Arntz Cobra body replacement?
 

Has anyone here on the Arntz/Butler forum ever successfully fitted or replaced their damaged Arntz body with a new body from another manufacturer? If so, what brand, details, etc?

Or, any leads to copies of the original bodies or original molds would be appreciated. Thanks, Duane

Duane, since the cockpit, inner fenderwells, trunk, front cowl, rear hoop and so on are all integral parts of the body, I'd think it would be pretty tough to replace the body alone. that stuff was all fitted with jig fixturing, and would really be tough to relocate properly from scratch.

Duane,

You might give Gordon Levy a call. He had an Arntz in his shop a few years ago that suffered severe damage. I know he replaced the entire front clip. I do not know where the clip came from.

Mike

Duane
Try some of the UK Cobra companys, like Dax they used the Arntz body for there cobra replicas in the late 70`s early 80`s.
Daxcars.co.uk
Adrian

Hey Guys!

I'll give them a try after the first of the year. I might even go as far buying the original molds if they are still laying around somewhere here on the Left Coast.

Thanks for the replys and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all of you. :)

Kirkham would be my choice.

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.

Wayne,
I will stop over there and check it out. I heard about about Tim. Hopefully his Son will carry on. Thanks.

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

Steelcomp,
Noting your previous involvement as per your comments on other threads and your comments here, where are the Arntz type II or type III molds today? What happened to them or who has them now?

I answered that previously in this thread. Back up one page. AFA the molds previous to the last (type III), those were long before my involvement. Steve Arntz told me who they were sold to, but I forget now. I would imaqgine they were JUST the body molds, as most of the inner panels could be used in most any body shell, anad would work with the newer version. Briefly, the last I saw of the most recent molds was with Steve Arntz in 2000 in a storage yard in Ukiah, CA.

Duane,
If you can't find the molds and are in need of an Arntz body, I might know of an Arntz without an engine or trans. (last registration on it was in 85) I met a guy awhile back who had one sitting in his machine shop (San Carlos/Belmont area ). He pulled the motor out over ten years ago and it had been sitting since. He did mention he was interested in selling it. It was a completed Arnts, 350 chevy, sprite front end, big thick roll bar (with bar going into floor of passenger footwell side, those 3 piece rims......I referred a few people in the site to him, not sure if anyone ever checked it out or bought it. Let me know and I'll see if I still have his number or can track him down.
Bob

Hi Bob,
I recall this from a while ago, but don't know the result.

Send me a PM and we can go take a look at it sometime. The last I recall he wanted a lot of money for what was there... but he obviously still has it. Thanks. Duane

Duane, I think the Butlers are still in the Santa Barbara/Goleta area. They had sold the business to a guy in Buellton but took the company back. His son was doing sprint cars?

I also thought I heard that Steve Arntz was in the bay area working out of Sears Point?

Sorry, memory fading with age

AL

Hi Al,
Yeah I was down to Ron's place a while ago. They still had some leftover component parts, etc... but no molds or extra bodies. Thanks.

I just love hearing these stories:3DSMILE:

steelcomp,
I'm not saying that Tim's mold is THE Arntz/Butler mold, I said we saw a couple of Arntz/Butlers at the Knotts show, and we swear that those bodies came out of this mold.
There are several pictures of bodies that came out of this mold in my gallery, the white body has very little work done to it since comming out of the mold. The black body after paint.
Tim had some pictures of the mold being made and I took some digital pics of the pictures, not too clear, but one might be able to tell which mfg's car is being used to cast the mold....Tim did not remember.
I'll post them when I get a chance.
Tim made this mold for Dan Fodge, and Tim said they then spent a year "tweaking" the mold till Dan was satisfied with it.
I also have some pictures of the mold from when I purchased it a few year ago.
I understand that there are more pieces and parts than just the body mold. Fact is, Tim made molds for two different door "styles", one "deeper" than the other. This mold-set also has the inner body molds to make a 'clamshell' to fit the sq tube frames.