This was a good opportunity for my son and I to do something together. It’s not all about the parts.

 The weather folks were calling for rain all weekend, but it held off.

Hubbard’s Impala was there with their business on wheels, so I was able to pickup some body panels for the 64 Impala Sport coupe. I think I have enough body panels to keep me busy for a year’s worth of free time, so you can look forward to some more how to articles. I’ll definitely start with a how to article on installing or replacing floor pans.

This reproduction body panel business is interesting. The owner was there and he filled me in on what it takes to reproduce a body part.

 Each part takes roughly a year from idea, to having a first stamping. Starting with a perfect specimen, they create a mold. From the mold they create the stamping dies.

The whole process involves a lot of professionals in the manufacturing business resulting in an investment well into 6 figures for each part. The amazing thing is that they need to understand the market for these parts before they even consider such an investment, since without a high demand, such an investment could be a serious waste.

What is even more amazing is that they can reproduce parts like 64 Impala doors and sell them for only $368 and still make money. You can see that they will have to sell a lot of doors to recover a 6 figure investment.

Talking about money, I managed to get away with left and right full floor pans, the full length front brace, the tail light mounting assemblies, tail panel, and trunk floor pan without having to pay for frieght since I brought my truck. If you look in the hubbard catalog or on their website you can see how they calculate freight. This load would have cost me close to $200.

If you are in the market for Impala parts, check out their show schedule, take the kids with you and make a day of it. There are plenty of souvenier vendors, so the kids can get something too.