I realize I am a few months late on this one, but as far as the repro parts issues, the body/glass weatherstrips are surely an area which has a tremendous influence on the overall finished product.
My experiences with repro weatherstrips go back 15 + years to my 55-57 Chevy era. The only thing you could do was adjust the door strikers in all the way, slam the heck out of the door, and let the car sit in the sun for a week. the same procedure had to be applied to a '63 Ford Falcon Sprint; the products I used were from the "best" manufacturers.
It seems that very little, if any has changed with the materials/manufacturing methods of these products.
Exterior trim quality also leaves a lot to be desired.
Dash pads, sheetmetal, the list could go on to pretty much cover the entire spectrum of what is available reproduction for these (and all other special interest vehicles for that matter).
I have long since "had it" with reading the same old cliches "made from factory tooling" (yeah, right, how did you get your hands on that, not to mention shipping the mega-ton stamping die all the way to china!), "official licensed XX product"; it sure does'nt show in your final product, or is it a reflection of the slave-like wages which do very little to influence the Chinese workers' incentive to produce a quality product.
For the past few years, I have been watching people pay exorbitant prices on ebay for N.O.S. parts that the final bid is 5, 10, sometimes 20 times that of the current available repro part.
This says a lot about the knowledge of the quality of the repro parts.
The restoration hobby/industry is a bit more tightly-knitted than say, the discount auto parts store items many of us buy; major chain store repro water pumps, etc; if you have to hog out a bracket to make the thing fit, you probably will do just that; most people just want to keep their everyday A-to-B cars functioning, and will probably forget about the issues associated with the low-priced alternative parts.
But in this hobby, a lot of cars you see at the show have been put together by the owner present. People talk, as evidenced by this popular topic on this particular forum, for example.
I am not rich, but if someone (and that someone could be you) were to make, for example, wheel opening moldings, which were proven (by the end consumer, which would be a strong advertising point) to be identical in:
1.Fit
2.Quality of anodized finish
3.Material gauge of and same materials
All of these parameters are based on the original G.M. article.
People would either be standing in line, or budgeting for your product at nearly TWICE the price of what is currently on the market, and you would be enjoying, because you earned it, a FAVORABLE REPUTATION, a status it seems that has been ditched in favor of the almighty buck, (China/Taiwan) at least for this particular industry.
Follow the same principles to this and to the rest of whatever you produce, and keep it as proportionally price justifiable/affordable as possible and you can't go wrong.
If you do follow-through with this venture, please, we certainly do not need any more (no names necessary) inferior parts manufacturers/suppliers/vendors.
Personally, I have 2 1st gen Camaros that I have been collecting parts for, for over 7 years, either good/restorable/replatable OEM and NOS parts. Repro parts will be purchased as a last resort, based on my 55-57 and other experiences, and these will be items that will be installed near the end of the restoration, with hopes that by time this happens, there would have been a major change in the quality of repro parts.
Or, I am able to afford $1,300.00 for a pair of N.O.S. door weatherstrips.
Beacuse there sure isn't anything as good at this time.
My level of standards are not for everybody, but when you start talking about repro parts quality, again, it certainly generates a lot of interest.
Just my 2 cents.
