NOS Split Moldings?

[splitpartsunlimited]

I THINK NOT !!

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=300477

[Mikee]

they are pre bent
_________________

[splitpartsunlimited]

BUT ...REAL OR FAKE ??

[Brezelwerks]

REAL.

Gary

[Wiggy]

I agree. They are NOS.
_________________
Kevin "Wiggy"

My 58 Ghia Vert

My 51 Split 11G

My 57 Deluxe

My 56 Oval

[Wolfsburg Classics]

Are you guys 100% sure that it is NOS Genuine?.The pieces I have here of NOS do not have that solid 'end cap' in the trim?
Maybe there is different manufacturers of trim?

[Wiggy]

[Wiggy]

By the way, all of my originals have a slight bend to them, just like those pictured.
_________________
Kevin "Wiggy"

My 58 Ghia Vert

My 51 Split 11G

My 57 Deluxe

My 56 Oval

[Wolfsburg Classics]

Kevin
Thanks for that,my NOS trims I have have that closed off end as well,you can see it in my "wanted" add for split trim.....butmine are just a nice tidy fold over and it definetly is original trim.
Maybe there is early and late trim?
What about the price on this set??

[Brezelwerks]

There were some repro aluminum pieces made awhile ago, but these don't look like how those were finished, and I've owned sets of each, the repros were TIG globbed filled pretty heavily on the tips. From my experiences the aluminum tips should be solid on the ends. I've owned, torn off, and restored well over a dozen sets of this stuff and this set matches all the og stuff I've seen. Keep in mind the reproduction stainless stuff thats out there though is not filled in on the tips, and of course its a considerably brighter chrome-like finish.

Gary

[Wiggy]

I stand corrected. I see what you are referring to. I thought you meant the side. They look really GOOD, but I'm not sure anymore.

I thought you were talking about:

but you are talking about:

_________________
Kevin "Wiggy"

My 58 Ghia Vert

My 51 Split 11G

My 57 Deluxe

My 56 Oval

[Brezelwerks]

Ummm. Upon closer inspection of your ad Tony, now believe too the stuff in the ad is repro, especially when I review the other pictures posted in Bruce's ad. In Tony's ad the telltale sign is the precision cutaway section where the clips insert, thats the real stuff, and its still reinforced in that area as well. I was focused in on the reverse side arrow end tips.

This trim I believe was made by a CA guy made about 10 years back, one of the shops sold it (WW or VPI) you can tell by how uneven the end tips are finished (w/tooling/file marks). I can say that even though its reproduction trim its an excellent copy, you get the correct aluminum look, but it still differs from the originals as well on the topside where the depth of the grooves is much more shallow than the original stuff. Side by side you can really tell.

Someone on this site knows the background on this repro stuff (I've forgotten it). I can also tell you the price posted is about the price it sold for, and it was expensive then (handmade) when I bought it for the first split I owned back in 96.

Gary

[Wiggy]

That repro stuff sold for like $600, if I recall.
_________________
Kevin "Wiggy"

My 58 Ghia Vert

My 51 Split 11G

My 57 Deluxe

My 56 Oval

[53 0val]

Bruce doesn't deal in reproductions.........I would bet the farm those are real and NOS just as he says.
_________________
"What a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away." Dobee, Dobee, Do

[splitpartsunlimited]

maybe he got fooled ....

my split moldings are really different from those ....they have track markings along the piece and ends are stamped , not cast like the ones pictured ....

how much a nos set of moldings would cost ???

[UZI]

[53 0val]

[Brezelwerks]

Its easy enough to be fooled by these, hell Tony caught the small detail before Kevin or I did on this one. If you've held both versions in your hands you can tell the difference, and even religious purists have bought them both knowing and not knowing they were not nos. There is not one purist out there that can keep their eye on everything that was once made in a small handful in someone's shop, and that was during a time when folks never admitted to reproducing anything (that was done right anyways).

There were a limited amount of these handmade sets made because of their huge cost, and because their cost was so high many of the sets sat for many years, it was an impractical venture as I was told and completely agree given what was involved to make them. These were made for the discriminating restorer, basically pre-internet days, when finding especially trim parts was really hard for those not in "the inner circle" to get at the real nos stuff.

Also, the obvious benefit of these at that time is that they weren't pitted from oxidation like all the 50+ og stuff is nomatter how much you wax it, and you could put them right on a concours restoration and then move on to the next thing, and when you are on a schedule thats key. Besides, you would have to pay about $600 just to restore the og ones you had, and its basically impractical and sometimes impossible to to try remove all the pits in 50+ year old aluminum trim, most of the oxidized pits lay within and around the recessed ribbed areas, difficult to get at to either plane or polish, and you can seldom plane down/out all the pits without thinning the material too much.

So, if you spent $600 to get these, you saved yourself headaches, time, and huge costs. Plus you then sell the og stuff for $300 (like I did), so cash out of pocket is only then half at $300. In the end on the car the stuff is equal to nos, and no concours event is going to make you tear off the trim to verify.

Anyways, like I said in the 50 Kabrio restoration thread, its always about compromises, I suppose the maker could of done the insane thing and exactly replicate the backside, take out all the tool marks, take out the excess TIG globs, glass bead blast the rear, etc, but that would of tripled the price, and who would buy it? Usually 80% of the cost of restoring or making parts is related to the non-sexy work like cutting, blasting, grinding, sanding. The painting and polishing is the easy part.

So, unless you truly need NOS, and can truly find NOS trim (like Tony has been obviously looking for), this set is still a bargain nomatter how you look at it.

Gary

[horatiocaine]

They look like the ones Steve Herron used to make. They were beautiful hand made reproductions that you could not tell from originals but for the heavier on the material side at the ends. He does not make them anymore and even if they were Herron repros I would pay the money if I needed a set.

[transportertalkman]

Those are Steve Herrons repro trim, made right here in Santa Barbara. Over half the splits and coachbuilts in this country and Europe have those sets on them. They were made correct but it has been over 10 years and there won't be anymore.