Beware! I ordered a part for my 67 coupe, (shifter console) from ZIP PN# 1-2244.14A advertised for 699.99 and they charged 1615.99 + tax on my invic!
SO you need to ask them what the price is for what you order! They said it was tarrif?
DOM

 

Where did you see the part advertised for 699? It's the 1615 pricing on their website. You can't hold a company to it's catalog pricing if it's what's going on. It is good info to know, but pricing across the board is up.

 

Talk to Vette master in Va. they are the ones making them

 

thought they were made in China…is there more than one manufacturer?

 

not sure where Tom P actually has them made but they are the ones behind it

 

Well if they are actually made in VA, there's not an issue with tariffs. But I agree, the paper catalogs are good for browsing and part numbers but the $$ may vary in real life.

 

Dom,
That's exactly what it says on their website for a painted console...spendy!!

https://www.zip-corvette.com/67-w-4-...e-painted.html

 

Not sure that I **** my head far enough to the side to see where this was the vendor's error. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Vette masters vent window frames are made off shore so I am guessing the center consoles are also , the store is located in Virginia Beach but I don't
believe anything is manufactured there
Bob

 

When I buy on line, it always shows the total you're being charged before the transaction actually goes down.

 

I bought out of their C2 {new} catalog.
Thanks every one that eases the pain a bit, especially when mine is near perfect. I did a frame off because I always wanted a new vette and spared nothing making the car new again.

Dom

 

It's good to see your name here Dom. It's been a while, The A6 AC compressor you rebuilt for me more than 10 years ago is still going fine.

Lou

 

Vette Masters is located in Virginia Beach, and they are the vendor who makes the repro mid year center consoles, or more correctly is having them made.

I'm not sure if they're coming from China, Taiwan or India, but Tom at Vette Masters is the one who paid to have the molds made and paid to have the parts cast and chrome plated and is the one importing them and distributing them to other vendors. Tom, in partnership with Smart Parts also made the earlier repro console first available about 15-20 years ago. It was pretty nice but not perfect. I understand the current second generation repro console he's doing now is much nicer.

I'm not a big fan of Zip and haven't seen one of their catalogs in years, but if you look at their catalog I'm sure it says somewhere, or more likely in multiple places "Prices are subject to change without notice."

Prices change constantly and prices often change during the time between when a catalog gets final approval and goes to the printer, and the printer prints, binds and delivers the completed catalogs. I'm about ninety percent retired now and haven't done a printed catalog for my business in 20+ years, but I could count on at least ten percent of the prices being outdated by the time a new finished catalog was delivered by the printer.

 

I find the price increase explanation of "tariffs" rather dubious and misleading. Using some back of the envelope calculations, a product that theoretically started at $699 before the tariff increases in 2025 would not experience a nearly 130% price increase because of newly applied tariffs. Even at max Chinese import tariff for general manufactured goods at the current 47.5%, the tariff-only cost increase would be $332 assuming the $699 price was based on a 0% tariff rate. However, it is important to note that prior to the tariff increase in 2025, the tariff on Chinese imported goods stood at approximately 21% since June of 2019. Therefore, the $699 price would have almost certainly already included a 21% tariff, which calculates to a base cost of $577. Using the base cost of $577 and excluding all other inflationary factors, which we know were significant over the last 5 years, and applying the current 47.5% tariff (net 26% increase over the pre-2025 tariff) for Chinese imports, the cost of the item would calculate to $851. So, in summary, there is no way tariffs alone account for the price increase from $699 to $1615. The other 104% increase in retail price as presented by the OP has to be something other than just tariffs. I'm not saying any of this changes the reality of how much the item costs, but I'd rather have an "I don't know" answer than one that doesn't make any sense or is demonstrably false.

 

The math doesn't line up with the "tariff" price increases we've seen on a lot of repro parts. In 2024 a repro knock wheel set sold for about $2600, by late spring of last year the price had jumped to $4600, "because of tariffs".

There are companies, both inside and outside of the car hobby who have used the tariffs as a reason to put through large price increases, though I don't know if this is the case with the consoles.

I'm guessing the increase from Zip on the console may have been more of the result of a mistake on their part, and not tariffs, but I do agree an "I don't know" might have been a better answer from Zip. The $700 catalog price the OP quoted above is about what the list price was for the old reproduction console. Vette Masters sells their new console for $1550. Zip's catalog may have had the price for the old repro console in it, not the newly released repro?