Good discussions and if I can poke a couple holes in your discussion respectfully then let me add a couple of my opinions on what you're saying...
I too have worked in production like you we're talking about the canola oil or margarine. I worked as a lab technician at a bottling plant that made Rockstar and those kind of energy drinks. we would have long big runs that would last days on end or something that would last only a half-day or less. Changing the tooling in canning machines and stuff like that could sometimes take up to 2 hours to a half-day themselves which would all have to be taken into consideration or passed on to the consumer.. I have a feeling that changing tooling isn't quite that simple when you're talking body panels..
And when you talk about keeping customers happy just like that's pointed out I mean how many of us have actually order a fender for a Duster??.. I've been working on a 65 GTO where we've changed both the rear fenders the trunk and the rear tail light panel and these fenders are nothing like what came off the car. Don't touch them or they'll get a dent! They're not the same measurements and they don't have the same hardlines as the factory ones did.. For me personally I have a whole field full of factory a-bodys less than 50 miles away at a wrecking yard... And after having this car I think I have extra doors and extra right fender three hoods and extra trunk lids LOL...
Kind of my point is with the production we were talking about canola oil and Rockstar, people who don't drive cars people who drive Ford Chevy Priuses and everything use those products... When we're talking body parts we're getting down to the specifics.. I would think more of the bigger e bodies and b bodies were crushed back in the gas crunch days..
And here's another scenario of it being worth the money. My 65 GTO customer his last car was a El Camino. by the time he had 20K into the El Camino it was worth 20K. Now if you put 20K into this GTO it's going to be worth double that. if we put 20K into a duster we'd be lucky to get 15. If we put 20K into a challenger well you know the numbers on that...
Even though our a bodies are getting harder to find they're still not bringing any kind of good money.. and most of the people are who are asking for it, are still asking for it and are dreamers..
Great response.
Where I work, the change overs can take up to 4 hours depending on the product and size of the container.
That includes the parts, flushing the tanks, test runs, and minor adjustments.
That is with 4 to 6 people involved, but usually it takes 2 to 3 hours and up to the 4 hours if it is a specialty oil or an export order.
The company I work for just bought the Wesson plant in Memphis in late 2018 to expand their market share in the U.S.
That being said, I don't know for sure what it would take time wise for AMD to set up the tooling to produce a panel, but I doubt that it would take more than the 4 hour window to set up and test run the product.
And you also have to take in consideration that the labor and other plant costs are much lower than in North America to produce these panels including shipping the finished items to Atlanta from China.
That being said, profits are profits, and I don't blame AMD for discontinuing some of the panels that weren't moving at all or were moving very slowly.
And I get it that with volume production it makes sense to focus on manufacturing more of what sells the most and not bother so much with slow moving products.
Were the GTO fenders and quarter panels you used made by AMD?
I have read up on the same problems you encountered with non crisp lines and flimsy metal even warped or wavy panels out of the box (especially fenders) from Goodmark, not AMD.
Sure, AMD panels aren't always perfect for sure, but they tend to be thicker and pretty close to the factory stuff.
And as for dreamers, you are right about that.
A lot of people want say '67 to '69 Barracuda fenders reproduced, but how many would AMD really sell in a year?
Then over the next 5 years following that?
And resale value of A-Bodies in general is not good versus the money and time spent to ''properly'' restore one unless it's a big block or Hemi car.
You people better be in it like me for the love of the hobby, not the money or you are in for a rude awakening.
Sometimes, reality stings like a ***** when it comes to the car hobby............