340 exhaust heat shield needed for Van's to repop.

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Dan the man said:
I know that its expensive, but they don't need to recoup their initial investment all at once, spread it out over time. How many years has the rear valance panel been out and it's still $400, that's greed
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No, that's economics. It's not a matter of how many years the valance panel has been out, it's a matter of how many they need to sell just to break even. And there isn't ANY company that's in business just to "break even".
On a low demand part (be honest with yourself- how many people are actually going to be buying the part? These aren't Big Macs), it could take decades to recoup costs- so just be glad someone was willing to take the leap at whatever price. If you don't like the cost, break out a hammer, a piece of sheet metal and make your own; it's what you'd be doing if nobody reproduced the part anyways.
You think you've got it bad? Buy a Studebaker.
 
harrisonm said:
If I was doing an accurate restoration, I would GLADLY pay $300 for a part that is otherwise unobtainable. Sometimes people really crack me up. They ***** and complain because certain parts are not being repopped. Then, when a company drops a fortune on making the part, and charges an appropriate amount so as to recoup its investment, they complain about the cost. I don't think people realize how expensive it is to bring a new part to market.
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One has to wonder what the definition of accurate reproduction actually means.
 
junkyardhero said:
this explains so much...
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It was that '73 dart I had. I wont mention who the company was that supplied the interior parts, their quality was very poor. If I remember correctly they sent a couple of replacements and they wouldn't fit either as they were about 3" short. The interior shop who did the work for me had to redrill the mounting points for the door clips because they were wrong as well. After I bought the car I learned from several people that for some reason the '73 darts were had to get anything to fit correctly as far as interior goes. I guess that this is why I steer away from cars that don't have a lot of parts available for them. I don't mind searching for parts but that can lead into a real nightmare too.
 
Professor Fate said:
No, that's economics. It's not a matter of how many years the valance panel has been out, it's a matter of how many they need to sell just to break even. And there isn't ANY company that's in business just to "break even".
On a low demand part (be honest with yourself- how many people are actually going to be buying the part? These aren't Big Macs), it could take decades to recoup costs- so just be glad someone was willing to take the leap at whatever price. If you don't like the cost, break out a hammer, a piece of sheet metal and make your own; it's what you'd be doing if nobody reproduced the part anyways.
You think you've got it bad? Buy a Studebaker.
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My dad had a 1962 golden hawk and a 1953 commander and I turned them both down because of no parts available. I avoid amc products and several different mopars, l don't want to waste my time on the computer looking for good used parts. I've seen enough and heard enough horror stories about buying used junk.
 
The problem is who has more than one New/NOS 340 heat shield. Nobody is going to let their only one go at any cost.


Alan
 
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And to think, when I was just getting into Mopars as a kid, these types of discussions were reserved for the E/B-body crowd. I'd never imagine A-body folks needing a correct exhaust heat shield. Don't forget your roots, guys. :poke:

Seriously though, I wonder how many of these are sitting in landfills.
 
mopowers said:
And to think, when I was just getting into Mopars as a kid, these types of discussions were reserved for the E/B-body crowd. I'd never imagine A-body folks needing a correct exhaust heat shield. Don't forget your roots, guys. :poke:

Seriously though, I wonder how many of these are sitting in landfills.
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lol, when I was a kid, E and Body guys weren't discussing this stuff. They were discussing performance and as far as landfills these things were chucked the first moment you could afford headers..
 
harrisonm said:
If I was doing an accurate restoration, I would GLADLY pay $300 for a part that is otherwise unobtainable. Sometimes people really crack me up. They ***** and complain because certain parts are not being repopped. Then, when a company drops a fortune on making the part, and charges an appropriate amount so as to recoup its investment, they complain about the cost. I don't think people realize how expensive it is to bring a new part to market.
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Alot of "Mopar" people complain about money...its like they are broke or something trying to restore vintage cars...the internet is full of em...
 
A56 said:
lol, when I was a kid, E and Body guys weren't discussing this stuff. They were discussing performance and as far as landfills these things were chucked the first moment you could afford headers..
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Way to out yourself, you of fogey. :rofl:
 
Dartswinger70 said:
Alot of "Mopar" people complain about money...its like they are broke or something trying to restore vintage cars...the internet is full of em...
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Complaining about money while trying to "restore" vintage cars isn't exclusive to MoPars.
 
Professor Fate said:
No, that's economics. It's not a matter of how many years the valance panel has been out, it's a matter of how many they need to sell just to break even. And there isn't ANY company that's in business just to "break even".
On a low demand part (be honest with yourself- how many people are actually going to be buying the part? These aren't Big Macs), it could take decades to recoup costs- so just be glad someone was willing to take the leap at whatever price. If you don't like the cost, break out a hammer, a piece of sheet metal and make your own; it's what you'd be doing if nobody reproduced the part anyways.
You think you've got it bad? Buy a Studebaker.
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There's truth to this for years 70 Dart stuff was hard to find ,now they repop Grilles, Ralley dash bezels and Tail lights to name a few items.
 
harrisonm said:
You do make a good point. It would be interesting to know what the tooling cost was and what it costs to stamp and produce every one of those 69 rear decklid panels. 69 was the lowest production year of the 67-69 Barracudas, so it is a rather limited market to start with. I wonder how many of them they have sold. I would certainly agree that once the tooling costs were recovered the company should lower the price to cost of production plus a reasonable profit, but they never do.
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I don't know why I remember the number, but in the early 80s those trunk panels were available NOS from Chrysler for $108. That's close to $400 in today's money, and that was when the cars were less than fifteen years old. They've always been crazy expensive.
 
Located my receipt. bought one in 2012 for $125 + $9.00 shipping.
It has the part number and a Pentastar stamped near the 3&5 port,
I wonder where the dies ended up at.

IMG_6441.jpeg
 
They weren't just from Mopar; I remember McCord, Victor, and probably a few others were making them and were sometimes even included in their gasket sets and service packs.
Somebody, somewhere must still have the dies sitting on a dusty shelf in a forgotten backroom.
 
Professor Fate said:
They weren't just from Mopar; I remember McCord, Victor, and probably a few others were making them and were sometimes even included in their gasket sets and service packs.
Somebody, somewhere must still have the dies sitting on a dusty shelf in a forgotten backroom.
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mayhaps on a fishing boat in scotland next to the the delorean dies?
 
Dartswinger70 said:
There's truth to this for years 70 Dart stuff was hard to find ,now they repop Grilles, Ralley dash bezels and Tail lights to name a few items.
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I'm looking forward to the day when they maybe affordable. Ralley dash bezel is $500. I'm sure that the equipment to make it wasn't cheap either. I wonder just how many mopars were either junked or used as parts cars because parts were not available.
 
Dan the man said:
I'm looking forward to the day when they maybe affordable. Ralley dash bezel is $500. I'm sure that the equipment to make it wasn't cheap either. I wonder just how many mopars were either junked or used as parts cars because parts were not available.
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i paid 500 something for a unbroken restoreable bezel in 2000 or 2001

a new one at 500 is a damn good deal. that'd be what, 3.5% of a 15,000 car? for something you have to look at all.the.damn.time.

you need to adjust your ideas of what things cost. it's not 1994 1/2 anymore. you can't be over here trying to play mopars and crying the poor me blues.
 
Dan the man said:
I'm looking forward to the day when they maybe affordable. Ralley dash bezel is $500. I'm sure that the equipment to make it wasn't cheap either. I wonder just how many mopars were either junked or used as parts cars because parts were not available.
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Go to a dealer and ask for new parts, see what they cost. It is not 1977. All parts cost.
And funny thing my 1973 Dart won best interior few shows. Everything fits as should. I should do a thread about it.
 
340six said:
Go to a dealer and ask for new parts, see what they cost. It is not 1977. All parts cost.
And funny thing my 1973 Dart won best interior few shows. Everything fits as should. I should do a thread about it.
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Dart Sport or Dart swinger? You should, that would be cool. I don't know if interior parts have improved in quality since 2007, that's when I had quality issues with Dart
 
junkyardhero said:
i paid 500 something for a unbroken restoreable bezel in 2000 or 2001

a new one at 500 is a damn good deal. that'd be what, 3.5% of a 15,000 car? for something you have to look at all.the.damn.time.

you need to adjust your ideas of what things cost. it's not 1994 1/2 anymore. you can't be over here trying to play mopars and crying the poor me blues.
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What ever it cost is what it costs. If I want or need the parts I'll just have to pay it.
 
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