Actually any upholstery shop out in our area buys the water proof door panel board from one of these suppliers for about $9.00 each. It is pretty easy to cut out a pattern if a person has one fairly good original. Once the pattern is cut out a person can have anyone sew in their desired design on foam, glue it to the board and install it themselves. Here are suppliers I use in the Northwest for the waterproof board: http://www.rexpeggfabrics.com/index.php?cat=Panel+Boards|440|11|12 http://www.perfectfit.com/Search.aspx?q=door panel&f=&SearchPageNum=1 http://www.keystonbros.com/subcategory-listing-page/?cat_id=243875&grand_id=9274
That's just ridiculous. There's not that much "development" in Maverick door panels. There isn't $200 of material or labor in one panel. And I have made them myself, however they were just plain vinyl as I don't know how to stitch material. And I'm not against companies making a profit - that's the reason for being in business, but it doesn't justify exorbitant prices either.
"Quality last long after the price has been forgotten" you keep saying there's not that much labor into door panels, maybe it's because you haven't done the stiching, tracked down the comfortweave/woodgrain, and the plastic outline chrome piece (don't know what it's called) Pretty sure if it was so easy to make oem door panels, people would already be making them. If you want cheap panels, with the oem look, get a mustang or whatever. If you don't want oem panels, don't complain about the price of what other people are willing to pay for someone's quality work. Look at all the people that complain about the quality of the fiberglass grabber hood, then look at how many complaints maverickman gets on his "exspensive" hood..oh yea, he doesn't get any.
It's not "stitched" from the factory, it's heat sealed. You'd have to make some sorta die to do that in the correct pattern.
bottom line to me...if I were to pay that much for door panels...they definitely won't look like original. they were the cheapest looking panels to start with and then someone thinks I would pay 20% of what the car cost new for repops...
As with anything, if you don't want/like them, don't buy them, and don't worry about what they might cost to make or buy. Hopefully the people that like the stock door panels, will buy a set, that way they may decide there are other items that need to be reproduced, and stuff will get made. If stock door panels don't interest you, why keep posting?
Nice to see some parts getting re popped. Can't see 400 being out of line. People blow thousands on drivetrain set ups but 400 is steep. Lol. It's a drop in the bucket on a car.
It's great to see more stuff made for our cars. I'm also happy to see all the different years and styles/colours covered. This represents a huge investment by the manufacturer. This may be a chance for me to upgrade my panels to the deluxe panels later on. To me, this is all a sign that these cars are finally "coming into their own". Kudos to all involved. Can restoring/building/customizing an old car make you a millionaire?? Sure, but only if you're a Billionaire!
I will say it again...nobody knows what the cost will be yet. It may not be $400. It could be more. You are 100% correct that some people will spend $1000 on eye candy for their engine for something that can't be seen unless the hood is open and won't spend a dime on something that everyone can't help from seeing when they pass by your car.
I can't wait 3 to 6 months for upholstery for my 70 Mav with Bench seat. Anyone know where I can get some pre-made to install myself?
Any local upholstery shop can fix you right up!.. if you've got the money, and need them quickly they can probably have the covers ready and installed for you in just a few days.
Okay, well if you think those cheaply-made door panels are comparable to a Carbon Fiber hood, then I don't know what to tell you. 'Talk about comparing "apples to oranges". It's like Frank said; they won't even really be authentic reproductions because they won't have the medallions. The ones I want ('75-'77), I don't think they ever had those, so that wouldn't apply to me, but if you're not gonna do something correctly, then you shouldn't be charging a lot of money for it. What a concept.