A long...long time ago there was a company near me that used to "retrofit" perfectly good Fieros into 308 and 328 Ferrari kits. They have long ago closed.
I recently went by and decided to go snooping to see if there were any parts left. Sure enough, there is a semi trailer with a lot of old fiberglass parts still lurking around. Hoods, headlight covers, grills, a complete quarter panel for a 328, and tons of other similar stuff
The parts are not mint- they have been sitting in a semi trailer, exposed to the elements for many years, but you can probably get them for free or close to free.
If you are interested in looking like Magnum PI and pretend you drive a Ferrari.. PM me and I can give you the location.
Is there a couple complete or near complete kits? or just parts....
I might be interested if it was close to complete, or there is a complete front end (fenders, hood, bumper, headlight covers)
If you have access to grab some pictures and sort through it, I'd prefer to purchase this stuff off you and possibly come get it. I don't really want to travel that far without a contact that I can trust and has the parts in their possession. I'm also only interested in the 328 parts, not the 308.
Do you know which kit they are based on? Are they Mera clones or Stinger clones? If you don't know the difference yourself, then like Custom2M4 implied, a picture is worth a 1000 words.
Not sure if it is relevant or not but our own EVMrob here has built some rather impressive Ferrari 308 kits and has the ability to make more. I personally saw the one he recently sold and it looked very nice. He also mentioned that he took molds off the car so he can recreate it. I dunno what he charges for a complete kit but it would be worth the call or PM to find out. The car certainly looked very nice and he also made ALL of the badging, emblems, and even the tail lights and marker lights himself. Pretty damn taleted fellow if I do say so.... Peace
With that location, the parts are almost 100% likely to be from Canadian Sportscars, owned by George Fejer. As I recall, that was the city he was located in. He made excellent fiberglass (although his mounting brackets left a lot to be desired). It, like most of the 308/328 clones from back in the day, was based on the Mera. Jim Sutter from IRM bought a lot of kits from him, and added a much-needed bracket kit when he resold them or installed them in-house. In addition to the 308/328s, Fejer made a very limited number of convertible 308 kits (which is something that even Ferrari never did). You might want to dig deep into that trailer -- there may be a hidden nugget of gold!
With that location, the parts are almost 100% likely to be from Canadian Sportscars, owned by George Fejer. As I recall, that was the city he was located in. He made excellent fiberglass (although his mounting brackets left a lot to be desired). It, like most of the 308/328 clones from back in the day, was based on the Mera. Jim Sutter from IRM bought a lot of kits from him, and added a much-needed bracket kit when he resold them or installed them in-house. In addition to the 308/328s, Fejer made a very limited number of convertible 308 kits (which is something that even Ferrari never did). You might want to dig deep into that trailer -- there may be a hidden nugget of gold!
Hi John....
That's right, that would be the Fejer operation.
George was a nice guy, I wonder what ever happened to him?
I always loved the 308/328 kits.
I wonder if his molds are still hanging out there. I heard about 12 or 14 years ago that he had sold his molds to a guy in NY.
Apparently there is an almost complete 308 body kit there. I talked to the guy who "inherited" the parts. The place is a gigantic dump and I will literally have to dig through raccoon crap and rotten fiberglass insulation to get this stuff out, but I should be able to get pics and pricing on Sunday.
Yes, it is George's old shop. It is abandoned now.. I feel like an archeologist digging through 2 decades of decaying crap to find some nuggets of gold. A friend of mine dug through the crap left behind after he closed shop and walked away with a COMPLETE miller woods turbo kit, incl new exhaust, turbo, etc. That was a steal back then.
As far as I know, George has moved back to Budapest,Hungary (my first home town
Pete
[This message has been edited by cam-a-lot (edited 04-18-2012).]
Anyone interested might search around for John Watson in Tenga, Georgia. He is or was in the Fiero rebody business and may be able to steer someone wanting a kit. Often touted as making the best AD355 rebody on the market. Whodeanie might also have some sources.
If someone buys these parts and is interested in the instructions that Fejer provided back when he was making kits, let me know. I'm pretty sure I have a copy of George's instruction manual (about 6 or 8 photocopied pages) somewhere.
why why WHY is this type of thing never near me.!!! I'd love to dig through raccoon poo for a 308 kit! Always wanted one and someday i will. Just box it up and ship it on down to me! Good luck with the hunt, very interested in what you may find.
edit to add..ooo 10 hour drive hhmmmm
[This message has been edited by DLCLK87GT (edited 04-19-2012).]
George was a nice guy, I wonder what ever happened to him?
I always loved the 308/328 kits.
I wonder if his molds are still hanging out there. I heard about 12 or 14 years ago that he had sold his molds to a guy in NY.
I called him just before I bought my 88 Mera in the early 90's. I was trying to find out what a Mera was. He told me Corporate Concepts copied his kits to make the Mera. Did not take too long to find out that was far from the truth.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
[This message has been edited by Rodney (edited 04-19-2012).]
Something to think about and make a few bucks on the side would be work out something with the guy who has them. Lots of people have damaged their kits and there is no source of repair body parts to be had. When I had mine, I would have paid a nice price for NOS body parts I needed for repair. Lots of people have junked their otherwise nice Ferrari rebody because a fender or qtr panel were wrecked. You could just advertise what you have on EBay. I spend days on there looking for parts for my specific cars. I prob spent 100 hours over 6 months looking for just a rear trunk trim panel for the Coronet. I ended up paying $1000 for an acceptable condition used one. It had quite a bit of minor surface pitting, but a mint one was $2500.
Something to think about and make a few bucks on the side would be work out something with the guy who has them. Lots of people have damaged their kits and there is no source of repair body parts to be had. When I had mine, I would have paid a nice price for NOS body parts I needed for repair. Lots of people have junked their otherwise nice Ferrari rebody because a fender or qtr panel were wrecked. You could just advertise what you have on EBay. I spend days on there looking for parts for my specific cars. I prob spent 100 hours over 6 months looking for just a rear trunk trim panel for the Coronet. I ended up paying $1000 for an acceptable condition used one. It had quite a bit of minor surface pitting, but a mint one was $2500.
agreed!! i could use a passenger side louvered sail panel....for my Mera
[This message has been edited by batousai666 (edited 04-19-2012).]
I called him just before I bought my 88 Mera in the early 90's. I was trying to find out what a Mera was. He told me Corporate Concepts copied his kits to make the Mera. Did not take too long to find out that was far from the truth.
As I grow older, I find that I sometimes let go of 20 year old transgressions & concentrate on the good times.
I need a ballpark idea of what the stuff is worth so I can negotiate with the guy. I realize this is hard to do without pics, (which I will get on sunday)
-pretty much complete rear clip for 308 -308 headlight doors (heavy as hell- not sure how Fiero headlight motors survive these things -fenders -hood -grills for rear decklid for 308
I just need ballpark- I may buy the whole pile of crap. I am not looking to make money on it, just cover my time and shipping. I would rather help someone than see this stuff rotting away. I would prefer to swap for parts.. Pics coming on Sunday
All those are valuable parts for people like above. Those grills are very hard to come by and worth gold to an owner who needs it. With no parts source, Ive had to rebuild wrecked fenders from practically scratch before and it can get very expensive for the owner. You wouldnt have to buy them, just split it say 50/50 with the current owner. He apparently has nothing invested in them. ie/ you can easily get $150 for a front fender. I had to build a fender for a guy with parking lot damage. It cost him $1500 with paint. You just have to get the info out there and easy to find.
Good morning, you bunch of junk collectors! I put on my Indiana Jones hat, and peeled away 20 years of grime, mud, raccoon and bird crap to search in vain for kit car parts that I am not even interested in.... Hopefully this find will benefit some of you guys, since I would much rather see someone use and enjoy these parts than have them rot away for another 20 years.
According to the fellow who inherited the parts (he used to work for George Fejer) these gems lurk among the 20 years of decaying crap
-complete 308 and 328 molds (the place is a disaster, so I wouldn't count on the mold sets to really be complete -at least 4-5 hoods, -4-5 sets of fenders -4 sets of doorskins -308 rear clip (some damage, shown on pic) -rear deck grills, I counted at least 10 of them -a couple of sets of 308 metal grills for the radiator area -one or two lower lip spoilers for 328 -some F40 odds and ends.. I think I saw an F40 hood
Pictures to be uploaded shortly.
I would prefer to sell these parts as a package to someone, as shipping them would be a pain. Once I get an idea of what these parts are worth, we can figure out a swap or cash. (I will likely just buy the parts from the current owner, as he has no internet and is not interested in phone/email transactions.
-some items I would be interested in trading for would be.
-88 13" brake kit -Mr Mike's leather seats for 88 GT (beechwood or brown) -short stack intercooler for Series III SC -paintjob if I bring my Fiero and all the parts to you (NE USA or Canada) ???
-If there is enough interest in these parts, I will spend a day properly unloading the trailer and lay the parts down flat to get proper pics. A lot of the parts couldn't be photographed due to the crammed conditions and low light.
I haven't spoken to him about cost yet, since not every item has been dug out of the trailer or photographed. Based on the amount of panels and accompanying molds, I would guess that $6,000 for everything is probably reasonable. It doesn't make sense to ship this stuff: It is probably best to drive/fly in and rent a one way cube van from U-Haul, etc.
It is not a 20 hr drive..I can by in NYC in about 12 hrs
Considering these parts may be hard or impossible to find in the years to come, it may be worth the drive. I am really not interested in getting involved with these parts on a piece by piece basis, since it would be very time consuming and they belong to someone else anyway... Hopefully someone can grab the whole batch and make some of their money back selling off what they don't use on their own car.
It is not a 20 hr drive..I can by in NYC in about 12 hrs
Oh then it's a 24 hour drive, i would need to turn around and go back home ya know. Realistically I don’t have the means to move that volume of stuff or a place to put it if I did manage to get it back to my house. If it was closer I’d maybe talk to the owner about purchasing some of the body panels but he probably wants it ALL gone and not somebody cherry picking the pile. Hopefully somebody with the skill can buy those molds, put them to use and start making those kits again. I really really do want one.
I haven't spoken to him about cost yet, since not every item has been dug out of the trailer or photographed. Based on the amount of panels and accompanying molds, I would guess that $6,000 for everything is probably reasonable. It doesn't make sense to ship this stuff: It is probably best to drive/fly in and rent a one way cube van from U-Haul, etc.
Then you and I are way off on our price points. All those molds sitting rotting like that are probally going to need hundreds of hours just to get them back into working shape. As well as most of those panels will need alot of attention to get to the point of bolting on.
If it was me, I wouldn't pay a dime over 1,500 and then take the risk of being able to use half of it. If you think he's looking for that much money, then walk away and post up his information. But I doubt he'll get it.
Who knows... I am tempted to just walk away from this thing altogether.... Seems like a lot of hassle
Surprisingly though, the fiberglass parts are NOT rotten. I have no idea why, but every piece I touched, including the molds, were hard to the touch, no signs of rot or softness. I am really surprised at this, as old boats that are left lying around like this rot very quickly.
If I decide to buy any or all of this crap, I will post it on here.
Fejar made some of the best fiberglass in the replica business. Jim Sutter from IRM looked at several different 308/328 kits before he started buying them from Fejer. The deciding factor was the quality of the glass work.