Hot Rods Who wants to make New 1934 ford 3 window Coupe bodys

Ok, I am posting this here Now that Myself and everyone I personally Know involved has pulled out. But The New 3 window coupe body program that was done by steves auto restoration and experi-metal is forsale. The asking price was 1.8 million dollars for the All the rights and Dies to stamp every body part for the 34 3 window. Also the 34 roadster program is for sale as well. I am only posting this in hopes that someone with really deep pockets will take an interest and save the dies from being melted down and the program gone forever. Myself and 2 major investors tryed to buy it, And after running the numbers the return is just too risky for them to put their money into. I know 1.8 million is alot of money, but there is just over a million in raw kirksite involved. So really we are only talking $800.000 that you could lose....LOL. Any high rolling gamblers on here??...LOL

 

Also there is a small amount of inventory that is included, (I have a list) but Not enough to complete whole bodys. And they will not sell one piece of the remaining inventory until the Dies are sold, If even then...

 

Man count me in for couple hundred bucks.

Is that for every die of every piece needed? In other words self-sufficient 33 three windows no outside suppliers?

Does that include Fords cut that you're probably going to have to pay them?

Boy I wish I were a fly on the wall amd figure out what happened to that deal And project getting shelved.

 

Hmmm - break even on $1.8M for the Dies is probably only 100 bodies.
Add on manufacturing, marketing, distribution, etc and the numbers don't look so good.

 

Kirksite will only do a limited number of stampings. I'm thinking by the time you break even it's time to reinvest so you will always be chasing the break even point.

 

His name is Lazze and you can learn to build one from scratch.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/vide...&age=1327619816&fr2=p:s,v:v&fr=yfp-t-901&tt=b

 

Those are cheap R&D or prototype molds to decide if you want to make changes before the real ones get made.

So you'd have to set up to do 1 stamping after another till all dies are ran, then begin assembly. That's a bunch of set up fees to nurse along with 1.8 mill before you even begin to start to see a return on full bodies.

 

George save us

 

X2. Not a good investment for long term.

Unless you can scan those dies and machine steel ones from the data and sell the kirksite off to get most of the money back.

 

where's my checkbook...

 

If I remember correctly, Brookville 32 dies are kirksite. They seem to be lasting pretty good.

Their Model A dies are steel, though.

 

Why would anyone else try and buy it? You just said your investors ran the numbers and said it was too risky..lol

 

I hope somebody can save it!

 

big risk!

 

Yeah that sounds about right, It is just foolish in todays economy to take such a high risk. I wish they would work with us a bit and let us buy it in stages As I think bringing some of the parts to market would make it worth while. I mean New 3 window doors would fly off the shelfs as fast as you could make them. So would roof parts and full quarters that would allow guys to turn any model body into a 3 window. and garnish moldings would sell quick as well. Bottomline is not everyone can afford a 30K body but if you offer them the parts they need to turn a 34 4 door into a 3 window You would sell alot of parts in my opinion. After my investors pulled out, I talked to dennis carpender and tryed to get him involved in this But he didn't seem very interested. I ask him how his 40 project was doing and he said they were selling a ton of parts but very few complete bodys.

 

It's WAY too much $$$ with too much risk. It was for SAR and that's why they pulled the plug.

As a huge 34 enthusiast, it killed me to see the project iced. I agree there would be takers for parts such as doors, but the real money was in $30k bodies, not separate panels.
Add to the economy being soft, you'll probably owe FoMoCo their cut, advertising, and you'll need a 5,000 square foot+ building to assemble and work out of. The ROI could be 5-10 years. Venture capital investors expect to double or triple their investments in less than that
Does the 1.8 mil include all the body assy. jigs and fixtures?

If the price were south of 1 mil., I could see an established body manufacturer making the jump. Read that;
"Brookville 34 bodies now available"....


" I have some very disappointing news to reveal. The 33/34 3 Window Coupe project will be postponed indefinitely as the present economy will not support the program any longer. This is a shame as I feel that we brought out the highest quality reproduction steel body in the market, but timing with the decline in the economy has doomed its success. The front and rear fender project will be cancelled as well.
I tried my best to keep the project alive but rising production costs and declining sales were just too big of an obstacle to overcome. I apologize to all of you who have been on our waiting list and I sincerely appreciate your patience. I am as disappointed with this news as you may be. We will still manufacture other 33/34 parts such as deck lids, patch panels, etc. You can watch our website store for the availability of these parts."
Respectfully,
Steve Frisbie Steve’s Auto Restorations

 

Kickstarter....no that wouldn't work....

 

I would think there is as much or more money in the panel sales. There is a lot of labor to put a body together. There would be no robots in something this small. Think about it this way a $15,000 new car would cost you at least twice that if you bought each part, just for the parts and then you have to put it together

 

Thanks for a quick look at the real world cost of things, I hope the project gets saved for production in better days. Bob

 

Has anybody thought about making a pre order price, to offset the risk. Maybe offer the first 75 complete bodies at 20000$ each if pre-ordered. These cars could come with some sort of special
Feature to
Make them rare and unique. This would greatly reduce the buy-in risk and allow some guys to get a good deal on a car that might just become a rare piece some day.

 

^^^^ Jim, That is how Brookville got the '32 3Window started I was told. Bob

 

Kirsite dies will live a long time if steel inserts are added to high wear areas. So run your sample panels, dial them, in then start cutting and adding inserts.

You'll need some good tool and die guys on staff and a good machine shop as well as all the stamping equipment. Unless an existing stamping operation bought these I'd say it's a loser to payoff.

 

SAR had a waiting list with deposits taken and still said "Stop"

 

From what I understand those 34 body's were not exactly true or interchangeable to a real 34 most all the pannels could be made to fit but if you needed a door on your fomoco 3w it wouldn't go right in the hole without lots of work , where as brookville has interchangeability

Brookville offers a cheaper alternative to messed up origionals you can't find a decent origional 32 roadster for less than what their roadster costs , but you can still find build able 3w but still close to their price ... 33-34 3w coupes however are still available at prices much lower than 25k it's just not a feaseable number 15-17k would be an entirely differnt ballgame... Same thing with the rodbod 32 it's a decent body , but not the caliber of a brookville ... If they were priced at 6k they'd be sellin the shit out of them

Attitude has shifted also... 10-15 yrs ago as long as it was steel it was ok now people want to brag about it being origional steel ... I watched major price drops on very nice glass 32 roadster builds because of the stigma... I'm seeing the same thing with brookville builds now

 

Okay guys.

Here is where the HAMB steps in.

With Ryan's consent, why not form a LLC and invite members here to contribute to a type of crowd funding model to provide the capital to purchase these parts and rights.

Advertise here and on Fordbarn, and other so forms of social media, that the project is about to be re-established, and call for expressions of interest for contributions and parts. Like it has been said above, pre-ordering's with deposits provides some working capital.

Just how this would work will depend on how close the product is to the original, seeing as though it has been described as requiring considerable reworking in order to fit an original body. I did read that the roadster body will not interchange with an original.

Good luck with the venture. It really does need to be saved.

 

I was thinking how many panels I could beat into 33/34 window coupes for 1.8 million. Probably more than I'd ever want

 

There's a new STIGMA born every day.

 

Will they take PayPal?

 

As far as S.A.R Goes, there are So many different Stories floating around about what happened to the 3 window program I can't count them all even if I took off both shoes LOL. One thing to remember is Steve tryed to bring this Body to market when Our economy was at it's worst, And everyone was scared to buy anything. Also I think Steve is a great guy, He has been very helpful and good to me in the past, So I have nothing but good things to say about him, But I can remember wanting to buy body sides from him and they would not sell them. they would sell doors and decklids, And lots of other parts but would not sell the body sides to anyone. I personally think that was a bad business move, Also I think the bodys were over priced for the market. I mean if brookville can sell their 32 3 window bodies for 25K then the 34's can be sold for 25K. S.A.R price was 35K if I remember right. Anyhow I was told that the original Price when this was done was 2.2 million, Not to mention all the work and time that went into getting the dies done. It is turn key ready right now as is.....I never said I did not think it was a good investment, It was just not good for my investors. But for the right person I think this could be good. Keep in mind Banks are not paying shit for interest right now. So someone with millions of dollars and with a passion to do something fun, This would be ideal IMO anyhow....