Here is the story on American Lightweight.
I'm Ken Towler and I worked with Pete Plunkett from the day he bought the company until he died. I helped his widow, Linda Plunkett, for about 5 years when she sold the company to me. Unfortunately the biggest nightmare has been the underbody details. The company that was doing the details was very unreliable for Pete, Linda and myself so when they decided to close shop they supposedly shipped me all the patterns and molds...........well not all the patterns were there and the molds were old and unusable. I am trying to work something out now on the underbody detail. I reordered the metal castings and injected molded parts and have them. Two weeks ago I got a quote on ordering more roves and skirts. Since 2007 the roves have gone up over 100% and the skirts have gone up over 300%. It's either cough up $5,000 for roves and skirts, find a new supplier or do without. I have replenished the trucks and bought 1,000 axles and wheels from Weaver before they closed.
I like what Union Station is doing and looking at perhaps combining his sides with the rest of my kit but that would increase the cost of the kit by $20-30$.
What Atlas has done with the Zephyr cars for that price is unbelievable and when their contract expires no telling what the cost will be. If you want a particular car I can do it but is that volume worth spending thousands of more dollars?
I am open to all suggestions and feedback.
Ken Towler
American Lightweight Car Company
201 Grist Mill Road
Lynchburg, VA 24501-7732
I had wondered what had happened to you since your posts on the Atlas forum. That's an interesting idea combining your kit with USP sides. In the alternative, your kits minus the sides (buyer purchases them separately) could also work.
