Repro 65 & 66 Skylark front turn signal lenses - Group Purchase

Len -

Here is the updated list of people interested... You're sitting on a gold mine if you can make this happen soon!!

Here is the current list of interested people:

*****1965 Lens Sets*****

BuickGS65 (Dan) (at least 2)
Mark Ascher (at least 1)
DugsSin (Doug Updike) (at least 2)
Bill Bailey (1)
GS'sRULE (Chad Bolles) (2)
Ray Ackerman (2)
Col. Kurtz (2)
grnlark (Matt) (2)
bigirish (Mike) (1)
Bald Menace (Bob) (at least 1)
65gs76limited (1)
JimRamsey (1)
83Stage1 (Greg) (1)
Airy Cat (1)
1970bl20 (John Lowe) (1)
wkillgs (Walt Kilgus) (1)
64 Skybird (Tom Balaz) (1)
Starc Traxler (2)
GKMoz (Gary) (1)
Rusty Davenport (1)
Ponch65 (1)
65SpecialConver (1)
Uncle Pauly (1)
CC65wagon (1)

Total = 31 - 34 sets

 

10 years of part hunting.... I might have to use these

 

NOS assembly :bglasses:

 

Very nice Dan!

I have a nos housing as well as a NOS special light that I got with the parts I bought. I am going to sell them, what are they worth?

 

Chris ---

The housings are the same for skylarks & specials for 1965... So I am interested in buying just the housing or the entire assembly if you don't want to separate the pieces...

Do you have any other NOS '65 Skylark parts?

Send me an email and we'll talk!!!!!!!!!!! :bglasses:

 

Thanks Dan, I actually got a PM from another board member this morning with that info as well. He also made me an offer to buy it, so I think it is already sold. Other than the housing and the light, I don't think I have any other NOS parts. I had a nos 65 rear bumper, but I sold that a few days ago.

Thanks, Chris

 

Aww.... A pair of NOS housings is better than two people having just one!!!!

Let me know if that falls through... THANKS :beer


(Whoever is buying it --- PM me --- let's make a deal!!!!!!!)

 

He is going to buy it Dan. :ball: I do have a NOS special parking light still if you are interested. Has some shelf wear though

 

Chris - sorry no need for the lens... Thanks!



But whoever bought it please contact me, perhaps we can work out a trade.

 

Gaskets

What shape are the gaskets in? I've got a bunch of scratched and cracked lenses (sorry - I need to keep those) and reflective mounts, but the gaskets in between them are shot.

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=85736

 

Picking this lens thing up again..

Ok 65 owners, here we go again....

Last week I paid through the nose for a NOS 65 parking lens. I'm not complaining since it may potentially go towards a really good cause.

Today I drove over 7 hours to hand deliver this lens to a gentleman that specializes in plastic injection molding. I also handed him a set of back up light lenses for a 65. He is working up the quotes and I should have something in about a week.

I know there is still quite a demand out there for some affordable yet high quality lenses (I'm one of them) and these promise to be exact reproductions made from modern high impact and UV resistant plastic.

These would be a set of replacement lenses nice enough to allow you to remove and store those nice NOS lenses you have installed today and not worry about stone chips when you drive your car.

Let's face it, even if you found a NOS set of lenses for $80, how many times will you hold your breath thinking about that 40 year old acrylic plastic sitting out there in the elements?

I purchased one of the other lenses mentioned in this thread from GMObsolete hoping that they'd be nice and correct enough to justify the purchase of several more.

It wasnt a bad lens (better than what I had at the time) but it was obviously not a mold injected part. It looked like a very brittle cast resin part. It was also very clear that the original from which the mold had been made from, had been repaired and slightly modified. All of these repairs and modifications were transferred to the cast part.

It may be due to the thin walls or brittleness of the part but for some reason they also bonded an extra steel and plastic reinforcement panel on the top of the lens. This might help stabilize the part a little better, but I would've really like to have had something more authentic,
especially at $70 a single lens (plus $20 for shipping!).

There were also many obvious and large pits caused by air bubbles not escaping during the casting process.

I want to make note that Im not knocking the part since its better than anything out there today that I've seen, Im only trying to get a sense for the demand for a much better part and if the demand can support the cost associated with delivering it.

As for the back up light lenses, I dont know of anyone attempting to reproduce them.

If the demand is still high enough and it's cost effective to move forward, then I'm prepared to do it, however we are talking about a large chunk of money (Im looking at about 9k just for the tooling).

So here we are... I need to ask for another count of anyone out there needing either or both parking light and back up reverse light lens sets.

I'm trying to get an idea of what a reasonable price would be for these to keep them accessible and affordable to those who need them while still getting some reassurance that I'm not going to lose my butt on this.

Is $40 a lens ($80 a set) reasonable for the fronts?

How about $40 a set for the rears?

Even at $80 a set, I'd need to sell at least 50 sets of the fronts just about 100 lenses to break even.

This would be 100% clear part like the original and would require the purchaser to paint it the correct silver color on the back side as the factory did. I think it's best that the purchaser do this anyhow since all of the NOS lenses I've ever seen have the paint scratched up from sitting around. Delivering them this way would insure that the paint was nice and fresh and scratch free when you were ready to install them.

With this said, should I also find a source for small cans of correct color silver paint and offer it as an option? IF so, would $5 a can (enough for two lenses) and a masking template sound reasonable to take the leg work out of finding this yourself?

How about gaskets for these lenses... needed or not?

Everything mentioned above would be delivered at close to actual shipping costs with maybe one or two bucks added in to cover the cost of the box and packing materials.

I'm not looking to retire or get rich from this project, just provide some much needed and correct looking plastic to the 65 community and hopefully recoup my full tooling, material and production costs.

Any extra money made from this project would eagerly be welcomed by my paint and body man and go towards really good use on my 65 GS HT project. :Brow:

If we can pull this together, hopefully I can deliver some much needed parts in enough time for Spring.

If you don't feel comfortable posting a public response, please feel free to send me a private email.

Thanks,

Chris

www.GranSports.com

 

Yes!!

Thanks Chris!
Yes, I'm still interested in a pair of front lenses, and a pair of back-up lenses.
Pricing is very reasonable.
There seems to be more interest in the early 65-67 GS's than there was just a few years ago....so it may be worthwhile making extra parts for future demand.
You may also want to contact a vendor like 'the parts place' to see if they are currently planning on repo'ing these, or would consider buying them for resale.

Let us know how it goes!
Nice website, BTW! :TU:

 

I'm interested in a couple of sets. Let us know what the plastic guy says.
thanks
Pat

 

I am interested in one set of each (for a '65), possibly two sets of each. It seems that the gaskets would also be something in demand, although most people could probably make their own.

 

Taking orders...

Bad news & Good news,

The cost of mold injecting the front parking lenses is pretty scary.

The cost of tooling and production at a resell of $40 per lens would mean that I would need an absolute guarantee of selling at least 148 sets just to break even.

The last tally for lenses in the forum was in the 30 set range so I'm only about 110 sets short. :eek2:

I could only do this if I had enough people sign up first and send in a partial payment or deposit.

Another way to look at this, if there is not enough demand to cover at least 148 sets at $80 a set then how about 116 sets at $100 a set?

At the time I give approval, I must put down half the costs for tooling and in 2 - 3 weeks I'll have a first piece sample.

If I approve the sample, the order will be run and they can have the entire lens order ready for pickup in about 2 - 3 weeks after that.

Now the good news.. :TU:

The license plate lenses were not as expensive to have made and the tooling was almost half so I've decided to go for it.

I've went ahead and gave the company the go ahead on making 250 sets of license plate lenses (now I just hope I can sell them).

As a reminder, these will be exact reproductions made with modern materials. They are American made injection molded parts. They will be formed from high impact poly carb and contain UV protection.

I'm hoping that these will give everyone an indication of the quality of the parts and also give me a good indication of what the parking lens market might look like for the 65.

I'll be asking $30.00 a pair plus reasonable shipping for any member of this board.

I'm spending our personal money on this project so there will be an urgency on my behalf to replace the investment as soon as possible (things are better at home with my wife that way). :rant:

To help replace those funds a little quicker, I intend on putting some of the first sets on EBay to help my bank account recover.

I'm going to let the laws of ebay supply and demand take the prices where ever they may go, however I promise that as long as a V8 Buick board member is buying these for personal use and not resell, you are guaranteed a $30 price.

I hope to have a first piece sample in my hands in a couple of weeks. When I get it, I'll scan it and share the pictures in this thread.

FYI - I had the injector quote the rear lens gasket and they would've been almost $9.00 a pair to produce so I dropped it.

So.. Whos the first in line on these license plate lenses? :Brow:

Chris

www.GranSports.com

 

Interested in the license lenses.....

 

65 Reverse Lenses

I talked to the fellow making the lenses on Friday and he is almost done with the molds.

He's promising me first piece samples in less than two weeks and I promise to scan them and post pictures of them to get everyones feedback.

If these go well... then I'll probably be doing the parking lenses and the small rounded licence plate light cover next.

I can't wait to see these! :Brow:

Chris

www.GranSports.com

 

Well the '65 is tucked away for the winter. Sure hope to have a new set of lenses installed before she comes back out again.

I'm still in for two sets of parking lenses. :TU:

 

Reverse Lens Samples are in...

I've received the samples for the reverse light lenses and all I can say is WOW!

Take a look for yourself;



These are quality American made, mold injected parts. I've held these up to a NOS set and I had to be very careful not to mix them up as I could not personally tell the difference.

I'm keeping my word and offering these to V8Buick.com members first at a reduced price.

Any member that contacts me reserving a pre-order (no money required) between Feb 2nd through March 2nd can purchase a set of these (for personal use only) at $36 a pair + S/H.

I'd originally underestimated my material and mold costs, so the final parts ended up costing me more than I'd expected.

$1.00 per every completed pre-order sale will go to V8Buick.com and help support this site.

*This special price is for member personal use only, NOT RESALE! One set per member owned 64 - 65 GS / Special or Skylark please!

This is simply my way of paying back the board and its members for giving me the idea and encouragement to take on this project.

I expect to sell these to the "public" at around $50 a set.

I've decided that if I can sell 750 sets, this will cover my production costs and turn enough profit to put a sizable dent into funding the much needed 65 Skylark / GS parking lens project.

I'm figuring a flat fee of $6.50 per set for most single set US shipments (for combined or non - US orders please email me first for a quote).

I'm not asking for any payments yet, just lining up any member pre-sales.

A close friend and fellow board member will be offering a gasket set for these lenses (price TBD) if anyone out there is interested?

Please submit your interest for these gaskets with your pre-order.

Thanks,

Chris@65GS.com

www.GranSports.com

 

I'm in for a set, Chris!
Thanks!:beer