I am truly sorry to get this message. It is not a complete surprise, but still a tremendous shame. I was afraid you would run out of energy before the car was completely finished, that you might burn out on getting all the myriad details of a chassis right, but having made it far past the point when most people would have run out of steam, it looked like you were on track to at least finish the body very soon, and I expected that you would succeed in finishing it. You deserve tremendous credit for having accomplished a truly amazing feat to have gotten this far, and in my opinion, even if it doesn’t seem that way to you at this point, you’re very close to finishing the body. Perhaps you could have a professional fiberglass person finish making the molds from your plug. Or perhaps you can sell the unfinished molds and plug, since they are surely worth something to someone else who would like to have a Lola, given what a head start you’ve given them. Your body would certainly be much nicer than a Gardner Denver, for example.
As far as a chassis to go under the body, perhaps a Gardner Denver would work for that? Or RCR or?
We bought an almost complete set of molds for out M1B and M1C replicas, and by the time we were done fixing details like the fender lips, making side pod molds, and were ready to pull a complete set of parts including all the interior ductwork, seats, etc. our investment in the molds was over $15K, which doubles what we paid for an almost complete set of molds to start with.
I don’t think we would have even attempted to do what you have done. We might have tried to find a clean and accurate body to splash, but creating it from scratch from photos and models is a Herculean task, and would have cost at least $20-$30k or more, in my estimate, with an experienced and highly skilled person doing the work in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible. It was hugely ambitious of you, and I hope you’re proud of what you accomplished. You should be. It’s just that it doesn’t pay out for only one body, you have to want to be able to make spares or more bodies to justify all the immense amount of work.
Here is an example of the big bucks method of doing what you did on your own in your garage, and they were starting with a body to copy. This is overkill in my opinion, if you have a body you don’t have to do this, but it’s indicative of how much effort this can take.
http://www.lmp-engineering.de/cms/front_content.php?idcat=3&lang=1
Click on the “Body” label over the thumbnail of the body on this page to see the process. In my opinion this validates what an accomplishment your effort is.
I always thought you were in over your head, but most people who build a car are, especially scratch builders. I really did think, and hoped, that you would have the energy to persevere, having gotten so very far.
As I’ve said, this is why we would just buy a body from Toluca Lake Classics if we wanted to build a Lola. And then copy that if we wanted to make spares. It’s so much work to do from scratch, especially if the goal is just to have a car. If the goal is to do it all yourself, you’ve done a hell of a job. Please take this as a heartfelt compliment.
My sincere sympathies. Again, I’m very sorry to hear this. The vast majority would never have attempted this, and wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far as you did if they’d tried. This is a completely unreasonable thing to have attempted under any circumstances, and you did an outstanding job despite having no previous experience.
David Merritt
As far as a chassis to go under the body, perhaps a Gardner Denver would work for that? Or RCR or?
We bought an almost complete set of molds for out M1B and M1C replicas, and by the time we were done fixing details like the fender lips, making side pod molds, and were ready to pull a complete set of parts including all the interior ductwork, seats, etc. our investment in the molds was over $15K, which doubles what we paid for an almost complete set of molds to start with.
I don’t think we would have even attempted to do what you have done. We might have tried to find a clean and accurate body to splash, but creating it from scratch from photos and models is a Herculean task, and would have cost at least $20-$30k or more, in my estimate, with an experienced and highly skilled person doing the work in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible. It was hugely ambitious of you, and I hope you’re proud of what you accomplished. You should be. It’s just that it doesn’t pay out for only one body, you have to want to be able to make spares or more bodies to justify all the immense amount of work.
Here is an example of the big bucks method of doing what you did on your own in your garage, and they were starting with a body to copy. This is overkill in my opinion, if you have a body you don’t have to do this, but it’s indicative of how much effort this can take.
http://www.lmp-engineering.de/cms/front_content.php?idcat=3&lang=1
Click on the “Body” label over the thumbnail of the body on this page to see the process. In my opinion this validates what an accomplishment your effort is.
I always thought you were in over your head, but most people who build a car are, especially scratch builders. I really did think, and hoped, that you would have the energy to persevere, having gotten so very far.
As I’ve said, this is why we would just buy a body from Toluca Lake Classics if we wanted to build a Lola. And then copy that if we wanted to make spares. It’s so much work to do from scratch, especially if the goal is just to have a car. If the goal is to do it all yourself, you’ve done a hell of a job. Please take this as a heartfelt compliment.
My sincere sympathies. Again, I’m very sorry to hear this. The vast majority would never have attempted this, and wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far as you did if they’d tried. This is a completely unreasonable thing to have attempted under any circumstances, and you did an outstanding job despite having no previous experience.
David Merritt
