Sandecker

I've read off & on in this forum about strong interest in the stock sideskirts for the 3rd gen - see the attached gif of 'sokuda's'car in Japan. But at $1200 - $1500 a set (i've heard), ouch. To me, these side-skirts would be the perfect compliment to update the 93-95 Rx7, expecially for those who don't want to go overboard with obnoxious body work that distorts the car's clean lines - plus you can retain your rear mud guards as is.
Question - why does'nt some enterprising RX-7 enthusiast - with the right contacts (or one of our many RX7 aftermarket retailers) - buy an original set, reproduce them in fibreglass or whatever, and sell them here at a reasonable price? I doubt you'd have any problem selling a few hundred sets! How about it? I'll be your first customer.
Failing this, which is the closest stock-looking aftermarket side-skirt available?

Sandecker

side view

potatobbq

I think the closest thing to factory side-skirts are the APEX'i ones but they don't look as good as the factory ones imo.

weaklink

I agree those are sweet. Maybe the guys making the CF hoods can make side skirts. It was mentioned in the sticky.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

I actually was going to do that, but the FG manufacturer in my area wanted $5000 to create a mold, then $200 per. Assuming you can get an OEM shipped to your door for $1200, you would have to sell 31 replicas at $400 (can't see anyone paying more then that) just to break even.

Have to sell a lot of these to justify the investment. Realy not sure there is a market for a few hundred, as that 3rd gens are rare, and the OEM style does not float everyone's boat (I love it though, hehe). I can see maybe 50 units sold within a reasonable time frame, say 1/2 year.

I'm sure someone can do it for less, but I'm not selling anything unless I'm willing to put my name on it.

Sandecker

I would'nt have thought $5000 for the mold - wow. Maybe Pettit Racing could do it for less, they are selling a replica '99 front end with & without the license bracket - you'd think there would be a bigger market for an easy add-on like the skirts vs. a new front end.

Johnny

why...

you could get apexi,mazdaspeed,c-west..etc etc all day for 800 and even less........

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, that's steep. Then again, this a large manufacturer. I know of a guy taht does custom fg parts who use to work for Ken Camineti (sp) when he had a hotrod shop. He could probably do it for a lot less, but hten you have to consider a manufacturing schedule and all teh logistics that go with it.

Believe me, all can go very wrong - quickly. Consider this - I recently sold $9000 worth of wheels on the Forum, and when I approached the distributer to buy up his stck, it took a WHOLE MONTH of calling him every other day to finally get them in my possesion.

Me: " I want come get the wheels, I've got your money." Dist: "Ok, I'll call you right back, I'm tied up/busy/need to check inventory/bs..." Two days later, repeat conversation.

You would think these people would want to make money, or at least get rid of their old stock? Nope. Dragged *** until I was bangin my head against the wall.

Now going back to making/marketing fg parts - now we throw making a mold and then ramping up production in to the equation. Not just something that is instock, ready to go.

That is why if I were to do it, it would be thru a large fg manufacturer. Even then its no guarentee everything will go smoothly.

Also consider the quality of the item. No matter how you add it up, it;s still FG and it's done basically by hand. Lots of room for quality variations. What if you get a few bad sets? What kind of agreement would you make with the manufacturer as to credit/etc? Will you eat the investment if a customer returns it?

All of this will undoubtly take place over several months - can I afford to invest $6000 and realistically expect to break even within maybe 4-5 months? Does my profit margin allow for unforseen expenses, such as customer returns, etc?

Then we have to consider (and the most important of course) how many can I realistically expect to sell, and over what time frame? I honestly can't tell you how many would sell, but considering:

1. 3rd gen is rare
2. Fraction of 3rd gen owners want to modify their car
3. Alternative side skirts already available/ OEM style not for everyone
4. Cost - Obviously, lower price means more sells but lower profit margin

I looked at it long and hard, but considering the money, time, and effort involved it was not worth it.

I'm by no means trying to discourage anyone from trying to do so, but something like this would only be reasonably profitable to a fg manufacturer in business already, like the one atihun is using.

Just sharing a bit of my experience!