68 Charger tail light bezels

[BEAPARTS]

Well, we are almost finished with the 68 charger tail light bezels.  The tooling is finished and we are in the process of the test fit today, the pieces look awesome.  The reverse lens is also in production right now which means, shortly,  you can buy the complete tail light assemblies and put them in your car.  Other kinky parts are the 69-70 bbody dash pad and the 69 charger tail light bezels and the 69 casted chrome tail lens trim.

Michael C. Ross
B/E & A Restoration Parts, Inc.
www.beaparts.com

[bull]

Cool! I hope they end up costing about $400 less than the PG Classic set.

[OttawaCharger]

BEA Parts - that's great!  Thanks to you guys and Peter for bringing much needed parts to the Mopar market.     Any chance to get some pre-release pics here on the board? 

Bull -> it is my understanding that BEA Parts (Mike) is the US rep for PG Classics.

[bull]

BEA Parts - that's great!  Thanks to you guys and Peter for bringing much needed parts to the Mopar market.     Any chance to get some pre-release pics here on the board? 

Bull -> it is my understanding that BEA Parts (Mike) is the US rep for PG Classics.

That's kinda what I figured out after checking the website. Oh well. $700 is it?

[BEAPARTS]

The projected sell price will be between 599 - 699, the problem is the size & weight.  Real cast potmetal tooling is expensive as well as the material for it, also, you have to keep in mind the size of the piece when chroming.  We will also have the back-up lens finished shortly.  We do the best we can without compromising quality, to produce the part the same as it was back in the day.  If you could put perfect new light assemblies in your car for 1,100 - 1,200 is it worth it?  I'm talking about the red lenses, light bezels, main bezels and back-up lenses.

Granted, there will be people that bulk at the price and are perfectly satisfied with "mines good enough", that's not our target market.  We cater to the uncompromising that expect over the top parts that are willing to pay the extra expense it takes to produce those parts correctly.

I've been a mopar knucklehead for 25 years, I do all my own work on my cars like most of you and I've been through the junk parts that were available in the market because we all had no choice.  Our reproduction parts are no more than part numbers with an investment cost, if the investment money sits on the shelve to long the part is deemed not feesable to run again.  That's a business reality. If the part is available, from which ever vendor it is, and it is a high quality piece we the hobbyist have an obligation to support that vendor and purchase the part and support them that are doing a good job or the part will go away.

I will be posting photos shortly of the bezels.


FYI
69 Charger tail light lens casted chromed trim piece will be finished very shortly.


Respectfully,

Michael C. Ross
B/E & A Restoration Parts, Inc.

[68Charger4me]

I for one am tired of having "just good enough"  I bought the other pieces to the tail lights out at Carlisle and they look awesome   I just hope they last longer than the gas cap I bought from Jacks about 3 or 4 years ago, the car was kept inside and the chrome is peeling off like it's 20 years old    
     When will we see pics ??

[bull]

If the part is available, from which ever vendor it is, and it is a high quality piece we the hobbyist have an obligation to support that vendor and purchase the part and support them that are doing a good job or the part will go away.

I think this ignores a big factor in the average Joe's decision to buy a reproduction part, that being the cost. While many of us appreciate the effort there's just no way some of us can forego a mortgage payment to "support" a vendor. If a part goes away I don't think it's fair or realistic to blame the hobbyist.

[Khyron]

I think this ignores a big factor in the average Joe's decision to buy a reproduction part, that being the cost. While many of us appreciate the effort there's just no way some of us can forego a mortgage payment to "support" a vendor. If a part goes away I don't think it's fair or realistic to always blame the hobbyist.

agreed, personally its lame to blame the hobbyist for not buying a expensive piece of anything. Like the $2000 quarters. tooling my butt, how about selling a lot for sell then a few for more? Or is that just for the GM and Ford people?

I for one am tired of having "just good enough"  I bought the other pieces to the tail lights out at Carlisle and they look awesome   I just hope they last longer than the gas cap I bought from Jacks about 3 or 4 years ago, the car was kept inside and the chrome is peeling off like it's 20 years old    
     When will we see pics ??

I'll take just good enough and when people ask I'll explain that I don't like overpaying for parts just because I own a Mopar. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a guy that complains because I don't have the money. I just don't like it when I have to pay 3 times more because my car has a penistar on it.

[Charger-Bodie]

I think this ignores a big factor in the average Joe's decision to buy a reproduction part, that being the cost. While many of us appreciate the effort there's just no way some of us can forego a mortgage payment to "support" a vendor. If a part goes away I don't think it's fair or realistic to always blame the hobbyist.

agreed, personally its lame to blame the hobbyist for not buying a expensive piece of anything. Like the $2000 quarters. tooling my butt, how about selling a lot for sell then a few for more? Or is that just for the GM and Ford people?

I for one am tired of having "just good enough"  I bought the other pieces to the tail lights out at Carlisle and they look awesome   I just hope they last longer than the gas cap I bought from Jacks about 3 or 4 years ago, the car was kept inside and the chrome is peeling off like it's 20 years old    
     When will we see pics ??

I'll take just good enough and when people ask I'll explain that I don't like overpaying for parts just because I own a Mopar. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a guy that complains because I don't have the money. I just don't like it when I have to pay 3 times more because my car has a penistar on it.

the repop parts for ford and gm DO have some cheaper prices but they also have higher priced parts . you can get many grades of chevelle parts and the good ones are expensive and the cheap ones are crap i for one would rather pay a little extra and skip a few meals than buy junk parts and lets face it you get what you pay for and ive gotten several parts from be/a and thier stuf is second to none ......not just the goodnuf crap that some people want ! if you dont want to pay then use some old use pitted junk, but if you want awesome parts give Mike a call you wont be dissapointed in the least Brian

[BrianShaughnessy]

Well, we are almost finished with the 68 charger tail light bezels.  The tooling is finished and we are in the process of the test fit today, the pieces look awesome.  The reverse lens is also in production right now which means, shortly,  you can buy the complete tail light assemblies and put them in your car.  Other kinky parts are the 69-70 bbody dash pad and the 69 charger tail light bezels and the 69 casted chrome tail lens trim.

Michael C. Ross
B/E & A Restoration Parts, Inc.
www.beaparts.com

Please show us the 69 Chrome tail lens trim     I'd like to see some good metal stuff.    Another supplier was trying to sell plastic recently 

[68Charger4me]

Any pics yet ??

[dkn1997]

If the part is available, from which ever vendor it is, and it is a high quality piece we the hobbyist have an obligation to support that vendor and purchase the part and support them that are doing a good job or the part will go away.

I think this ignores a big factor in the average Joe's decision to buy a reproduction part, that being the cost. While many of us appreciate the effort there's just no way some of us can forego a mortgage payment to "support" a vendor. If a part goes away I don't think it's fair or realistic to blame the hobbyist.

I am all for vendors making nice parts, but it's not anyone's obligation to buy anything to support the vendor. If people are willing to buy something, then that product sustains itself.  If the part goes away because nobody bought it, then the market for that product was not predicted accurately.  The consumers' obligation ends with paying the money.  there are probably a lot of nice parts that gone the way of the dinasaurs because nobody bought them, but that's the way it goes. 

It seems like the mopar community usually only has one source for parts, ie: one company makes a particular part.  there is no other vendor to go to in order to get either a cheaper part or a more expensive better part.  a part gets introduced and that's it.  sure it gets rebranded and is sold by everyone under the sun, but it's always the same part at the same price.  Things are getting better all of the time.  remember the 2500.00 quarters?  now AMD steps in and is promising full quarters for less.  at least there will be a choice.  if a guy has a rotted out beater and just wants something not rusty to put on his car, the cheaper one will do. 

[68Charger4me]

Lets face it, we are never going to have the amount of chevys and fords on the road for multiple vendors to invest alot of time and money into. We are the minority.  I agree, I wouldn't pay 2500 for a quarter either.  In this case with the taillights though, 1100-1200 for a NEW set of lights isn't bad compared to having them reworked and rechromed because alot of our old pot-metal chrome is pitted, chipped,and broken and would require extensive repair.  It also beats being raked over the coals out at Carlisle, I've seen N.O.S. sets for 2500 bucks out there    If I wanted cheap parts by the dozen I would buy a Camaro.

[Khyron]

If I wanted cheap parts by the dozen I would buy a Camaro.

and if I wanted to get financially raped then I would invest in Enron.

[Corellian Corvette]

The reality is that anyone with an afternoon, some plastic polish, a set of DMT gaskets, some Krylon Black, Argent Silver, masking tape and an x-acto knife can have a MORE than presentable set of 68 tail-lights for less than $100. Start adding from there if you need lenses, etc.

To me, it comes down to how nice you want, the availablity (and cost) of Chroming in your area, and how particular you are. But conversely if you can get a basically perfect, brand new set of tail-lights for $1000 seems pretty resonable as well (vs. NOS or professionaly polishing/chroming).

Me - I've had bad luck with chroming. Takes too long, results have been mixed, cost is very high. So $700 for set of new bezels is very competitive as far as I'm concerned. Would I like them to be cheaper? Sure. But at least you have a choice. I have an original 65 Olds 442 and they don't make a damn thing for those cars. It cost me more in chrome than it did in Paint/Bodywork. I easily spent $600 bucks in the tail-lights for those because I had to buy 4-5 sets to get one decent pair for the car.