Alloycars Aluminum Bodied FORUM Project

[CHANMADD]

Give it up man .......You are showing your assholeness.........

Originally Posted by G-Pete

Well, not just no but HELL NO.

Do you think I let this guy insult me and he gets away --- no chance.

The story changes by the hour - he had all opportunities to come clean and start off new.

But no, that individual choose the path where it goes now...

[Three Peaks]

After seeing the Factory Five offerings, which I think are an excellent kit and well built, there are many differences between them and an original style body. I am building (almost finished) an Exact Carbon Cobra built on Roger's original spec'd frame and the differences are huge. Since this is splashed off an original body, it isn't symmetrical so copying an original will be an exercise in futility, IMHO.
Better to simply copy the Factory Five body completely or do like the Kirkhams and do a scan and clean it up side to side and make the body symmetrical- then try to figure out how to fit it to the Factory Five chassis.
If you go original with the body (albeit making it symmetrical ala Kirkham), you would need to make modifications to the Factory Five frame to make it fit. some of these modifications may end being pretty substantial, some are more minor.
For instance, the outriggers would need to changed and/or shortened and the mounting points relocated to accomodate the wrap around at the rocker that the originals had and the Factory Five doesn't. The Mark IV does have some wrap around at the rocker- more than the early models, but not to the extent the originals had.

The birdcage is already in place in the Factory Five chassis, but will it fit your original style body? Probably not, unless it closely matches the Factory Five body to begin with. Otherwise, more time and money would need to be spent altering the birdcage. For a kit builder, these two items would be a huge undertaking, not to mention expensive since most would have to take it to a welder to have the modifications done. These are not easy modifications to do, as I have done the bird cage and most of the smaller tubing modifications/additions on my chassis.

In my opinion, if you want to go forward with this idea, you need to basically copy the body of the car you intend to replace the body with. If you wish to go with FFR as your first foray, your best bet would be to buy an FFR base kit Mark IV, bring it to your shop, and do some homework to see what is the best way to proceed. You may scrap the idea, you may produce a matching body, or you may decide to offer a kit with the necessary parts to adapt your body. If you are planning on offering a complete car, you may need to familiarize yourself with US laws and regulations regarding selling complete cars. There is a reason the Kirkhams, ERA's, Shelbys, and other kits are sold as rollers as there are extensive rules and regulations in place that would make selling a complete turn key car cost prohibitive.
On top of everything else, I think at your price point of $85K turn key, I think you are painting yourself into a very small niche corner where you won't make enough money to be able to sustain your business model for very long.

Bob

[Alloycars]

Originally Posted by Three Peaks

After seeing the Factory Five offerings, which I think are an excellent kit and well built, there are many differences between them and an original style body. I am building (almost finished) an Exact Carbon Cobra built on Roger's original spec'd frame and the differences are huge. Since this is splashed off an original body, it isn't symmetrical so copying an original will be an exercise in futility, IMHO.
Better to simply copy the Factory Five body completely or do like the Kirkhams and do a scan and clean it up side to side and make the body symmetrical- then try to figure out how to fit it to the Factory Five chassis.
If you go original with the body (albeit making it symmetrical ala Kirkham), you would need to make modifications to the Factory Five frame to make it fit. some of these modifications may end being pretty substantial, some are more minor.
For instance, the outriggers would need to changed and/or shortened and the mounting points relocated to accomodate the wrap around at the rocker that the originals had and the Factory Five doesn't. The Mark IV does have some wrap around at the rocker- more than the early models, but not to the extent the originals had.

The birdcage is already in place in the Factory Five chassis, but will it fit your original style body? Probably not, unless it closely matches the Factory Five body to begin with. Otherwise, more time and money would need to be spent altering the birdcage. For a kit builder, these two items would be a huge undertaking, not to mention expensive since most would have to take it to a welder to have the modifications done. These are not easy modifications to do, as I have done the bird cage and most of the smaller tubing modifications/additions on my chassis.

In my opinion, if you want to go forward with this idea, you need to basically copy the body of the car you intend to replace the body with. If you wish to go with FFR as your first foray, your best bet would be to buy an FFR base kit Mark IV, bring it to your shop, and do some homework to see what is the best way to proceed. You may scrap the idea, you may produce a matching body, or you may decide to offer a kit with the necessary parts to adapt your body. If you are planning on offering a complete car, you may need to familiarize yourself with US laws and regulations regarding selling complete cars. There is a reason the Kirkhams, ERA's, Shelbys, and other kits are sold as rollers as there are extensive rules and regulations in place that would make selling a complete turn key car cost prohibitive.
On top of everything else, I think at your price point of $85K turn key, I think you are painting yourself into a very small niche corner where you won't make enough money to be able to sustain your business model for very long.

Bob

Hi Bob, a long post and full with information. 85k is very fine for us for a standard version, dont worry.
I dont want to be a competitor with Kirkham at all. We will have different products and I like a lot what they are doing...it is just amazing.
They are going a totally different way. I have no any intention to be a competitor...and there is no reason. I am going for a different market.

[Alloycars]

Bob, we are offering complete cars as we are working with a third party contractor who is installing brake, engine and suspension parts. We have a Roller version as well, but the definition "Roller" is wide spreaded between each manufacturer. You have to be very carefully when you start comparing those kits.

[Al G]

Originally Posted by Alloycars

Bob, we are offering complete cars as we are working with a third party contractor who is installing brake, engine and suspension parts. We have a Roller version as well, but the definition "Roller" is wide spreaded between each manufacturer. You have to be very carefully when you start comparing those kits.

Since you are advertising on eBay are you ready to take orders and deliver within the timeframe stated in the advertisement? MKIII or MKIV? Both of these threads have many contradictions.

[Alloycars]

MKIII is our Prototype and we learned from it. With the next MKIV coming in we can install our aluminum bodies on it. But....only MKIII type bodies.
Later I can catch two flies with one hit....having the right body for the MKIV basis kit and having a conversion kit. So for us it isnt really important selling cars, rollers or conversion kits. They all will be the same.
At this moment I have just to wait until more kits are going to arrive to go ahead.
As a coachbuilder you will never end doing modifications and enhancements...no one kit will be the same.