Am I the only one seeing the difference in turn signal/driving lights between the wrap around style of the silver one (which looks much better), than the non-wrap around ones on the red one (which looks crappy, IMO)? I think that is one of the main features.

BTW, the wind was blowing during my burnout in my sig pic...I do not have the only "one wheel drive" Corvette made...lol

 

I think you guys are making things more complicated than they really are.

1. its clearly a small operation, they don't stock all of their parts and make them to order (also to local customers). I see no problem, order one and they will make it. Shipping is a bigger problem to crack but doable.

2. they have never made any export business at all and you think it would be simpler to make an international license agreement between 2 parties who do not speak the same language? Forget it.

3. You don't have any glassfibre guys in USA? In Europe there is hundreds/thousands of what you call import car guys in every country who are making bumpers in their parents garage to all sorts of cars. And most of their tuning bumpers are way more complicated than the one on the silver car. And I really don't mean professionals but the normal 18+ year old kids with their first car. Take one stock C4 bumper to such kid with a photo of what you want, agree the price and he will make the plug and a mold from it.

4. do it yourself, if the kids can do it so can you. Will get your hands dirty though

Whatever you do don't make it too complicated for him or stress him too much. As export business represents 0 yen of his business now and if it feels too complicated its very easy for him to say "forget it, our policy is now no exports. Bye!". This could deny this product from the whole world.

 

Yes you are. The lights on late C4 bumpers do not actually wrap around but they are exactly like they are on the silver and red cars (the same). The corner piece which is part of the bumper is just painted red on the red car and black on the silver car. Hope this clears it up for you.

Another option: you are comparing the early and late bumpers which is obviously not apples to apples situation. There is 2 red cars on this thread, one late and one early.

Here is my bumper to illustrate what i mean, look at the corner:


BTW. the turn signal lights are attached to the bumper cover support and the driving lights to impact part. So they completely separate parts attached to different parts of the car. When you take the bumper cover with the turn signal lights off the car the driving lights are still there on the car.

 

I don't think anyone is making anything complicated really. Its perhaps just what we are used to here in US.

Since you are in Finland you probably have a different (but probably more correct) perspective. But here in the US we like to be SHOWN something before we buy it. That's all. And if you are used to that it is a reasonable expectation for a US company, it may not be expected/customary in other countries. I have no idea.

But you are probably right, they are probably VERY small evidently - but I still think if you expect to sell things like this you should be able to provide pics.

And no, we don't have a kid in every garage over here making parts I'm afraid - the only place to get decent fiberglass is from pretty large vendors. There are probably less than 5 here in the entire US where you can get good quality bumpers, hoods, etc. for a C4 - the only ones that come to mind are Callaway (impossible to obtain), Toledo Pro, and Greenwood. There might be a handful more but not many.

All that being said, unless someone else wants to leap into the unknown first, I may talk to Timpo next week about getting a front bumper ordered.

 

True that we basically need to order everything to our Vettes from abroads so its common and feels (and is) very easy.

But its also very common that US companies can't provide any decent pictures of any product - even the large vendors. So, very often we need to rely on small lousy images and hope their description is ok. Most of the times its ok but sometimes you are just unlucky. And as the shipping costs are so large you cannot really return the part but then you need to live with it or find somebody else interested in it as is. This is just the way it goes.

But, I agree that good photos would be nice as the product is not cheap when you add all the costs up. Maybe Timpo could ask if they can acquire photos of their existing customer cars?

Yes, I know that there is only few companies making C4 glassfibre parts but they were not the ones I meant. But, ok if all of the Honduh guys in USA use same commercial parts and no one thinks different then the situation is that and cannot be helped.

 

"...2. they have never made any export business at all and you think it would be simpler to make an international license agreement between 2 parties who do not speak the same language? Forget it....."

I don't know enough about the "rights" to a design to suggest we buy one and have someone produce it here but that would be the easiest way to do it IMO.....Yes, an "international license agreement" for a relatively low volume item would be a bit much.

 

I am not suggesting ripping off their design either. My point was that it would probably be impractical for any vendor to buy the rights as the price would need to be huge compared to market potential (whether it will ever realize or not).

From practical side: to make a mold they would first need to make a bumper and use that as a plug. I am sure no problem if someone offers them $100K for the rights

Cheaper if someone just manages to get few decent photos and then order one.

 

I tried to see if a local fiberglasser could make me something similar or produce something like that. He said

"we do custom work all the time. But it is both time consuming and expensive. To do full wrap-around skirting and front and rear bumpers, would cost about $ 50,000 to $ 75,000 for the R&D and tooling."

Man I wish this was easier.

 

I am starting to see your problem in getting anything custom made at reasonable cost.

When I had my interior done I was told it would be ridiculously expensive (tens of thousands) if done over there. Funny when you consider how cheap all the goods are over there. For example new C6 is $170K+ here.

EDIT: On second thought with that kind of money you pretty much hire anybody who is not famous and hasn't watched American Hotrod too much to make you bumpers for 12 months (1st one takes about 200 hours to make and after that he makes 1 a day). With US minimum wage you could hire 5 guys and still have $16K for supplies ($75K) Just joking but the quote sounds so outrageous.

 

that would be a bit complicated as ToniH said...also we don't know how much Toledo Pro is willing to offer.
BSM is just a car tuner in Japan, they're not international like HKS, VeilSide, Greddy, Bomex, Blitz, Apexi, Tein, etc...
since they can't speak English, it might be a bit challenging.

 

Where in Japan is this? Im going to japan in like 4-5 months. Its a port visit.

 

Here is their address...

Kanagawaken Yokohamashi Tsuzukiku Hayabuchi 3-30-15

If you need it in Japanese letter, 神奈川県横浜市都筑区早渕 3-30-15

 

Timpo when will you be going back over? I know you said you go over quite a bit, but also I have no idea if the above address is anywhere near where you go either . . . .

 

I think a big part of this is that Europe is still very much old world, craftsmanship oriented. That is long gone here in the US. There are almost no craftsmen left. So everything has to be mass produced or it doesn't get produced at all. Because of that, even the simplest things are very $$$$ to get off the ground because of expensive tooling.

 

Yes, that must be it. Sellers market where they can crank up the price and still have buyers. Sad thing is that the normal people don't have any place to buy anymore, only rich can afford to get anything made. Well, then the solution is indeed to import or to learn the craft and DIY.

I was also checking cargo options from Yokohama to Europe and its clear that by air its ridiculous - even if we could pack 2 bumpers in 1 crate. So by sea is the only economical method.

 

I have absolutely no clue what it might cost to ship here to me in US. Any guesses?

 

Ill see if its a possible for me to get there from port.

 

oh no I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon...even if I did, that place is way too far for me. Several hours of train and bus.

 

To ship the front bumper? If you could tell me what state you're in, I can just call them and give you an estimate.