Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff/Illinois
I hear ya. Not to take away from the original post I guess to sum up my thoughts, why can't they make GOOD Model A Ford parts? They do for the early generation Mustangs? It would be a lot simpler.
Maybe it is economy of scale, there are just a lot more early Ford Mustangs being restored 
You can buy a reproduction Mustang front fender prep it paint it bolt it on and go. Try doing THAT with a reproduction Model A fender! You'll have as much or more money in the thing trying to get it to fit! |
It is the ROI. It is the cost of creating exacting details. Since you mentioned the fender, Bob's dies are worn beyond repairable. Bob is over 85 years old now. I hope he lives well past 100 years old, but the reality is the ROI for Bob to make new dies will never be there. So who else is willing to step up? I have no idea costs to manufacture dies, but I could see it costing over a quarter of a million dollars to make all the dies needed to stamp both front fenders. Think about this. If you have $125k in the left side dies, with a life expectancy of those dies stamping 1,000 fenders before they need to be reworked, then the manufacturer would need to add $125.00 to the cost of each fender just to break even, -not counting the cost of that money over the 10-20 years it will take to sell that many fenders. Stamping a Mustang fender is likely easier to make than stamping a Model-A fender.