How many people would actually want one. I have had some long talks with a few companies and I could have the 68 grill made. But to even break even I would have to sell around 300 to 400 grills at the typical price that everone is paying if I could sell that many I would call in the order today and get things rolling but the way I feel about it is that there is a High demand but just not enough people to demand it. If I am wrong please let me know because I would like to have one made too.
The Parts Place has stated that it is their intention to repro all years of the GS grilles. They've done 70 and 71, I suspect 67 is next. 68, who knows when its time will come. When you "the typical price everyone is paying", what kind of dollars are you talking about? Other repro grilles? They vary quite a bit in price. NOS? Seldom see one of those. Not intending to discourage you at all, any quality repro grille would be welcome at the "right" pricing levels.
the latest prices I have seen for the 70 and the 69 were $599. Maybe I didnt say something right but I guess what I was trying to say and with out screwing the guys repoing parts was that I can get it done but there is not enough people that need or would care to have one "strickly my opion from what I have seen so far" but if there is I will do it!!!! And if I am wrong I apologize right now. So I will bluntly ask this are there 300 people that need a 1968 GS grill? o No:
You and me so we need 298 :TU:. Ok seriously I will tell you personally I would not pay more that 600 for a grill not when you can have a custom made billit grill for around 300 to 400. I just cant see it. I can get them made but now ita a matter of the number of grills vs the price as the number of grills goes down the price goes up!
How about 100 people I talked to another company any color ABS plastic I want which would be gray I can get a good enough price to sell them at $650. Does anyone this that is out of the question? This is very possible to have it done. Also I know what I said in my last post but I guess 50 buck wouldnt hurt. One more thing after reading all the stuff about The Parts Place and the problems with paint. I am not trying to blast them I can easily see both sides of what was going on there. But I would like to say that if anyone need a part repoduces I will definatly try my best to take care of the project that are brought to me.
This is just my own view on this, so don't take this wrong. I personally would prefer to wait and see if The Parts Place will get to the 68 grille. I know they make a top quality grille, judging on the 70 and 71 grilles that are out there already. And the $399 pre-order they did for the 70's sounds a whole lot more attractive to me, than commiting my interest in a possible $599 grille. Of course there's no guarantee of ANY set pricing, until a project is underway. So I'll have to withhold my interest at this time.
I totally understand it just seems that maybe they are doing things alittle different than I would not that the grill I can produce with not be top notce I mean we are talking about copies of perfect originals so the copies are going to be good. I have been here and owned my GS for about 5 years now and the whole time I wanted a new grill and I thought about doing this even back then but until now I couldnt find a company that will sell in low quantities. Image 10000 grills sitting in you garage yeah they are cheap but I just need the space. So with limited orders the price goes up and being a NEW business I dont have all the money that they do and let me say this the post that they put out about the messed up paint on the other grills just that fact the tone that shane had on there didnt set with me well either. Well hopefuly in a year of two they will get to the 68 who knows? "I CAN REPRODUCE OTHER PLASTIC PARTS" that they might not want to try or I can sell my 68 grills to them if they are interested they can pm me.
Also David I have been noticing that you defend The parts place alot. I am just tired of waiting and I know this can be done with quality and it doesnt have to be done by one company. I am sorry that you cannot see that I am trying to help and get this grill made for what I feel an unappreciated car. Do you have a 70 or a 68?
Not sure why you would say I'm "defending" TPP??? I've only given my personal views on the topic, as you asked for input. By the way, would you care to sign at least your first name on your posts, then we can both address each other in that manner. In fact, if you're serious about repro'ing a grille, you probably will want to tell us a bit more about yourself than just a first name. You haven't posted much in the 2.5 yrs since you joined V8, so I doubt many of us know much about you. A grille project is a major undertaking, and a large investment for the potential buyers. My car is the 68 in my avatar, I do not own a 70, and would not comment here if I did not own a 68. If you were able to get a 68 grille project off the ground, I would certainly be interested in the product. However, I doubt I would be able to spend $600 on one. Just couldn't justify that on a grille at this stage of life. JW can vouch for my lack of $$$ for car stuff these day. I figure MY best bet would be a pre-order price such as TPP did on their grilles. I wouldn't care if it was TPP or ACME... as long as I could swing the $$$. How many could you sell? You stated 300-400 just to maybe break even. It's possible you could sell that many, but I don't think you would get that many on pre-order commitments. Most likely you would sit on inventory for some time as they sold. Frank McIntyre put out very nice 69 GS grilles a couple years ago, and they have not sold out, at $595. I don't know how many he had make, but I kind of doubt it was as high as 400 units. We 68/69 guys have always gotten the short end of the stick in the repro parts business in general, so I really didn't intend for my comments to come across as being all that negative, and I apologize if they did. Anyone willing to repro a needed part is welcome, and encouraged to do so. I hope you can do it.
I know that I dont post on here alot because I dont get on the Internet alot I am always working on my car. The process I am in right now of possible making the grill is to see how many people would buy one, thats all I was asking I wasnt trying to compare myself to anyone or take over the market. The possibilities of how to sell these grills are endless but just because there are many ways to do it, it doesnt mean the buyer is willing to buy it. The first company I talked to had a minimum order of 10k grills, I had been talking to another company at the same time and they have a minimum order of 1k but at of course a higher price. Let me show you how I was thinking about selling them. Option #1 Ok if I had 100 people buy grills I could sell them 1 grill at 600 dollars. Option #2 If 100 people wanted to buy 2 grills each it would cost 293 each grill. Its depends on how you slice it but first I wanted to know how many people would want a new grill?
Thomas, if you really want to gauge interest in these grilles, I would suggest starting a poll in The Bench. Put up poll options such as you've stated. Interested in 1 grille at $600. Interested in 2 grilles at $293, etc. Put up whatever voting options you deem pertinent to get you the information you're looking for. I'll make it a sticky so it doesn't disappear. You should provide as much information about the repro piece as you can, such as material, color, painted or not, grille studs included or not, will it be "correct" front And back?
I wold have paid 500 awhile back but a few hours of tedious work, good glue and popcicle sticks made mine new again.
sell the rest to yearone or OPG. i think we see more and more buicks in yards because we just dont have the parts to bring them back to life. ive see some super tanked chevelles get 90% new metal... and for what? all we need are some more 68-69 quarters, grilles, and fender patches.
I would be interested in a grill, but not at anything over $300. I made mine out of 3 different grills.
Not likely to ever be made at that pricing level, judging by the prices of repros of other model year grilles. Sorry, that's just the reality of how expensive it is to do these right, and how low the production #'s would be.
