i don't think the price will come down any time soon i payed $11,000 for my 32 brookville with options, and as i remember when i worked for Fat Jack over 10 years ago we got one of the first ones for $10,000. To this day i could not be any happier with my steel body it sure beets Tupperware
Awesome. SAR cranks out some superior products. I have no doubt their worth the 30k. Yeah thats a lot of coin, but no one said this **** was ever cheap.
I would take one of those bodies in a heartbeat. I don't care if it has no soul, character or history. I definitely couldn't afford one though. If someone wants a body with soul and character, buy a SAR 3 window and I'll gladly trade you my 3 window for it. Its got plenty of that ****. I'm getting burned out on bodywork. Dave
Lets face it guys. It's all about the look. What pleases the eye. Be it a steel body a repo steel body or gl*** body if it is a certain year and that is your favorite body style it shouldn't make that much difference. The guys that have an all steel original body will probably dissagree with that statement but you would expect them to. They have one and you don't. If some of them didn't have one they would be more inclined to agree with the "what pleases the eye" statement. If I look at a car I don't care what it is made out of ,if it " pleases the eye". $30k will build a very nice car.(Total cost) That $30k body just gets you started on the road to spending a pile of money so you can say you have one! Thats just not for me. Way too much money for what you get. Opinions are like a$$ holes everybody has one and that is mine Thanks, BOBBY FORD
I bought one of their 34 roadsters as you can tell by my name. They are so straight right out of the press very little bodywork is needed and thats big money if you pay someone else. Plus mine has zero rust as I had them primer it before it rolled out into the Oregon rain. Sure I could buy a plastic roadster for 12,000. or buy an original POS metal one for 8,000-10,000 and replace 2/3 of it with new sheetmetal or just pay the 15,000 and be driving in less than a year. The frame is all original as well as the grille, license plates & old carson top but still 100% hot rod and 100% billetproof. I sold stuff to come up with the coins but am driving my dream car for under $ 25,000. thanks to a friend for a $ 50.00 engine & another friend for a 100.00 turbo 375 (early 400). If you can afford it buy it and enjoy or sit back & dream.
We've done one of SARs 33-34 roadster bodies on one of our ch***is and it fit well and looked like it needed only minimal work. That was several years ago and I would imagine that they have only gotten better. Thanks to companies like SAR and Brookville, makes the hobby stronger.
'34 3-windows grow on trees these days. Here's a pic of me and my buddy's cars. They're everywhere man
I once had a "real henry" 3w `34 body . Needed new floor / Subrails , New firewall , New door skins & decklid skin , and inner door panels ... , just that kinda "****" we Scandinavians are used too deal with. : A Brand NEW `34 3W Steel-body from SAR ( IMHO : One of the finest shops in the business .. ) WOW ... Excellent news .. **MCQUEEN** : A `33/`34 Roadster body has VERY little in kommon with a `33/`34 3W body : The decklid&piece below, floor and firewall is the same , Other than that , Not 1 piece from a roadster body fits a 3W.body.. ( unless modified to fit ) , My guess is that this is ALL New tooling. Impressive stuff Klaz
1972: $800.00, I p*** up a prisitine, stock running '34 3-window in the parking lot of the old Ford Obsolete on Willow in Long Beach, CA. 1974: $350.00, I buy a chopped '34 3W shell, with doors and chopped window frames, from a builder's moving sale in Pomona. 1975: $850.00, I buy a rusty '34 5-window in San Pedro, but with pristine sheet metal (fenders, hood,). 1980: $2200.00, I sell the 5W body, grille, tweaked frame and misc other stuff at Pomona. sigh . . . . just one little crystal ball . . .
Steve does some real trick things with the 33 and 34 fords. i knew he was coming out with this a couple of years ago when brookville started the 32 3 window when i was talking with him at the Street Rod Nats in Louisville. he had the proto type of a hand fabbed roadster he was building a very modern version. i think he only built 25 of them total and the going price was like $150,000 a pop and all of them were sold before he even got the first one out. but it is a brand new car and he is the only one popping out a STEEL 3 window 34 ford so they will sell really well. just look at the sales Brookville has had on their 32 3 window its just mindboggling.
So I am ***uming that you are sad that your $2200 could have become $30k? If you had only known? Well, the investment community has returned a solid 8-10% in the US stock market over the last 40 years. A $2200 investment in an investment that returned on average 9% annually, would have a book value of $28,841.99 today. 27 years later. If you had only known? I'm sure someone older and wiser than you was telling you to save your money, invest, and plan for retirement. How about putting that $2200 down on a little rental house in Orange County somewhere - rent it out for 27 years to pay for it - worth what today? $600k? Old Ford junk is far from a smart investment. Oh, the new 3w bodies are awesome.
even if the body sold for 2 grand, some here would still ***** it wasn't traditional. Maybe a set of rusted out and dented fenders could be included in the price. Then the chinese patch panels could be attached to the trad stuff.
Not quite sure I understand the gist of Fab32/Frank's comment, but I suggest that some of the whiners look into the cost of creating the great number of dies that are required to manufacture steel car bodies, then they must be expertly ***embled/welded. I'm not sure (after 74 yrs) if Ford's permission is needed to do this, but the "permission" may not be free. Add to that the sheer cost of production played against the limited number of potential sales. R&D is always recovered (at least by smart business folks) in the initial run - especially when the demand may be limited. From some of the prices for OEM Ford bodies at swap meets, the cost doesn't seem too onerous to bear. A lot of the swap meet stuff has thinned from corrosion over the years, or is just flat out barely restorable. Doesn't seem to stop the sellers from slapping a five-figure price on something that has enjoyed the comforting arms of a creek bottom for the last half of its life. "cost is NO object when you're looking good" dj
They will never be a FORD 34 3 window. I would much rather have an old original ford body, even if it needs countless hours of repair. There is something about saving and driving an old ford body. I'm not knockin their product, they are beautiful. Maybe in 70 plus years a SAR body will be looked at in the same way as a ford body. I guess they will have to earn it.
So I am ***uming that you are sad that your $2200 could have become $30k? If you had only known? Point wasn't really the money, or an investment, but availability. People were *****ing about the prices back then, but at least the stuff was everywhere. Now iits a friggin' treasure hunt. I'd rather have the toys than the bucks.
Gotta say something here. Ford was not in the body building business just the whole car. Murray Briggs & Budd built their bodies, so we as tainted hot rodders just call em Fords even though a different mfg'r could have built that body, Case in point, My 34 Hupp 3W, It was built by the Murray body co as was my 34 Ford Model 40 Woody & 2 other 3W's All are Murray tooled and and ***embled, The end result became either a Ford or a Hupp. The same goes for this body that SAR is introducing. Got no problem with new sheetmetal that is actually built at the same factories that tool up & stamp current late model production panels that we drive daily=Experimetal. SAR is not building this body but are the beans behind it, It is being made where those old Fords were built-Michigan.
I meant with pieces they already make & have been selling. Not that you'd stick a roof on a roadster. They're two different cars. They don't only sell roadster panels. So starting at the front, they already make the cowl panel tops & sides, right up to the w/s posts, those are the same pieces. They fab all firewalls anyway, but either way, they're the same on all 34's. Even the whole A-pillar is the same on a cabrio and 3w 75% up the windsheild post. The w/s posts would be part of the front half of your new roof project. They make cabriolet (long) door skins with beltline already, for tudor/3w doors, so they already have the door skins. They fab the inner door structures already also. They'll have to make the door tops for 3w above the beltline to the window opening (a 4" tall piece) to finish the doors up to the point of adding the 3w window frames. My guess is re-master a door skin die by adding the correct top 4 inches, then weld on all subsequent upper door frames as a separate units. The 3w hinges are readily available. The b-pillars are wood, so they'd be fab'd in steel anyway. They already have the short quarters (cabrio/3w length), they're the same right up to the beltline. The tulip panel (above the decklid) is the same as the cabrio, they sell them already. They already make the correct trunk gutters & others sell them. That leaves the decklid, and tail panel, already make & sell them, they're the same. They already have the trunk hinges. The floors and subrails and cowl feet & rear inner quarter & tail reinforcements are the same. There you have the whole body laying on the shelves right up to the roof section and door tops. (and inner front roof reinforcement which can be made in any manner & is a separate weld in piece from the roof, and w/s post reinforcements) Frankly, I can't wait til they get to stampin'.
Take the "ford" out of my statements. I guess I should have said bodies built in the year 1934 instead of 34 "ford". The point was that a new body no matter where it is built, is not a 1934, it is a 2008 or what ever year it was manufactured. For that matter a new steel body is the same as a new gl*** body, except one is steel and one is fibergl***. they both are not 70 plus year old cars. It's just my opinion,to each their own. Build what you like or what you can afford, but if it wasn't built in 1934 for example, don't call it a 1934. So if you don't buy an old ***le, and you build a car with an new ch***is and body, what year is it registered as?
Hey, I got one of those. just kidding. but after all of the work to make this one new thier price doesnt sound that bad.
This is a debate that would never end. I agree with most, I'd rather have a gennie then a repop but to buy a desirable bodystyle (3 window) and properly rebuild it will run easy over 30gs unless you have the skill and equiptment to do it yourself and don't count your time. A lot of you have seen the Vicky I'm building, I hand built 80% of the body so I have the skills but I count my time. If I could of bought a steel repop Vicky for 30 it would of been cheaper. 80% or 100%, what's the differance? I'm planning on a 32 roadster next, it will be Brookville. Let's face it, if it wasn't for the reproduction companies our hobby would be priced out of sight, they are saving it. Can you imagine what 32 Ford roadsters would be worth if there were no reprodutions availible?
the walrus : In your opinion : What parts can I replace on my `32 Ford ( Stock Tudor ) , and still call it a `32 Ford ? If I decide to keep everything bone stock part from the Tudor body , and replace it with a Brookville 3W body : Still a `32 Ford ?? OR: If I decide to use the Tudor body , but replace everything else ( Maybe a complete So-Cal ch***ie , Buick nailhead , Hallibrand wheels , Brookville fenders .. and-so-on : well , You get my point .. ) : Still a`32 Ford ?? Klaz
So what is the difference between a new body and an original body? Apart from age. You can talk about history and originality all you like, but thats only something that you bring into it as an observer. Say you have two bodies side by side, bare metal, rust free. One is original and one new. You can´t tell the difference. How do you know which one you should like more?
Wouldn't it be so fun to chop that new pristine body, and imagine you were doing the same to a pristine Ford body in 1950? Use an oxy/acet torch and coat hangers as rod.
I just hope all the old tin you guys have dont have new steel patch panels installed because you just cut out all the soul the car had. -Jason
If you replace your body then it is a brookville body on a 32 ford ch***is. If you replace your ch***is, then it is a 32 ford body on a so cal ch***is. once again just my opinion. not everyone will agree with me and that is O.K. I also don't like small block chevy motors in early thirties cars. more opinions.
I think it is great when they come out w/ new steel early cars. It keeps people form destorying nice original cars. The car that was not restorable it may now be restoreable. It took alot of tooling and investment to produce a steel body. Look at the money new cars are going for.
Like Metalman says, no end to a debate like this. At one end of the spectrum, you have those that like old cars just because of their looks- if they have a plastic kit car, with a 1-800 ch***is and a Toyota engine, they're happy. At the other end, restorers who like old cars because they're old, and they wouldn't be happy with flouridated water in the radiator. And somewhere in between, most of the rest of us in a million different degrees of difference, so a million different opinions.
The Jalopy Journal
