New 68 Taillight housing are finally out and on Ebay

[bull]

Selling 2,000 of any reproduction part for a mopar is totally unrealistic, we are not going to make that many of any part and sit on 90% of them to get the cost down.  You might as well through them in the trash.  If you think that 2,000 is a realistic number, I'll sell that many to you at a 40% discount then you can sell them and make all the profits.  I would be more than happy to make exclusive parts for you just like we do for the Kramer Autos, Tonys Parts & all the clips for R/T Specialities and Finelines no problem. 

We have a pretty good feel for the reproduction parts market and the 68 Charger bezels were a stretch for us because it was very border line, at best, to sell enough volume for the available cars that needed them.  And your right, the parts we reproduce are geared to the most discriminating customers that want the absolute best part and that's what they are.  If, at the end of the day, price is the only issue with no complaints about quality we hit the mark.  All of us in this hobby have had enough of "it almost fits" on the few parts that are available.  Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good suppliers with quality parts and they typically cost more, there's a reason for that.  If you would like to go into detail of the "process" and the reproduction parts business plz call me, I would love to talk to you.

I just picked a random number but please tell me why 2,000 is too many? There were 74,886 Chargers made in 1968 and you're saying making this part for roughly 3% of them is totally unrealistic? You're saying that less than 1% is what you're looking at for production? Can you understand why that number seems small to me? And how much does it cost you to reproduce one of these taillight bezels? $50, $100, $200? I'm willing to bet it's less than $50.

Oh well. I'm tired of arguing about it. Sorry I'm not one of these people who just automatically heaps praise upon every manufacturer of reproduction Charger parts and as usual it seems most of the others who are posting about are happy as hell to pay too much for something new and shiney that fits a Charger.

[TUFCAT]

   I think we got your point..... You're not going to buy these.  Let's move on.

[Troy]

After reading all this nonsense      it makes perfect sense for me that PG/BEA worries about making 69 taillight bezels and stops work on 68 only parts   

Yeah, but not everyone with an opinion posts which makes it hard to get a real feel for the market. We only had a couple of people respond about the 69 grill trim but over 30 sets sold in the group buy. After the group buy only two people responded so I'm assuming there were no problems. It was almost the same deal with the vacuum hoses if I remember correctly.

One other thing to note: nothing against the members here but most of the guys with unlimited funds don't hang out on internet forums (except maybe that Viper one  ). That means our members are usually budget constrained and do have to make informed decisions. Nothing sucks worse than spending most - if not all - of your budget on a substandard part. If money is not an issue then I don't imagine there's much to cry about except the loss of a few points during judging (if the car ever leaves the garage).

Troy

[Charger-Bodie]

After reading all this nonsense      it makes perfect sense for me that PG/BEA worries about making 69 taillight bezels and stops work on 68 only parts   

Yeah, but not everyone with an opinion posts which makes it hard to get a real feel for the market. We only had a couple of people respond about the 69 grill trim but over 30 sets sold in the group buy. After the group buy only two people responded so I'm assuming there were no problems. It was almost the same deal with the vacuum hoses if I remember correctly.

One other thing to note: nothing against the members here but most of the guys with unlimited funds don't hang out on internet forums (except maybe that Viper one  ). That means our members are usually budget constrained and do have to make informed decisions. Nothing sucks worse than spending most - if not all - of your budget on a substandard part. If money is not an issue then I don't imagine there's much to cry about except the loss of a few points during judging (if the car ever leaves the garage).

Troy

i agree with most of that BUT my car will have these lights and it is rotiserie restored , but i drive the hell out of it ! i put over 1000 miles on it this summer and hope for another 500 miles yet this fall. im not rich like most of us here but i have 1 hobby and its my  ONE charger and i want it to be the best it possibly can be and and when i take it to a show and beat trailered in cars ( twice this summer out of three all mopar shows i got 1st place) and then drive past them while there loading up there queens. .........point is save youre pennies and buy the best parts available and you will be happier with the end result and most likely wont have to do it twice. and if you are happy with what you have then thats great too .

PS i myself have a advatage over some of the people here that allows me to spend more on parts etc. because i own my own resto shop and dont have to hire the body or mechanical work out and as we all know that takes a big chunk of ging.

[The70RT]

Yep... you pretty much summed it up.

[Charger-Bodie]

Yep... you pretty much summed it up.

who are you refering to and what summed it up?

[The70RT]

What I meant was you was pretty much dead on about the whole deal. In other words "you make sense"

[Charger-Bodie]

What I meant was you was pretty much dead on about the whole deal. In other words "you make sense"

gotcha thanks.

[HeavyFuel]

There are a few things in this thread i just dont get!!! We agree on the fact that 1000 usd is a lot of money to normal working guys. (i am that too) !!                                            Somebody come up with a calculation that insinuate that somebody will be rich out of a couple of hundred taillights, not having a clue of what it actually cost to get them made.
Somebody think a set like that is just for "trailer queens", and a driver should be happy with a set restored ones, and so on!!
Nobody can make a living out of working for free!! I thought everybody knew that!!
Let us be happy that somebody is making parts. Nobody is forsing us to buy anything!! We can choose for ourselves!!!

My choice is to sell the parts i think will bee to much work to get up to the standard i want, and put in overtime, to pay the balance between them and the new ones!!

Just a couple of questions: Has anybody here on the forum sendt a set off for recroming?? I have no idea, but it will give us a indication of the price level, compared to bezels, WITHOUT lenses.

I called a well known recroming shop a few days ago, and ordered recroming for my bumpers. That will run in the ballpark of 1500 usd, for both. Does that mean that everybody that does that are stupid, since we can get aftermarket ones for app 700 usd a set!! If you want quality, it will always have a higher pricetag!!

I sent mine off for re-chroming in June 05, to Jon Wright's Custom Chrome Plating. 

6 pieces (two housings, 4 round parts) = $600.00. (plus shipping) 

The chrome is "holy crap" super nice, but not included is the flat black paint details, or the silvery argent type stuff; I get to put that on myself.  My bumpers got new show chrome for $600, plus $75 each for the guards. (Fargo Bumper, who send them off to Brienard, MN I believe)= $900

But how many options does a guy really have?  After the car gets a 7-8 grand paint job, be dammed if I'm going to put tired old chrome on.
Thank God my mirrors, trim and side markers are nice.

I priced put new headlight lenses  for my '98 Grand Caravan.  About $250 for a set.  And they aren't shiney.

[bull]

  I think we got your point..... You're not going to buy these.  Let's move on.

That's not my point, Tufcat, and that's what's a little annoying about this thread. You and a few others apparently think my goal is just to be a pain in the ass but what I'm trying to do is question the maker of this part (how often do you have that chance) and maybe lobby for a lower price or at least find out why it costs what it does. I'm pretty sure it's a futile effort but I'm not one to just lay down and accept whatever I'm told if it sounds off kilter. If you're the type who just accepts everything at face value that's fine but there are people in the world who don't operate that way. And sometimes people like you have them to thank for lower prices.

Maybe I will buy these housings, I don't know yet. My point is that I think it's foolish for people to just accept whatever price is put on their parts without so much as asking what goes into that decision, especially when we have this kind of opportunity to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

[TUFCAT]

I'm cool with that.... and just for the record, I don't want anyone to think we are arguing, we're just having a spirited dabate   The was no mud slinging here - just a group of guys with different opinions    

[bull]

I'm cool with that.... and just for the record, I don't want anyone to think we are arguing, we're just having a spirited dabate   The was no mud slinging here - just a group of guys with different opinions    

Right. And after a couple PMs to Mike at BE&A I think I finally figured out what is going on in my head with all the reproduction stuff. In a nutshell, I'm afraid it's going to go away once those who reproduce the stuff have decided they've made the bulk of the money they're going to make off it. I don't know for sure but it sounds as if Mike is saying that these housings are going to be a limited-run item, meaning PG Classic will produce a certain number (say 500 for example) and then assume that's about as many as they can safely make to turn a profit before the orders drop to a trickle. It's the same concern I  have with pretty much all the good parts I see hitting the market right now from PG Classic and other producers/vendors, will the parts be there when myself and a whole bunch of other guys finally get to the point where we can afford them? I've saved about half the money I need to paint my car but do I use that money now to buy a console kit, taillight housings and the reproduction dash plastic because it's not going to be available two years from now? I just don't know. Does anyone know? Will we all be fighting over what's left of PG Classic's reproduction taillight housings, console lids and top plates on Ebay in 2010? I just have to wonder if this stuff is going to be around after all the rich trailer queen owners are done writing checks.

[BEAPARTS]

It's nothing more than economics, like I explained in the PM to you Bull, money cost money.  If you have an investment cost, which equates to purely cash out, and that amount of money sits idol past the profitable investment time period based on selling price then that part either isn't made again or the retail price goes up to cover that cost of money.  Odds are, the price won't go up and the part won't be made again. 

If you have a company that made widgets and the lowest production number of parts you could run was 100 and you offered that wedget in 3 different colors (say red, white and blue) and 90% of the sales were the blue and white ones would you still offer the red ones?  Would you concentrate your monies on the ones that sell so you can reinvest your profits to make additional wedgets that will sell?

And your probably right, the parts that do get discontinued surely will show up on ebay.  I can see it now, "here is a pair of B/E & A 68 charger tail light bezels the best on the planet and last set anywhere" BUY IT NOW for $1,000,000 (lenses and cans not included).  Case in point, the 70 cuda grille mounted light lenses are one of those super kinky parts made of unubtanium until we made them, you know the ones that sold on ebay for as much as $2,000 a pair? Guess what, I guarantee you will be seeing those on ebay in the next 12 months as discontinued.  They are so good, OE cudas have been judged with them and no one was the wiser.

Bull, I can appreciate your pain trying to get a car done on a budget, I've been there.  All of us that have mopars made a conscious decision when we get into this mess and I'm sure all of us realized the drama that is involved messing with mopars.

As a company, we can not and will not compromise quality for price.  Remember the old saying? "Low price is long forgotten with poor quality". 

[bull]

Well I can easily loosen up $600 fror the chance to make $1 million later on Ebay. That's a helluva deal. 

Anyway, I think you have illustrated my fears by saying these housings are going to be a limited-run item. You know that feeling you sometimes get when a great opportunity is staring you in the face and you can't or shouldn't really do anything about it? That mixture of excitement and frustration or joy and anger? Oh well, I guess I need to go out and stare at my original housings for a while... I have a tough decision to make. So do a lot of other guys.

I hope the part kicks ass and you are able to make 5k of them but I won't hold my breath.

[Joshua]

I have a tough decision to make. So do a lot of other guys.

My housings are slightly pitted, but otherwise are in decent shape, and if I want better, I'll have THEM redone.......original parts redone will ALWAYS be better than REPOPS!
These new housings are $$$$, but I feel are worth the price for the guy who has very bad ones......or none at all.....

[TUFCAT]

.......original parts redone will ALWAYS be better than REPOPS!

I hope you're kidding!!  Without getting into a debate about which re-chroming shops are the best - - rechroming is NOT ALWAYS the best answer on highly detailed chrome parts - - and will not return 100% perfect results from "most" chrome plating houses. 

The re-chroming process involves grinding and almost always softens the sharp edges, and sometimes creates a shallow line where its should have been a deep indentation - unless they take the time properly rebuild the area like they do with pits.  I 've been down that road before with a part I took to a chrome shop last year. It was a nice original part (nobody reproduced)....and I ended up selling it on ebay because it wasn't as crisp as it should be.  Unless you're taking your stuff to a very expensive rechroming shop like Paul's Plating in PA, ....naw,  at that point, you'll be better off buying the (high quality) reproductions.   I WILL AGREE that not all reproductions are high quality.  

I'm not saying a perfect rechroming job isn't attainable - -  its very costly.  On the other paw, ....getting the originals rechromed may be cheaper alternative than buying the reproduction housings.... if that's what you prefer

[Joshua]

I'm NOT kidding..... it's a matter of FIT......original parts always FIT better than repops....... Regardless of quality....repops are repops......

BTW...I'll never rechrome mine anyway.........they look fine at 70mph.......

[bull]

So Tufcat, are you getting in on that $900 group buy or just the $600 housing set?

[TUFCAT]

I definately would..... if I needed them.