CSX vs. Superformance Body Mold

[LMH]

Originally Posted by snakeeyes

Thanks, Larry. I stand corrected. I know I read somewhere (I think in a post on this site) about the Hi-Tech body serving as the starting point, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the first time the good old internet has been wrong.

As an aside, I love that green ERA in gtk’s post. I’ve always been a sucker for FIA wheels on a 427.

I should clarify my response! No relationship between KMP/Shelby and Hi Tech as far as the car is concerned. I believe Tom D'Antonio worked for Shelby later after Hi Tech, so there is that connection but not the cars themselves.

Larry

[66gtk]

spf - blue
ERA - green

[tomshep]

Great info here. I appreciate the responses. This confirms what I suspected in looking at SPF vs. CSX cars. And also where part of the price difference comes in. Not only are you paying for the CSX number but a more accurate body line and also the chassis with a round tube frame.

I'm not trying to stir the pot or cause waves amongst the members. But if I am spending $50K+ I want to get as accurate a car as I can.

Tom

[ERA 626]

Originally Posted by tomshep

Great info here. I appreciate the responses. This confirms what I suspected in looking at SPF vs. CSX cars. And also where part of the price difference comes in. Not only are you paying for the CSX number but a more accurate body line and also the chassis with a round tube frame.

I'm not trying to stir the pot or cause waves amongst the members. But if I am spending $50K+ I want to get as accurate a car as I can.

Tom

$50k will not come close to a SPF or a CSX or an ERA sorry man.

[tomshep]

Originally Posted by ERA 626

$50k will not come close to a SPF or a CSX or an ERA sorry man.

There was a "+" on there.

I'm seeing plenty of ERAs in the $60s. SPF start in that range and higher. I struggle with their low profile tires which are common with them and lack of an FE in many. CSX in the lower 6 figures other than the recent anomaly in CA for $99,000 that someone reported was an estate sale, purchased and now for sale much higher.

Tom

[1795]

There are good cars to be had in the price range that you are looking for. Just take your time and look around. The typical cobra owner is aging and every now and then you see a member posting here saying that they have to give up their cobra for health reasons.

[Buzz]

The Kirkhams own(ed?) an original CSX3--- Cobra roadster, and I'm pretty sure that was the initial baseline for their bodies, albeit with some tweaks and adjustments to correct the original's hand-formed imperfections and inconsistencies.
I might be wrong on this, but I seem to recall that their original Cobra started life as a street roadster and they needed to perform the requisite modifications to their tooling to produce their signature SC-style replica. I'm sure as the product evolved they developed the ability to produce any original (or other - like the flip top) body style that a customer preferred.

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by Buzz

The Kirkhams own(ed?) an original CSX3--- Cobra roadster, and I'm pretty sure that was the initial baseline for their bodies, albeit with some tweaks and adjustments to correct the original's hand-formed imperfections and inconsistencies.
I might be wrong on this, but I seem to recall that their original Cobra started life as a street roadster and they needed to perform the requisite modifications to their tooling to produce their signature SC-style replica. I'm sure as the product evolved they developed the ability to produce any original (or other - like the flip top) body style that a customer preferred.

Thanks, Buzz. Now that you say that I recall reading an article—in Autoweek, I think—very early on in Kirkham’s history about how they digitally scanned the body of their CSX car, corrected side-to-side dimensional differences on a computer, and then had a metal shaping outfit in Poland actually produce the finished bodies. Slightly more involved than a couple of guys forming aluminum on a body buck at AC Cars

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by snakeeyes

Slightly more involved than a couple of guys forming aluminum on a body buck at AC Cars

Actually AC didn't form the bodies, that was sublet to two other firms who supplied the front/rear clips to be joined at AC in Thames Ditton.

[Buzz]

Shelby once said in an interview that the original AC bodies were being beaten out by a couple of winos under a bridge.

[Blas]

From my notes:

Arntz/Butler: splashed CSX3193
Contemporary Classics: splashed CSX3045
ERA Replicas: splashed CSX2345 and CSX3252
Hi-Tech Motorsports: splashed CSX3190
Hurricane: splashed CSX3235
Kirkham: modeled their cars after CSX3104 (and drawings from CSX3107)
Shelby Autos: splashed CSX3178 for their fiberglass continuation series cars (CSX4000/6000s)

Blas

[RUFdriver]

Originally Posted by Blas

From my notes:

Arntz/Butler: splashed CSX3193
Contemporary Classics: splashed CSX3045
ERA Replicas: splashed CSX2345 and CSX3252
Hi-Tech Motorsports: splashed CSX3190
Hurricane: splashed CSX3235
Kirkham: modeled their cars after CSX3104 (and drawings from CSX3107)
Shelby Autos: splashed CSX3178 for their fiberglass continuation series cars (CSX4000/6000s)

Blas

More data...
Lone Star Classics (now UCC) reportedly used / splashed CSX 4288 for their molds.

[E5USMC]

Great thread.... any info on where each 289 mold came from?

[LMH]

I always wanted to ask this! What the definition of “Splashed”?
Larry

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by LMH

I always wanted to ask this! What the definition of “Splashed”?
Larry

Larry, it’s a process of making male and female molds from an existing body. Here is a link to a book chapter that discusses various techniques for doing it. I would bet Tjd could give us a doctoral dissertation if he felt like it, though.

https://books.google.com/books?id=il...20mold&f=false

[LMH]

Originally Posted by snakeeyes

Larry, it’s a process of making male and female molds from an existing body. Here is a link to a book chapter that discusses various techniques for doing it. I would bet Tjd could give us a doctoral dissertation if he felt like it, though.

https://books.google.com/books?id=il...20mold&f=false

Thanks! I actually knew what it meant, I wondered if others did and that we were all on the same page, so to speak. In the case of Hurricane molding an original car, a damaged oil cooler scoop on CSX3235 made it's way to the mold and bodies cast thereafter. It's slight but we had a discussion about it way back when I had my Hurricane. We concluded it just added to the original look!
Larry

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by LMH

Thanks! I actually knew what it meant, I wondered if others did and that we were all on the same page, so to speak. In the case of Hurricane molding an original car, a damaged oil cooler scoop on CSX3235 made it's way to the mold and bodies cast thereafter. It's slight but we had a discussion about it way back when I had my Hurricane. We concluded it just added to the original look!
Larry

That reminds me of Gus Macrae in “Lonesome Dove”, commenting that the scar on Lorrie’s face made her more attractive, not less. Sometimes imperfections make us more perfect, I guess.

[bwcobra15]

Originally Posted by LMH

Thanks! I actually knew what it meant, I wondered if others did and that we were all on the same page, so to speak. In the case of Hurricane molding an original car, a damaged oil cooler scoop on CSX3235 made it's way to the mold and bodies cast thereafter. It's slight but we had a discussion about it way back when I had my Hurricane. We concluded it just added to the original look!
Larry

Truth. I can walk down a row of cobras and look at the oil cooler opening and pick out the Hurricanes. Kind of cool !

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by snakeeyes

Larry, it’s a process of making male and female molds from an existing body.

Well that explains why some of the cars around here look masculine and some look feminine.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by LMH

I always wanted to ask this! What the definition of “Splashed”?
Larry

Here's a picture of the mould that was made from the front section of my car.....

edit: ....and the second picture (added) is what the underside of the mould looks like. Obviously, if the surfaces being "splashed" are well prepared, then the mould is just as good.

Cheers,
Glen