Brian,
Here, here! We are similarly experiencing it now in two new projects. There
is interest, but not really. Like the spoon handle, re-make, re-manufacture,
re-production, is clamored for but when it gets down to the price, your
stuck and on your own. So much of the vintage were often beautiful parts
that by nature of design could fail if used incorrectly. We can recreate,
but often can't design against known frailties and keep the art. We're
relegated to picking the bones of distressed relics.
The 99 lens mold cost this truly nice person a fortune. At $7 per piece I
then paid, he still struggles to sell and will never make a profit. I
thought about trying to get his mold. I'm sure he would delight in selling
it, but if he gave me the mold I would do no better than he and loose. The
cost of production even with a free mold is too high for the actual quantity
that could sell. If I bought his remaining stock for $7K, it would languish
as stock while waiting for buyers with 500 trailers needing the lens.
He made the lens better, so buyers now with UV and impact resistant
technology will likely not need another in their lifetime and won't be
repeat buyers. All the while time consumes a dwindling number of these old
trailers. Add in age-old problems of increasing cost of fuel affecting
production, shipping, RV use, and buyer disposable income, the market
further dwindles. At some point you have to do like Bargman who still
exists, and stop production for something you make every day, could still
make cheaper, but will languish on a shelf that is not free for a market
that no longer exists.
We have a unique common interest and all vintage trailers and owners
combined are great folks but in the end ARE a very small market for the big
and the little guy. So when an old part appears it is like a mirage. We pick
the bones, vie for the piece, know there will be no more. It is the nature
of the beast.
-Eddie-
Houston, TX