Thinking about the future of repop steel bodies...

Bob,

Of the guys that I've talked to who do repopped parts in glass, these
"Kustom" parts don't sell real well. Granted, they're in glass, but most
''real Kustoms" are very personal statements about their builders. A
1-800 ME-TOO catalog kustom would be a tough sell, I'd think, than
again, like Dillon said "the times they are a changin' "!

Swankey Devils C.C.

"Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"

 

Billions & billions of bugs were sold. 5K will buy a good original still. Oval projects can still be had for a few grand. It'll be a LONG time before a repopped Bug will be a money-making venture.

& to further complicate matters, VW guys (for the most part) are cheap as hell.

Wasn't Bob Drake working on a '40 coupe?

JH

 

The one thing I can not find is a 5 window 34 coupe. There are plenty of 3 windows but no 5 windows.... that is either stock height or chopped. Why???
jim

 

I think that I heard that Bob Drake is working on making a new steel 40 Ford coupe.

 

WTF? If we must be talking original to be traditional, we are all screwed! I have a set of original bias-plys in a vintage wheel stand, but I wouldn't run 'em on my lawn mower!
Reality, I.E. repop, (God KNOWS, sometimes I hate it) is all we have to turn to in pursuit of our passion, and personally I have my own demons about busting balls on a guy for having a plastic (kit) car.
If it is repop steel does it make it okay? Fuck, I don't know, but I undestand that the insanity to fuel the war machine means that peoples lands are being invaded to grab 2000-4000 of "scrap" steel and there may be a time when the kids coming in, if they don't inherit it, or just make a shit load of money, may have no other choice but to go with off the shelf items to build their dream.
As long as the passion is there, as long as the concept of what is truly the traditional look, what greater compliment to the founders of the sport than to take what you have, give it your best shot, and run with it............................ just my 48 cents.................( but, no, none of my shit is plastic< not YET!)

Oh, and before I get off my soapbox, has everyone forgotten there is enough crude under Iraq to keep us all in cheap gas from now on? FUCK 'EM, I say TAKE IT!!!!

 

Venture off the beaten path and make a 33-34 Chevy 5 window!

 

Honestly, I can't imagine the kind of love or insanity it takes to invest, what, hundreds of thousands of bucks?, into tooling and craftmen to reproduce any all steel classic bodies. I get the Deuce stuff and maybe the 69 Camaro cause they are established icons, but with Old Navy dumping hundreds of pretty clean 47-54 Chevy truck bodies on the market? Bottom line - build an icon or do something radically weird and cheap - I like weird!

 

Drake has been working on a 40 coupe for sometime now. Here in Australia Waddington Restorations are making a steel 34 Ford phaeton and a 34 Ford roadster utility . See Street Rodder May 08.

 

I'm looking into repopping a Fridolin - oops, sorry, wrong board

Steve