Quote:
Originally posted by 427SSSS
Duane,
I may have a body that will fit an Arntz/Butler; while at one of the Knotts shows, Tim of Fiberjet Ind. and I checked out a couple of Arntz/Butlers, and we both swear the bodies came out of the mold sitting at his shop.
BTW, Tim passed away a couple of months ago but his son, Danny has taken over the business, and the mold is still there.
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My condolences for Tim's passing.
If you can post a pic of the mold(s) I can tell you if it's the Arntz mold. (Not the Butler mold...there was never any such thing). FYI...there's way more to a "body" than the body. Here's a list of the molds you'd need to complete the Arntz body "kit"
Body mold
Hood mold
Inner hood mold
Door mold, left
Door mold, right
Inner door mold, left
Inner door mold, right
Trunk lid mold
Inner trunk lid mold
Inner trunk mold
Inner cockpit/ foot box mold
Front inner fender well mold
Dash mold (although a Butler addition...the original Arntz used an aluminum dash)
There were several Arntz body molds throughout the development of his car, and along with those came different versions of the inner molds. The earlier molds were sold to other Cobra mfgrs. The last version was (if I remember correctly) the type III. There are very subtle but distinct differences between the Arntz and the original Cobra body shape. The rear of the car recieved particular attention with widening and a slight re contour of the rear fenders. This is one of the reasons you can put a full 12" wide tire under the rear fenders of an Arntz. The front fenders and air intake opening recieved a similar re contouring. It's the reason an Arntz stands out like it does...it just looks better and "badder". It's no mistake. Steve Arntz was no purist by any means. He had his own very distinct ideas and visions about what he wanted his car to be.
The Arntz Cobra has a unique steel structure tht separates it from al other Cobre replicas. One of these features is the steel door beams and hinge designs that are fiberglassed into the doors during construction. There were dozens of jig fixtures that were included with the tooling and fixturing of the body mold "package" that insured the proper location of all these componants. You might have a similar "body" mold (the body is easy enough to splash), but without all the other components and the knowledge that it takes to put it all together in order to duplicate the Arntz design, you don't have anything any better than 90% of the rest of the junk out there. These were some of the primary things that made (makes) the Arntz so different and so much better that most (if not all) others. Giving credit where credit is due, the Arntz was originally designed to be a Cobra that one could drive every day, as a daily driver. I saw a demo that Steve Arntz had which had well over 100K mi. on it. It was in better condition that a lot of production cars of today. There were three body versions of the Arntz, most of which you see are the type III. (This is what the Butler was a continuation of, and actually didn't have a lot of the Arntz engineering...Butler downgraded the car slightly to makae it cheaper) Arntz actually had a type IV that he had taken to FOMOCO to have mass produced as a production car, which met ALL dot crash and impact requirements. There are a few of those floating around out there as well. Unfortunately Steve Arntz's paranoia ended that project when he became suspect that certain Ford execs were trying to "steal" his idea, and he pulled the plug on the project.
What most people don't realize is that the Arntz Cobra, back in the 80's, was a FULLY engineered car. When he went to Ford, there was a manufacturing bluprint drawing for every single part on that car. Hundreds of the best quality (back then hand drafted) drawings and spec sheets you could imagine. I saw them. It's too bad that the whole Arntz/ Butler history is mired in all the darkness that surrounds it. There isn't another replica out there which can match it's quality and engineering, even to this day, AFAIC. I was willing to put my name and stake my reputation on it.
steel