Ron Pope Motorsports                California Custom Roadsters               

body prices

Yeah I bought a body from them before I knew about RPM. I can say I am fairly happy with the body BUT I have no experience with other bodies. The great thing about buying from Ron is you get his knowledge and help along the way, well you get that regardless but really it is invaluable as you build. Plus Ron has a really nice stretched body that I would have most likely bought. Based on what I have heard and dealing with Ron, I don't believe I would purchase my next body from Paynesville. JMO Though
 
We used one of these bodies for our current build - they are ok - definitely a bargain if you don't mind doing a bit extra work. We used the body, shell and bed. We're not building a super high end car - just a nice street car on a budget, so it fit for us. The biggest issue is that the middle of the cowl is 1/4" lower than the ends, but Ive seen this with a lot of bodies. We'll get it fixed with some glass and filler.

I'll say good on a budget - if you want more room an/or can afford more, look at the bodies by our sponsors: Spirit, RPM, and CCR.

 
I have no experiance with those bodies, but I did try to go cheap and bought a used no-name body. If I had it to do over, I'd go for one of RPM's bodies with no hesitation. You can't beat a good product from a good person.
 
benT said:
We used one of these bodies for our current build - they are ok - definitely a bargain if you don't mind doing a bit extra work. We used the body, shell and bed. We're not building a super high end car - just a nice street car on a budget, so it fit for us. The biggest issue is that the middle of the cowl is 1/4" lower than the ends, but Ive seen this with a lot of bodies. We'll get it fixed with some glass and filler.

I'll say good on a budget - if you want more room an/or can afford more, look at the bodies by our sponsors: Spirit, RPM, and CCR.

Click to expand...
I have noticed the cowl sag in most of the production bodies that I actually paid attention to. I was looking at mine and thought about making a couple stress reliefs, then reinforcing and straitenining with some tube, the glass. I just don't know if it was like that in the form, or from time. Any clues?
 
i think most people would be amazed at how many bodies are made from other bodies with those kind of defects at this kind of price range. i have just became acquainted with fiberglass Dave. he has over 5 acres of molds. he has just about all the old ones from fiberglass trends, cal automotive, contemporary fiberglass, AI and others. as you are probably aware, these were the big players back in the sixties. well, the molds look like they produce this kind of quality bodies. i think we have gotten spoiled with all the new ones being made for the higher end cost. just to give you an example, he has a fiberglass trends '27 ford roadster mold that was made in 1958!! what i have noticed is, the molds don't get much maintenance love when they are in production, so they make parts with crack lines and stars and other such boogers. this is also why ('glass gets a bad rap) people always say 'glass parts are no good, they are not perfect, you have to do work to make them nice. well, i haven't seen any rusted piece of crap dragged out of a field in the frozen north or some such place, not require a ton of work either. so the myth continues.
 
another point about defects in 'glass, i bought a 27 body from fiberglass trends about 9 years ago and i looked at the mold Dave has today and the same defect in my body is in that mold too. most likely they made a body in this mold and made another mold from it and perpetuated this defect.
 
benT said:
Isn't that like fiberglass incest? :whistling:
Click to expand...

It Is and what a shame that some do not take more pride in their work or tools. I was buying MAS bodies and had to repair all of them. Still a good deal for the money and were excellent at holding up under stress/wrecks/and an occasional ass sliding across the sides of them.
 
just another note about all this. i have two t bodies that have a strange problem. at the short windshield post attachment, one of the bolts sits right on top of the door revel. you would be hard pressed to cut out the door if you wanted to. i have no idea who made these. swap meet finds and such. i asked Dave about this and he said something that made sense. in the old days when people made molds they would take parts from different years to assemble a body. as Henry changed things from year to year i can see how this could be. i also have a 3rd body that doesn't have this problem. go figure!
 
Do any of the sponsor vendors offer an interior insert like the one shown in this link ? That looks like it would be a good start to the interior build , and should give the body a lot more strength and rigidity .
 
Last edited:
I never could understand the "It's cheaper but it just needs a little work" mentality. If it needs a bunch of work to make it straight and fix all the problems then what are you saving? Last I checked body shop supplies, fiberglass and sandpaper are not cheap. And that only applies if you are going to do all the work yourself, forget paying someone to fix it all. I would rather just buy a decent product out of the box and save money in the long run.

A perfect example is the guy that painted my tbucket. He is a pretty good back yard body man and with fiberglass. He bought this cheapo scoop for his mopar off of ebay. It was so flimsy and twisted I would have thrown it in the garbage but hey, it was only $80. So then he spends several days cutting it all up, inlays some metal rods to keep it from flopping like a piece of toilet paper, reglasses it. Now it is stronger, still looks like a total turd IMO and he has way more in it than if he had just bought a quality piece for a few hundred bucks.
 
Not saying anything about their body , or buying one . The question asked was if any of the sponsors here make an insert for the interior like the one in the link ? I like the idea of the insert and just being able to drop the car at the upholstery shop and have them do the rest , that's all .
 
SPIRIT makes a "drop in" seat kit. It may only fit their body though. Check it out.

Jim
 
From what I am seeing it does seem that the insert would have to come from the same manufacturer as the body or it would probably need a lot of work to fit . I have seen a lot of different widths on the bodies from one company to another , and even more that don't publish the measurements of their bodies .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

brsturges
Scratch Built Body
Replies
15
Views
1K
DonnyRay
DonnyRay
AltBantam
Extending the height of the side of the body?
2
Replies
22
Views
2K
AltBantam
AltBantam
AltBantam
Weighing you car for less...
Replies
5
Views
1K
Indycars
Indycars
BilWilVegas
What body do I have?
Replies
3
Views
21K
lincolnuT
lincolnuT
Neshkoro
Urethane Painting
2
Replies
31
Views
2K
CheapT
CheapT

     Ron Pope Motorsports                Advertise with Us!     
Back
Top