Gauging interest in an FIA roller.

[mj_duell]

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--Mike / Turn Ten Racing, Inc.

[DavidNJ]

Originally Posted by mj_duell

Hi David,
So have you seen Bruce's FIA body in person? I have many pictures, but I won't see it in person until next week. I would like some input.

--Mike / Turn Ten Racing, Inc.

No. However, 427 'replicas' in many cases have a variety of deviations from the original. And this is just accepted. The 289 is distingushised by a different nose, door, flare, trunk, filler, roll bar, etc. The details become more important.

For example, the Carlisle car in your gallery takes wide liberties on the Cobra theme. Half Cobra, half hotrod. The ERA could stand next to an original and you would (at least I would) need to see the emblem or the frame to tell them apart.

I would be ok with an ERA/Kirkham/orignal style body and interior. Everytime I see an ERA next to an FFR, EM, Shell, etc. the differences seem dramatic.

[mj_duell]

Originally Posted by DavidNJ

No. However, 427 'replicas' in many cases have a variety of deviations from the original. And this is just accepted. The 289 is distingushised by a different nose, door, flare, trunk, filler, roll bar, etc. The details become more important.

For example, the Carlisle car in your gallery takes wide liberties on the Cobra theme. Half Cobra, half hotrod. The ERA could stand next to an original and you would (at least I would) need to see the emblem or the frame to tell them apart.

I would be ok with an ERA/Kirkham/orignal style body and interior. Everytime I see an ERA next to an FFR, EM, Shell, etc. the differences seem dramatic.

Hi David,
We have a new body which is very faithful to the original. The problem with producing a dead-on 427 or FIA car is price to the customer. FFR's car is not even close, but they out sell every other manufacturer. We are not trying to duplicate the 427 cars exactly or compete with ERA or Kirkham or Shelby. This was seen in our Carlisle car. I have seen a trend toward a more modern, high-tech looking car lately and that is why we are building not traditional display cars. I can duplicate a very close replica of a 427 if needed and have in the past and I can keep the cost down as well. We wanted to stand out at Carlisle and we want to do the same at London. We have the ability to deliver a high quality replica for an affordable price, but without the sacrifices of the even lower cost brands. We are still doing work on a small scale so we can build cars with a high level of performance. Imagine an FIA replica with our EVO 5 frame, gun-drilled sway bars, Tilton brake set-up, custom valve shocks and a weight of around 2100 pounds. It is a trade off as far as the body, but you also get some good performance. If we were selling $50,000 rollers I would say we have a problem with how close the bodies are to the original cars, but we are just not working in that market.



--Mike / Turn Ten Racing, Inc.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by mj_duell

Hi David,
The problem with producing a dead-on 427 or FIA car is price to the customer.

--Mike / Turn Ten Racing, Inc.

Mike,

Actually, the problem with producing a dead on 427 or FIA car is choosing which 427 or 289 FIA car to reproduce and which body configuration as they sometimes changed from race to race, let alone season to season.

DavidNJ,

If you are not sure of what I am talking about, or cannot tell the difference from car to car or race to race, then you better do a whole lot of research before making the next post.


Bill S.