I've been out of the hobby for some time. What happened to all the Maverick Comet repo parts that were going to be repoduced?? Chrome boomerangs, bumpers etc. Guy's name was Joe ??? Did all of that fall through?
That's a shame. Hope he gets back on his feet soon. I think that's a problem with this type of endeavor. I've seen a few snide remarks aimed at him not so well disguised. But with such a small market as we have you almost have to announce your plans and build some excitement if you want to recoop your investment in a reasonable amount of time and get an idea of what will sell. But if something happens to kill the deal some aren't very understanding or appreciative of the effort instead they are just let down and lash out. With no thought about the time, effort, and money, invested to try to help us all.
He was warned by many people, many times. The car market in general is a very fickle market to say the least and if the parts aren't perfect (which very few are) they are hard to move. I know my Dad and I went through the ringers on the first part we reproduced and were very upfront with Joe about the long and arduous process as well as the financial risks associated with such an undertaking (ours took twice as long as expected and was 33% over what we initially thought it was going to cost). I really wanted to see him succeed with the boomerang project. We had persued reproducing that part for almost 2 1/2 years. We had access to some of the most knowledeable individuals in the reproduction parts business and each and every one said that it wasn't doable in pot metal as the original. Chrome plated plastic was an option that was mentioned to us but after talking to a lot of our customers (and after multiple postings on this board to guage interest), we chose not to persue it. The majority of people we spoke with to wanted it to be exactly like the original and the price point was also a factor. He tried. He failed. My hats off to him for the effort and I hope he learned a valuable lesson and can get back on his feet. A maverick part isn't a breakthrough invention or a life-saving medicine but where would we be without those who took the risk? I hope someday that some of these parts will be reproduced but it's going to take someone with a lot of time on their hands and very deep pockets. Ed Bennett (JR)
Joe got a few pieces off the ground and out into peoples hands and cars. Quality was first rate and I had hope it would work. I spent many hours of phone time with him. I urged him to progress with the much needed parts only. He chose to go off into fender aprons and frame rails etc. The downturn in the ecoonomy hit him hard in his real job, and the mortgage thing hurt him too. He is probably down but not out, I am sure he will resurface
I wish him the best and if he comes around I hope he post and lets us know how he's doing, even if he is just a maverick owner instead of a parts supplyer. Thats all I am after all , just a guy who loves Mavericks/Comets
