OPEN DISCUSSION TOPIC II
Steel Reproduction Bodies......Friend or Foe?
Boy, has this hobby grown and it continues to grow. The audience is so large that not only are the prices going up, the number of reproduction parts increase daily. All you need is a donor classic car body and a few catalogs from your favorite mail order house and you can make your classic look like new. Heck, in the last few years we have seen the need for a donor body to no longer be necessary to start your project. Today, all you really need is a fat checkbook. Why? Well you have seen and read about them, reproduction steel bodies. What! Yes, reproduction steel bodies of your favorite body styles. At one time, you had to purchase a small plastic kit to have your dream, now the scale is 1:1 and instantly you find yourself older than every part of the car.
Future swap meets will become portfolios of nameplates and VIN tags- with the race to get the best combination of numbers and letters. Clean it, spray it, place it on your final product and voila...Your new classic car! Is this what the classic car community wants? Is the demand so great we have to resort to re-creating the classics? Does this state that we don't think Detroit has produced a classic since 1972? Or, is the industry so large that demand warrants the cost to design, tool, and produce these bodies? It appears demand is that high as I see full color magazine advertisements appearing announcing the bodies then after flipping the page one can find companies supplying matching rolling chassis - yes, you guessed it, new!
Is the US supply of fiberglass running short? Fiberglass has always been the staple for a chosen alternative to original steel. Much like fiberglass bodies, essentially does the reproduction steel car become a 'kit' not a 'classic'? I was always ok with fiberglass bodies, they never threatened the true steel body, just another platform to build a car. With reproduction steel, how is the car differentiated at car shows or more importantly at concourse Classic Car shows where top restorations win serious prizes? Is it 1957 steel? Or, is it 2006 steel? How can one tell?
Maybe I am backwards, why cut out rust, weld in new, beat with a hammer, sand, fill, prime, sand, fill, prime, sand, fill, prime if you simply don't have to? Restoration shops, are you guys so busy that we need to just by-pass that whole process and offer new? If you guys would act more like mass producers and less like artesian craftsman then maybe the industry wouldn't see a need to make them new again....faster. Seriously, you guys do a great job, don't go any faster, we all know quality decreases proportionally to time spent. Literally, why restore 4-5 cars a year when you can build several hundred?
Ok, enough criticism, I think the point has been made. Let's look at the bright side, everybody can now own a classic car. Wait, the investments made, the hours searching swap meets and car shows talking to those who have done what you started to do and ultimately and painfully completed. At the end of the day, did the old fashion investor gain with his investment or did it go down because it has welded in replacement panels? This is the issue at hand - how and why?
Let's All Work Together on This......
Let's go back to market demand. Have all of us classic car guys (our cars, the TV shows, the magazine coverage) created enough 'noise' that those who never appreciate or desired a classic car now desire them? Maybe we created the market need for reproduction bodies through the quiet efforts of creating masterpieces in our garages. We knew the neighbors were looking at us funny although we didn't know the guys across town were curious enough to start looking for such a car without the equal amount of hands-on effort. As mentioned earlier, the fiberglass aftermarket body manufacturers have been catering to the hobby for many years to battle the supply vs. demand need for more hot rods..
So, let's say we were to celebrate the new steel bodies as an effort to expand the hot rod communities, continue to put pressure on hot rod legislation and keep this hobby alive. Maybe this is the way to extend the life of the hobby, just re-create the classic car. Personally, I am a die hard and have an appreciate for great efforts required to integrate 5-6 parts vehicles into 1 restored classic. If this trend is what it takes to keep the hobby alive then I am all for it. As the population has recently reached the 300th million American, then where do the hot rods come from to support the boom - I am not sharing mine! They can just get the reproduction model. In a hobby that nearly requires a second mortgage to get involved, imagine the cost to get involved 20+ years from now. Maybe this is the beginning solution to such a perceived problem combined with population growth.
I understand the need for change. I am a die hard hobbyists, but we need to do what is necessary to keep our hobby alive. Hey, bottom line....we need to continue to interest and recruit the younger generations.
Items to add to open discussion (the first 2 issue also pertain to fiberglass bodies):
- How is a Reproduction Steel Body registered?
- How is such a vehicle insured?
- VIN numbers - how are they obtained?
- Are these in a class all to themselves at car shows?
Reproduction Steel Body Companies:
And for a new twist - mass produced complete pickups which look like '49-'52 Chevrolet Trucks:
Where do you stand on this topic?
J. Shelton
