I sent an email to Dennis Carpenter

[dcbullet]

Some of you might be interested in the reply:

The tooling for the 1967-69 grille was destroyed by Ford - no plan to
make the grills
We are considering making the brackets.

-----Original Message-----
From: Me
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 6:52 PM
To: Dennis Carpenter Ford Reproductions
Subject: Question about currently unavailable parts

Hi:

I was just curious if you were ever planning to produce or offer the
following 2 parts:

1. Aluminum grills for F-100 67-69 trucks.
2. Rear brackets to attach chrome styleside bumper for 67-72 F-100.
You sell the bumper, but not the bracket to attach it to the truck!

I'm sure you are aware that these items are fairly hard to come by and
sell for big bucks on ebay! If you produced them, I bet you would sell
alot.

I was just curious if these were in the works.

Thanks,

Bill

[FORDification]

Thanks for forwarding that on to us, Bill. I was always a little curious about those unavailable grilles too. Let's hope like heck they decide to start reproducing those bumper brackets, too.

[snooziums]

When is someone going to make chassis for this era series? Someone makes 66-77 Bronco frames (seen in broncograveyard.com), and they are brand new and made better than the original. In fact, you can practically built that era Bronco from the ground up using new reproduction parts.

I know that US Body makes the reproduction Cab for the 67-72 F-series, however they cost over five thousand dollars, and do not come with a dashboard.

[FORDification]

US Body's stuff is all fiberglass...it's meant for racing applications, and specifically says it's NOT for a street-driven vehicle. They'd never stand up to the abuse of day-to-day driving.

It really doesn't make good business sense to reproduce something that is in abundance already. A '67-'72 chassis is often free for the taking, simply because there are so many of them and too few people who want them. Heck, I've hauled a half-dozen of them to the scrap dealer's myself, over the past couple years.

I sincerely hope you're not thinking about trying to build a truck by buying all the individual pieces you'd need. Not only would it take forever, but you're gonna have SEVERAL HUNDRED times more into it than what it's worth.

[dcbullet]

I sincerely hope you're not thinking about trying to build a truck by buying all the individual pieces you'd need. Not only would it take forever, but you're gonna have SEVERAL HUNDRED times more into it than what it's worth.

If you've ever watched that show "Trucks" on Spike TV, that's basically what the guy does. It's cool to watch just to see his nice garage and work he does, but if you actually replicated some of the trucks he makes it would be like $30K - $40K. He's all casual about it too ..."so you just buy this small block and throw on these custom heads, followed up by EFI..."

[FORDification]

Yeah, it's too bad we ALL didn't have an expense account like that guy's got! I'm sure I could also build some totally killer trucks if I just got to pick the parts and not worry too much about the cost.

[snooziums]

I have to admit, I watch that show. Geesh, he makes it look so easy. And where he builds a truck on just a few weeks, I have heard that it takes the average person an average of four years to re-build a vehicle from the ground up.

He must spend like about $10,000 per truck rebuild. My gosh.

Maybe I could make a truck out of cardboard?

[72hiboy4x4]

[quote="snooziums"]
He must spend like about $10,000 per truck rebuild. My gosh.
[quote]

more like $10,000 on just the engines he installs. Stacy doesnt do anything that the average guy can afford!
Even tho he says some of them are 'budget builds'!

[BigRedTruck]

well there still may be hope.....saw a show on the istory channel they make this big industrial machine that coin copiers use a lot...it makes exact molds of existing objects....but you would need a big one.. ah....electrical discharge machines no idea how they work but they cost more than any one of us could afford

[willowbilly3]

ITrucks is my favorite automotive program. I just saw that he got the Copperhead finnished, must have taken over a year. I especially like the fact that he takes them out and drives like he stole them. I can't wait to see the Hemi powered hotrod done.
As far as repop chassis I think Fatman or someone now has a front suspension replacement.

[trukcrazy]

Fatman builds frames up to 66 according to his ad. Maybe one for 67-72 is on the drawing board. 2495.00 for fully welded bare frame. www.fatmanfab.com I haven't checked the site yet, but will shortly.

[greenbank]

I looked into building repros of an olde English sports car when repro bodies became available...it would be more than a new Miata to make something that doesn't have anything like the capabilities, and the only interested parties would be weird dumbasses like me...who generally don't have any money!

We should feel lucky. The average Jaguar XKE rebuild costs about $30-40K in parts and machining, let alone labor for bodywork. There's a place in Texas that does turn-key restorations--$125K + your car. And while it's an exotic car, they did build 75,000 of them.

I've often fantasized about having a little operation that turned out "new" old trucks or cars. But I doubt you could make any money at it unless you could sell an "as new" '70 F100 for $20-30K...and even then, you'd have to choose the right trucks to start with, and be able to sell 10 or more a year. I mean, having pros on the payroll and buying parts...

You might have better luck if you could just go for the look, as in figuring out a way to plunk down a body on a current chassis of some sort, that you could buy in bulk from Ford or whoever. That's probably what people in that market would want, anyway, a modern truck that looks like a classic, and which has modern comfort inside. That might actually be kind of a fun project, too, but I want my old cars to be old, that's the charm for me.

Judging by the fact that that perfect brand-new '70 in the for sale forum hasn't reached that price, I don't think the market is there. Fun to dream about while falling asleep, though. Too old to dream of Daisy Duke any longer.

[willowbilly3]

I'd like to get my hands on a 2wd Expedition chassis and set it next to one of ours. Not the newer IFS rear though.
Then while I am in Ford dreamland get a late model Lightning engine and tranny. And wrap a nice 69 Ranger shortbed body around the whole thing with about a good 3-4 inch drop.

[72truckdriver]

WillowBilly3 just curious why a expedition chassis not a truck? While we are at it how close are the wheel bases to my 72 and my neighbors 96 that caught fire last week.

[dcbullet]

I've often fantasized about having a little operation that turned out "new" old trucks or cars. But I doubt you could make any money at it unless you could sell an "as new" '70 F100 for $20-30K...and even then, you'd have to choose the right trucks to start with, and be able to sell 10 or more a year. I mean, having pros on the payroll and buying parts...

You may recall Nissan did that a couple years ago with the 240Z, factory restorations (well, certain dealers did it.). They were around $25K if I recall and Nissan didn't make any money, from what I read. Not a rare car by any means, either.