Well just as the title says. I finally have a shop who wants to build these for us. Going to speak to them more tomorrow.. It is from a company here in Utah capable of doing large 3D printing. This is the big one, one we have all felt defeated over when could even talk about it a SLP grille for sale. Our initial run will be 24 pieces maybe 100. Perhaps there are not that many Monte peeps out here who are looking for that piece, our heyday is now history. . What are your thoughts for any modifying you would like done to it. I'm thinking that plastic flat spot on the nose could be tickled with. Do we have them mold the Chevrolet Bowtie molded directly there on it, or perhaps the SS on some. We are going to talk more tomorrow, go over a few details etc. But finally after 5 years of a drought they are coming into production. Here are excerpts from their email today. If we can strike an agreement bet production would be pretty soon right after that signing. They were going to 3D print it, but now want to cast it, genius thinking from their team. No production prices quoted as of yet, going to listen to them and see what they will try to charge me for them. Hope they are no more than $100 ea. Then I can sell them for $599 ea., what? They are not as good as my original selling for $600 so I have to sell them cheaper, admittedly not much cheaper. Hope you all have thick skin as that was a low down pun, ha ha. Rest assured I will try to feel out the market and be fair to that sell price, don't want to sit on them, want to sell them. This is ALL exciting news right? What? All I can hear is a golf clap and crickets. If we get green light, I will take reservations, fingers crossed. Here excerpts are from their e-Mail today.

Garrett Douglas <garrett.douglas@>XXXXXXXXXX
To:Greg Hubbs
Cc:sales@OOOOOOOO

Wed, Jul 28 at 9:10 PM
Hi Greg,


Thank you for reaching out to us. We’d definitely like to help you out with this project. I’ll show these pictures to our team and get back to you tomorrow with some more info.

Have a good evening!

Thanks,

-Garrett

Sent from my iPhone


Garrett Douglas @xxxxxxxxxx
To:Greg Hubbs


Thu, Jul 29 at 10:31 AM
Hey Greg,


Our design team just wanted to verify that you have the actual part that we could get from you in order to make the replicas from. I assume this is the case, but can you please verify?

There are a couple options we're thinking of doing this. We could 3D print all 24 of them or make a mold and form them. Still waiting to hear back from our product specialist on which option he feels would be best.
Thanks,Garrett Douglas <xxxxxxxxxx
To:Greg Hubbs


Thu, Jul 29 at 11:35 AM
I just had a good discussion with our production specialist and we'd definitely want to make a mold and then cast these. Would you have some time available for a phone call today to discuss this project further?

Thanks,

 

This is great news! Very much hope this works out.

 

Well well well, now this is looking like a project not for the faint of heart or broke. 1st their new email to me and then my reply and then once again after that their latest reply.

Garrett Douglas <garrett.douglas@XXXXXXX
To:Greg Hubbs


Fri, Jul 30 at 8:13 AM
Nice to meet you Greg

Happy Friday!


Thank you for the info and I'm glad you have the actual part. We are super busy with moving into a new production facility and that has put us on some projects with tight deadlines. With that being said, we're generally saying to people we're about 8 weeks out.

I assume there's no hard date on completing this project, but that would be my first question: When do you need these done by?

My next question (and most important one) - do you have a budget in mind for producing these? There are a few different things we can do that can affect the cost so knowing your budget up front would help.

Are you planning on re-selling these?

If they needed some cleanup work after casting/forming them, would you be willing to do that to save money? Or would you want them polished up by our team?

Those are a few questions that come to mind.

Thanks,Garrett Douglas
VP of Sales

[img]cid:image001.png@01D76D88.3ECC1160[/img]

NEXT MY REPLY TO HIS QUESTIONS:


Greg Hubbs <fast02monte@yahoo.com>
To:Garrett Douglas

Fri, Jul 30 at 11:13 AM
Hi Garrett, you get to work early. A new facility, says a lot, White Clouds is filling the needs of the many, in a great way. Thank you for considering this project. In response to your questions.

1. Schedule proposed of 8 weeks is no problem.

2. Budget, I suspect there will be initial setup costs and then a per item rate. Would like to see what you propose, as I have no clue what processes
are involved. Your question does mention cost savings can be found by doing a few different things. What would be the low budget build and a
moderate budget build?

3. Yes, the other Monte Carlo members will be buying these, expect to have 08 extra from a batch of 24. Thought 24 is a nice rounding off number.

4. Interesting question about clean up work. What would that entail? Removing slag from perimeter, diamond mesh inset, and polish to luster.
Would this process be something that a somewhat mid-aptitude person can do and end up with a nice finished product? Don't know every one
in the clubs abilities. They get one and then mess it up. If this process would save a nice amount of money then that interests me, as I may do this
process before sending to the guys. If the amount is negligible, knowing your finished product would be vastly superior to mine perhaps I would go that
route. I suspect you would be projecting this number and I would want you to know it would be non-committal. As once the rough item is out of the
cast the real amount of finish work would then be evident. As long as you believe the rough item you hand over could be made whole by a person with
out specialized tools then I would be interested. I do polish exposed stone edges of numerous profiles to a high luster, am handy with a dremel, and
the cars finish takes a minute to get right. Perhaps a photo of the rough item fresh from the mold is what I would need to see before I can give you
an honest answer. We do want these to be respectable and I don't want to blow this call.

Thank you, regards
Greg

HERE IS THIER LATEST REPLY TO MY EMAIL:


Garrett Douglas <garrett.douglas@XXXXXXX
To:Greg Hubbs


Fri, Jul 30 at 12:22 PM
Greg,


Thank you so much for getting back to me and for providing so much info. We were thinking if we did 24 of these we could get them done for about $375 - $480 each (so about $9,000 - $11,500 for all 24). Is that range something in your budget? If so, I'll get all your additional questions answered by our production specialist that would be managing this project. He knows a lot more than me about all of this. We could even schedule a call so you and him can connect and got over all the details and options. I just want to make sure we're on the same page for pricing before we dive too deep into this project


Thanks,Garrett Douglas
VP of Sales

[img]cid:image001.png@01D76D88.3ECC1160[/img]

With this being the case, even the low number is a bit of money. 9k to 12k, yikes. Is this something we pursue or call it dead in the water. I sure these will be nice, but the numbers may choke some Monte peeps here. Maybe only order 5, then that would not be so many to sell of. I'm tying to do this for our team. Don't actually need one myself, but if I had 2 buyers at this rate I could buy the other 3 and sell on eBay for a slight profit. Okay what are interested peoples thoughts? Drink a beer first, burn one, anything to calm you down, "No not that, pull your zipper back up, jheesh, some people". Sink or swim, next time may be never....

 

I admit, I don't have interest in the SLP grill for myself. But I know what it is like to hunt for things that once were readily available and now seem to be very rare. I know another group trying to make re-productions of this grill as well (they are on Facebook, sadly not on this forum). I don't remember what these ran when they were new, but I would feel that (or a little less) should be the target price.

I too have no idea what the setup process is to make these. I am assuming this is something done with injection molding to be ideal. Sadly, with the estimate they quoted you per piece, I doubt you would find too many buyers to go for it at that price (much less make it worth your time). I know near me is a factory that does injection molding (I know someone who retired from their factory). But I have no idea what it takes to get a job that can be ran.... The place is called "Royal Plastics" here in Mentor, OH. Sadly, I don't have any type of "in" with anything there (and the person I know retired so long ago, they don't know anyone there).

For the sake of people who do want these, I hope you or the other guys I know can succeed in making something happen.
BTW - I would be curious to get those rear window louvers as an item to sell

 

Thats definitely more than im willing to spend for one. Too bad. Im wondering tho, has the price turned you off from even pursuing anymore?

Let me say also, im very grateful knowing of someone thats trying this hard to accomplish something like this. Thank you.

 

You could always set up a group buy like folks used to do back when this platform was just growing / expanding.

That way you could have people put half down to lock in a spot so you'd know exactly how many buyers you've got and would limit the risk of having unsold units sitting around since people are much less likely to back out with skin in the game.

 

You all make good points, Group Buy Ins, spendy accessory . I emailed Garrett about our hedging and here is his reply below. The price to me is not that bad, especially considering the scarcity of an item like this. I would need to have at least 10 people committed to buying a grille and then I would buy the additional 10 to flip. Just dont want to put out the money for 20 and take 3 years to recover it. Any one in at this price at $325 ea. ?

Garrett Douglas <garrett.douglas@XXXXXXX.com>
To:Greg Hubbs


Mon, Aug 2 at 10:15 AM
Hi Greg,

Thank you for the update. I'm sure we could get the price down a bit, maybe $325 each - but the we'd like to do about 20 pcs at this price. If you're only looking to have us do 5 pcs, the price would have to go up. A lot of the price is creating that mold and getting it just right. Keep me posted and hopefully others will want to commit to this project.
Thanks,Garrett Douglas
VP of Sales

[img]cid:image001.png@01D76D88.3ECC1160[/img]

 

Sounds great for those people looking. Glad to see this going into a aftermarket production.

 

ka, it did sound great., Think its a blend of the fabricators wanting a sizable fee $325 for what used to be an $80 part. And then the demand for these is waning. Hence my hedging on buying 20 and perhaps never selling that many. Would probably have to dump them at a loss to move them. So wish I could change the title to NOT going into production. Sad turn of events, finally found a shop that would make them, huge accomplishment and then the numbers appear to be way off. To me $325 is doable in that they are so rare. I wouldnt mind having a couple more spares myself. Sad thing is someone would have to buy 2 as the 1st one may get stolen right off their Monte. LOL, they would have to Plast-Weld it into place, no double stick tape. Could be one day these will be worth $2500 by the year 2040. When people can no longer drive their internal combustion engine and spend money just tricking them out, this part will be super rare. But then maybe not, take a picture of a thing and a 4D Ultra6K printer will make you a perfect copy by the time you finish breakfast.

Hope you have been doing well. Any big changes on your one off 6th gen. Monte build coming up or recently happened? Been getting tickets galore?

 

I just got car back from the body shop, so I can reinstall the engine. Ton's of different changes since original build.It blew a head gasket last fall due the heat crossover in the head's. I got a set of aluminum head's that flow about 25% better, so expecting big power gains. Once I get it installed they will finish the paint . No tickets or anything, just lucky I guess. I've been working out of town a bunch so never have time to do anything. I almost made it to see Sam's build last fall, I was close to the shop it was at in California for one day.