[x-bird2]

the other question, (jorge) and one i didn't ask him, is how much would one cost?? i was talking quarters panels with him. He's a nice guy, answers the phone himself would be worth a follow up to find out what would happen to the NOS one and what he would charge for them if it were to happen.

[Norwood]

I still think that if they just did the lower portion he would selll all he could make for the first couple of months. The Upper part will be the hard part to do, the lower ( bumper bolts and below) I think would be no problem and probobly a third of the cost. SOMEONE CALL JORGE

[big matt]

If these were made with quality in mind , I would buy at least 2 and have one for backup. I myself would buy inner panels too if available.

[schalmat]

heck,,just a lower[beneith the bumper] skin would be great! the camero one runs about 40-50 bucks.to bad it doesnt fit.

[gto65lvr]

I might have bought one this week if it it was repoped my tail lamp openings and sides by the trunk gutters were completed rusted due to long time ago leaks. My trunk however is mint.

I am forced to cut out some sheet metal, cut, bend and piece it together.

My lower panel and lower inner is perfect.

That was the only surprise on the whole car

Some how there has got to be a way to reproduce this panel. Luckily the tail lamp areas on these cars are not real intricate Or I would have been dead in the water

Kinda like the 65 GTO rear body panel would be easy to do but they do not do it, but they do 66, 67 kinda wierd

[1973Formula]

I'll take one from the rear bumper bolts down. I need it in the next few weeks. The lower section would be a easy sell. I agree with Norwood that if the upper section is gone, your car is pretty far gone. I have 2-'73 bodies, and 1-'71. All of them need the lower section. Also, you can get by with some imperfections on the upper section since it is covered by the fiberglass panel.

Go Ahead Make One....I will buy it.

-Later

[niceta]

I would buy the whole thing if it was available even though all I really need is the upper section (tail light area)

[Tazzz2]

I'm heading to SEMA in the next few weeks and I'm considering looking into possible panel production as it sounds like there is a demand for the product......

However, I'd like to play devils avocate here and ask the following:

Is all this back and forth about how to make it cheeper (by doing a half panel) showing framentation of a limited market exactly why manufactures are nervious???


They likely see us paying approximately $1,500to 1,800 for NOS then questioning $600 for new parts...If we're paying mid to heigh teens $$$ for NOS,,, or buying cars for the panel..... Are we second guessing the true demand & value/s of the panel if we're questioning 1/3 of the current cost is an acceptable price for a "brand new" part?????

If we're going to get anyone invest in this biz venture,,, how can we show them they'll be supported (at the $600 level guestimated minimum price given the thread poll).....

Many of the very bodies these panels would be produced for have been tweeked or hit over the years (or plain twisted from hp and time),,,is this a factor/reluctance on manufactures part given likely fit issues???

Also how is someone going to guage quality???? Will it be fit on your specific car (your car,, tweeked or otherwise) ,,,,,,, or will it be guage of steel???? I guess the biggest question is what will constitue quality/value to each buyer???

lastly, Would it be cause for concern if someone really considered produceing a part for roughly 1/3 of the current NOS market replacement cost and found out the market was questioning the percieved value,,,would "you as an individual" have the fortitude proceed to invest and take the chance???

Anyways, all interesting food for thought and impute...

[niceta]

Some good points Tazz. Is it your guestamate that the panel would fetch $600 or did I miss something in the posts. $300-$400 is what I had in mind. Even then, when a quarter skin is only around $100 they should be able to Repop the tail panel for less than $300. That being said, For $300 I would buy one.

[Tazzz2]

Originally Posted by niceta

Some good points Tazz. Is it your guestamate that the panel would fetch $600 or did I miss something in the posts. $300-$400 is what I had in mind. Even then, when a quarter skin is only around $100 they should be able to Repop the tail panel for less than $300. That being said, For $300 I would buy one.

My appology,,,, I thought it stated $600 in this threads "members poll" as the target price. I have no current idea of what a tail panel will cost.

The main focus of my trip to SEMA is to meet with wheel and rim manufactures to discuss the 17" Honeycomb style wheels and limited production runs...

The secondary focus was going to be discusing the manufacturing of a 70-81 Trans am fender/s,,,, so I guess discussing a tail panel wouldn't be a reach given the companies I'll be sitting with....

[Norwood]

Originally Posted by Tazzz2

I'm heading to SEMA in the next few weeks and I'm considering looking into possible panel production as it sounds like there is a demand for the product......

However, I'd like to play devils avocate here and ask the following:

Is all this back and forth about how to make it cheeper (by doing a half panel) showing framentation of a limited market exactly why manufactures are nervious???


They likely see us paying approximately $1,500to 1,800 for NOS then questioning $600 for new parts...If we're paying mid to heigh teens $$$ for NOS,,, or buying cars for the panel..... Are we second guessing the true demand & value/s of the panel if we're questioning 1/3 of the current cost is an acceptable price for a "brand new" part?????

If we're going to get anyone invest in this biz venture,,, how can we show them they'll be supported (at the $600 level guestimated minimum price given the thread poll).....

Many of the very bodies these panels would be produced for have been tweeked or hit over the years (or plain twisted from hp and time),,,is this a factor/reluctance on manufactures part given likely fit issues???

Also how is someone going to guage quality???? Will it be fit on your specific car (your car,, tweeked or otherwise) ,,,,,,, or will it be guage of steel???? I guess the biggest question is what will constitue quality/value to each buyer???

lastly, Would it be cause for concern if someone really considered produceing a part for roughly 1/3 of the current NOS market replacement cost and found out the market was questioning the percieved value,,,would "you as an individual" have the fortitude proceed to invest and take the chance???

Anyways, all interesting food for thought and impute...

Gee..Albert I had to read that twice....

[Formula8]

No, the problem is that not everyone wants to remove their trunk floor and tank supports just to replace the tail light section which is likely not damaged. If the lower part could be sectioned in, the part most likey in need of replacement would be addressed without the need for major surgery on the back half of the car. If it were me, I would just make a lower skin to start out. That would essentially be a slightly rolled piece of sheet metal with a stamping at the bottom where it meets the inner panel. I could not imagine that running too much more than $100.

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by 68bird400HO

I spoke to a well known vender last week who was looking seriously into getting the '70-'73 tailpanel repopped. One of the hangups is trying to guage the demand for this. He is concerned since he will be putting up the money to get it done and have to give up an NOS panel to be used as a model for the tooling. He figures if there is enough demand to do a run of at least 500, the price could be around $300-$400. If not, a smaller run would make the price much higher. If the demand isn't there, it likely wouldn't be done, at least by him.

On the surface, it seems like a high demand product, however, only about 100 of the '74-'78 tailpanels have been sold so far. Those appeared to be high demand at the time they were done too.

He doesn't frequent these boards much, but I mentioned I would put a post out there to get some feedback. Also, I am adding a poll to try to get a count of how many here need one and would be buyers assuming it is a correctly done, high quality product. Vote each time for each panel you would need (if you need more than one).

Look at it this way, guy CUT cars because of this, that wrecks a whole market for other parts as well, and So many guys on here have 350's and NO homes for them!!

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by Formula8

No, the problem is that not everyone wants to remove their trunk floor and tank supports just to replace the tail light section which is likely not damaged. If the lower part could be sectioned in, the part most likey in need of replacement would be addressed without the need for major surgery on the back half of the car. If it were me, I would just make a lower skin to start out. That would essentially be a slightly rolled piece of sheet metal with a stamping at the bottom where it meets the inner panel. I could not imagine that running too much more than $100.

I helped a guy make that part for one, he has a metal roller machine.
yeah that sounds feasable too

[keith k]

Yep... lower section would be a good start. Can't be too expensive to tool that up. I'd invest in that way before I'd invest in fenders.

[JC455]

Originally Posted by niceta

Some good points Tazz. Is it your guestamate that the panel would fetch $600 or did I miss something in the posts. $300-$400 is what I had in mind. Even then, when a quarter skin is only around $100 they should be able to Repop the tail panel for less than $300. That being said, For $300 I would buy one.

This is my thinking too. I think $300 should more than cover it. The reason the buyers get apprehensive is the old "It's a Pontiac/it's a Trans Am, so let's jack the price up!" routine.
There's no reason for this. First gen parts are out (and very nice too) for a reasonable price.
Something to think about.

[thefirebirdm@n]

All the same questions could have been asked about the Camaro and yet that panel made it to market. How has it done in sales? What made that an attractive venture? I don't believe the only motivation is that Camaros are more popular than Firebirds. In my opinion the only Camaros that are REALLY popular are the 1st gens. The 2nd gen Camaros do have a following but I think the Firebird is much more popular from 70-81. So again, can we ask, why did that part make it to market?

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by thefirebirdm@n

All the same questions could have been asked about the Camaro and yet that panel made it to market. How has it done in sales? What made that an attractive venture? I don't believe the only motivation is that Camaros are more popular than Firebirds. In my opinion the only Camaros that are REALLY popular are the 1st gens. The 2nd gen Camaros do have a following but I think the Firebird is much more popular from 70-81. So again, can we ask, why did that part make it to market?

Not to take away anything you said, but they made a quarter MILLION Camaros each year for a while ( 70 and 72 excluded) FB production was quite a bit lower, ( much bigger market for parts) AND they are sSTILL making 1st gen camaros NEW!!

http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com...exgallery.html

SPEAKING OF DYNACORN... wonder why they dont make this FB part, or even a 70-73 body, OH YUJMMMMMMMM
handcuff the cowltag police if this happens please, so i can see one on the road!! hehe ( flames go here>> )

[jrc]

Tazz,

While at SEMA speak with any of the manufactures from the east(Taiwan, etc), and you will find that the start up cost to produce the complete tail panel will put you at $100,000. That is the reason they have not been reproduced yet, based on the low number of production of firebirds 70-73 and the actual number of these cars actually registered in the US. There has been more than one company who has researched this, and registration in one way they guage the number of potential sales based on the number of cars remaining in the US. Goodmark was the last company really looking at this production, and were on the verge of starting production in early 2008, but the downturn in the economy stopped that project. I will be at SEMA this year also, and there are going to be at least four 70-73 birds in different booths. I know of three shops who are preparing these cars and have rumors of a forth. Hope this means that companys are starting to look at these as untouched in the aftermarket, and will start producing new parts.

[Tazzz2]

jrc it sounds like your on top of this panel to say the least and as stated, I was curious about it and our combined comments/needs.....

Your right about the birds and I think we're going to see some interesting things happen after SEMA...