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Post by John Kanters on Nov 2, 2013 20:41:48 GMT -8
Contacted PTT bumper in Vietnam to possibly work with them on reproducing stainless bumpers for the T34.
Anyone interested in maybe doing a group order to reduce cost / convince PTT to make bumpers?
Will see what they come back with.
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Post by Lee Hedges on Nov 3, 2013 19:58:46 GMT -8
That's always a good idea, since the cost of rechroming is getting very expensive.
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Post by John Kanters on Nov 3, 2013 20:07:07 GMT -8
That's what I thought as well and since all of mine need chroming it would be cheaper to buy new stainless ones.
I had a reply from them today, they would like me to send my set over for them to reproduce and are happy to do so.
What I thought I would do is to organize a group buy if anyone is
interested, no pricing has been discussed but T1 Ghia ones with the towel rails and over riders are 650 so would expect a similar price.
Let me know what you think.
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Post by Carsten Klein on Nov 4, 2013 1:16:37 GMT -8
good idea but i think they will be more expensive ... do you speak from the whole bumper in one piece ? bumper guards ? late and early style ?
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Post by Lee Hedges on Nov 4, 2013 8:13:49 GMT -8
It would be fantastic if the complete 10 piece set could also be available as separate parts, to allow owners to buy just the piece that's missing/damaged.
My experiences with group buys is not good, I'm afraid. There needs to be an organizer that hounds the buyers to get them to follow-through with their orders, receive payments, manage shipments & possible incorrect orders, etc.
But the T34 market is there for bumper reproductions. Once owners realize the cost for rechroming and compare it to the cost of new ones + shipping, it may be an easy decision to go with the new set. Here in the USA a set of bumpers could easily cost US$1000 to get triple-plated.
Would stainless steel repro bumpers match the shine of originally chromed parts? That might be an issue. And being forced to buy the complete bumper (instead of parts) might make some owners a bit shy.
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Post by John Kanters on Nov 4, 2013 10:44:29 GMT -8
All good points Lee and yes that is my experience too however I was just trying to see if it was worth looking at but i'm afraid with the lack of response to this thread it doesn't look like too many people are interested right now.
They would reproduce all the individual pieces as they have for the T1 Ghia as anything less would not be acceptable to most owners me included.
I have early bumper guards to send but would need late ones from someone else to be able to get those made as well.
They have confirmed that my original set will be returned to me once everything is finished but I guess what makes me most wary is the fear of loosing my bumpers all together but the cost of chroming mine in NZ will simply outweigh the cost of purchasing new ones.
I've had a set of Harrington Ghia and Beetle ones here and the shine is nothing short of brilliant so I don't think anyone would be disappointed there.
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Post by Lee Hedges on Nov 4, 2013 21:23:25 GMT -8
If you move forward with having them repro the bumper sets, please keep me informed. I'd love to promote the reproduction effort. And I'd definitely buy a spare set of bumpers just to have in case of emergency.
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Post by Carsten Klein on Nov 5, 2013 2:54:49 GMT -8
me too :-) ....
respones and traffic in " traditional " forums like here are slow
and getting slower John ... it is a fact that most of the " traffic " and communication takes place in social networks ... if you like it or not, but thats a fact.
so it might be worth to put it in some T34 related groups in fb to get a better feeling of the needs
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Post by Jamie Hanbury on Nov 5, 2013 12:02:27 GMT -8
Ill have a set for a 64
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Post by John Kanters on Nov 6, 2013 10:27:10 GMT -8
me too :-) .... respones and traffic in " traditional " forums like here are slow and getting slower John ... it is a fact that most of the " traffic " and communication takes place in social networks ... if you like it or not, but thats a fact. so it might be worth to put it in some T34 related groups in fb to get a better feeling of the needs Yes its a shame really as me personally can't stand Facebook so have never joined. Have noticed it in other forums too but oh well that's how it goes. Anyway, about the bumpers............ PTT seem keen enough to make them but they have not yet convinced me to send my set over as samples as I have a lot to loose if it goes wrong. |
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Post by John Kanters on Nov 13, 2013 15:24:15 GMT -8
Looks like this won't happen unfortunately, PTT is keen to make them and they expect a retail of around 700usd for a full set of bumpers but I'm not prepared to send off my one and only set of complete bumpers to them which I may never see back.
So unless someone has a spare set maybe with really bad chrome or something I don't see it happening, they also would be prepared to make the later style guards but I don't have any of those at all.
Judging by the lack of response to this it seems like the same old story so possibly I'll just re chrome mine when the time comes.
If anyone has or knows of a set which can be sent I'd be more than happy to work with them or organize the bumpers to be made.
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Post by Franck Boutier on Nov 14, 2013 11:31:48 GMT -8
Hello John ,
I sent you a PM.
Franck.
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Post by Thom Fitzpatrick on Nov 28, 2013 11:41:23 GMT -8
I bought a set of Vietnamese bumpers for my '56 Ghia and they were garbage. Not only that, but they're made as a set, with a lot of hand-finishing, so it is highly improbably that repro piece would swap for an OE piece.
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Post by Carsten Klein on Nov 29, 2013 0:09:22 GMT -8
its surely better to get NOS ones or refurbish used ones
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