Mike,

Being a "71" man, I would LOVE to see you do a top quality 71 Cuda grille for the marketplace, and since the peripheral pieces are already available (headlamp bezels, mouldings etc.), this would be the natural progression.

We all know that there were roughly twice as many 70 cars built as 71's, with conventional wisdom saying that 70 grilles should be flying off the shelf. But there is no question that at least AT THIS TIME, the disposable income to purchase a grille for EITHER car is, and would be, a challenge for many, especially in the current economic climate. As before, the market cycle WILL improve over time. Needless to say, we would love for the crystal ball to tell us when. After the market tanked in 1990, we all said it would never come back. Well, it came back, and then went to unimaginable levels. Right now, we are taking it on the chin.

Perhaps to look at this a bit more for the long term, here are some things to consider in terms of potential sales for the 71 piece:

Grilles for original 71 cars, of course.

Grilles for clones/restomods/race cars (I could be wrong here, but there seem to many more 70 and 72-74 Cuda's being converted to 71's than vice-versa. Since fenders are available, the kicker is now the grille).

Grilles for a POTENTIALLY AVAILABLE complete body supplied by Dynacorn (Admittedly a long shot, but not out of the realm of possibility). If this were to happen, then, just like a 69 Camaro, you can build an entire car out of a catalog. No rust. Fresh parts. Paint it, bolt it together and go!

Is it then possible that the sales of 71 grilles could actually be greater than projected?

Having made the above statements, I must also play Devil's Advocate at least a bit here. Being involved in manufacturing, but certainly on a much smaller and less complex scale, I still have a full understanding of how technical issues, costs, vendor selection and other potential risks of introducing a new product can evolve differently than originally planned. Some products will be runaway winners, and others, dare I say, will be duds. Also, and so often, the market says that it wants a specific product, and then someone steps up and does it. There may be a small surge initially, and then the market says "Well, now that it is available, I will wait until next month to purchase it". Next month becomes 6 months. Then it becomes next year. Then often tomorrow NEVER comes for that purchase, as other priorities, or "life" gets in the way. A quick example: Many years ago, when Shafi Keisler was doing lenses, he sent me (via FedEx) literally the FIRST examples of his outstanding 67 GTX tail lamp lenses. I brought them to Mopars at Englishtown (when the show was still a legitimate event). I displayed them, with fair pricing, and they got rave reviews. However, the universal response was "Wow, great product, and a great price! But hey, got any bezels?" I sold NONE of the lenses over two days. Crazy.

I will also put my vote in for the Duster "Sharktooth" grille, knowing the quality of your finished products.

Thirdly, and this was referenced earlier in this thread, having CORRECT, QUALITY, E-BODY HARDTOP AND CONVERTIBLE INTERIOR PANELS would be KILLER! Having seen several examples of the currently available reproduction pieces, I am happy my barf bag was close at hand.

Bill Rolik