Badly damaged Tailblazer

citsncycles · Post by **citsncycles** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:04 pm

Mine has obviously been broken across the top by the number plate lights, as this area has been trimmed away and the open ends filled in. It actually looks good, and unless you are a BX fan, you might not even notice.

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:28 pm

I did have a complete one til the helpful bloke from the drinks shop offered to help my pregnant wife load the drinks and of course he grabbed it at its weak point to open the door and now it's just like the rest of them!
Someone was selling one unused in its box a couple of years back on German Ebay and it nudged €100. Probably f'ed too now unless it's stored in a temperature controlled vault! It won't be long before someone's got hold of the original molds and is re-manufacturing.
The look was great, the design wasn't. Audi and Merc had similar items in the 80s and most that I've seen are in one piece still.

richardd1652 · Post by **richardd1652** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:53 pm

I got mine at Wetherby CCC meet earlier this year for a Tenner.Just got a crack where number plate screws through but hidden by plate.He didnt have to tell me the price twice.
Richard.

mds141 · Post by **mds141** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:05 pm

The one on my 16v is un-cracked and mint. It was supplied by the original dealer as an accessory and fitted at time of delivery 21 yrs ago! Is this a record.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:14 pm

I have rescued the one from the 16v I've just sold on. It needs a bit of reconstruction, but it's all there and will be gracing the rear of the GTi soon, as is my good wife's want

Post by **Tim Leech** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:39 pm

Philip Chidlow wrote:I have rescued the one from the 16v I've just sold on. It needs a bit of reconstruction, but it's all there and will be gracing the rear of the GTi soon, as is my good wife's want

BOO!

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:51 pm

Sorry Tim but it is far from perfect and will require some effort (and skill?!) to reconstruct... And Liz is really a bit of a closet BX freak too.

first dibs to you if the lady changes her mind once she sees the bodge/repair.

RxBX · Post by **RxBX** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 11:05 pm

Philip Chidlow wrote:....................................
first dibs to you if the lady changes her mind once she sees the bodge/repair.

So are you going to try out Mr. Matt Mulley's blended reclaimed powdered rear-lamp cluster and P38 mix to make your bodge reflective then ?

RxBX · Post by **RxBX** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 11:06 pm

Edit:- Post Deleted !
Double post sorry

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 11:14 pm

(nice one Richard)....No, as all the bits are there. I shall instead be using my years of Airfix training!

RxBX · Post by **RxBX** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 10:43 am

MULLEY wrote:Its very easy to make reflective body filler, got a load of old reflectors, crush them up & put the sparkly dust into the filler & once it sets, it's reflective

Good idea about cutting up some appropriate other lenses to match the missing bits

This all obviously depends on me securing said part & if i don't get outbid tbh, i'm not going to pay a fiver for that, i'm going in cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeap

Hi Matt,
I see that there's one bid on this @ £5:00 _____

! Is it you ?

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 1:27 pm

er no

Mickey taker · Post by **Mickey taker** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 3:57 pm

on a serious point ,
what are the logistics of remanufacturing old plastic parts, not just tail blazers but other things like rear window louvres and bx estate storage bin covers, could be a good but limited market

citsncycles · Post by **citsncycles** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 10:44 pm

Anything's possible, but you have to balance how many people are willing to buy whatever you are making against what they are willing to pay and the manufacture costs.

The tailblazer would probably be the most expensive to make as it would have to be made from reflective plastic, requiring expensive tooling.

None reflective items could be made relatively inexpensively in GRP. All you'd need is an original item you could take a mould from, which after reinforcing could be used to make copies as and when people want them. Companies such as Honeybourne Mouldings may be willing to do something like this, or you could even have a go yourself.

If you want to go the plastic route, it may be worth looking for a company in Eastern Europe or China to do the manufacturing - 2CVGB's SPOG has done this to get window channels remade. They may also be worth talking to as they have also had plastic items made in short production runs in the past and could probably give some advice.

I think the problem with remanufacturing in plastic is that due to the relatively high tooling costs, you'd either have to find a lot of buyers, or would find that the cost would work out so high that many would decide not to bother with what is after all a non critical item.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 10:50 pm

Having been involved in product design, plastic moulding and budgeting, I would estimate that to produce a mould for the tailblazer might cost in excess of £50,000.

A run of 1000 units might cost in the end well over £100,000. Hardly BX territory

Find the original tool (probably scrapped/recycled) and you are still talking a massive investment considering the demand.