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1957 Convertible Turnkey Project Concept?

3K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  Vetterodder 
#1 ·
Soliciting feedback!

There is no better feeling of accomplishment and pride than to work on your own project car to completion - no argument. However, not many of us have all the skills to build a high end car. In addition, the time and money involved with with the endless surprises hidden under "shotty" body work and what seems to be endless rust results in many projects ending in frustration.

SO... what if we had the ability to order a crate 57 Bel Air Convertible (for this example) whereby:
1. All new chassis (AME or Roadstershop) is prepped with a crate engine and tranny including the driveshaft
2. The engine wire harness is ready to go (plug and play)
3. All New Body is custom fitted to the chassis where the body gaps are all set - ready for paint

I will go further, what if the chassis and suspension is powder coated or painted and the engine is painted and then set onto the chassis? Dare I say the body is also painted my color of choice and set on the prepped chassis?

The above serves as the baseline canvas for the guy that still wants to build his own ride but gives him a huge head start.

Ok - I am sure the above would still be somewhat costly upfront but cheaper for the overall project spend. So - you could end up with a bargain high end build if you buy it this way and just finish it yourself.....?

COMMENTS?
 
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#2 ·
You are asking for a custom build.

The only way you get it is to go to a custom builder and have him do everything. You don't get what you're asking for unless the custom build is disassembled for you to assemble. Doesn't make any sense to me.

You should know this having already had a car custom built. Surprised.
 
#4 ·
Another point is that you wouldn't have a real tri5, you'd have a facsimile of one. Title year and smog obligations would probably haunt also.

Even if the body is real but you have all newschool parts in it, all you'd have is new stuff in an old shell. Why not just buy a new car with all the latest technology and skip all the work and associated costs??

Also, why disrespect an old car and change it to something new? I know a lot of guys do it, but doesn't it bother them?

Anyway back to your point, what you are talking about would be extra- prohibitively expensive to get unless they could be mass produced. I honestly don't know how some of those Cobra companies can keep their doors open. Maybe that's why there's so many of them that aren't around anymore.
 
#6 ·
If you want the ride, performance and comfort of a new car with the look of an old car then that would be the way to go.

I wouldn't be able to pick the difference between a new replica 57 convertible and an original without really picking it apart.

I prefer genuine, the squeaks, rattles and bouncing around of a 50 year plus car.
 
#8 ·
I see plus and minus in this. The plus is you get newer parts and don't inherit the problems associated with a 60 year old car.

To me It is up to the new owner which way to go. Myself I taught myself how to do everything I do today........just took me 45 years to master all of it. Not many have that desire.

I have seen many kit caRs of different vintage and some are real nice, some not so. The difference is usually the builder or builders and the amount of $$$$ the owner spent to get there.

Still hard to beat quality Craftsmanship and GROSS DOLLARS
 
#11 ·
Vetterodder,

I think you're missing the reality that a high end kit car like a Factory Five Cobra (or even one of their street rods) requires a LOT of hand finish work - they aren't painted and aren't close to being ready for paint.

Replica trifive bodies fall in the same category, except even more work might be needed - at least with the current state of the art, simply because there's a lot more car there in a trifive than with a Cobra or street rod.

And that would be true of any of the replica street rod bodies including the high $$ metal ones like a Brookville 32 roadster body. You simply have a lot of skilled work to do to finish one nicely.

So what you want is not something we're going to see.
 
#12 ·
"They are" already building trifive gassers like kit cars, what's the difference with a convertible/hardtop/sedan bodies? Somebody is making money, somebody is "saving" money.
 
#15 ·
Is this a "Feeler" of sorts because you yourself are interested in starting such a company?

I'm not against it, but as TopDog said it can all be done & bought today....and if a person had this amount of money to blow... BUT still wanted to have their hands in the process I'd think they might want to wire it if it were all plug & play, bolt up the exhaust & so on. For the body, whats the difference in this "company" setting gaps or the painter they choose to take it to?
 
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#21 ·
No conspiracy.
This was a conversation Joe and I had when I went to see my Nomad at his shop Hot Rod Dynamics. We discussed this concept over lunch and did mention the new companies like ICON and Singer and what it would take to production-ize the process.
 
#23 ·
I think the biggest challenge to something like this is the business end, how many do you have to produce to get the price down enough that there is a margin for the "builder" to make and still be a bit of a deal to the buyer. The higher end of the market you shoot for the more custom options people want and then there goes the margin on volume.

My father and I went though this concept with a 32 ford hiboy roadster and the bottom line was we could not get enough volume reduction in costs to make up for the time involved, and most customers did not see the value of the shop time that goes into setting these cars up. Admittedly we were not looking at the high end customers and that may have made the difference, and we could not get to the volume of a factory five racing.

If you really want to make a business out of it today I would be building 69 camaro's not Trifives. When I talked with the guys at Real Deal Steel, they are building 4 or 5 Camaros for every trifive they make. Watching Barrett Jackson seams like every other car is a first gen Camaro and is selling for stupid money, that is where the market is today.

Now the real money is can you pick the what is cheap today and will be hot in 10 years or less, damn crystal ball is on the fritz again.
 
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