I just saw this in a magazine and its so cool you can buy and new body and save yourself the trouble and just build a car from scratch. If only I had money to buy one of these bodies and build it. http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com/ford_models.html
Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing. My roommate says I should start a business and sell new 67's made from those reproduction bodies. I'm figuring the price would have to be like at least 10 grand over what the body costs to make it profitable. Who's gonna buy a new old stang for 25,000?
With 10,000 you couldn't even finish the thing, let alone sell it and turn a profit. You'd need at least double that. You're starting with nothing. This is assuming you'd be using new parts as well.
You'd have to really want a fastback. $15,000 for the body, and to top it off, the title will be for a Home-made car, not a real '67 Mustang title. I think I could live with a Hardtop with a real title, and keep the $15,000.
There's a lot of positives to these repro bodies, and if the quality's there, I don't see any negatives. Yes, they are expensive, but have you guys priced reproduction street rod bodies lately? A fiberglass '34 Ford coupe body is over $10,000 for fenders and all, and a steel '32 coupe body only is over $20,000. Not only that, but street rod prices have been a little "soft" lately compared to high-end '60's muscle cars, so you could easily spend more to build a street rod that's worth less than a nice '67 fastback. As far as having a "real" Mustang as opposed to a repro car, that's pretty low on my list. I don't see it as any different than my Shelby clone. I started with a nice, clean original '68 fastback, but wanted a '67 Shelby. I chose to build what I wanted. Is it a "real " Shelby? No, and I will never claim it is a genuine Shelby. Building cars isn't about what you start with, it's building what you lust after. If I were looking for a nice fastback today, I would have to consider the Dynacorn '67 very carefully. How can you not at least add up the total cost of a finished NEW car with fastback prices so high these days? If you want a coupe, great. Prices are much more affordable, they are great looking cars and you can do whatever you want without everyone whining about you cutting up a rare car. But if you want a fastback, they are getting pretty picked over, and the ones that are left are both expensive and/or badly in need of expensive bodywork. A couple of years ago, a local car builder looked high and low for a '67-'68 fastback for a customer. He even flew to Las Vegas, only to find the car he was after had sold a few hours before he got there. He ended up buying a decent, high-mileage '68 fastback for $13,000 locally. Since the car was going to be a complete custom, about the only thing he used was the body shell, and some of it had rust issues. I'd bet money he would've gladly slapped down a few more dollars to get a fresh body that needed no work. The bottom line is that Ford isn't making '67 fastabcks anymore, so prices for originals probably isn't going anywhere but up, which means at some point, those $16,000 bare bodies are going to seem like a bargain in the near future.
I need to sit down and work up the costs to buy everything you'd need to do one of those cars ground up. I was just estimating based on what I've spent to restore my 73, but that's not starting anywhere near nothing like you'd be with one of the repo bodies.
I think it would be worth it and if it looks great in the end who wouldn't buy it? People buy AC Cobras that are done right. I think this would save you alot of time and money and you could do all the things you want to do without feeling guilty or having someone make you feel guilty about it. Licencing would be my big question.
Personally I do not see using one of these if you are doing a basic resto. Now if you were doing a high dollar restomod where very little of the original equipment was going to be used, then it makes perfect sense.
I think it all depends upon why you "gotta have it". Unlike jikelly, I don't think it would be my choice if I was building for somebody else. But, if I had the checkbook-power (and the spare time) and was building it strictly for myself; there'd be a Dynacorn '67 FB shell in the "big metal barn" out back. Of course, if I had the checkbook and the spare time; there'd by a "big metal barn" out back!
The cheap stuff in the past from China is no longer. They have a better economy then us now. Its time to start thinking differently I think on Chinese made products.
Of course their economy is doing well. They lack labor laws, don't give a **** about environmental impact, etc.,etc. "Made in America" can't compete. I particulary dislike they way they openly counterfeit so many goods. It's not about quality, but about supporting our economy. It'd be very didficult for me to avoid all Chinese goods. But I do try to stay way from buying larger more expensive items made in China. And I will also pay more for smaller items Made in America. But that's just me.
I don't think he's wrong, but no American company is building these particular item here in the USA. Hey maybe all us stang junkies could get together and buy one of the plant ford's gonna close. Then we could start building um here in the US!!
Problem is, all you would be buying is an assembly plant. Other than engines and things like that, Ford outsourced most of their metal.
Not always. Ford's old Rouge plant was built right on the shore of the Rouge River. Why? So ore boats from the Great Lakes region could tie up and unload iron ore! They had a smelter at one end of the plant; and finished auto parts (I don't remember, but it could have been entirely assembled cars) coming out the other end. And old Henry Ford 1 was trying to buy up all the iron mines in Pennsylvania. Interesting guy - he could have given "control freak" lessons to Carroll Shelby. If your "Ford-interest" goes beyond Mustangs; haunt the libraries and used bookstores for a copy of "FORD: The Man and the Machine". Wild stuff. According to the book (which is like a biography of the Ford family); one of the driving issues behind building and selling the Stang was that Lee Iacocca could use it to prove to Henry 1 that he(Iaccoca) should control FoMoCo - not Henry Ford II! Anybody who's ever watched "The Betsy" (and remembers anything beyond Kathleen Bellar's "skinny-dipping" scene ) should read the a bove book to see how close author Harold Robbins got to the truth!
Because China has the economic advantages I stated above. And more new companies will continue to outsource to China as long as it's profittable. That's was business is about. The only thing I (and others) can do as a consumer try to not buy Chinese so that US companies will find it profittable to build stuff here. Buying Chinese only strengthens their economy, weakens ours and encourages more outsourcing. When a company like Edelbrock sports 'Made in USA', it means something to me. They can easily outsource to China.
No arguement here. I wish there were more businessmen like Vic Edelbrock, who still know that Made in The USA still means something.
IIRC in the Hot Rod story he says "They were willing to do it" IE He checked with people here in the US and no one would or wanted way to much to build them here!!
That's the problem. The way I see it is this: we as Americans want more for our dollar, which encourages companies to sell their goods at lower costs. But we as Americans also want to be paid higher wages, which forces US-based companies to either drop their margin (not likely) or raise prices to cover wages and benefits. Then along comes goods from a country with a lower standard of living, and they use technolgy pioneered right here to sell similar (or identical) goods at greatly reduced prices. Want proof? I have a Chinese-made Washburn (American brand) guitar that is top-quality, but low-priced. My new HP (again, American brand) computer was made in China. A lot of the cutting tools I use at work were made in countries like Poland and are top quality, but reduced price. Where does it end? It doesn't. That's where the term "global economy" comes from, doesn't it? Lots of "American" stuff is made overseas, or at least across borders. My GMC pickup was made in Canada, most of the Ford stuff I buy from the dealer is made in Mexico, while Toyota builds cars here in the US. My Dad bought a new Honda ATV last year that has a "Made in The USA" sticker right on it. Go figure.
True. I can only do my part and buy 'American Made' when possible. We bought a Honda Pilot for the wife. It was made in Alabama with 80% of it's components made in the US and Canada.
