Quote:
Originally Posted by TMo
No apology needed, your post and all the others are more than welcome.
I spent a lot of my career in manufacturing, including working in the auto industry, Yet every time I price parts for this project I'm flabbergasted. Why does a deck lid latch, very similar to a vw part, cost $280 when the nearly identical VW part costs $18? They're made by the same process, with the same materials, and by the same manufacturer. I understand the economy of scale, but taking that into account the part shouldn't be more than twice the cost of the VW part.
Looks like I'll be painting the car myself, the fact that I could build a small building with a paintbooth buy the equipment and materials and still somehow have money left over compared to having the specialist shop do the work seems crazy to me. I'll admit to being frugal, but I'm not really cheap. I'd much rather pay more for something that will last, but a paint job that removes the factory rust proofing from a car doesn't seem like good value.
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Why??
Because the completed car is worth $80K or $100 or whatever. And dogeared ruty ones are $30K
Ergo, why would engine builders want to be the cheapest guy around?
The steel stamping, quickly painted, for the trans crossmember, the two bonded rubber mounts, 2 bolts and 2 washers are ...$1000.
You're right, the part isn't custom, carbon, alu casting, it's a long ago paid for tool that can stamp out the part forever, because it's a mount under a car, not a fender so nobody cares of it's not AAA.
But the sellers see that people want a perfect one, they want fresh CAD on the mounts and they'll pay. PAying somebody to media blast it, fill it, body work it and spray it would be more.
If the cars were trading for $!2K. the prices would reflect that, IMO