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[quote=They must be all over America [/quote]


And the WORLD!!!

I think that you would be surprised how many nice cars are still floating around, and how many really rare cars are in landfills-

Charlie don't surf wrote:I think that you would be surprised how many nice cars are still floating around, and how many really rare cars are in landfills-

Evansville is a relatively small town, but I can still think of at least a dozen people that have jaw dropping collections from BITD and have no clue of sites like this(or ebay thank god). You multiply that by the total population of the U.S. and the rest of the World and it's mind-blowing what all is out there. Ohhhh, if I ever hit the lottery...

I'm guessing they didn't make it to the landfills but instead got recycled in a third world country and made into cheap pots and pans.

Dirtdiver wrote:I'm guessing they didn't make it to the landfills but instead got recycled in a third world country and made into cheap pots and pans.

Actually, I'm pretty sure the Calphalon sauté pan I'm using is made of several A stamp gold chassis. It's collectible! I'm putting it on ebay for an arm and a leg. I'll sell the box separately and word it vaguely so people will think they're getting the actual pan.

littleVETTE wrote:what's the big thing that he's working on? it's gotta be bigger than a re-release of a 4wd kit. a complete mip chassis set with tranny, shocks, some kind of a chassis, cvd/a's, machined tranny outdrives, arms, and shock towers - kit? or is a new variation of something old? a hopped up tranny?

I'm guessing a 2WD conversion for the B44...with neon-colored foam LiPo battery pals.

RichieRich wrote: I'll sell the box separately and word it vaguely so people will think they're getting the actual pan.

LTO_Dave wrote:I'm guessing a 2WD conversion for the B44....

Someone beat them to it. Last 'VGC b44/completely intact' I got was allready converted but I'd take a set of neon battery pals
Todd

The 10,000 units was referring to the number of pre-orders of 4WD conversion kits before he would consider reproducing the kit. I replied saying I doubt 10,000 4WD kits were made 20 years ago. I would guess a few hundred were made if that. My point is if he thought the kit was something people wanted 20 years ago and made just those few hundred (or whatever the number), I say he would sell 400-700 kits today if the price was in the $199 to $275 range.

And I will add another opinion, a few posted commits saying who would buy a kit for a 20+ year old car and also what kind of business sense that would make. Have any of you ever looked at the reproduction market for antique & muscle cars? People dump $35,000 into a car that cost $3500 when new and do what with it.... drive it from the garage to the car show. There are many here that do the same, spend $200,300,400 into a 25 year old car that will sit on a shelf and never be raced again. I do the same, I would buy a 4WD kit for a couple hundred and put it in a car and then on the shelf to look at.

I think 300-400 is the most I'd pay for a 4x4 kit for my rc10.

Many people asking me to reproduce rc10 4wd kit. But I never put this into my consideration. Because I'm quit sure no one can get the investment back due to small volume. I like the kit, but maybe 60% of the reason is due to its rare. So once the kit was reproduced, I guess many people will lose interest on it.

Before the AE forum crashed they did a raffle, guess how many original rc10's there were and win a shirt. That was their 25th anniversary tribute to the RC10. IIRC the number was something like 384,000. They weren't very specific about what was considered original.

emerson_shih wrote:Many people asking me to reproduce rc10 4wd kit. But I never put this into my consideration. Because I'm quit sure no one can get the investment back due to small volume. I like the kit, but maybe 60% of the reason is due to its rare. So once the kit was reproduced, I guess many people will lose interest on it.

I agree, everyone wants it to say "look what I have". That said, I still believe at least 400 kits would sell before there's two RC10's on every block.

Emerson, with your wheels. I would guess you had an initial investment and made a small run. Did you make a profit after all materials were paid and your time?

esaresky75 wrote:

emerson_shih wrote:Many people asking me to reproduce rc10 4wd kit. But I never put this into my consideration. Because I'm quit sure no one can get the investment back due to small volume. I like the kit, but maybe 60% of the reason is due to its rare. So once the kit was reproduced, I guess many people will lose interest on it.

I agree, everyone wants it to say "look what I have". That said, I still believe at least 400 kits would sell before there's two RC10's on every block.

Emerson, with your wheels. I would guess you had an initial investment and made a small run. Did you make a profit after all materials were paid and your time?

My OEM's small run = my BIG run.
Well, if I said I can not get back my investment even I sold all of the hurricane wheel, do you believe it ~ because too many mistakes happened in this project. The wheel was done by two OEMs, and the first OEM is gone. They did very bad job. They rejected to do another run to correct it and also rejected my refund requirement. So I paid another run to the 2nd OEM to complete 130 sets wheels ~ which should be 150 sets in total originally.
I will not caculate the detail here, but it is ture, I can not earn money in the wheel project. That is why I lost my interest to invest another one.

However, if I did not do this, I will never know the market is so small. But I'm still very happy to earn many friends here.

Had a thought tonight... 3D plastic printer. Decent units are $13,000 to $19,000 and are perfect for a small production run. Once the initial time is invested for the design and programming, the rest is virtually automated.

esaresky75 wrote:Had a thought tonight... 3D plastic printer. Decent units are $13,000 to $19,000 and are perfect for a small production run. Once the initial time is invested for the design and programming, the rest is virtually automated.

Yes! 3D printer is a great choice! Is the material strong enough?