new rear light covers made. (NO LONGER VIABLE TOO EXPENSIVE)

[Rusty Wishbone]

While it's good to see that some Forum Alpine Renault members ('Phil Tim') have proudly managed to have lights covers made using close to hand-made technologie, I see the need to highlight that the proposed price (560€) is actually an issue for most Alpine owners having so far raised their hand. Ultimately only a small number of Alpine owners have indeed ordered a set, i.e. clearly those absolutely desperate with no other alternative if willing to keep using their car.

Do you know how the Alpine light covers have been made? The small numbers suggest that it is not by injection moulding.

[WienLot]

Correct. Seems to be using silicone technology moulding. Only 20 pieces could be produced (manually and individually) with the silicone mould.

[Brit-Car-Nut]

If anyone is interested in making their own replacements, you could look at www.smooth-on.com for a complete source for mold making lessons, materials and plastic polymers to make all sorts of replacement parts.

[Rusty Wishbone]

It does seem to me that there are times when security of supply of parts can only be achieved by someone stepping in to remanufacture parts on a commercial basis - that is to say, for profit. Until this small run of light covers was produced, I thought that a group buy was wishful thinking.

[373paul]

Eagle1, your name now added to my latest list ( see above). Thx
WienLot

Please add me to the list for a pair please.
373paul.

[373paul]

Please add me to the list for a pair please.
373paul.

[pmb]

One more set - hope the list is reaching "critical mass" by now!

[Pegsyno1]

Hi

Count me in, sooner the better please!

[Peter D]

1. WienLot
2. epipete
3. Geoff - Even more interested if they're the 'fluted' A610 style ones
4. theelanman
5. madbilly
6. alan e
7. Lansledj
8. Cliff
9. Ailwyn
10. paul27848
11. DAVIDCGRIFFITHS
12. DaveB
13. inkitin - Personally, I don't need these covers but I'm expressing my interest in order to encourage and, more importantly, support the future of Group Buys
14. Specky (interested in several sets) PM me if you require a specific variation of light to use as a pattern, I have several.
15. Specky
16. Specky
17. de_stanny
18. de_stanny
19. Brit-Car-Nut
20. Karl Martin
21. Faraday
22. steve m
23. Jeemy
24. Tomatcbl
25. woody
26. FredFlanagan
27. John_W
28. Racerstev
29. Paza1
30. Nobby
31. Tekrace
32. blueg33
33. TrevorB
34. Nicowalker1
35. lotusguymichael
36. lotusguymichael
37. NSR250
38. zfb
39. Dave Eds
40. rip
41. daveiow (would prefer fluted if possible)
42. Bosbon_be
43. knz2552
44. stmas
45. Lotusnut
46. m100sandra (would pref fluted if poss)
47. steve matthews
48. Mike - MPx
49. ppete100
50. Vowler
51. Housam
52. Gav
53. ccb056 (will these have the regulatory DOT stamping for us Fed owners?)
54. XiPHiAS like Geoff ... Even more interested if they're the 'fluted' A610 style ones
55. Propshaft
56. Surfboardfiller
57. Surfboardfiller
58. propshaft
59. Bencalleja
60. Wayne (Don't ask )
61. TOWATL
62. Jlk215
63. Biff
64. pete_exe
65. Miller (Club Lotus France)
66. Alan_C
67. BFG in the BRG
68. mvf906
69. TXM100
70. Novacaine - interested if the grooved A610 style ones are made
71. KK
72. stryker
73. Jeemy
74. Jeemy
75. Enright
76. Eagle1
77. markv
78. ppete100
79. Peteric
80. Piperman
81. Scott
82. mrpmarchant
83. RichardK
84. Megwenda
85. 373paul
86. pmb
87. Pegsyno
88. Peter D
89.
90.

List to which can be added 117 Alpine GTA French owners having expressed interest on FAR forum (as of today). See http://alpinerenault.free.fr/outils/for ... &start=540
WienLot

I wasn't listed so far, so I added the last 3 and myself in above list.
My interest is price depending (as most of above I assume).

[Brit-Car-Nut]

To avoid wasting any more web site space repeating the list, DON'T ADD YOURSELF. just ask to be added and I will add you to THIS list as soon as I see the request.

With the several French group members buying the "cast" replacements, their list will need to be groomed. If anyone from LEC wants to be removed from the list, post it here and I will make the change.

I dug back a few pages and added others that requested it and removed a couple that no longer want/need a light cover. I will try to find the time to start from the beginning and add any others that were missed.

If anyone knows that a requester has parted company with his/her car, please advise me of that too. DON'T send me a PM. Post it here or send me an email.

To answer a few questions included in the list:

The 610 type (fluted) will not be considered.
A brand new light cover was sent to the manufacturer a LONG time ago. No other samples are needed.
Both the USA/FED and UK/EU stampings/designations will be included.

Here is the corrected list:

1. WienLot
2. epipete
3. Geoff - Even more interested if they're the 'fluted' A610 style ones
4. Theelanman
5. madbilly
6. alan e
7. Rice crispy
8. Cliff
9. Ailwyn
10. paul27848
11. DAVIDCGRIFFITHS
12. DaveB
13. Specky (interested in several sets)
14. Specky
15. Specky
16. de_stanny
17. de_stanny
18. Karl Martin
19. Faraday
20. steve m
21. Jeemy
22. Tomatcbl
23. woody
24. FredFlanagan
25. John_W
26. Racerstev
27. Paza1
28. Nobby
29. Tekrace
30. blueg33
31. TrevorB
32. Nicowalker1
33. lotusguymichael
34. lotusguymichael
35. NSR250
36. zfb
37. Dave Eds
38. rip
39. daveiow (would prefer fluted if possible)
40. Bosbon_be
41. knz2552
42. stmas
43. Lotusnut
44. m100sandra (would pref fluted if poss)
45. steve matthews
46. Mike - MPx
47. ppete100
48. Vowler
49. Housam
50. Gav
51. ccb056 (will these have the regulatory DOT stamping for us Fed owners?)
52. XiPHiAS like Geoff ... Even more interested if they're the 'fluted' A610 style ones
53. Propshaft
54. Surfboardfiller
55. Surfboardfiller
56. propshaft
57. Bencalleja
58. Wayne (Don't ask )
59. TOWATL
60. Jlk215
61. Biff
62. pete_exe
63. Miller (Club Lotus France)
64. Alan_C
65. BFG in the BRG
66. mvf906
67. TXM100
68. Novacaine - interested if the grooved A610 style ones are made
69. KK
70. stryker
71. Jeemy
72. Jeemy
73. Enright
74. Eagle1
75. markv
76. ppete100
77. Peteric
78. Piperman
79. Scott
80. mrpmarchant
81. RichardK
82. Megwenda
83. Grayone
84. stmas
85. tuga2122
86. LotusEnthusiast
87. philip_sloper
88. Mr Fixit
89. steve291274
90. Paul Alexander
91. andpap
92. rdodger
93. LE422
94. 373paul
95. pmb
96. Pegsyno1
97. Peter D
98. lotusles
99. mikecg
100. donsladek
101. wayne-grant
102. fernandobueno
103. Scott (Greece)
104. danbrown100
105.
106.
107.
108.
109.
110. ...

To read the forum posting for the Renault Group, use this link: Click here to read the Posting on the French Renault site

[lotusles]

Please add me to the list for a pair please.

[mikecg]

Hi as the proud new owner of an M100 I have picked up this historical conversation and wanted to know if there were any of the lens left? I need an offside cover.

Regards

[mikecg]

Please add me to the list.

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Hi as the proud new owner of an M100 I have picked up this historical conversation and wanted to know if there were any of the lens left? I need an offside cover.

Regards

This is still a "Feeler" list to help calculate the demand as the molds are very cvostly and we will need a significant number of buyers to justify the investment.

Negotiations are still on-going...

[theelanman]

This thread is now 3 years old....and unfortunately no progress seems to have been made. I'm sorry to say that I think this list may end up being a non starter just due to the fact of numbers and the time scale and coordination with an 'outside' group.
We have a list here which indicates a lot of people.......however some may still have cars, some may have sold
I think the project may have been a little over ambitious in trying to co-ordinate hundreds of people at the same time.
I wonder if it might be an idea to run this as our project......
Just for the listed people here......Where we'd keep the moulds.....
I'm thinking 3d printing and vacforming.
Just my thoughts

[Brit-Car-Nut]

3D printing would be near impossible and extremely costly per piece made.

Vac-u-forming is not possible since the edges that contact the body slope inward (it gets narrower) and you would need a collapsible mold to be able to "pull" each piece.

Injection molding is do-able but poly-carbonate is expensive and the molds would need to be absolutely flawless or else the light will get distorted or bubbles can form during the process. They also need to be treated for ultra-violet deterioration and weather worthiness as well as the tinting that is not "even" across the entire cover. The NEW cover I sent to the manufacturer to duplicate forced them to rethink the quality we were demanding and the cost of the molds doubled to over $40,000.00 which means we would have to sell 500 pairs to even come close to the original 100 Euro estimate proposed in the beginning.

Ownership of the molds isn't a problem as manufacturers will hold the molds for us for future runs. However, we are talking blocks of steel something like 1 meter cubed. Very heavy and cumbersome, so moving them around is not a consideration. The initial outlay going from $20,000.00 to $40,000.00 plus the never mentioned additional worries about the inbound shipping costs, finding a place to store 500+ pairs of covers and the tariffs and duties expected if they were shipped from China to the UK has made it difficult to reach a realistic cost.

The injection company is small and wants a large initial order quantity to be made which requires a lot of up-front money. Wayne was willing to underwrite the initially proposed contract so I bought a brand new lamp and sent the cover to the manufacturer who then had a spasm when they saw a really clean example.

Wayne communicates with them periodically to keep them aware we are interested - but the price has to go down somehow before we can move forward.

Having rear pods made like the KIA / LGM / Chris-T / Phil W. short run projects would be a LOT less expensive, but we don't want to screw up their enterprises and we would be forced to provide ready to install assemblies with lights and wiring inclusive to be a simple bolt-in for any model. That is also a lot of work and cost but nowhere as much as the poly-carbonate project has become.

I don't think LEC has an extra £30,000.00 laying around and I am also worried the there might be pressure brought by the "Lotus Approved" re-manufacturer if LEC made anything that they might feel was cutting in on their franchise.

Partnering with another re-seller didn't work with the door escutcheons and "B" Post Covers as everyone Wayne contacted wanted full control of the pricing and sole distribution rights.

Closing the list isn't a big deal as nothing is happening quickly, but keeping the list open for people to say they really want covers might be OK to keep the project in everyone's mind. That is why I suggested everyone just post their desire and I keep up the list. (to save space)

A lot of members have sold their cars and we know the current list is not very accurate, but we were really hopeful when the first quotes arrived and it seemed to be a possible project. LEC has added new members and most likely, they will eventually need new covers, so the list might not be as far off as you would think.

Maybe LEC should start a new discussion as to what the best solution is for the future. Trying to repair the original lamps or having suitable replacements that fully meet all regulations manufactured by a reliable company in smaller runs.

The current options are limited to a few custom pod or valance sets at a time with as long as a 1 year wait for "hand made" production. As a side deal, that was always OK, but for anything to satisfy the future needs, there has to be a better solution.

Investments will need to be made to do this properly. I know I have invested almost $600.00 in the new lamp and FedEX to China already and Wayne has spent as much if not more sending older cracked samples around to get to the point we are.

I had offered to keep the lists and order details for Wayne if he got the parts made and some would go to the US for direct distribution and others to the UK for European distribution. That is how we did the escutcheons and post covers and we were hopeful something would have happened already, but the price jump has been a "wrench in the gears" event and we are trying to figure out what options are still available.

Sorry for the long report, but that is the situation as it stands. LEC can do what the feel is best with the topic and list.

John C.

[fernandobueno]

Hi,

Please add me to the list. I realy need a new pair of rear lens!

[Rusty Wishbone]

In my view, the level of investment required means that new light covers can only be remanufactured on a commercial basis. No-one is going to throw this much cash into the project without a proper return on the investment. Since the market is very small, the cost is going to be high. How many units would be sold if the retail cost were, say, £450 for a pair, I wonder?

[Tuga2112]

In my view, the level of investment required means that new light covers can only be remanufactured on a commercial basis. No-one is going to throw this much cash into the project without a proper return on the investment. Since the market is very small, the cost is going to be high. How many units would be sold if the retail cost were, say, £450 for a pair, I wonder?

I suspect there are less than 3000 elans in the world that could potentially (assuming for some mysterious reason all covers broke suddenly) need new covers.
Dont know about Renault alpines. from my experience those cars are a lot rarer than elans. considering i have spotted "by chaise" (meaning, not in an Elan/Lotus meeting, or in a car show) only 5 or 6 elans in the past 6 years (since i started keeping an eye out for them) and never seen an alpine in real life

Personally I think the viability to make this covers commercially is a lot more likely to happen if some kit car company decided to make covers for their kit car use the design of the Alpine/Elan in the hope of making something "unique" (or at least rare) with some extra market share for sales....
In the other hand. the design of these rear light clusters is pretty dated.
I think there is already a kit car that used these covers... although they never made them.. just made use of the same limited pool we all hunt for.

[HJ2]

Dear all,


If I read correctly, 3D printing is ruled out for this matter.
However I am still convinced that quality-wise it should be possible!

This guy:
http://www.tenco-ddm.be/index.php/our-s ... t-printing
prints a lot for us (the Technical University of Delft) and on his stand on a fair just now, he had beautiful examples or rear light clusters printed!

Perhaps it is wise to at least contact the man to see what is possible (in terms of price, durability etc) before you rule out 3d printing in general.
As 3D printing is getting cheaper... It might still be an option in the (near) future if the price is way too high right now.

I don't need or want to be the man in the middle to earn a couple of Euro's
And I hope this helps for everybody in desperate need of a cluster for a fair price!


Kind regards
Henk-Jan