What happened to factory dies/tools after production ended?

[Bajabugn]

Hi.So when DeLorean folded up I read the heavy stamping/dies etc were used as weight for fishing nets in the North Sea.Has anyone heard of a private individual buying any dies/fixtures..ANYTHING from when all manufacturing plants closed? Even Honda sold their tooling to Chinese companies now reproducing the ct70 engines. Some of the new castings have the "hm-wing) logo.really curious! Thanks!

[glutamodo]

I think VW often shifted production line bits to factories in other countries. For instance, Brazil made the smaller pre-65 window bugs long after Germany changed.
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[typ914]

When Delorean folded the dies and equipment was stored as the govt was holding the note for most of it. This is an unusual case however. The Delorean dies were eventually sold to a guy in Texas(i think) and has been attempting to make parts and cars. Most factories scrap their old dies as they are no longer needed. Most don't resell them for liability reasons. I don't believe the stories about VW shipping old dies to other markets because the dies would be worn out and produce a lower quality product. I am sure there are cases where they did this to some extent. You have to remember car manufactuers are in business to sell new cars not keep old ones operable.

[KTPhil]

With tooling being expensive, and with production shifting to Mexico and Brazil, and elsewhere in Germany, the heavy equipment, and the tooling that does not wear out, were probably shipped. Dies were constantly replaced anyway and so they probably just made new ones for the new factories.

[mark tucker]

I dont think honda sold any thing to china. I was in tiwan in the early 70's. the motor cycles were the same as the japan motor cycles but diferent names on them, kawatwang,songyang and some others.I even bought replacement parts for my honda 125 dirt bike for the china made version of the same one. same thing just made in china.less than half price. they just knocked everything off...like they still doo. I had a ct 70 and a st50 also both of witch were also made in china versions...long before honda stoped making them. cheeper to copy than buy old molds.

[oprn]

In the mid '60s GM produced an aluminum 215 ci/215 hp V8 engine that was pretty cool for the day but the American public wanted big engines. GM sold all the tooling to Rover of England and that I understand is where the Rover V8 came from.

[APPLEGREENVW]

It would cool to see someone build a stainless steel vw beetle body. I have a feeling all those factory dies/tools are still around hiding somewhere.
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02/76 Beetle sedan

[coad]

There's an antique microcar club in Germany where the members all needed a special size tire that hasn't been made since the 70's. The club started bugging Continental, and for years Continental kept telling them that the molds were destroyed back in the 70's and the only production line capable of making tires that small was sold to India 30 years ago so what they were asking for was quite impossible, so please stop bothering us about it.

Finally some club member got to know a member of Continental's Board of Directors and started bugging him about it. After a couple more years they got a call from Continental telling them that if they promised to never, ever, ask again 200 tires would be waiting for pickup in a month. When they got them the brand new tires were identical to the 70's production, right down to some minor flaws from wear to the molds.

[APPLEGREENVW]

[mark tucker]

[oprn]

I had no idea there were different versions or even a factory turboed one! These engines seemed to be US production only. The only ones to make it to Canada were imported from the south by someone here. They were very popular at one time for engine swaps into VWs, MGs, and the Vega/Astra cars. They were 50 pounds lighter than the original Vega 4 banger. I looked for one years ago but never did find one.

[outcaststudios]

i could remake any casting tooling to produce aluminum or iron castings. but as stated earalier that kind of tooling can cost thousands of dollars to make. just the tooling to make a simple casting is thousands...
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[ach60]

What happened to factory dies/tools after production ends?
Depends on the tooling and it's useful life, and the end product's life.
VW Rabbit tooling went to South Africa
VW Passat tooling went to South Africa & China depending on the version.
You'll see lots of former products being sold in "developing markets" that were sold in the US or Europe 10-20 years ago.
Machine Tools, Presses, and such are sold and resold many times before they are more valuable as scrap than a tool.
Dies are made to be used, reworked, and used some more, and ,and then cut down, and recut for smaller dies.
The first place I worked never threw anything away, they had a crankshaft on a 20? ton press break in half at the flywheel.
They had the crankshaft re-welded, and put the press back in service in 2 weeks
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Good Luck
Al

[Slow 1200]

my understanding was that in the early 90s mexico got new dies because the old ones were worn out

the question is where did this tooling go after 2003

[NJ John]

New dies or old dies, I'm just surprised that China hasn't copied a bug, bus or ghia by now. There was a thread on here about about China bootleg Mini, BMW and others. They all have a legal department. I don't VW's is any scarier than the others.
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[mark tucker]

[Antonio Trejo]

Volkswagen Classic Parts is using since last year the Volkswagen of Mexico dies/tools to make genuine body parts, like fenders.
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