Are the cuda '71 repp grilles for real?

[EMCD]

I'm wondering if these metro grilles are real or not? I thought they'd be ready by august, but I haven't heard anything recently. I have a good offer on a Broken '71 grille that can be fixed and I would like to know if I should just wait and get a new one. Or, pull the trigger on the original....

[brads70]

I did see a few vendors at Carlisle selling the new ones.

[Topcat]

Contact a few of the vendors here like E Body products and Mopardave.

They can tell you firsthand what the feedback is on the repro grilles. I'm sure they'll be others later on giving their input. There was a thread about it recently. Now the search is down. Can't find it.

[brads70]

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=77745.0

[JayBee]

I saw samples of this grille at the Nationals and saw exactly what Slotts described on page 3 in the above link.

[Cuda Cody]

Regardless if it's a quality issue or production issue, they are delayed.  Even when they do come out, no matter how good they are they will not be as good as the originals.  Nothing will fit or look as good as OEM.  I've been a big believer in aftermarket stuff and there is a big need for them, but after using a lot of aftermarket reproduction parts I've given up on anything being as good as the originals.

If you have a good lead on an OEM grille that needs a little repair, you would be better off when it's all done having an OEM grille.  IMO.

[EMCD]

It's cracked, broken in places, missing one cheese grater, but it has all the trim. How many hours would you all estimate it would take to redo? Do they sell repop graters?

[ragtopdodge]

I sold mine.  I could have attemtpted to fix mine myself, but was worried I'd trash it even worse.

To pay someone to restore it (only had cracks, no missing pieces) would run me $1-1.5k.  I think selling mine for $1150 and getting a new one that's not 100% correct is fine w/me.

[EMCD]

Ya, me to. I just want to make sure that the repop's are actually going to happen. If not these older grilles are getting even harder to find.

[mopardave]

as we all know Metro is not the speediest of companies to produce, cuda quarter trims were supaose to be here a year ago. yes they will be made the question is will we see them this year?  as for the OE trim all of it seams to fit the grille well, just waiting on tooling corrections from what i ubderstand.

[DocMel]

Myself, I would buy one now, even with stated tooling issues:  The price of $900 is pretty darn good


But the potential vendor hasnt spoken up lately, which worries me some....But I can understand getting it right, and it takes time

[mopardave]

Myself, I would buy one now, even with stated tooling issues:  The price of $900 is pretty darn good


But the potential vendor hasnt spoken up lately, which worries me some....But I can understand getting it right, and it takes time

just like other threads, you can only say the same thing over and over so many times. With out getting info from Metro them selves we are all stuck in limbo land, yes there are a few that want one now, but when they get here they get here. Metro is known for not being very speedy  hence cuda quarter trims. I did compare this to an NOS grille and it is missing the little bridge bar where the release lever goes which is commonly missing. all of the trim outer and inner NOS trim fits well, besides that comparing to the nos grille not to bad.

[soho]

The grilles are a reality, and we will be selling them.

We have never officially set a date for when the grilles would be ready, other than as soon as we possibly can.  The first official public outing of the grilles was on the Moparts forum, and they were listed as prototype spy shots only.  They were only shown at that time, because we were getting a lot of questions about them.

The grilles shown there and at the show were 1st and 2nd run prototypes constructed for fitment testing only.  They were not fully finished samples.  Much like the rear panel samples we showed that didn't have the texture applied.

The "banding," "steps," or whatever else you chose to call it was there for this reason.  There was no attempt to get a flawless finish in a fitment prototype, as the only thing that needs to be 100% correct is the attachment points.  It is a waste of time and money to finish out a fitment prototype.  The first batch was also painted which threw some people off, but this was also just another test for them.

We will be selling the grill for $900.  They will come raw (no paint,) and with all new trim (bright-work & graters) at that price.

For what it's worth, there was no attempt to make our grill compatible with the original trim, as we were always going to sell them as a completed kit.  We were trying to match the original grill as close as possible however, and it turns out the original trim will fit because of this.

You guys at this forum have one of the fitment testers as a regular.  He has been pretty open and honest with you, and I don't know what else I can add.  The issues he mentioned have been addressed, and a new prototype was made from this.  It will be tested and if all is well, a Production Sample version will then be done. The PS version will be a fully finished grill with all cosmetics applied.  If it passes our final inspection it will go into production right then.  If there is a hiccup at any stage the product will keep cycling through that stage until it is "good to go" before moving on to the next.

The issues found on the first prototype grills were not that big of a deal, so hopefully the next round will get a green light.

We want these grills out yesterday too, but you can't really hurry these things. 

[EMCD]

Cool man, i appreciate the update. I'll wait until there out.