Shell Valley Bodies

http://www.shellvalley.com/Replicas_and_Jeeps/Jeep/

Has anybody ever heard of these people, or better yet bought from them. The prices on their fiberglass, Kevlar, and Heavy Duty Kits seem to be reasonable. They also have a "gel-coat option" which is somewhat like a paint job that comes delivered for $1,000 more. Just stumbled across the website and looking to inquire and inform.

Matt

 

Not 1st hand but I do know a few guys with "kit cars" thta used that company, they seemed to be happy with them.

 

i talked to them a couple of times. i would have bought from them but they dont make a tub for a 6.

i emailed them on a sunday and got a response.

 

Were you going to get the gel-coated option? I find it an interesting alternative and wonder how it would stand up and look after some time.
I did however just try to order their catalog for 3$ + 10$ for shipping for a total of 13$ for a damn catalog. Rather than sending then a check I sent them an e-mail instead.....

 

I used to sell truck caps back in the day. We had a gel coat option, but they faded pretty badly after a few years.

 

Shell Valley also makes a pretty good Cobra replica body. They have ben around for a while and have a prtty good rep. I think that they might make hot rod bodies too.

 

I've heard of them. Several years ago when I was redoing a CJ-7, I found myself in need of a new body tub. I wanted fiberglass, and did some close looking at their products. The Kevlar option they offered at that time sounded very good to me, but I couldn't afford it. I ended up with a JCW tub, which turned out to be a mistake. Anyway, I did order their catalog back then, and was impressed with what I could find out about their products, FWIW.

 

The gel coat option will hold up just as good as a bass boat considering its the same thing. My truck cap was gel coated and 10 1/2 years later when it was sold, it still matched the body color on my truck just fine.

 

Dad had a gelcoat truck cab and he followed all the superduper special instructions for gelcoat maintenance that was supposed to protect from fading. It faded.

 

I know that some colors of Gel coat are prone to fading Fourwinds boats had a big problem a few years back. Boats fades and turned kind of a chalky white the only thing you could do was wet sand and buff out and that only helped for a short while.

 

Well it looks like the 10$ shipping charge was a glitch in the ordering system so they are sending me the catalog free of charge. Fancy that - something being free that's for a jeep, this doesn't happen everyday. I am still pondering whether to 1. get a new tub or rework the older fiberglass one and 2. pay a grand from what seems to be a mediocre finish or have it painted for who know??

 

I put a 4 WDH fiberglass body on my '75 CJ-5 back in the late '80's. It came with a gelcoat finish, and it still looks great! It does get waxed , and there isn't any chalking.

 

I put a 4 WDH fiberglass body on my '75 CJ-5 back in the late '80's. It came with a gelcoat finish, and it still looks great! It does get waxed , and there isn't any chalking.

 

I would get the Gel Coat. It will cost you about the same to have a professional paint job. You can buff out some fairly deep scratches on gel coat which you may not be able to do on a fancy paint job. You can always add graphics or paint over the gel coat. Graphics can also be gel coated in, but not sure there are any Jeep body builders that do it.

 

AJ's is where I bought the body for my Jeep 2 years ago. Really nice bunch. I picked it up and got a tour of the shop. They loaded and secured every piece before I left. 1380.00 for the tub, fenders and hood in white gel coat.

 

I have mounted on my 77 CJ 5, a gel coated w/color embedded. I bought this in 1990 and it's been in use ever since. Although it's not a DD, It sat outside for two years in the sun. It did fade somewhat, but you can water sand/buff, or just buff to bring right back. This is an AJ's, which at the time you could get custom color for $100 more. To speak of Shell Valley, they have been around longer than most everyone else, plus I've used them on various kit car projects. Primarily Cobras. It should be a good choice.

 

Thanks for all the input. Is anyone willing to post some pictures on here with a body that has been gel coated. I wonder how deep the color is and the amount of shine. I know this might be hard to see in a picture, but hey, everyone likes pictures.

 

I'll give you some of my 17 year old AJ's Glass Gel-Kote body. Yellow doesn't show shine very well in pictures. One thing to keep in mind. If you get a tub that's gel-koted and you don't like it, you can paint over it just like anything else. But I gaurantee you'll like it. Nothing is tougher.

The attachment is a new pic (my son and his girlfriend, first day out this year) plus some misc. The hood, windshield frame and grill are metal.

 

Here is one of my Jeep with an AJs body, black gel coat. The body is about 15 years old, but always stored inside.