Daytona/Superbird Reproductions..

[umcandprops]

I'm curious if there would be a market for fullscale Wing Car reproductions?....ie in Fiberglass ...identical to the steel body with floor etc..
Advantages being you could use any exsisting 68-70 B Body , be it rusty, dented etc and 'drape' (bond) the new Bodyshell over it
or build a new tube frame etc

DonCurrie
Unique Movie Cars and Props
www.islandserve.com/~dc99

[daytonalo]

For me it reminds of a Bradley GT kit car . I guess after you spend many hours building a mold , and then still have many parts that still wont act and feel like steel , you might sell one !

[BigBlockSam]

i would luv a fiberglass superbird body . i've always wanted  to build a retro type of superbird funny car. Rene

[daytonalo]

There are many other parts of wing cars that will sell , and take much less work than a glass body that you might sell a few in a lifetime

[umcandprops]

I think I could sell more than a few wing cars based on my experience with the very small sub culture of building 66 batmobiles of which I've sold 30 over the last 15 years. The Mopar market being huge compared the former 'tv' car market. I expect the differences in opinion on 'glass vs steel would probably mirror the street rod market in that context. Just look at all the 'glass 32's out there....

[BigBlockSam]

howdy umcandprops
  i know who you are. those bat mobile's are cool . after i finish my daytona replica, i was thinking of getting one of you superbird kits, complete. with frnders and hood . Rene

[Old Moparz]

It sounds like an interesting idea to me, but the fact that the Superbirds & Daytonas weren't built on a full frame, you're limiting yourself to an even smaller market. By that I mean the average person in the hobby doesn't have the experience to built their own chassis. On the same note, they more than likely do not have the budget to have someone build one either. A complete roller sounds even better.

Now if you were to offer a modified version of the car that sits on a full frame, and offer a frame like a lot of kit car companies do, I think you'd have a much better shot at selling a lot of them. For years I've always wanted to build a fiberglass kit car, but my love of the 60's & 70's Mopars comes first. If & when I get tired or bored with the Mopars, I'd like to build an old Willy's kit I had seen.

I don't think that the type of person who would buy one of these is the same purist that will freak out over the fact it wouldn't be unibody, since it's a fiberglass car already. I like the idea of the wing car appearance & wouldn't care. I won't even get into quality, fit & finish, but that would also have to be much better than some of the junk offerings I've seen that come from the aftermarket.

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Now if you were to offer a modified version of the car that sits on a full frame, and offer a frame like a lot of kit car companies do, I think you'd have a much better shot at selling a lot of them. For years I've always wanted to build a fiberglass kit car, but my love of the 60's & 70's Mopars comes first.

  If you don't want to build your own frames for the kit, maybe an existing frame kit could be adapted to work.  Even if the body and frame kit were purchased from seperate companies... as long as the designs were coordinated so everything bolted together.

I would be interested in such a kit, but not too interested in one requiring an existing B-Body...  Any thoughts on pricing of the body/kit?

XS

[wetfeetmi]

How about a few pics and more info on this "Batmobile"? Rick

[daytonalo]

If you read the thread , he wants to put a fiberglass body on any b-body chassis , sounds scary . I didn't know that finding a charger was a problem

[umcandprops]

That would just be an option for the 'low buck' builder by utilizing an exsisting B Body which of course would have to be structurally sound before the bodyshell could be fitted. Ideally yes I would offer a 'roller' tube frame perhaps with Alterkation front susp and any possible combo for the rear.
Plans are in the works for a Cuda too both hardtop and softtop:) Cost wise approx 10k for a full bodyshell alone and under 16k for a roller for the Bird. Curious if Daytonlo builds Bird wings too?
Thanx for the feedbacks guys!

DonC

[daytonalo]

I looked into building hollow daytona wing , but Dane has a hook-up with a foundry so he can run with that . I make stainless a pillar trim , trunk hinges , reproduction scissor jacks . Why don't you build a daytona f/g nose that fits properly ?

[Old Moparz]

That would just be an option for the 'low buck' builder by utilizing an exsisting B Body which of course would have to be structurally sound before the bodyshell could be fitted. Ideally yes I would offer a 'roller' tube frame perhaps with Alterkation front susp and any possible combo for the rear.
Plans are in the works for a Cuda too both hardtop and softtop:) Cost wise approx 10k for a full bodyshell alone and under 16k for a roller for the Bird. Curious if Daytonlo builds Bird wings too?
Thanx for the feedbacks guys!

DonC

Okay, I just did a quick search on kit car pricing & found this site:

http://www.vipercarparts.com/kits.html   (There's too much to copy & paste)

It's for a Cobra that utilizes a Corvette chassis. Forget the whole cross breed topic, or whether you like a Cobra or a Vette, but the reality of it is that it's being done & people are buying them. The page I linked to has pricing for various stages of what they offer, from a body only, all the way to a turn key car. I don't expect a turn key car, but a roller that would need an original car as a parts source would be interesting. We all know about the repro Camaro available as a steel body, but even if that were a fiberglass set up done with quality, I still think it would sell. The Corvette is fiberglass & they have been selling for ages.

[daytonalo]

I think the time and effort should be directed into making parts , that whole daytona glass body might be great for a funny car .

[hotrod98]

Don, I tend to agree with daytonalo. I think that there is a far greater market for ready to install wing car parts. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy with the parts that you built for me. No complaints. But, what the average guy that's trying to build a wing car really needs is a complete working nose assembly as well as all of the other bolt-on stuff for the conversion. Most of the fiberglass shops just make the fiberglass components and leave it up to the buyer to worry about where to go from there. I have not seen one single instance of anyone supplying noses that could be used without a lot of work. The kind of work that is usually well beyond the capability of most people.

I've said for a long time now that the guy that steps up and builds the right components at a reasonable price (reasonable, not cheap) will own the wingcar parts market. I've seen several instances where wingcar projects started by people on this board have been stalled due to just this problem.

[BigBlockSam]

that the guy that steps up and builds the right components at a reasonable price (reasonable, not cheap) will own the wingcar parts market.   

  and availability . you shouldn't have to call a place 5 times to get somebody  or wait 2 yrs. for the parts. Rene

[evil1]

I  think there would be a market for glass bodys especially as the supply of decent cars dries up, which will happen eventually. Right now tho I think the demand would be low because you still can find a decent car for the 10,000 to 16,000. One that would have tail lights, seats, and a 1001 other things a glass shell wouldn't have.  Just out of curiosity , how much would you expect the glass body to weigh ? And what would you use to reinforce the floor boards?

One last question to anyone , whats the cheapest anyones put together a clone ? not counting bodywork, paint?

[hotrod98]

Dane Gjesdal and his dad used to build clones when no one was building repro parts. I'll bet they were able to put them together at a reasonable cost.

[chargerboy69]

howdy umcandprops
  i know who you are. those bat mobile's are cool . after i finish my daytona replica, i was thinking of getting one of you superbird kits, complete. with frnders and hood . Rene

Don,

I know who you are as well. You do fantastic work. A couple years ago I was in the market for a Batmobile, but ended up going with another project, a new house. I was in touch with one of your competitors from California about building me one. But his salesman, Korey I believe, was someone that I just did not care for. He tried to sell me on Marks cars by cutting down the way everyone else builds them, instead of telling me about what they can do. I will be looking to you in the next year or two for that Mopar powered 440 Batmobile.

For anyone that does not know this man, go to his website. He does amazing work.

[hotrod98]

Don built my superbird nose, fender extensions, fender scoops, hood extension, steel wing and wing washers. I'm very happy with the work. Now if I could just find the time to complete the project, things would be great.

[umcandprops]

Thanx for the kudos guys:) I wasnt aware the janak nose wasnt such a great fit having never bought one. Regardless as an enthusiast of wing cars for the last 20 years and with both a steel nose daytona and bird replicas and 20 other mopars under my belt...I'm tired of 'projects'.
Sure I can find a decent 70 Sat or charger for 10k but it always takes at least another  10k to bring it up to 'decent' condition and usually at least a year of work to boot at that. So if I had the option of a new wing car or cuda fiberglass bodyshell with steel componets that has a very straight body with new glass and trim and a new frame and the latest susp and biggest brakes and all new parts I could buy right off the shelf quite quickly if need be for that 20k..I'd certainly take that route.
After years and years of scraping knuckles and fixing dents and  inhaling bondo etc etc on projects it's just not that fun anymore.
If anything building something entirely new that's never been done before is very exciting!

my 2 cents
DonC

[Old Moparz]

Thanx for the kudos guys:) I wasnt aware the janak nose wasnt such a great fit having never bought one.
DonC

I don't think the fit is an issue on the Janak nose, just the time frame to get one. If I recall, Janak had made his parts directly from existing original ones back in the late 1970's. The nose I hear about not fitting right is the Stinger, & maybe the one out of Canada called Show Cars. I have a Janak nose I bought from someone who bailed on a Daytona project. The finish looks good to me, but I'm not close enough to try a test fit. As a matter of fact, I have no idea when I would be able to try it.

I think what people would like to see, & what Larry (daytonalo) mentioned, is a complete nose that has the headlight workings installed. Something that's virtually ready to hang on the front fenders & drive away with. 

[mikepmcs]

That would just be an option for the 'low buck' builder by utilizing an exsisting B Body which of course would have to be structurally sound before the bodyshell could be fitted. Ideally yes I would offer a 'roller' tube frame perhaps with Alterkation front susp and any possible combo for the rear.
Plans are in the works for a Cuda too both hardtop and softtop:) Cost wise approx 10k for a full bodyshell alone and under 16k for a roller for the Bird. Curious if Daytonlo builds Bird wings too?
Thanx for the feedbacks guys!

DonC

On a side note, I think that price is amazing and if I could afford it, I would definitely be interested in that.  I'm not a purist though, so take that with a grain of salt.

I'd like to also add that your work is very nice.

Was one of your cars at the shootout with "The General",   BTTF car, Batmobile, and the Starsky and Hutch car last month in Cali?

John Schneider's GL took that one by the way

v/r
Mike