[texas_mustang]

to be honest, i bet you could get the rear quarters and rear end custom made for under $5000

[retrobuilt]

That's great! What about the rest of the car and the labor and materials involved? I guess it must be a lot easier for some people to build cars than others? Perhaps some stick on side scoops and a bumper cover and hood from Cervini for $18K makes more sense?? I'm NOT knocking that, just using it as a comparison. If you can't see the value in it, then perhaps you should embark on building one yourself. There is close to $1M in the development and marketing of this car over the past year. Perhaps I overpaid Maaco for the work? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, you don't have to like it, but don't knock it until you know what it takes to come to the market with something like this. If it were so easy everyone would be doing and it would have been done years ago. Sorry for the rant...

[EfylSetaf]

Retrobuilt, you know you're going to get critical eyes at a site like this. That doesn't mean there aren't people that like it. You should be proud of the work you and your team did -- good luck to you.

I really like it, especially the front. If I had a practice on LaSalle Street and two vacation homes then I'd spring for it. Gonna be a while though. Especially since I don't have aspirations of practicing law. : )

[texas_mustang]

wow. you spent over a million dollars developing a body kit for a ford?

[retrobuilt]

Sorry you think it's BS, perhaps I should forward the bills to you.

[HMUSN]

you can forward the car to me if you would like
(please refrain from sending any "bills" with it)

[texas_mustang]

you paid a million dollars for a ford. get real

i might believe 100,000 at most

your not buidling a car from the ground up. you took an exsiting car and modded it. besides, its not like you used carbon fiber or nanotubes

[07BlkGT]

Originally Posted by HMUSN you can forward the car to me if you would like (please refrain from sending any "bills" with it)

++++11111 on forwarding the car but can we share it? Uh...but not the bills, got plenty of those already

[retrobuilt]

If you can read texas_mustang, I stated that amount was spent on the development and marketing of the car, do you understand what that means. That's for all the designing, engineering, scanning, cad work, fabricating, molds, machining billet components, and lets not forget the mountain of legal fees involving the intellectual properties and protecting the trademarks and copyrights. Building 5 real gt500 prototypes to make sure everything fits like it should, developing web sites and taking the cars to SEMA, Barrett-Jackson and numerous Ford Dealer around the country. So sharpen your pencil and start adding it up. This sort of thing is big business, not just some backyard project. Stick to what you know and leave this sort of thing to us...Thanks for your input either way.

[347stroker]

Thats damn nice, alot of work and money though. Think I would rather have the original instead.

[texas_mustang]

stick to what i know?

what i know is the you said you spent almost a million dollars developing a ford. wow haha.

[MSCLCAR]

I don't see why it's so hard to believe they spent $1M on R&D and marketing. I work in audit/finance/accounting (specializing in the automotive industry). Believe me, for a product like this (which reasonably includes the long list of things retrobuilt described above), that's a somewhat surprisingly low number. That's not the cost of building one car but the cost of bringing a mass-produced product line to the production/sale stage.

[EfylSetaf]

Originally Posted by texas_mustang stick to what i know? what i know is the you said you spent almost a million dollars developing a ford. wow haha.

Naw Texas, he spent a million developing a business from the ground up. How much do you think Cervinis spends on their costs? Starting a legitimate business is pretty dang expensive -- unless you're doing a fly by night. If Retro does their 50 conversions a year, they'll probably make under 3/4 a million per year in net, pre-tax profit, depending on payrolls and variable costs. Like I said, good luck.

I do agree with 347 Stroker, but damn, if there's people who'll drop an extra 20-30k on a new Challenger, there's gotta be at least 50 people for one of these kits. Plenty of rich people who don't have enough real things to pay for. Casinos and beach front property are good proof of that....

[1FastFox]

The ass of that car loks fantastic. The front end however, Im not much of a fan of.

[ReverendDexter]

I think that 99% of that car looks awesome. The only thing I don't like on it is the way the line above the headlights looks from certain angles. Something about it doesn't quite flow right, but like I said, it was only in one of those shots, so I'd withhold judgement until seeing it in person.

I am surprised you didn't do some retro-styled mirrors, though, it seems to me to be the one thing that spoils the illusion of looking at a '68 Shelby GT-500; it seems like it would be worth giving up the power mirrors for the aesthetic.

Best of luck with it, I hope to see one on the streets!

[Black_07GT]

I seen the Red & Black one @ Car FX. Not my style but very well done. You can see it @ tulsacarfx.com - Projects

[retrobuilt]

Thank you MSCLCAR for putting it into perspective from a financial view point. I realize many people can't fathom spending those kinds of dollars. I feel it speaks highly of the product itself to know that much went into it. That sounds easy to say considering it wasn't my money, I just designed it and came up with the concept. It took a group of us 1000's of hours to do this correctly. We are very pleased with the product, to see these cars in person makes a big difference. Thanks again for the support. Tony

[retrobuilt]

The red and black car was the first prototype, we were experimenting with different front end designs to come up with a base GT car. This car won't go into production. I'll try to attach pics of the GT version that was sold at BJ in Palm Beam last March. Let me know what you think....I can email bigger pics if anyone wants them...

[Black_07GT]

Originally Posted by retrobuilt Thank you MSCLCAR for putting it into perspective from a financial view point. I realize many people can't fathom spending those kinds of dollars. I feel it speaks highly of the product itself to know that much went into it. That sounds easy to say considering it wasn't my money, I just designed it and came up with the concept. It took a group of us 1000's of hours to do this correctly. We are very pleased with the product, to see these cars in person makes a big difference. Thanks again for the support. Tony

I have to agree with seeing it in person. I am very picky about paint and body work. It was as close to perfect that you will find. When it was in front of Car FX I bet I got a hundred calls telling me to go look at it. Very well done.

[Black_07GT]

Much better, I think the hood was what killed the red one for me.