NEW Panel parts for our cougars?

I'd hazard a guess that the prices would still be out of reach for the vast majority here, and even for those sat on money due to what I expect will be a very high cost per panel relative to the car's value and that's before you add in labour costs to let the panel in to the car and respray.

Tooling costing less than normal probably means thousands per panel rather than tens or hundreds of thousands per panels as with normal pressings.

I'd be surprised if there were commitments to a dozen quarter panels or sill/arch repair sections per side due to the 10+hrs of bodyshop labour per side to fit and paint them before you even consider the parts cost. I know a couple of here could do some or most of that themselves but most potential customers would need professional help. Lots of customers per panel would be required to amortise the tooling cost to anything remotely 'sensible' compared to the car's sub-£1k value in >95% of owners' eyes.

Not trying to be negative, but I do think it's important to be realistic here. If some want to go ahead anyway to keep their cars tip top, then that's great, but I'd expect quotes of the thick end of a grand for any panel worth making given the extremely low volumes that are likely to be sold.
 
Good points Jamie and imo hits lots of nails on heads. All i can do is thank Anthony for the initial posting of this information. There are still a few committed enthusiasts around here but nowhere near enough to get anything like this off the ground.
 
By the looks of the website all of the panels would be made by hand. They would probably use a metal folder, a wheel and bag/mallet to make them.

I've certainly saved the website address and will enquire in the future for making Ford Probe panels as like the cougar, ford aren't interested in Probe panels. Sills for us along with rear arches, possibly the bottom of the front wings.

Repair sections would be easier to make and cheaper than whole panels.
 
lets be honest here, a lot of us have spent money on cosmetic.. spray jobs ect wheels all sorts of stuff mods galore, however the main practical of the car thats going to have ill health is the body work..so can we at least be aware that no one apart from one contact ive made and carlpg is having a go at it here also are we not for the long term wanting to preserve the said cars life but making a little effort to put it into action. god knows we pay enough for insurance ect and everything else.. i really dont mind if one of our admin team be it alan or someone here sets up a pot we can make a donation to get something made.. a little move in the right direction so we can see the results this would help to get it moving.

im not interested in any comments of its not gonna happen.. or whatever...someone put a lot of effort into designing this car its fords fault they messed it up.
 
Could a suitable donor car not be bought using the profits from the subscriptions, sent to the company Anthony Grishmann found and then replacement parts could be made only for the club then made available only to Subscribed members, that would encourage subscription and provide longevity for the club (y)
 
ISG said:
Sometimes it is a paint or impossible to perfectly align new genuine panel to an old car. It is almost impossible to align new but not genuine panel without using at least some body filler. And You guys think that some dudes with hammers will make a perfect body panels for You from an old template? And You will just put in in and that's it? Well, I think its a waste of money, effort, and time. Hand making on a new perfect panel would cost as much as a Cougar itself
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You appear to be quite the pessimist, it is a well known fact that anything other than a genuine part will take alot of fettling to fit, even pattern parts are not a direct bolt on, the difference is you cant buy genuine parts and you cant buy pattern parts for the Cougar where you can for other cars, even a poor fitting replacement is better than no replacement (y)
 
Just an idea guys. Has anyone contacted the Cougar owners in the US ?. I would imagine they are in a better situation as more were sold over there. Perhaps you could piggy back off their volumes to make a feasible business case for tooling ?. Unfortunately, I had to sell my Cougar due to health problems otherwise I would get involved myself.
 
Cougarbrg said:
Just an idea guys. Has anyone contacted the Cougar owners in the US ?. I would imagine they are in a better situation as more were sold over there. Perhaps you could piggy back off their volumes to make a feasible business case for tooling ?. Unfortunately, I had to sell my Cougar due to health problems otherwise I would get involved myself.
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im already in touch with the usa boys and will report back when they answer me..as there are places there that do it ..its just transport shipping from there were looking into snail mail by road ect to keep costs down..

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Procomm said:
You appear to be quite the pessimist, it is a well known fact that anything other than a genuine part will take alot of fettling to fit, even pattern parts are not a direct bolt on, the difference is you cant buy genuine parts and you cant buy pattern parts for the Cougar where you can for other cars, even a poor fitting replacement is better than no replacement (y)
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EXACTLY!! so what a bit of filler never hurt anyone.. and if the weld is clean and all rot is gone its purley cosmetic! the end result it what matters and its looks sexy job done!!
 
Cougarbrg said:
Just an idea guys. Has anyone contacted the Cougar owners in the US ?. I would imagine they are in a better situation as more were sold over there. Perhaps you could piggy back off their volumes to make a feasible business case for tooling ?. Unfortunately, I had to sell my Cougar due to health problems otherwise I would get involved myself.
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Its the shipping that kills you on orders from the US :(
 
have you conscidered that they are probably in the junk yard because you cant get replacement parts for them? I have scrapped a couple of cougars now one purely because of rust and the fact that you cant for love nor money get replacement sills (even from the US) it was cheaper for me to purchase a replacement cougar than pay a garage to cut and bend sheet metal to make replacement parts and then to weld them for me, the garages i got quotes from said 70% of the price they would charge would be for the manufacture aspect of the job, pre built parts from a mould would be considerably cheaper to manufacture
(y)
 
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