Now now, they don't want to just rush into this... baby steps...

What has it been, 10 yrs??

Carpenter still doesn't show them on their website, I wonder if this is someone else's product?

 

Ross, it could be but man, that's a lot of expense to build the tooling if someone as well known as Carpenter has strong indications is already tooling up. The first thing I did when I saw this post was go to Carpenter's website, no Bonus Built fenders.

Whoever is making them the price is very fair IMO. If you don't have a set of decent fenders or even if you have a set that need work, it's going to cost more than $850 to have one fender worked on and get ready to install. May sound like a lot of money to some but check out what a new tin foil fender for a new truck costs from a Ford dealer.

 

Midwest Early Ford has had these fenders on display at events all summer long. I talked to the MEF folks and also the Dennis Carpenter folks about these fenders at the Supernationals in May. Carpenter had nothing to do with them. Midwest Early Ford was the driving force behind bringing these to market. Here's another thread where they were discussed:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...t-fenders.html

 

Thanks for straightening that out. I kept thinking since Carpenter had been teasing about doing it they finally came through. I just can’t see two different companies pursuing this because of the enormous expense.

 

I wonder how many stamping steps are required to make one of these fenders. It is a deep draw so I wouldn't be surprised if it is more than 5. That means that that 5 or more sets of dies would be needed.

 

I read an interesting article in a trade publication about fender/body panel stamping back in the late '90's. A GM engineer was saying that to build a set of dies per GM's internal specs for a Camaro front fender would cost a couple million. But he said the specs were for dies that would last thru a couple years of high-production use. For a lower volume car like a Camaro, they could get by with much lighter dies that would wear out in a year or so , but would only cost a couple hundred grand. ('90's $$$'s) But GM wouldn't relax their standards, so they ended up going with plastic.

Now take that philosophy a step further, add in modern CNC capabilities, and add in Asian labor rates. I'd be willing to bet they have less than a half million in both sets of dies (L + R). Maybe much less.

 

Yes, the dies could be made out of Kirksite but probably could not use 16 ga steel.

Here is a nice video . . . you can fast forward over some parts:

-

 

I bet those front replacements are not 16 gauge. I remember seeing where the steel rear fender replacements are 20 gauge so bet the fronts are the same.

JB

 

I believe the original fenders are what corresponds to something around 17 gauge. I don't doubt that a number of modern steels that are thinner gauge are superior in every respect to what Henry used.

Pete, the process described in the article was not like your link. They were steel dies but not the massive solid blocks typically seen in production. Built up from heavy rolled steel plate, reinforced, and surface hardened. They would use a lower pressure than usual.

 

I knew an old German tool maker who worked for the big three. One day he was looking at my truck and told me Ford used at least four dies to make the hood and back at that time tooling just for the hood would have been close to a million. Maybe he was exaggerating but he knew his business and was very smart.

 

I'd like to see the Taiwanese factory where they are stamping these fenders, to see how they are doing it (and the same for the repro Mustang and Camaro shells that are now produced). It's hard to leave the high-volume mindset behind. They may well be hand-trimming parts instead of using a set of dies for that, for example.

How many sets of fenders would you figure they'll make? I'd guess 10,000 or less, maybe only 5,000. You can't make money on that kind of volume with traditional high-volume dies. A quote from a low-volume vendor:

Strategies for Low-Volume Tooling - 3-Dimensional

 

Musclecar GT is a company that is behind producing many aftermarket panels for the industry. They produce all the stampings for every panel in the brand new classic Mustang and Camaro unibodies being assembled and marketed by Dynacorn. They also make parts for our trucks as well as many others. I bought a full floor pan assembly from Midfifty for my F1 this summer and their sticker is on it. They are also producing the complete firewall/toe board assembly for the 48-52 trucks that LMC is selling as well as the complete left and right cowl assemblies being sold by several vendors. They have a neat website and they have a section that details the process of reproducing these parts from start to finish including fabricating the dies. It’s worth a look. You can find it here:

?? Musclecar GT - GT ENGINEERING

 

Very impressive! I have always heard the Dynacorn unibodies were coming out of Taiwan, much hand-wringing about that.

 

14 years ago, I did a project with 3 Dimensional Services in Rochester Hills. Great guys, very professional.

 

I send a message asking what gauge steel was used. He replied back that he thought 18 gauge. If they made the parts themselves or had someone make them for them I would think they would know the specifics unless the person answering my message was just an employee, could have been.