How do you know when the market is saturated....

[Musclerodz]

with 67-69 Camaro aftermarket subframes? When you open up the new Super Chevy and nearly every large suspension advertiser has a different one for sale. March '07 has one from Heidt's, Chris Alston's, Total Cost Involved, Fat Man Fabrications, and DSE. The does not include Art Morrison (had an ad but not for their new sub), 21st Century Street Machines, and one or two others I am probably missing. This is not a who's better thread, but an observation that I hope there is plenty of market to go around for everyone. That is 7 plus manufacturers of the same product.

[Stuart Adams]

Pro Touring alive and well.

[Silver69Camaro]

Originally Posted by Stuart Adams

Pro Touring alive and well.

Exactly. Think about how many companies make headers for '67-'69 Camaros...but each one is different.

[slownova]

i wish the fact that there is 8 people with the same product would drive the price down a little.

[MaxHarvard]

Originally Posted by Stuart Adams

Pro Touring alive and well.

Here here!!

Pro-touring is a such a blast.

[frankenstang]

You forgot to mention Jeff Schwartz. I think his is the best design, but I'm really biased! I agree on the saturation/cost issue. The sheer amount of 1st gen Camaros being built doesn't seem to bring the total cost of the car down.

[FreddieCougar]

Originally Posted by slownova

i wish the fact that there is 8 people with the same product would drive the price down a little.

Ultimately, that is the best indicator that the market is saturated. When it gets to that point, nobody can sell on their features (because all 87 people manufacturing said part share some feature or another) and all that is left is price.
Then comes the cost cutting, degradation of quality, and the downward death spiral. Happens in the automotive aftermarket all the time....I sincerely hope that it doesn't happen in such a specialized marketplace, considering I just entered into it!
Tim

[Bowtieracing]

Originally Posted by frankenstang

You forgot to mention Jeff Schwartz. I think his is the best design, but I'm really biased! I agree on the saturation/cost issue. The sheer amount of 1st gen Camaros being built doesn't seem to bring the total cost of the car down.

Has Jeff made hes own too? That must be quality piece!! I need to take a look at hes pages.

[71Nova]

True, and I know this was not meant to be a which one is better tread, but I wouldn't want half of them.

[Mean 69]

Actually, it's an indicator that the market is thriving, but it is a good point that it will attract some folks that are looking to steal market share away based on pricing, which will virtually always fall into the " I wouldn't own half of them" comment from 71 Nova, I agree completely. The hard part is for the lay-person to decipher which ones are actually "real," and which ones are hype and should be avoided.

Another good indicator? AME's introduction of their setup. Art and folks are pretty smart, and very business savy, I'd surmize that they wouldn't invest the effort into developing a setup if they didn't have supreme confidence that it would sell like hotcakes (and IMHO, looks to be the best performance and value setup out there so far).

Of course, you can't forget the goodies associated with making the stock frames perform exceedingly better than they came from the factory either, like the really bitchin ATS setup. Here again though, look at the number of tubular control arms out there!!! Are they all the same? Not hardly, but I'd guess that there are a large number of folks that open the Super Chevy magazine and buy on pricing alone, while others are looking for a specific benefit.

What's it mean? In my opinion, the phrase "you get what you pay for" only applies to a market where there is sufficient competition. That's the reason that a Sonny Bryant billet crankshaft will set you back $2k or more, and a Scat cast crank that serves the same purpose is $300 (or whatever they go for). It's a good thing because there are customers for both. It's a bad thing, however, when folks are led to believe that a $300 cast crank is the same as a $2k billet unit.

M