Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 19:30:53 EST
Reply-To: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Subject: "Hankerin' for fiberglass Carat Trim & Bumpers" (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Well, I just sold my last Winkler Body kit (I can get another one if you
want). I will try to give you as unbiased an opinion of the Winkler kit as I
can. The body pieces look like the stock pieces on the outside and come
white with a gel coat. On the other side they are just a shell with some
rather crumbly strips foam on the back.
They may have a few small spots here and there that need a little sanding to
make them look perfect (Winkler's concept is "close is good enough" ). There
is no way to attach them in the stock manner (with brackets, etc) so you need
to use some countersunk screws, countersink some holes in the body pieces,
and then attach them to the body this way. Put body filler over the heads of
the screws and paint the panels on the van. When you get done you will have
a van that from 5 feet or farther away, looks like it has the stock body
pieces on it. On really close inspection you can see that they aren't
exactly the same (which I never find myself doing with my Carat Vanagon) but
they are close enough to look good. The body kit costs $698.
Compare this with the stock setup. The body pieces and bumpers, new from the
dealer are around $3000 for the set (if you can get them). You still have to
drill holes in the body to mount the brackets for mounting the body panels.
The panels you get are primer colored so you still have to paint them. If
you are lucky enough to find the body pieces used somewhere (good luck) all
the wrecking yards I spoke with know how much these pieces are worth and want
half of the dealer price for good used panels. So a complete set would run
you around $1500 (of course you might not need to paint them).
So my conclusion is, the Winkler body kit isn't perfect. But it is a quarter
of the price of a new set and half the price of a used set. So for your
money you still get the desired effect of the body kit with less expense. If
you look at it this way it is a bargain.
I have called around about getting some reproductions made here in the US of
the Carat body pieces. However this would probably fall somewhere in between
the used price and the Winkler price (around a $1000 a set). They would
probably be a little nicer than the Winkler ones but they can't make them
exactly like the stock ones (I sent some technical drawings and the guys said
they could'nt make the rear attaching points on the panels with fiberglass).
They sware that the side panels must be plastic (anyone confirm or disprove
this). So you would have a big investment of money (mine) to make a product
a little bit better, and charge $300-400 more for it (I'm not selling the
Winkler kits every day at $700 as it is).
Sorry for the long speech, but I have spent alot of time thinking about this
and checking into it. Any further input is welcomed.
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
http://www.vanagain.com
John 3:16
Office (856)-765-1583
Shop (856)-327-0027
Fax (856)-327-2242
