71 Gs Grill, how much interest??? Updated Hi all, I have a 71 GS Grill in driver condition, and I cant stand having it on the car cause I am afraid of driving it. With that said, I have decided to create a mold of the grill to reproduce one for myself, and wondered how much interest there woudl be for additional grills, and how much would they be worth to you? I want to be fair, but not do this for free either? The grill I am using is driver quality, and will be improved before taking the impression, I may laso make minor modifications to strengthen the original design, and will not have the rear mounting studs on the original mold. I may use the back of a Skylark Grill for that, cause mine ar ea mess.... not sure yet.... I know the grill is the elusive GS grill, and is the most expensive, but what truely is the demand for these things? I think the $2k they have been going for is outrageaous, and they only way that will get brought down is by a repro or soemthing decent is made. These grills will not be NOS, but will be resepctable for a driver. Like I said, its a work in progress, so let me know.... Of course, I will make 1 and see what everyone thinks. Thanks, -Jon
WE have had this discussion many times it wont do anyone any good to rehash it again. Anyone want to pony up the $100 K to get started.
You are correct that the injection mold would be 100k, and no, I dont intend on going that route either. I am betting that there are more people out there like myself who arent looking for a show car, just a nice car, and my grills wont be an exact replica, but will be based on the original grill, and from teh front will be exact. I have another method of creating the mold here, and I honestly dont think it was very polite to dismiss me so quickly. I was just trying to do something for the community. I wont mention another word about it. Forget I brought it up. -Jon
Duane went thru this already with the cheaper avenue grill. He can explain it if you PM him. But after all he went thru to get them done he had issues when done. I will let him explain. The only way to build these would be to do them correctly. I have already done the math and looked into it. It just takes lots of money. There have been some who will be entertaining a grill from overseas so it can be done cheaper. (its already in the works I hear) We will see who ponies up the $$$ to do it ................
I wouldn't think it would hurt any for Jon to make up his prototype, as long as he can swing the cost for it. Sounds like a low cost plan to me. Will it sell? Depends on the quality and price, of course.
Thats what Ive been saying we need to quit talking about it and just do it. Everyone just has been talking about it for years, noone has done it but Duane. So lets get it done. :Smarty: BTW I have no need for 71 grill myself but I might look at 71s to play with if parts were more available.
It seems to me that almost everyone with a 71 GS may need one eventually. I for one am not ready to pony up 2500 for one if I ever need one. I doubt my insurance company would either! Jon, thanks for taking the initiative. Perhaps you are the one who will finally bring this to fruition. Keep on keepin' on! :TU: Harvey
I would RESPECTFULLY like to add my .02. I can see both sides of the coin on this project. 1) costs Vs. 2) quality. There is a true market for both areas. 1) Purists will go for the item to keep their car in the absolute GREATEST condition, 2) BUT there are those who enjoy their cars as drivers, and local Shows who want to be proud of what they have, even it it is NOT a matching # Gold rated car, OR if they want to have their racecar look good, and it would be rediculous to put a $2500 grille in a car that is primarily a silhouette of a GS. I see cars constantly in doing Appraisals, where expendatures exceed the actual value. There are places for BOTH side of the coin in our hobby/lives. The only grip I have is the fact that someone tries to put out an item of poor quality, and expects the highest dollar to be paid for something that is incorrect, or poorly manfactured. If Jon can "replicate" a grill usable for Street/Race, for a reasonable figure, I say GO FOR IT. For those that want Perfection, WILL have to pay the price for "Reproduction" or Originality. 2 different areas.
I have a '71 Skylark with a very good grill. Don't need a GS grille, but, put me down for one anyway. Love to see you succeed on this venture. I'll always support the underdog in any race. Looking for reasonable quality & a reasonable price. Good luck with it & let me know when you're ready to ship. I'll get the first one into Canada.
Bought a few items from thepartspartsplace today. I asked the owner about a repo grill. He said he could start a production run if the demand was there. Call or email him, maybe he might start a new run. www.thepartsplace.com 630-365-1800 Allen 71 gs stage1 4speed
Can't say for sure of course, but I would guess that "demand" for a place like TPP would mean a qty in the thousands for a run, rather than maybe a few hundred. Did you happen to ask how they quantify demand, and how many they would need to make to consider it feasible?
Thank you for the support in this project. I think what is greatly being overlooked here by those with negative things to say is I am making this low cost repro grill for myself, and am offerign the same to anyone else who would be interested. This is not a full time job for me, nor do I plan on making it that way. After I make a few grills, recoupe my investment, and hang onto a couple grills for myself I will most likely just sell the mold. I am certain based on my research that I can obtain the quality I and others are looking for. However you cant please everybody all the time, and the grill I am making the mold from does have its flaws. I am doing this for myself, if someone wants to tag along and reep the benfits from this then I welcome your comments. If all your out to do is criticize and tell me why I can't do it, then keep your opinion to yourslef. I dont mean that in a nasty way, but if I listened everytime somebody told me soemthing was too hard, or not possible, I wouldn't have accomplished half the things I have done in my life. Set your own limitations, dont let others set them for you. -Jon
Encourgement is the "other mother" of invention! We all have Buicks,and have needs to create more possibilities for the creation of new parts for our Buicks. There is something that does not quite seem right in discouraging anyone from trying to produce any part for that matter for our Buicks. Unchain the horse and let him run!
grill Great! My only comment is if you are ging to the trouble to do it why not use a nice grill as the mold? - Bill
Re: grill I would imagine that getting one is easier said than done. I do believe it was stated that some fixing up was planned first on his grille, before making a mold. If I had a perfect 71 grille, I would be hesitant to loan it out, depending on the nature of the proposed project.
