Hello Timo, lovely Sunday I hope... To try and answer your question, all my Dino reproduction parts, Alfa Romeo and a few other brands are 'spot on'. Otherwise, I will not venture to offer, 3rd row seating. Yet, my difference, or maybe not, is not really to make money, mostly passion, as my line of 'real life work' is a completely different one, whereas you, are a true professional restorer. What I am talking about, are the more 'intricate' parts, as the above mentioned horn button. Demand for this item, close to nil, but some will buy if offered. So to make it in viable numbers is not feasible as takers will be few and far between, 10 possibly, worldwide. Yet as Keith points out, they are available, so why go through all the trouble and not get the 'font' right? Another example is the Dino 206 / 246 L, engine compartment light. It was produced as a 3 year project, the most enterprising manufacturer made a 99% quality item, promptly sold out 100% of production, and will "never make them again". They also made the Dino hubcap emblem, a 100% perfect item, sold out in no time, but showed that it was possible as demand was realistic. So, emblems are doable, as horn buttons would be. Bottom line though, you are right, at times we misjudge the market. I have a few too many perfect Dino consoles on a rack, in all LM&E iterations that will sell...maybe 1 or 2 x year. For instance, Dino door glass...If they can make a copy that will roll up and down, but has the wrong curvature, what is so difficult in giving it the proper one? It takes the same exact effort to make either. You make Daytona glass, was it fun? I think it is a matter of realizing if items are beyond your range of manufacture, and in that case, just don't dabble in pointless projects. But you already know that, right? Kind regards, Alberto
Yes, you and I have covered most of this before. My question was more rhetorical and an attempt to offer others reading this thread now or in the future some reference material and food-for-thought. My first & foremost reasons to reproduce anything has always stemmed from a) my passion for (vintage) cars and b) necessity for NLA pieces. Having always lived a life of very limited means, at times these endeavors have ended up costing me much more than I could’ve afford, but... As for my Daytona and other vintage car glass productions, not only there are others competing in this very limited market, making my (again very limited) financial abilities to endure cost impacts of high quality products difficult to sustain, but in my 25+ year involvement with them, I’ve also learned that technology, while it has evolved in +/-50 years, it has also introduced limitations not present at the time these cars were originally manufactured. And some of these (modern technology, etc.) limitations are actually directly related to your Dino glass complaints. So to answer your question whether it was “fun” to produce Daytona glass, the answer is NO and once I’ve sold my existing (but very limited) stock, I may not be able or willing to endure producing more.
While I'm not familiar with Dino side glass, all the ones in Daytona not only have compound curvature, but due to mid-to-rear body's tear-drop shape design, door & rear quarter glass feature/follow same uneven narrowing toward the rear (i.e front edge of door/drop glass is different than rear edge) and apparently nearly impossible to replicate with todays $20M+, fully automated/robotic CNC production machinery (???). Yeah, so much for "modern tech". And you add all the (individual) "handcrafting"(?) features of OEM coachwork their bodies are/were "plagued" with...
Alas...just the same. To scan a Dino, you require a bit of insanity and a lot of patience... Surveyors tool might work, somewhat. And yet, they insist on making crappy door glass, as if they did not know, and it is just horrible
I can add that the door glass I bought from Timo was perfect. He even corrected faults that the original glass had -- left and right originals were different curvatures.
Alberto, Along with number of other components, I've produced all glass for Daytona, but some pieces I'm down to a handful and once gone, I may not do more. Not sure if I'll ever "dabble" with Dino door glass, as it (too) would likely require having one (or more) cars in my shop to study and create good patterns and tooling with (like with Daytona, using original ones may not be enough and took couple of years + couple of prototyping costs, not to mention headaches, to get done).
Timo, Please send the Inventory list ? alberto.guirola at gmail.com I understand about Dino, ands no more headaches, I promise. I guess I will have to think something clever. Oh well...
if hijacking your own thread leads to someone building proper Dino door glass, I'll be proud that my post reawakened the sleeping thread. I miss my Dino.