compared domestic bids and made a business decision?

Deuceroger mentioned the quarters looked dead on and will cost $700-1000. That's a boon to the guys that were planning on fitting ($1500) Brookville roadster quarters on their wasted, jalopy 5 window bodies, and I've seen several examples here on the HAMB alone.

How many shots will the tooling take before it needs maintenace, repairs or is completely toast??? I'd wager these dies (low volume kirksite?) are not up to the standards that a high production big 3 would be, stamping tens of thousands of parts. Let's say there's a $1,000,000 in design and tooling. At $22,000 they need to stamp about 50 bodies to pay for the tooling. They had to set a price that they thought would make a return on their investment in a certain number of years.

I'd be trying to sell 100 bodies at $11,000 as I believe a quick nickel is better than a fast dime. $11,000 would place them well within reach of many more folks and be in at a price lower than a rusty original body. The again, I'm a nice guy and not a hard core business man!

 

I think it's great that this guy is willing to drop a ton of cash to reproduce 5-window bodies. Don't like it, don't buy it. It's a global economy, get over it. I think it's a fair price for a quality product. I'll probably buy one if the quality is as good as it looks in the picture.

 

did anyone who talked to the owner ask if he tried to have them stamped in the US?

 

I like this statement,RJP.You made a very insightful statement.I think I will steal it and use it myself from time to time.

 

Where's this going? If they are available at any price, they will sell. The people that build cars to sell will play down where the bodies came from like they do now. Ever notice that glass car adds often don't mention that they are glass while repo steel bodies state that they are "all steel" and cars with built from junk genuine pieces tout that they are "Henry's steel". My roadster is mostly genuine except for the Brookville body and rear fenders while my 3w is a gennine body shell with lots of fabbed and Brookville pieces. So the roadster is a Brookville and the coupe is genuine? I should have built a glass coupe or a Brookville except I wanted an unchopped car and the 3w I started with was cheaper than either. I now have more Brookville sheet metal money in my hiboy coupe than I do in my full fendered roadster. I have owned multiple 32 3w's, 5w's roadsters, and sedan's and would probably buy any right priced genuine 32 body but a repo steel body is lot's more appealing because of availability, condition and price (even at 20K+) I'm old, not rich, and not a "goldchainer" that loves 1932 Fords but has no interest in fiberglass. If I live long enough to finish my current projects plus my "Chinese 5w", maybe "Vickys" will be available.

 

If the quality is top notch and they are next to impossible to tell from the real thing, how long before someone sells one and tells everyone it's an original 32 ?

And would it really matter ? I know it would to me but how about you ?

 

I agree; It's the smartest thing that's been said on this thread.

 

Oh that is funny. !!!!!! Once here ,they will for our politicians to get rid of the US child labor laws and maybe we could make them here cheaper !!!!

 

All of you traditional HAMBers lusting after wheels, headers, polished pieces and certain rims made in the sixties might be surprised to know that they were made or assembled in Mexico and/or Taiwan. Using that logic, wouldn't a five-window made overseas be traditional too?

If Ryan had a IQ test on corporate business knowledge for posters this thread would only be a page or instead of seven!

 

I guess with all the stories in the latest magazines saying the Hobby is going away and is in danger....Look at this way....If they pop this one out it will be around for a long time and so be our Hobby....You see, they have screwed our manufacturing plants in the US so bad over the years now, everything is coming across the ocean....

 

none of us are able to afford a 22 thousand dollar body, let's face facts here. only in dreams.. and in my dreams, an ACCURATE, new steel 32 5-window is GOLD, made in china or not. moving on.............

 

Someone actually knows his history...

 

There are some nice under-utilized stamping machines in the KC Harley-Davidson plant right now...

 

Well, you can doubt all you want! I was there and talked directly to the guy. While I didn't ask him to show me proof of the dies actually being made in the USofA, why would I when he was the one that said that they were and then told me the stamping would be done in Taiwan. He was as straight up with me as I thought anyone could be and I have no reason to believe he was lying. Why should you? Sheeesh, why is it that people seem to want to find bodies where none exist???

 

An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence.

Not Knowledge.

So your post would be one of the ones to go...

 

Me and a friend were standing at that guys booth along with about 12 other people listening to his speal about the body. We were all pretty keen on what he was saying until someone asked where they were made. No kidding the second he said China everyone split.
The panels looked good but were really thin. They reminded me of a cheap chevy pickup door skin or something. Any kind of welding and you would have your hands full.

 

Thanks Alex...

 

Well, he is right about one thing...

I sometimes wonder if there should be a Aptitude Test.