Excellent insight Old Lar, sounds like you have experience in such dealings. I have way too much going on with my business to spearhead this project, and to work out a realistic business plan - but I am willing to contribute. If the people who want a kit are
really serious I would advise formally assembling themselves as a short-term partnership (actually an LLC would be a better format). They would develop, or have developed, a plan to realize their goals. They would hire an attorney, accountant, and whatever other professional services needed. Then they would contract my company, or whomever they chose, to build X amount of kits. When the kits were delivered the partnership is dissolved and each member has what they desired.
What I can contribute is just what I am doing now - advice; and I can provide preliminary estimates that would go into the business plan. If the group so desires I can also build and produce the kits.
There is another hidden advantage to using this method - GM can't sue. They can't sue a person for duplicating something they see - as long as it's not for profit. If the sole purpose of that partnership is to produce X number of kits for the members, and that there was not an active business goal to reproduce and sell kits at a profit, the owner of the intellectual property rights can't really bother you.
Then, if there is sufficient demand for more kits that group, or the company that produced the members' kits, can approach GM to obtain a licensing agreement to legally replicate their property.
I am not trying to find a way to pry open PFF wallets, just trying to help. You guys could actually take the advice in this thread and do the whole project with some other company. I would not be mad and would still be willing to give advice and help however I could cuz I know how bad some of the members here want that car.
On the same token, I am in business to make money - bottom line. That is why I will not investment my company's money into such a project, and will only pursue it if we are getting paid, at least a nominal fee, for our contribution. When a business looks at a potential product they think just how Old Lar was saying it. How much is this going to cost me to develop and produce, how many will I have to sell to break even, what kind of overall profit can I expect from the project, will the intended market support that goal, how does this stack up against other options I have.
That last one is the killer for me. I have so many other projects that I can do easier and make far more on (short and long term) that this project just doesn't make sense for me - from a business standpoint. I have a goal of hiring a nice sized team, paying them really good wages (with full benefits), and donating lots of money to good causes, one day. I can only reach those goals if I make some serious money.
Another advantage to a partnership having enough kits made for their own personal use is that it actually comes out a little cheaper. When you eliminate the need to realize a profit things changes significantly. All you need is enough to cover the costs of development. The tooling to produce the kits is much cheaper too. A mold to do 1000 parts is going to be much more expensive than one to produce 50. Brackets, etc., can be simple handcrafted items - as opposed to production line items that may require expensive tooling to replicate faithfully. For example, I may be able to buy a $200 tool to make fifty parts, but that tool may fail or deteriorate when asked to do a thousand. A thousand parts that are within an acceptable tolerance may need to be stamped - dies must be made. When that is necessary the larger the order the cheaper part becomes, and so on and so on.
Like I said I will help you guys to the best of my ability, and don't have to make a dime from you (of course you don't get quite as much for free 
)
perk - todd's hot rods
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