Still better than FedEx. Their local hub in Austell is affectionately referred to as "Lost-Hell". They're so bad that they made the evening news on at least two Atlanta TV stations.
Just a thought on the molds for these lenses. Is it possible for Keith? or anyone to at least save the molds somehow (with GM's permission) for any possible future use? It seems such a waste and expense that this could not happen even given the licensing details. I am not a lawyer but I did buy a set of these just in case my originals ever get destroyed. They are perfect and stronger than the originals, I just wish upon a star that a true replacement was made from the same material and the correct color of the GT panel side windows.. Why can't common sense prevail???
Your suggestion Is one I visited early on. It would be an easy solution to something much more complicated. GM does not have anything to do with the tool. (What you are calling a tool is actually called a tool in injection molding parlance. My rights to the tool end at having the tool made and I can use it all I want but don't really own it. I own the rights to the tool. The tool is quite complicated, large and made of steel so quite heavy. Bringing it stateside is not possible for several reasons that are beyond the scope of this form. I can make all the injections (shooting) I want but the rub comes when using "Pontiac", "Fiero" and the rampant horse. This I have/had to pay for and it is very expensive. It is an expense I have to pay whether I sell lenses or not. The problem occurred when fastback owners didn't buy my lenses. The royalties I had to pay far exceeded the profit from the sales. Had Fiero owners purchased what they have wanted we would be punching out notchback lenses by now but it doesn't/didn't work that way. It took me going out of business to get people to actually buy the lenses. I am now paying off back royalties because GM cut me a break because it was never their intention to cause me to loose money. The best solution for the future of these lenses is to have more lenses shot before they destroy the tool. They, (China) can destroy the tool most any time they want. The problem then returns when it come to decorating them. GM has a minimum 2 year contract and there would be no expectation that they would be sold in the quantity and the time necessary to get a ROI. I am afraid it is a sad situation I should have seen coming sooner. The good news is the ones I have sold REALLY make the cars look great and those that are hording them are going to make some serious profit when they sell them.
By the way, It would be best if you put the new lenses on now and put your old ones in climate controlled storage. This way you can sell the "originals" with the car.
If a lot of the royalties and added costs are on the decoration, what about selling just the clear lenses? Is that impeded by GM, or could you conceivably do that once the agreement with them on the copyrighted terms/images ends?
I am waiting for my tax return to hit so I can buy my third set, and hopefully fourth as well from you.
Ouch its a flat license and not a per unit that really sucks. I was looking forward to notch back lenses for the fact i own twice as many notch backs as GTs. Idk what your sales numbers are like (sound bad) im wondering if you could ROI still without Pontiac or GM logos. Perhaps alternative decoration styles. I know that the round lense style was popular for a bit and some after markets do that. Totally blacked out except well placed circles. Just tossing out ideas. You make a great product i hope to pick up an additional Pontiac decorated set before your license is up. Just to put on the shelf. Your quote "sad situation I should have seen coming sooner." really speaks to me as i had thought about diving in and trying to do a few different things but the fear of a fickle market kept me from doing such. 100% brave and i hope you can eventually get some ROI.
Yes. The fixed royalties is a killer. Given the low production of fastbacks (30,000?) and taking into account how many haven't been junked (10,000?) and then subtracting out the trailer queens that are garaged and all original and not in the market for replacements, we're looking at what a pool of 8,000? I'm not sure how many you sold but based on the guesstimates above, I would guess sales of 300-500 would be excellent (5% of the available cars).
Did GM refuse to offer a per unit royalty agreement on a 34 year old car, insisting on only a fixed license?!? That seems bonkers. Is it too late to negotiate a per unit royalty? Do they not trust you to report actual sales or something? I can understand a current production model but for a 34 year old model, it doesn't make sense to offer or for you to accept a fixed royalty structure.
Regarding a Chinese factory having the mold, I would not be surprised to see these lenses for sale for a ridiculously low price in the future. Why would the Chinese destroy the goose that lays a golden egg when they can get the goose for free and use it to make the eggs. And remember China could care less about US/international copyright laws. You paid the development costs and royalty costs which you factored into your breakeven pricing (and I would guess that's 70 percent of the price you're selling these for); the Chinese factory will only need to cover the cost of materials, stamping and shipping these overseas to make a profit. My guess is they could literally sell them for $80 a set and make a healthy profit. GM is shooting itself in the foot if it thinks this is the way to do business with potential vendors as they will lose out on any take of the pie by demanding to devour too much of it rather than making it a win win deal.
When I was looking into getting a replacement windshield, I had talked to a Chinese factory out of curiosity as to what they're selling Fiero windshields to the US distributors for, and it was literally like $25 each. The wholesale warehouses in the US would then mark them up to $100 and take their cut selling to the installers who then marked them up again to $180 to sell to you.
My 2 cents.
[This message has been edited by reinhart (edited 02-19-2022).]
We are sold out and will not be making them any more. There may be a blem or two available in a few months. They may also be for sale on eBay but they will cost a lot more. Good luck.
We are sold out and will not be making them any more. There may be a blem or two available in a few months. They may also be for sale on eBay but they will cost a lot more. Good luck.
Keith
Thanks, Keith. I bought 5 sets, so I’m ok. We have friends who might be interested in getting a Fiero, so I just wanted to know if they were available if needed.
I've had these replacement lenses for a while and just getting the time to install. I'm not the first to post these, but wanted to share Before and After PIX.
Before:
After:
While I had the taillight assemblies apart I recoated the reflective back panel. Between that and the new lenses...What a difference!!!
I want to thank Keith Goodyear and "Belly Acre Studios" for getting these much needed taillight lenses to the Fiero Community.
While I had the taillight assemblies apart I recoated the reflective back panel. Between that and the new lenses...What a difference!!!
...
Bob, how did you "recoat" the reflective part? When I get around to installing mine, I'd like to do this as well. I was just planning on cleaning them (another pair I had apart were somehow really dusty inside).
Bob, how did you "recoat" the reflective part? When I get around to installing mine, I'd like to do this as well. I was just planning on cleaning them (another pair I had apart were somehow really dusty inside).
If you take the taillights apart, there is reflective paint on the inner piece. Go to the autoparts store and just buy reflective spray paint, and paint it until its smooth and shiny.
Whatever silver, "chrome", or metallic paint you use, make sure it's for outdoor use. Too many people buy that "mirror" paint from Krylon and don't realize it falls apart in the elements.
Bob, how did you "recoat" the reflective part? When I get around to installing mine, I'd like to do this as well. I was just planning on cleaning them (another pair I had apart were somehow really dusty inside).
I didn't take any pictures to document the process, but here's the process I used. As Xenoblast mentioned in his reply, the back plate is already coated in a metallic/chrome coating. After taking apart the tail lights, I carefully/lightly scuffed the surface to be painted with a green scour pad to promote adhesion of the new paint.
Then I thoroughly cleaned the back plate both inside and out with Simple Green and water. Then I dried it and finally used a tack cloth on the surface to ensure there were no remaining bits of dust or oil.
Two coats of automotive metallic chrome paint were applied and allowed to dry for 24 hours before reassembling.
P.S Keith they will go out tomorrow, I had been traveling all last week.
Oven cleaner will remove the majority of the factory chrome. I didn’t bother with what was left but I suppose it could have been taken off. I then used Alsa chrome for mine and I don’t know how well it will take the heat but I have LED lights. I assume there won’t be any issues.
Yes I have the LED setup for the tail lights stop lights, and I'll continue to use the SuperBright LEDs "tower" units for the other lights in the tail light assembly.
We are just starting a new decorating process that is even more though than the last ones. I spent 3 hours learning how to use it and will soon be able to start pumping them out from here.
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