We have done a bit of a soft launch of the products and have decided that we'd make it public on the forum. I was out of action for the last week, so it should of been sooner. Some history first.
I have bought a lot of stuff from the major players in the 356 game both locally and internationally and have felt that on some things we are just getting either bad quality parts or they are priced so far off the mark that at the end of the day a set of rubbers for a set of teardrops can run into R800 once you've added shipping and duties on it. Many of the rubbers have been sitting on a shelf for ages and so when they arrive, they are usually already breaking down.
Price wise? Well currently we're under-cutting the international prices for reproduction parts by about 1/3 and once we have streamlined the production, we'll be able to sell certain items way cheaper than our international/ national competition, in some cases 1/3 of the price.
So who are we? Well we're both speedster nutters albeit on totally different levels, who both own locally made speedsters, and are both a bit let down on the overall fit and finish of the locally made cars. The devil with these cars is the detail, while I couldn't be phased about running gear, engine and transmission on mine, we both however share the obsession with getting the exterior of these cars as close as possible to the real thing.
I have always been at awe of Firebird's ability to make his own parts, I was first introduced to his handiwork through IMPI and also got to quickly see that he was light years ahead in making his own parts that were almost perfect replca's on the OEM Porsche stuff. The compound being used is locally sourced from a local supplier and is suited for exterior outdoor use.
How many times have you seen a nice speedster with great paint, but when you see the back, the guy has put bakkie tail lights or landrover defender indicator lights on the front? While you can get used tear drops locally, the 2 parts that almost always seem to be shot to poo are the rubbers as well as the lenses.
The lenses are on the wishlist and are under development and both myself and Firebird will be doing the rounds with a few demo sets first, but we're confident that we'll be able to provide these in the near future, but we have decided to sell the rubber kits to the locals first.
One thing that we both have been pushing for is the front indicator assembly. This is feel is a real let down on the local cars as the raised section on the body is far from correct and straight away you can see that the grills, assembly's and lenses just look wrong. To change this to the correct style will mean closing up the original holes and getting rid of the raised section, but it's all do-able and for the DIY minded, a Saterday morning job.
I will be fitting a set to the front of my car in the upcoming weeks and I can straight away say that this is going to be a huge improvement on the locally supplied stuff.
Compared to what is currently on the locally produced cars. The original style ones are slimmer, cleaner and way more precise. The local stuff is thick and the casting is shoddy as it's probably been cast about 4 kazillion times and made from copies, from copies, from copies. You get my drift.
Also as a part of this kit is the lenses. SO yeah you can see why initially we are very excited. These are pretty much there with regards to shape, size and will fit with the rubbers, trim and bezel. More information will follow on that in the future as we get further along with development.
So we are still developing the kits and are making changes as we go along to get them as close as possible to the real thing, next change will be to the back of the rubber and won't even be seen, but we want to get it as right as possible. We both stand behind what we're doing here and believe that we both can add something to the local community. While many people won't go to the lengths that we've gone to get the exterior/ interior details of the car as close as possible to the real thing, we still feel that we can bring something to the party for everyone who's into bath-tubs and coupe's.
I will be adding a price list next week as well as more detailed images. All initial kits that have been made have pretty much all been sold, so there may be a bit of a delay with supplying new kits, but I can take orders and will keep you updated. Any questions, drop me a line directly oh7221379oh4 or email me at garykbloom(at)gmail.com
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