This month in hotel appreciation time went down the rabbit hole of reproduction non heritage mini shells. I've found out there's at least 2 factories making mini shells. One has pickup shells, the other is currently working out the details. Since I have a pickup to restore this is of high interest to me for saving massive amounts of time. Anyways watch the video and check out some stuff available. I have a quote from the company still working out details on their pickup shells. The one already producing them appears to be the pricier option and awaiting a quote still.
https://www.vtgbody.com/
I was watching a video just the other day where someone had one of the new Chinese shells and one of the original reproduction shells (can't remember who makes them) and the panel fitup with doors etc was actually quite a bit better on the Chinese one. It sounded like they made all new tooling and what not to create them.
Will be interesting to see what it does to the market, I mean if you have an original cooper S or something and replace the entire shell with a new one do you really have an original S anymore? Patching in most of the panels one at a time is basically the same thing I guess depending on how far you have to go. Its an interesting conversation I guess, that's probably happened a thousand time before, so maybe not that interesting lol.
That was a topic brought up in the video. I also saw the comparison videos between heritage and China and the China were as good if not better. Another thing is it's the same gauge steel, so weight isn't altered. PLUS they galvanize dip them as shown in the video. The quote I received on a painted shell after shipping was a whopping 7k usd. Haven't determined if that includes customs and tarrifs. Some "retailers" ? want you to buy in bulk, so 5-10 shells at a time, while others allow 1 shell at a time. Even if the paint sucked that's a good deal.
Ok. Group buy anyone?
More as it unfolds. Chatting with the one rep from the factory making all sorts of different cars. They're still perfecting the mini shells and developing the pickups. I can get a discount buying 2+