328 Fog/Driving Lights

Ok, this topic has been covered to death in the past with not a lot of positive results. Glass lenses NLA, repro plastic, extortionate cost to buy replacements etc IF THEY ARE EVEN AVAILABLE..... I have been quoted anywhere between US$800 to US$1200 for replacements in plastic, glass etc etc.

Anyway, I've just signed the cheque to have a mold made and an initial run of glass lenses to match the RHS front of my 1988 328 GTS (USA). I will have the mold to check for defects in 2 weeks time and will have the first 10 pieces within 30 days from now. These are expected to be exact reproductions of the original Carrello lens in the original quartz glass material. They will make the mold by scanning my old one with a 3D laser scanner which will then cut a stainless steel mold to take the molten glass. (They will likely also reproduce any defects in the original part. The original is not a particularly hi tech or high quality piece of work.)

Anyway what I am interested to know is roughly how many people would seriously be interested in buying one of these lenses. The number of interested people will have a big effect on the final cost down the line. I have to get one made anyway as the original on mine has been broken for some time and I resent paying through the nose for a replacement. The cost of mold/mock up etc is pretty huge but I think it can be offset if there are enough people interested.

Bear in mind that:
1 This is only for the right hand side glass part. Taking out the old one and refitting the new piece is entirely up to the buyer. I also need a left hand side but I'm not going to commit to the mold etc until I'm happy with this one. So in the future there may be a left side piece available as well.

2 I cannot provide any guarantee of quality although I certainly won't ship anything that does not look identical to the original I have (without the cracks and chips of course...) and I will make sure the material used is the same as the original.

I can get these done for this first run for US$575 including shipping to the USA. After this run the price may go up a little (when I know all my costs and other unforeseens) or down if there is a decent demand. I know everyone says the same but I am not really out to make a killing on this. I do however want to comfortably cover my costs and all the running around/trudging round factories/general hassle I've gone through to get this far.

I won't ask for the money until I have the pieces in hand and can make sure they are good enough to ship out. This is not my business so I'm going slowly to start with.

So, any takers................?

Cheers

Mark
Taiwan/UK

 

Sorry I should clarify. I don't need committments to buy but just an indication of how many people might be interested for roughly that cost.

Appreciate any input.

Cheers

Mark
Taiwan/UK

 

500$ is still insane I agree. I could get the cost significantly lower if I had a better idea of what the realistic market for these would be. The initial cost of the mold is the biggest cost of course.

I would like to get the eventual cost down to about US$250-300 ish.

Mark
Taiwan/UK

 

I don't know about the mondial - someone else with access to p/n's would need to check. Sorry.

Mark
Taiwan/UK

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Good to get some response. I would hope to sell a PAIR for more than US$500 though as that would equate to 250 each when the glass ones currently run at about 500-600 EACH. Of course that's rip off money but I'm aiming to get about 600 a pair. Bear in mind that although the plastic replacements may be unbreakable etc they are not close to original. That may or may not be a problem depending on your view point but personally I would rather have glass replacements. If they were not so damn expensive then perhaps we would not be quite so paranoid about breaking them in the first place, applying film etc.

However, as I said I'm not really in this to make a killing so once I've covered my outlay plus a bit the costs will drop. I'm supposed to see a first batch next week and then I'll have a better idea if this is really going to work quality-wise.

Get back to you then. Thanks for the comments though.

Cheers,
Mark

Taiwan/UK

 

Well...............the reason I'm having to make the LHS as well is that I broke the Bl**dy thing trying to get it out of the housing so it could be scanned. The RHS glass was broken anyway and that came out without too much swearing but the LHS side was a complete bi*ch and in fact I still haven't got it out. I gave blood too on this......got to work out a better way of getting them out without trashing the housing.

If someone had a housing they didn't want I could get that remade too. I just haven't psych'd myself up to start tearing my housings to bits as well - there's always the risk of ending up with nothing but a box full of very expensive bits.

But one thing people here do very very well is reproducing stuff - used to be all knock off tacky stuff but these days the quality is really pretty good.

Thanks though for the info.

Mark

 

Same experience here too - see above post. There must be a way of softening up that adhesive. Perhaps putting the whole thing in hot-ish water for a while might help..? Otherwise as you say, it will require some very clever tool/gadget to get the glass out without damaging the housing. It's a shame Ferrari didn't stick the rest of the car together as thoroughly as the lights...........

Cheers

Mark

Taiwan/UK