[fiedlerh]

Is Jim Osborn Reproductions still in business? Their website is very broken and it appears they haven't been on Facebook in a year.

[Stuart]

If you go to the main page and click on the GM catalog button it goes off to an error page, but this link straight from Google worked for me. http://www.osborn-reproduction.com/pontiac.html

[77 Canamman]

They really need an update...

Reproduction Pontiac Restoration Decals
Included in our 162 page, 1998 Catalog,

[TAKerry]

I used the link that stuart posted, it opens up what looks like a home page but when you click on anything it goes to error that the website no longer exists. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I certainly don't want to cause him to lose business if it does exist.

[Bentwheelbob]

I think Jim kicked the bucket a while back. Barbara Castle I believe has been managing the “intellectual property” since then. They have some good stuff, but I got disgusted when restoring my black Formula. The tire inflation sticker they sell for 1972 Y99 equipped cars is clearly wrong and I offered to send them an original label to duplicate. They expressed no interest and in fact sent a somewhat disdainful response like they shouldn’t be questioned. I think their best days are in the past.

Most recently I received the attached email. Since then I have gotten two emails from the Barbara Castle email address that mention no change???




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[fiedlerh]

Sound like someone needs to buy them out and revive the business.

[77 Canamman]

As of two years ago, they still had a brick and mortar site with what appears a small staff..

[fiedlerh]

Got a reply.
Email David Osborn at dosborn@osborn-reproduction.com if you need anything. Said they are having website troubles.

[Bentwheelbob]

See at attached link starting at post 1285. Their best days are in the rear view mirror.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...19#post5765919

[Held for Ransom]

http://osborn-reproduction.com/catalog/SearchByMake.asp
has worked for me. Their product is only OK in my book and is usually what every reproduction shop offers.

I see it is now not working. They need to have pictures when you click on the details.

[GT182]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

The tire inflation sticker they sell for 1972 Y99 equipped cars is clearly wrong and I offered to send them an original label to duplicate. They expressed no interest and in fact sent a somewhat disdainful response like they shouldn’t be questioned. I think their best days are in the past.

Bob, they are not the only ones that won't try to have the best reproductions made. There's a supplier of the 8 bolt divider plates that that won't have the correct inner ss divider plate made. And he sells them to all of the catalog vendors. I was basically told to mind my own business when I questioned him about it. So you aren't not alone with the response you got.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Who was & is making the really good 3M 70 Judge Stripe Kits ?

The Judges Chamber,
Osborn Reproductions
Somebody else?

[carbking]

This thread saddens me.

I haven't been in touch with Jim for a number of years. All of us grow older, and eventually our business goes to an heir, or others. The new owner may or may not understand that quality NEVER goes out of style, and opt to go cheap! Unfortunately, customer attitudes often contribute to these decisions. Companies that do deal in quality get tired of being called bandits. Sometimes hard to stand your ground on quality when others competing with you are selling off-shore junk.

When I was dealing with Jim, we furnished Jim data to produce a number of decals used on (or to replace original silkscreens) Pontiac air cleaners. Jim's quality was absolutely top drawer. Really sad to read the comments in this thread. Really hope the same thing doesn't eventually happen to me

Jon.

[Held for Ransom]

Jon,
Here is a sample of the difference in an OK and a better product. Either for a price under $10. Even if the price was double, I would spent that on the better product every day. Of course, if you didn't have the original to compare it with, then OK is better than nothing.

[carbking]

Ransom - I totally agree, but often customers look at the bottom line only. It costs money to do it right. And the imitators (in the case of decals) can, with modern photography, use the artwork done for the first reproduction.

Jon.

[Bentwheelbob]

Come on Mike Ransom, put your b_lls out there. Who did great work and who did the crappy work?

[Held for Ransom]

I named who did the OK decal in the comparison picture.

Funny, I didn't name the other.

[400 4spd.]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Who was & is making the really good 3M 70 Judge Stripe Kits ?

The Judges Chamber,
Osborn Reproductions
Somebody else?

Last summer I ordered a complete Judge decal set from Phoenix Graphix. A forum member had an accident and we fixed it. Body and paint complete in a week.
Within a few days the decals arrived coiled loosely in a box. Days later I was ready to install them, and so I laid them out on a board to relax over night. I soon discovered 2 stripe decals for one quarter and none for the other.
After a couple of phone calls it was requested that I email picture proof of what they had sent. I guess I sounded like a stripe thief. Sales guy agreed to send another stripe for the quarter I needed. A week later a stripe is delivered. For a fender.
I call again, talk with same guy. He apologizes and says he will correct it.
A week later a quarter panel stripe arrives. Correct side, but looks like it was made on another planet. Every color tone except black was way off, ends were rounded off wrong, it was shorter than my other stripe, and EVERY color width was off. Another phone call with P.G. owner involved. I send more pictures.
Fed-Ex delivered a correct stripe the following day.

My opinion of the product they sell is that it is excellent. As close to perfect as you could ask for. The dimensions fell exactly within the specs laid out in the Pontiac factory assembly manual. Curvature and ends are like originals. It is also a 3M product.

[Half-Inch Stud]

@400 4spd ahah, Phoenix Graphics, thanks. Strange to know there was a quality variant among the stripes sent.

[gtohurstjudge]

The stripes on my car came from Year One back in 2003. At that
time their Judge decals were being made by Dale's Cuda Shop, a Mopar decal
supplier. They are vastly superior to the Phoenix Graphix stripes for two reasons.
First, the width of the red and yellow stripes on the Phoenix decals vary tremendously throughout thier length, and where they come together between the door and fender and the door and quarter, the widths of the red and yellow
don't match. This was the case on original GM stripes as well, so while they are correct, they don't look very good. The DCS stripes are dead nuts consistent all
the way down the sides of the car with no variation on the stripe width on the red and yellow stripes. Second, the Phoenix stripes are printed on white tape, and after two years the color wears off the edges from wiping the car, and the white starts to show on the edges of the stripes. The DCS stripes are printed on yellow tape, so the edge is yellow throughout the decal so the edge of the stripe
stays yellow year after year. I don't know if DCS still makes the stripes Year One sells, but if they do, that is the way to go. I've had other Judge owners at shows ask me where I got my stripes because they look so much better than their's.