o/t question/idea

[Camo King]

Hey guys and gals!

I was sitting here thinking about an idea for the industry. Do you guys think there would be a market for those show rods that guys are building with the 60s car quarters and fins and all that? I was thinking a guy could build the bodies out of fresh steel and sell them like the Brookville bodies. You could also do them from fiberglass.

What do you guys think???

 

[Blue Eyed Devil]

Honestly, probably not. That is if by "market" you mean making money at it. The market would be extremely limited. Considering you would intend this to be a home-based effort, the amount of labor entailed would far outweigh any profitability IMO. Unless you really like working for free, in that case I suppose it would be worth a go....

 

[IronRat]

I agree extremely small niche' to work in.

Might not be terrible as an additional offering for an established reproduction car part business. I think it would be hard to be profitable on it's own.

 

[Country Misfit]

I think those kind of cars are Cool. I never seen or heard of one till Ricks Garage posted his Black Friday build. I think the [ cool ] part of the car comes from the old parts used. I dont think one with a [new] body would sell very well. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[05snopro440]

I think the market would be small. My idea would be to build them in 1/2 scale or so out of fiberglass. Then you could make a go-kart out of it! It wouldn't be cheap or easy to make the molds to manufacture, though.

 

[Willowbilly3]

Since the only appeal is the uniqueness of each rod, and not even always then, a cookie cutter body wouldn't make it IMO.

 

[Camo King]

That seems to be kind of what I was thinking. A small market. I just wondered if no one was building these rids because they are hard to make or because they are just not fo everyone. Some good insight here. Glad I didn't spend all my money on something I couldn't sell!!

 

[Willowbilly3]

I look at them much the same as chopping a Fleetline, very hard to pull off but awesome when you do. The ones I like best look almost factory like the mid 50s Dodge pickup with car rears. I pretty much don't like them with the tires on the outside. just me.

 

[Sam_Fear]

That seems to be kind of what I was thinking. A small market. I just wondered if no one was building these rids because they are hard to make or because they are just not fo everyone. Some good insight here. Glad I didn't spend all my money on something I couldn't sell!!

To be blunt, it's hard to make those not look like butt from more than one or two angles. Like the S10 frame rats with the front end overhangs. Usually the back end looks good, but they look bad from the firewall forward. Most fail from 32 grille syndrome. A full front clip would fix that.

You can get away with a rat that's out of proportion because they're built cheap and for fun. A new materials build, you'd need to be spot on.