DCMR SVO Reproduction Headlights and SVO Reproduction Bumper Covers

[MIKE'SVO86]

Information straight from DCMR. "We do not have a planned date at this time to run the SVO headlights. Sales, when we had them, were poor and they took up a lot of space. The last we spoke of it, it would be a few years before we would run them again." AND on the SVO bumper cover..."The E4 bumper cover mold was damaged and the expense to repair it was very high. So at this time we do not plan to run them."

Soooo, this sucks. No more SVO bumper covers, and probably no more SVO headlights and inner markers.

[chads84svo]

Man.......its very expensive to repair a mold? You would think someone would step up and fix that mold. Weird......Now its gonna be that much harder to aquire these parts........sad.

[PaceFever79]

Ugh..... Who is DCMR?

Sounds like they need to sell the tooling to someone with deeper pockets. I'm not believing there is no market for the parts. One good run could produce a few years of inventory.

[FoxChassis]

DCMR = Daniel Carpenter Mustang Restoration

http://www.dcmustang.com/

[TopGear85]

Doesn't get much deeper than that as far as reproduction Mustang parts. If they can't make a profit nobody can.

[MIKE'SVO86]

Exactly Mike!

[PaceFever79]

Sorry, I'm not buying it! Just sounds like a calculated decision on his part. I'm guessing he lacks the capital investment. Which is fine, sell the tooling to someone who has it!

[PaceFever79]

Bottom line, he is squatting on the tooling, that stinks!

[FoxChassis]

I would venture a guess that DCM's reproduction parts licensing agreement with Ford dictates the ownership and useage of the tooling. Heck, Ford may still retain ownership of it and is just letting DCM use it exclusively. I wouldn't know. I'm just guessing.

EDIT: Does DCM actually have the E4 SVO bumper cover tooling in their possession? That wasn't clear in the original post.

[MIKE'SVO86]

I believe they do. That's what it sounded like at least. DCM was sourcing a supplier to reproduce them using the original mold.

DCM has plenty of capital. It's all about turnover. If they produce a run of 1000 headlights and they can't sell/distribute them for several years and have to store them, they will end that production and move onto something else that will turnover faster and make them more money.

[rodster]

Given the limited number of potential buyers, I'm not surprised at the DCMR statement.

Several years back I worked with Fatman Fab to have tubular LCA's made (with replaceable ball joints) to give an option to SVO owners. The demand was too low and it took forever for the few sets made to sell. Due to such a small run of parts the price was higher than a typical high volume Mustang part.

I doubt we will ever see (m)any unique SVO parts reproduced. Just look at 2.3L coolant lines. The market is bigger than just SVO and seems that project can't even get off the ground.

[PaceFever79]

If that was the case they should put the tooling up for auction and cut their losses. But that isn't the case. They are going to sit on the tooling until there is a pent up demand. It's called a monopoly.

[rodster]

IF there is a pent up demand. Not sure that day will ever come.

[PaceFever79]

IF there is a pent up demand. Not sure that day will ever come.

And if not he'll sit on the tooling forever?

That's just bad business. Auction it off to someone else.

[MIKE'SVO86]

Anyone that would be interested knows that it's estimated there are less than 3000 SVOs still around, so no one would purchase the molds (if DCM owns them) because they know there is no profit in producing them. Comes down to dollars and sense.

[PaceFever79]

So if it can't be mass produced, chuck it!? I'm from a different generation, we piece made everything. These guys are just pencil pushers. They must have no pride in what they are doing.

[PaceFever79]

Put the tooling up for auction, then tell me there are no takers.

[Mike Croke]

Man.......its very expensive to repair a mold? You would think someone would step up and fix that mold. Weird......Now its gonna be that much harder to aquire these parts........sad.

I think the scales are being lost among those who shop at Walmart a bit too frequently and have little knowledge of manufacturing.

The bumper cover molds are large and heavy. I've been to shops that make the molds and then mold the parts. Each piece of steel will be about 7 feet wide x 3 feet high and 3 feet deep. Steel is about 4.5 oz / cubic inch. Each half of the mold weighs around 30,000 lbs. It's a 60,000 lb tool. I'd be impressed if anyone in this discussion can tell me how that mold would be repaired. For those who've watched CNC machines on TV, the biggest Haas CNC mill will handle 4,000 lbs max workpiece weight.

Then, once the mold is good, you need the molding machine which costs million$. They don't just turn it on for hobbyists who stamp their feet. Amazingly, they bought this equipment in order to make a profit.

And as Foxchassis stated, they may be under licensing agreements and obligations which block the outright sale of the tool.

Things will change dramatically if the SVOs bring decent money and the demand for quality parts goes up. If that happens, for many of us, this will unfortunately price the cars outside our budgets.

[PaceFever79]

And we never made things before China came along.

[PaceFever79]

Btw, I'm actually more jacked about the replacement lights.

The bumper covers are a bigger issue.

[Travis T]

I bet if they auctioned off the mold that it would be bought for scrap metal. The Carpenter boys seem to care about their customers, at least from my dealings with Dennis on my 50 F-1. Them storing it is probably a good thing.

[PaceFever79]

You're probably right...

But damn, this sucks, it's really lame.

[chads84svo]

I had know idea the mold is worh that kind of cash and is that heavy...........Murder was the case!! Lol. Wish someone would reproduce the corner lights on the svo.........mine are looking a little aged.

[FoxChassis]

Driver corner light has been reproduced, with Ford tooling.

Passenger corner tooling is lost. A private individual made a home-made mold using an existing lense, and reproduced just the lense (you have to reuse your your existing back half and reflector). Not sure if that person is making repros any more.

[MIKE'SVO86]

I had know idea the mold is worh that kind of cash and is that heavy...........Murder was the case!! Lol. Wish someone would reproduce the corner lights on the svo.........mine are looking a little aged.

Chad - DCM did reproduce the D/S outer turn signal and the inner lamps...Again, I think those are done too. The P/S mold was damaged while Ford still had their hands on it. So the P/S will never be reproduced as a complete light. Someone did reproduce the P/S outer lens. They took a NOS lens and reproduced it. It was some type of vacuum mold process. It was someone over on the TF site. It was a limited run and they are all gone. Forced 4 was selling them. It's all drying up. I contacted DCM to question the rumors on the headlights. I posted the info so everyone knows and no one is holding their breath for them to go back into production.