Surround for Grill Badge

[Trevor_B]

Hi guys,
There is a bloke (Geoff) in Melbourne who does a good job on repro parts and parts restoration for early Holdens - http://www.olden1.com.au/#! - he is also the one on Ebay http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/48-215-hr/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=50&_trksid=p3692.

I contacted Geoff to check if he is considering making Grill Badge Surrounds and received this response:

Hi Trevor,
 
Thanks for your enquiry. Yes, we can confirm we are definitely going to be reproducing the FC Grille Badge Surrounds later this year. We are two steps away from production.

Glad to hear Members are happy with the inserts.
 
Regards
Geoff & Cathie Field - Olden 1

I have no association with Olden1 other than trying to make sure we don't duplicate effort on parts for our cars - this has already happened as Geoff reproduces the FE Bonnet inserts and Rare Spares also does.

If you wish to communicate with Geoff his email is olden1@bigpond.net.au. Also, his grill insert badge is pretty good - the VIC Club bought 10 off him to sell to our members

Trevor_B

[Trevor_B]

and a bit more info from Geoff:

we will be casting and chroming total product ie: Olden 1 reproduction from start to finish (as are all our products). The items will also be cast in silicon bronze which is a hardier metal than die cast and not subject to pitting etc. (unlike die cast).

Trevor_B

[FCRB26]

I bought a grille badge off him and his service and product is A1


Pete

[FCV08]

Agree with Hoon.

I have also purchased badge insert.

Very easy to talk to.

Thanks

Craig D

[KFH]

After all this time I have found out from the chap who does my plating that he cannot find somebody who can cast the surround to his satisfaction.  He has had several samples from various places and considers that there is too much work in finishing them to be able to make them a reasonable.  Unfortunately he has given up on the process. 

Keith

[Trevor_B]

I received the response below from Olden 1 with regard to manufacture of the FC Grill Badge surround (and other repro FE FC Holden parts).

Very disappointing from an enthusiasts perspective: 

Hi Trevor,
 
Well!? Unfortunately, the short answer is to quote Les McVeigh of Rare Spares - 'they have been delayed.'
 
However, the long answer is a bit of a saga and we will tell it to you as we feel it should be known.
 
You may be aware we were reproducing the FX/FJ horn buttons, FE bonnet badge inserts, FC grille badge inserts and were almost into production with the EH centre caps, FB/EK horn buttons and the Hydramatic (red and silver) inserts. All that has come to a grinding halt as just prior to christmas we received a 'lovely?!' surprise from GMC (GMH) in the order of "Trademark Infringement" advising us to "cease and desist" ALL production, surrender all stock and makings, supply customer lists and sign an agreement NEVER to make any such items again or face legal action in the Federal court. Naturally, this threw us into a huge tail spin and our legal representative drafted a reply that we sent to their solicitors advising we didn't intentionally do this but, were merely trying to help out Holden enthusiasts and make a little money for ourselves. Upshot of it all is that even though we were advised by rare spares years ago that they had 'no problem' with us making these items as 'they were never going to make them', the agreement was only verbal and when GMC (GMH) queried rare spares on it they advised that we have no agreement with rare spares to reproduce these items.
 
So, having finally, (we hope) resolved this matter just at the end of January we haven't had time, inclination or opportunity to pursue/continue on with our metal casting operation and have had to ensure we've 'done our homework' on the whole idea of reproducing metal holden parts. Happily, they (GMC-GMH) can't stop us from making these parts as there is no trademark on them so, it is now 'full steam ahead'. We are doing the wax moulds at present, and then it's just a short hop to the metal finished product. .
 
We're really sorry about all this, but, we were really hit out of left field by the whole incident.
 
Sincere Regards
Geoff & Cathie Field -Olden 1

As previously stated in this thread, neither I or the VIC Club have any affiliation with Olden1 other than a desire to maintain our FE & FC Holdens 

As already stated by others here and on other threads, their products are exceptionally good.

Not sure what we as early Holden enthusiasts can do to help.

If you wish to comment on this please remember that this is a public forum and there is legal actions involved so please be constructive 

Cheers,
Trevor_B

[customFC]

The issue would probably be that the parts mentioned mostly contain the holden lion logo, which is the trademark of Holden.
Without the lion, the parts would have little appeal.
Regards
Alex

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

A bit of a low act by GMC/GMH unless I am missing something
Fair enough the 50-60 year old Lion logo is trademarked, but people are hardly cutting GMC's lunch by making a few parts for these old cars. If they were churning out millions of parts and making thousands of dollars it would be a different story.
I thought it was ridiculous that they stopped aftermarket sports steering wheel makers from including Holden/Ford/Whatever logos in the boss kits.

Let the global corporation conspiracy theories begin 

[Not Happy Jan]

Do you think that a representation from members of the club or the club directly would have any influence on their response.  Like stinky said it's not as though some one is going to retire on the proceeds and they have not attempted to reproduce the items.
It might be different if they had plans to start up the process but its like the scratch plates... Gets too hard and they give up.
May be a petition???
Just my thoughts
Nick