Aluminium Bodied Contempoary

[mrmustang]

Now the real fun begins, who in 1997/1998 was panel beating custom aluminum bodies that follow the lines of the Contemporary and not the conventional Kirkham 427 body style?


At the moment, I'm stumped on that one


Bill S

[Obsessive]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

Now the real fun begins, who in 1997/1998 was panel beating custom aluminum bodies that follow the lines of the Contemporary and not the conventional Kirkham 427 body style?


At the moment, I'm stumped on that one


Bill S

That's funny. I asked myself the same question as it was in that exact same time when I was purchasing my CSX. I specifically remember that Shelby American stopped offering aluminum bodies (temporarily) due to lack of resources. Kirkham was producing them but they did not have an agreement with SA at that point. I have not spoken with Dave Hops yet but have his cell and will be speaking with him this week. I'll pass along your "Hello".

MB

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Obsessive

That's funny. I asked myself the same question as it was in that exact same time when I was purchasing my CSX. I specifically remember that Shelby American stopped offering aluminum bodies (temporarily) due to lack of resources. Kirkham was producing them but they did not have an agreement with SA at that point. I have not spoken with Dave Hops yet but have his cell and will be speaking with him this week. I'll pass along your "Hello".

MB

Thanks again for taking the time out to document more of the car and adding the additional pictures. I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong, and have already sent my $20 to Mike.....Can't wait to find out more details of the car and it's build out. Dave was always a stickler for keeping excellent files on everything he touched. Hoping he has the documentation on this one of a kind Contemporary to share.

Given the drivetrain and aluminum body, I'm going to up the value to the $85,000-$95,000 range to the right buyer, once fully sorted and updated.


Bill S.

[Three Peaks]

With this new information or verification of the original information, I'm of the opinion Bill is probably in the ballpark for value, which doesn't surprise me a whole lot.

This is a really good looking car, and with a small amount of work could be just about perfect. Most of the additional work is pretty simple to complete- inner fenders, radiator surround pieces, and a few other items are fairly simple projects to complete. Also, most of the other items mentioned above are simple bolt-ons and fairly simple to source.
As long as a person is in there, I would also remove the tank and relocate the filler location so that ridiculous filler hose isn't right in the middle of the trunk area. This may require a new tank being built, but in my opinion would be definitely worthwhile for aesthetics and for value.
The magnesium wheels are just icing on the cake, IMHO.

Bob

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

Now the real fun begins, who in 1997/1998 was panel beating custom aluminum bodies that follow the lines of the Contemporary and not the conventional Kirkham 427 body style?


At the moment, I'm stumped on that one


Bill S

^^^This. I'd interested in knowing who produced this body.

And I agree with the OP about the $70,000-$80,000 value. I originally said $15,000-$20,000 over a nice Contemporary, once sorted.