I guess I should be happy I received my KB aluminum wedge block in July 2014.

I still watch the koleno block facebook page religiously. It's been almost a year since their last post but I still have a glimmer of hope they can get the operation going again.

Pretty sad.
I believe Fiat's goal is to push the Gen3 stuff & leave the rest in the scrap bin.

They aren't really supportin genIII either, no siamese bores, not even 6.1 blocks, no factory codeing being released for computers, no more drag pak intakes and when they did have em it was $1000 for a cast AL intake with no water passages to worry about I mean how simple of an intake can you make? then a computer and harness for retrofits from mopar is like $5000 or something stupid, eagle heads were about $200 each 4 short years ago now they are $1000+

On the surface you would think they want us to go gen III but the reality is they don't even care about that. Self driving cars will be all the rage in 10 years for "conveniance" then your car with a driver will be outlawed because they are "too dangerous" they will offer us another cash for clunkers for our 71 hemi cudas and that will be that. Of course then speed limits can go away as the computer can react better than us, driverless cars don't need a stop sighn as they can tell each other when they are around the corner and all the yuppies can yak on the phone, text and play with their tablet while they drive, of course then you don't need to even be in the car just send it to McDonalds and they can put the order in the drivers window and the car will bring it back to you.

I hear ya ... sell us what we "need",but not what we want.
Them: "trust us, we know what's best for the consumer"

Mopar gave this block away at Indy a few weeks ago.

The whole performance thing is basically going out
the window.. drag racing is old history.. sponsors
dont want to fund this stuff anymore... so why should
the auto companies...hot rod dave.. you give the industry
a bit more credit than they deserve.. most people like to
drive.. I worked on driverless cars 15 years ago and we ran
then on the test track for a couple of years but it flopped
out but we used in the concrete sensor wire.. now days its
all gps

Thought I seen that at the display on vendor row....what was the story on the give away?

Probably the last one in the warehouse and they said
get rid of it...either trash it or something.. I seen
so MUCH stuff get trashed when I was working at CTC
that people would FREAK out.. I know I did for a few
years.. I grabbed a bunch of the JUNK

I don't know much about it. I don't know if that was an old block that was squirreled away or what? I think there was some dinner or something at the Mopar tent and they gave it away. I wish I would have went to Indy this year.

LOL.....I was there but never took time to visit the display.....dangit!

The economy is going to boom in about a year.

In the Detroit area the economy is doing well..
house sale, home building, prices on homes are
going up... but dont expect that drag racing will
come back... its history... it will slowly go by
the way side... I wish it wouldnt but thats what
I see coming

I agree with a lot of the above. Maybe I'm out in left field but here goes... No one has mentioned this yet, but when Chrysler/Fiat publicly reminisces or refers to the past they never fail to mention the legacy and value associated with their classics. A lot of what we pay for parts value wise is affected by the investor market. Value and availability affect each other.
Many investors could give a rats butt about us or our sport, or that some of us would like a reasonably priced block to make more power with. Very few have probably driven north of 6k rpm in anything. But, taper down production of a few parts and add value to your investments...think about it. That's why the tooling isn't released so easily. They control the strings.
The other problem is that tracks have closed in a lot of places. A lot of my generation (even more in those younger than mine) has no attachment to or interest in hot rodding, wrenching or anything associated with power. They'd rather watch reality frighin TV. I just left drag week at the Grove and i left with even more respect for those guys and girls and our sport than I had before. They're doing stuff that very few have the nuts,knowledge,will, and luck to try much less excel at.
Unless more interest transfers to the folks 40 and younger ( my group) more tracks will close and event venues will dwindle. Sad but true.

MrP there was no facebook, tablets and cell phones 15 years ago now every one can't seem to drive without being glued to one, I think 3 out of 4 people would just as soon have a i-pad to look at instead of the road.

I know I'm a odd ball.. I do have a smart phone but I
dont use it on the road... it has voice mail so can
pick it up when I want... and thats not when driving..
people just need to learn to drive and leave the BS
along till you can pick it up... we by law here cant use
the phone/text while driving... but they do need to get
more strict on it.... there is nothing so important that
I have to answer right then...I might look to see if its
the wife with a 911.. but thats never happened
EDIT
I dont do facebook... people give out WAY TO MUCH info

Why would Fiat care about something they were never part of and in reality the money they would make would be very small. Im sure they wouldnt care if the mopar racers bout other brand cars and trucks...how much would they really give up.

I do think one day our cars will be looked at very differently then they are today. How long till ebay restricts feeding the old car market?

I meant Chrysler royalties. They still exist and transfer to Fiat. I agree that they have absolutely no cares in the world for us. If the original casting molds meant nothing to Fiat, though I would think that they'd jump at the chance to sell them. They know what they're worth as long as people are around that treasure the cars of that era.

Does anybody know how many blocks World produced and how long it took to sell them?

Tooling is tooling and you buy cast iron by the ton so I don't see the unit cost of a Mopar block being any more than any other readily available Brand X product that can be had all day long for half the price.

I think a lot has to do with these suppliers are more concerned with selling what they like instead of what people want. Go to Carlisle sometime and try to buy a part for a C-body from a vendor that advertises them for sale. A trailer full of all the other letters and half of it gets hauled back to the shop. Standard excuse? We never sell any of that stuff. I have suggested numerous times that you can't sell it if you don't bring it. They just look at you like you're nuts.

I have no idea what it costs to produce a Mopar block but I was in an aluminum diecast foundry a few years ago that made V6 blocks for some of the major OEMs and I was told the unit cost was in the $250 range. Apples to pomegranates perhaps because of the different economy of scale but an outfit like World that is a big player in the performance aftermarket should be able to produce an iron Mopar block and sell it for a price that isn't double and then some of Brand X and still make money if the unit cost is similar and sell every one they make.

Just like they did the last time.

Kevin

I wouldn't be surprised if they wait until the demand gets even higher....and then sell them for an even higher price. You can't make thousands unless you make hundreds.