I have a connection in Vietnam that can facilitate the purchase of these at a good price. I wanted to get Mark Henery's blessing on this before proceeding but if his deal is dead we would like to put together a GB on these. So pending Mark's response I've posted. We will not make you buy the rubber tops but will offer a discount on them as incentive to help push the thread. Specifics will be pending response from Mark.

.

Mark H. has put a lot of work and money into this. Thank you for respecting him.

I have reached out to him and let him know the thread is up, awaiting his comment. Either way I could use a set too.

I'd be interested in a set, with a no tits front.
Keep us posted as things come together.

we have and will always have plenty of these stainless bumpers on the shelf. We have them in front and rear without holes for bumper guards and also the rear early 70 style. We have long ago paid for the tooling for our exclusive perfect fit harrington product, as well as having perfect fit front and rear bumper guards and bumper top seals and the license plates that go in them.

We do not make the bumpers in the the GT variety, although we have made several of them over the years from standard chrome bumpers.

The tooling was costly, the bumpers are costly, the shipping from vietnam is costly, the import duty is costly

George - It’s not cool to hyjack this thread.

Im not trying to start a dog fight here, nor do I have any interest in the matter, but if George has in fact paid for the tooling, then we have to respect that they should be exclusive to him. Why the manufacturer in Vietnam would sell them to someone else? that isn't ethical.

I am only saying this because tooling costs are huge. Im sure if anyone would have these tools made properly they would cost over 100k.

I know I would not want to have someone sell my product that I've paid for.

That is in fact if George does own the tooling.

Pete

My contact has told me the gorge does not own the tooling on these. And then he does have the right to sell them. I'm awaiting word from Mark Henry to see where he stands.

I am definitely not taking sides, buy I see Mikey do it often... it's only fair to let it go both ways.

Given that George has shown more of interest in our forum lately maybe he should start doing more things to improve AA's rep... like pulling a Mikey trick and announcing a GB...

IMO:

The only way I can see these bumpers being sold 'outside' of the initial development deal, would be if tooling costs were funded 100% (or very near that) by the manufacturer. Initiating development by sending parts to be reproduced and funding initial batch runs should have value. Permissions, arrangements or notifications should be made before 'outside' deals are made.

Example: I participate in development and order 100 units, I would NOT expect the manufacturer to begin making and selling those same items before I have a chance to sell all or at least a good portion of my initial order. And if I held an option for further orders during initial agreements. It would indeed be unethical for the manufacturer to begin offering items outside of the deal. Unless of course I defaulted or failed to keep my end of the initial agreement.

Ok cool beans.

give'r

Excuse my ignorance, if someone pays 100k for tooling/molds for something like this, why wouldn't that tool/mold be shipped along with the last batch made?

Not always. We do contract manufacturing and maintain tools for the customers that we do the manufacturing for. They don't own the tooling out right. But they own All rights to manufacture on that tooling.
My understanding in this scenario is that the tooling is owned in house. If George does truly own the tooling. There's no way we could do a group Buy.

I agree, one would think so, this tooling 'ownership' should have been determined as to who owns what.

The contract that I've seen spells it out pretty clearly. Its product only.

If tooling is not owned by George. I wonder if there was any stipulation by George to prohibit any outside sales for a specified period of time?

I bought mine 3 years ago....
here are the threads..

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...p;hl=harrington

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...p;hl=harrington

they have several sets. I had a set of tooling made that is exclusively mine along with the tow eye plug that I had them make.

However I suspect that something shifty is going on there as now everyone can get bumpers and according to them someone left their company with tooling as well. We sent bumpers back and forth quite a few times to get the best fitting product. They also recently sent us some bumpers that they had made from different tooling for us to fit, and they fit like CRAP!!!!!!!! Could not even mount the valance. Hence like a previous thread poster mentioned, there are good bumpers from them and there are ill fitting bumpers from them. MOST suppliers in our market can be trusted and for the last 40 years (yes we are celebrating 40 years in business this year) so it spoils one to trust everyone.

Harrington Group has always offered their 914 bumpers for sale on their site. Nothing is noted that it is an AA owned product. Call them or email. They are happy to sell their product to individuals.
Mark H was having molds made to spec. That's why it was taking a while.

another problem is that I trust everyone, much to my detriment. It is one of my many character flaws. Most of the time it works out ok, sometimes it does not.

I get the tooling costing a lot and laying out the money for the goods and sitting on them till someone buys them is also very costly. I respect the business of making new parts for our cars and the cost of those goods manufactured. The fact that there are not extra regular chrome front bumpers floating around because cars get hit in the front the majority of accidents.

Good rears are around and can be re-plated. If some one puts a new Stainless Steel front bumper on, the grills from the fog lights do not match the bumpers. It is not a huge difference but the CW people catch it right away. Can the tooling used at the Stainless Steel factory make the regular steel units and chrome plate them?

These are all business decisions and if it does not pencil out I know it will not happen. At the end of the day most people on here want the cheapest way to go but for the concourse guys who will most likely require steel with chrome plating.

I have steel tolling all over Asia for smaller injection molded process parts which is still very heavy and takes a fork lift to move or mount in the molding machines. We never send back that tooling. At the end of the day lots of custom tooling is recycled, as I cannot do anything with it here. Some I use over and over and some I use for one job.

Bob B

That was my understading also. They are simply a vendor that makes bumpers for several other cars. British if im not mistaken. Contracts of this size are spelled out in detail and are large enough to be enforced. To not have done so would be just stupid.
I dont think George is stupid.

you are correct. When we first contacted them about purchasing their bumpers, they said that they only made them once a year, but if I wanted to pay for my own tooling, they would make them exclusively for me from my tools and I could get as many as I wanted. That is what I did, Yes they still sell from their tooling, but they do many other bumpers so could not provide the quantity I wanted.

To say the least the whole thing seems shaky to me, but I now have been dealing with them for several years and always get my bumper supply from them and my tooling makes perfect fit bumpers.
I would actually like to know the real story about what goes on over there

^^
It's common for a company to claim ownership to give the impression their product is different than everyone else's, thus worth a higher price. But in the real world a Chinese contract manufacturer honors no such contract for long and everyone is free to buy a large quantity.
I can't say if this is an instance of this, I'm just sharing what I've learned from product engineering.
It's also common for a Manufacturer to "own" the tooling, either by being made only for their machine, or as part of the agreement, to prevent the buyer from price shopping in the future.
Generally, I offer to buy xxx amount of fenders for yyy and the Manu would decide if it was worth it for them to make the dies. I don't actually own the dies I just paid for them in my order. The Manu profits from subsequent orders.

(that took too long to write but I ain't going to delete it now )
----
On a side note, why is it always stainless? It's pricey and a bitch to work with. I'd be happy with plain steel that could be painted or chromed after being modded GT style. Pete I'm talking to you

I agree! Things like this should be clearly spelled out in a contract.

On another note, if George feels slighted by this manufacturer and George has a bunch of stainless bumpers in stock and is looking to move them. There is not much holding him back from offering his own 'Group Buy'.

I used to go to Asia 4 times a year but in the last couple of years not so much. You really have to meet your factories face to face and learn the QC system of the factory.

It is also nice to get out of town but I can understand that some businesses need all hands on deck all the time so it can be hard.

Bob B

Hi guys,

I guess it's time that I write here something to shut down all speculations about the "not trusted" supplier from Vietnam.

George put a lot of effort in this project to finish it with us many years ago and we had the deal, that if he orders a certain quantity he will have exclusivity for the Porsche 914 bumpers in the US. Until now the quantity was never ordered hence we sold these bumpers also to retail customers in the US. However, now the quantity we asked for was ordered and he will have exclusivity for the 914 bumpers in the US from now on.

So I would suggest that you guys organise a group buy from George and I am pretty sure he will grant you guys a decent discount for the bumpers!

regarding the Group buy Mark Henry is/was organising - I wrote already a long text in the other thread about the faulty bumpers and our competitor PTT. There is nothing more to say about this.

Should you have any questions please let me know.

Best regards
Christoph
(Harrington Group)

I am in for an early front bumper or two if a AA Group Buy materializes !

Well looks like the contract I have now is worthless. I have reached out to Chris HG, but looks like this may not happen.

Given that I will be looking into having some bumpers made offshore with another vendor. I would like to do steel and chrome plate like factory. The beauty of stainless is that you can just polish it, but if the labor is cheap enough it may be a wash. Of coarse quality has to be top notch. The beauty of this is I do have a student from Hong Kong that could assist in making sure these do fit. That and I can jumpseat over

Thank you for taking up the cause. Good chrome front bumpers are hens teeth. I've been looking for nearly a decade.

If you do this correctly, with exactly the same dimensions + design as the original, correct fit, etc in great chrome, I'm a buyer. If you also do an early rear bumper, I will buy one of those, too—even though I have a good one. I'd be happy to see my originals go to a concours 914 or 914-6 and run repros on my car if the quality is right and the dimensions and fit are spot on. Shouldn't be that hard if you get good ones to work from.

And chromed steel is more attractive to me than the stainless because it looks right on the 914...and because the stainless-steel bumpers I have seen so far, while nice, aren't the right dimensions or design—and don't match the chrome foglight grilles, etc. I was interested in Mark's (very cool) effort until it got derailed, and the back story to the deal with AA and how it's back on again leaves me wondering about what's up.

So, Mikey, I hope you do it. I hope you consult with several people with "the eye" to make it a killer product, indistinguishable from an OE bumper. Of all of the pieces on a 914, I'd say good 1970-1972 chrome front bumpers are right there at the TOP of the list in terms of being likely to be damaged if you use the car and for being impossible to find. And I'd much rather buy new from you than go through fitting, straightening, and hoping for good chrome...

Well you know me I'm a stickler for the details, I also know a guy that makes these fog light grills so dimensions can be perfect

Not sure why that double posted, but thanks for the quick reply. Maybe start a new thread to gauge interest? I'll be first to sign on for a front or a set. No pressure on timing...

Now a good steel GT style chrome front bumper if it should happen I’d be a buyer, all ears.
Also I spent a few working years in Vietnam, Thailand and around Asia certainly some wonderful people although in business not to say all but so many cases a mans word or contract is only good as long as your still looking him in the eye!

I am in for two early front bumpers and even a early rear bumper.

I was tempted in getting an AA front and having it chromed. but that would put it near the 2 grand mark...and I need two !

I will check with Christophe and see what kind of a deal he will make us on them. We have them in stock so can ship immediately

Are these stainless or chromed steel?

Order direct from Harrington and have them delivered
to someone outside the U.S.
Problem solved..

they are stainless, and when installed look like chrome, so acceptable for the concours competition. They fit extremely well (took us long enough sending them back and forth, and actually cars vary from one to another even though not ever hit.) We also fit them with the factory and our reproduction top seals.

The chrome stainless bumper option is one of the highest appearance items on the car so we are very happy that Harrington took it upon themselves to make these and that we could participate in the project.

So, you have the licensing from Porsche to produce these?

We do not claim that the reproduction bumpers are the real Porsche bumpers. They are not sold as originals. The real bumpers are made of mild steal and are chrome plated. Ours are reproduction ones made of stainless steel. So in a way our bumpers are a totally different product. Porsche does not make these bumpers anymore and it is completely legal to reproduce them for Porsche owners or others.

Would be great to close this thread or deep six it, as it seems to distract from the thread that matters to this project...