Aluminium Bodied Contempoary

[mrmustang]

cobrakiwi

Can't get a picture to upload this am for some reason, but in your picture it would be the triangular square tubing reaching from the upper rear hoop area to the far rear corners on both sides. Look closely at the trunk picture, enhanced, you can see the carpet/trim is attached to the inner quarter panel and not pushed forward (IE: covering) to where the square tubing should be located. Nobody I know who would go through the process of installing an aluminum body would forget that type of support for the rear body...

Mikeinatlanta,

To be specific about the bet, we are talking about the main body and not the hood, trunk, or doors. If so, I'll take that bet


Bill S.

[mikeinatlanta]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

cobrakiwi

Can't get a picture to upload this am for some reason, but in your picture it would be the triangular square tubing reaching from the upper rear hoop area to the far rear corners on both sides. Look closely at the trunk picture, enhanced, you can see the carpet/trim is attached to the inner quarter panel and not pushed forward (IE: covering) to where the square tubing should be located. Nobody I know who would go through the process of installing an aluminum body would forget that type of support for the rear body...

Mikeinatlanta,

To be specific about the bet, we are talking about the main body and not the hood, trunk, or doors. If so, I'll take that bet


Bill S.

To really narrow it down. I'm saying the area I pointed out earlier is alloy. This would be the body at the hood opening in the area of the hinges and stripes.

Is it a bet? You know I'm good for it and I know you are.

EDIT: To be clear. I'm not betting because I really give a crap, just having some fun.

[cobrakiwi]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

cobrakiwi

Can't get a picture to upload this am for some reason, but in your picture it would be the triangular square tubing reaching from the upper rear hoop area to the far rear corners on both sides. Look closely at the trunk picture, enhanced, you can see the carpet/trim is attached to the inner quarter panel and not pushed forward (IE: covering) to where the square tubing should be located. Nobody I know who would go through the process of installing an aluminum body would forget that type of support for the rear body...

Mikeinatlanta,

To be specific about the bet, we are talking about the main body and not the hood, trunk, or doors. If so, I'll take that bet


Bill S.

The square tubing you point out does nothing to support the body work of the car, IMO what it does do, it gives a structure for the inner trunk panels a place to be fastened to, it also helps mount the roll bar bracket, fuel pumps, and I believe on the street cars exhaust pipe hangers. It does tie into the outer corner, but gives little to no support to the outer corner or body.

On my frames, believe it or not the 3/4 round tube that runs from the outer corner down to the suspension tower (under the 1inch square tubing) adds the strength.

You could certainly build a car without that section of tubing and end up with the problem of not having a way to finish off the trunk as the originals did, as we see with this car in question.

What I do see from the OP's picture of the trunk is, there looks to be a steel tubing brace that is fixed to the trunk floor,(my guess would be, fixed to frame under the floor) that looks like it could help support the sub structure that supports the tubing that supports the body.

There's an old saying my grandfather used a lot around me, " Lad, there's more than one way to skin a cat"

[Buzz]

The hood, doors and trunk lid do indeed look like aluminum. I don't think anyone is arguing that. I believe a couple of people , possibly including Tom D'Antonio at Hi-Tech used to produce these aluminum pieces as options for their own 'glass-bodied cars and owners of other brands with accurately shaped openings could and did adapt them to fit. Still others like some members here have been able to fabricate their own. It's easy to conclude that a car with alloy doors and lids and well made aluminum inner panels has a full alloy body, though I'm not suggesting this is what happened here.

It's difficult for me to appear to doubt the testimonial of someone who has actually seen the car, but I have to say the fact that the body really looks like a Contemporary fiberglass body has me on the fence. No ego or anything else at stake for me - I'm just really curious to see how it all pans out.

[mikeinatlanta]

So, Me and Bill the only bet? Who else will put some skin in the game?

[Thor maine]

I will take some of that action. The hood looks odd, like it is aluminum skin over the glass and the fire wall just looks like cut show panel. But all just guessing til when and if more and better pics are posted.

[mikeinatlanta]

Originally Posted by Thor maine

I will take some of that action. The hood looks odd, like it is aluminum skin over the glass and the fire wall just looks like cut show panel. But all just guessing til when and if more and better pics are posted.

Got my $20 into it with Bill. With all the certainty here, I'm sure someone will take you up on your $20.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by mikeinatlanta

So, Me and Bill the only bet? Who else will put some skin in the game?

Any prop bets like an over/under on the car's value?

I'd take the UNDER on the $100,000 value circulated on the 1st page of this thread. In fact, I'd say WAY UNDER.

As for the body, I'm obviously no expert, but the body does appear to be a fiberglass Contemporary body from the limited pics.

I wish I still had an interest in mag wheels, but "that ship sailed long ago."

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by mikeinatlanta

So, Me and Bill the only bet? Who else will put some skin in the game?

Let's face it Mike, few of us are willing to buy our money where our mouth is


Bill S

[LMH]

It would be a hard sell to get $100,000 out of a replica that isn't an original style frame, suspension, etc. even if the whole body is aluminum. I'd say it's in the $70,000 range.
Larry

[krausewich]

How about loser can't post on this forum for a month!

Are more people going to chime in and help this guy achieve what he came here for in the first place, which is to assess a value on the car for this lady... sheesh!!

If it's a fiberglass body, even with ally panels, I would say roughly 50K high-end. If it is an ally body as well, then maybe push that figure closer towards 60K high. To move the car quick, expect to take high 30's on the low end. Contemporary's are still worth a fair amount to some, but they are a has been make these days.

mrmustang... everything you are basing your claims of ally or not on is so off base it's ridiculous.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. -Abraham Lincoln

[750hp]

Originally Posted by krausewich

. Contemporary's are still worth a fair amount to some, but they are a has been make these days.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. -Abraham Lincoln

Has been make? Maybe you should listen to Abraham Lincoln...

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by krausewich

Are more people going to chime in and help this guy achieve what he came here for in the first place, which is to assess a value on the car for this lady...

Let's face it, before we can assess the value, we need to ascertain whether the body (any of it) is actually aluminum, or just the underside finished in aluminum. We'll also need more details on the drivetrain, the last time it was running, heck, even the age of the tires before we can make an educated guess on value. To say "it's a Contemporary, has a 427 engine, what is it worth" is like saying "the sky in blue above my head, what shade of blue is it". You might be able to come up with a figure, but it is not an educated one, nor will it help the widow one way or the other, where the folks like myself, who did this for a living, require some real information before putting pen to paper and working out an actual figure that will be best for both a seller and a buyer

I'll ignore the rest as it is not worth your time or mine


Bill S.

[Three Peaks]

Okay, let's put a pause on the distracting bickering for a minute, or at least long enough for someone else to go take a look at this roadster to verify the aluminum claims. While we are all holding our breath wondering how about this-

Let's just say for the sake of argument that someone built and installed an aluminum body on a Contemporary chassis. Perhaps they used the Contemporary body as a form or body buck to form the aluminum on. Let's just say they added whatever birdcage they needed to attach the aluminum body to the Contemporary frame- which doesn't come with any of this support in it's original configuration.

Now, we can't really use the figures we might come up with if we hired someone to do this work as this isn't a new car and who knows who did the install at the time this was accomplished. Being a used car, the quality of the work being in question, and the knowledge of the builder and his application of supporting frame to install the body (door hinges are a clue), brings value into play here- at least for a knowledgable shopper/buyer.
However, the paint looks very good in the pics, the overall workmanship looks acceptable at the very least, and all of the basic pieces are there to include a 427 SO, supposedly.

So, let's just go with the OP's information from the start of this thread and put a value on this car to be adjusted based on verifiable information at a later date. A decent Contemporary in this condition would probably go in the $35-60K range, depending on a lot of things. For a fairly quick sale, let's just say $40k for this car in its normal fiberglass body shape.
Now add in what the aluminum body addition would add to value, keeping in mind this is a used car and all the other variables mentioned above. Say, $20K? Up or down will vary a bit but I can't imagine someone shopping for a Contemporary paying much more for the upgraded body unless they had commissioned the work themselves and saw what was involved.

So, does this sound reasonable? $40K for the original car plus $20K for a questionable aluminum body add for a total of $60K value for the car to be sold in a fairly quick turn around ? All subject to up close and personal inspection, of course and adjusted as necessary.

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programming....

Bob

[mrmustang]

Bob,

I like where you are headed with your summation, I would say that a quick sale would be $35,000-$38,000 as an original fiberglass car with little build history. $65,000-$75,000 to the right buyer if it indeed has an all aluminum body, of quality construction and engineering/design

Bill S

[dallas_]

ok, you guys know a lot more about values that I do, but wouldn't the advantage of an aluminum body be that people can tell that is it aluminum?

So IF it has an aluminum body, would it be worth more if it was unpainted like some Kirkham's are? So people could see that it is a 'special' car?

Just curious.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by dallas_

So IF it has an aluminum body, would it be worth more if it was unpainted like some Kirkham's are?

No, and in fact, a properly painted Kirkham is actually worth more than an unpainted Kirkham. Apples to apples speaking that is on a comparable car with a comparable drivetrain and no wild color combinations......

You want to add value to a Kirkham, regardless of whether it is painted or not, make sure to have them fit a top and tonneau to it. While rarely used, I have found it is easier to market one with them fitted vs one that has not had them fitted.


Bill S

[Three Peaks]

I've seen a few painted Kirkham and Shelby cars and they are beautiful. As far as value, most of the original street cars (as opposed to the race cars) were painted and I don't think that has held back their value in any way from what I've seen. Actually, paint on a Kirkham is a substantial upgrade in price, as is polishing the body. Not sure what they charge now, but polishing and paint used to be around the same upcharge- around $15K or so.

Bob

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by dallas_

So IF it has an aluminum body, would it be worth more if it was unpainted like some Kirkham's are?

No.

Unpainted is a special Kirkham fad. It has bled over into some of the subsequent Shelbys (who now offers the Kirkham finish). All of the originals were painted.

[Obsessive]

I have been busy with work and have not had time to reengage in this conversation. I apologize for the neglect and suspense. I'm off to go see the car again and understand the widowed owner has found some documentation and the has made contact with David Hops, the car's builder with Monster Motorsports.

I will have plenty to share with you all to suspend further speculation. The brief review of your collective conjecture and CSI-like evaluation of my photos has been absolutely awesome and I really love you guys for digging in like this! I will tell you that I have personally seen lots of original cobras, built two and currently own CSX4060, a fiberglass car. Everything I have seen up to now has me convinced this is a 100% aluminum bodied car with inner fiberglass trunk, foot boxes and cockpit tub. If I prove to be wrong, I'll let you all know. However, I should have lots to share with you by the end of the weekend.

Stay tuned...