Half a dozen people have expressed interest in the hardtop so I've worked out some pricing based on 6 orders.
The rude shock to most people is that it costs around $5200 AUD to import one of these kits yourself, based on the current exchange rate which is about 1.55. This includes 800 GBP in crating and shipping by air to Melbourne, GST, duty and brokerage fees. Then you will need to pickup the crate from the airport yourself or pay further costs to your door. Shipping by sea takes 7 weeks and will save you around 100 GBP.
I'm offering the hardtop kit for $4000 with shipping at your expense or pickup from Melbourne. I've been able put together a deal with DB Replicas to bulk order the hardware (parts list
here). Based on 6 orders, the hardware alone runs to $1300 per kit and I'm passing this on at cost.
I'm prepared to say that this pricing does not cover my costs on 6 orders and in that calculation I'm excluding the purchase price of the original hardtop. However, I will own the mould at the end of the process so this is a long term investment.
I appreciate that $4000 is still a large chunk for many people, but these are the numbers that work for me. I could look elsewhere for a cheaper mould, but I want to preserve the quality and appearance of what is a great looking and well engineered hardtop so in my view this is a necessary cost.
Where to from here? I'll be looking for deposits of $500 to be paid by around the end of Feb 2012, to partly fund the making of the mould. I can wait until May 2012 for full payment to be made via an escrow service and once this happens the hardtops will go into production. You notify the escrow company when you've received the hardtop and they'll release the funds to me (exact terms to be agreed on by all). I'm told one hardtop can be produced per fortnight, so it will be a staggered delivery on a first come, first served basis.
The "drop dead" date for full payment (May 2012) is when I plan to modify the hardtop to suit my car and this will go ahead regardless of whether there is enough interest in copies being made.
For the interested parties, what is your level of interest based on the pricing and timeframes above? Feel free to PM or email me.
And just a reminder that we can arrange a trial fitting on your car if that helps with the decision.
Over to the pundits!
