Do any of you old-timers in the hobby remember Pro Products? They were about the biggest maker of repop parts back in the day. I was taking inventory of a chest full of parts that I bought probably in about 1994 and there are several by Pro Products. I never gave it much thought until now, but haven't seen anything about them in awhile. Are they out of business, bought out, changed names or ...?

 

Don't know what happened to them but back in the day they were the BEST after-market parts out there mainly because they were made by the OEM suppliers to Ford. I always thought that they must be run by ex-Ford excecs with an inside track to the OEM's.

 

It's like Scott Drake took over the market. I'll do a google search.
Jim

 

Don't do a google search. Most of the hits were not automotive, even with refined perameters, not much. I wonder if the Ford trademark 'purge' in the last few years forced them out of business. My latest door handles were made by 'Dennis Carpenter' located somewhere in Napa County, CA. I got two city listings for Pro Products, Ontario, CA and Rancho Cucamonga, CA, but who knows.
JIm

 

According to the label, they were in Rancho Cucamonga. On a side note, I also have a lot of parts made by Bob Drake, not to be confused with Scott Drake.

Speaking of Scott Drake, one of the pins on the running horse emblem does not line up with the originals which I thought was odd. Certainly, this cannot be a mistake.

As to the door handles, are they good quality, and if so, where did you get them? Some repop items are kind of flimsy and is satisfactory anyway, but something that will see as much action as a door handle needs to be good.

 

Could they be going by "Professional Products" today? Here's there catalog.

 

PRO Products was bought out by Scott Drake several years ago. PRO started out around 1981 selling about a dozen Shelby specific parts and grew from there. None of their parts was made by Ford suppliers that I was ever aware of. Some parts they made in house, some casting were done by California Pony Cars. They made the good repro 65/67 style steel wheels, which they purchased from the original maker.

I think they got too big too fast and had a hard time keeping up with the demand from their customers. I know they lost some of their good people, so that didn't help. Scott Drake bought them out and still sell some products under the PRO parts name.

As far as the pins on the back of some repro running horse emblems - when Ford came out with the 1968 Mustang, they revised the emblem by making the pins larger and moving the one on the tail. Although this was different from the emblem used on earlier models, Ford replaced the earlier parts with the 1968 C8ZZ- prefix part number. Many repros are duplicates of the Ford replacement part and so there may be pin location and size differences when using these emblems on some cars. When ordering a running horse emblem for a 65-67 Mustang, you must specifically ask the shop if the part is a repro of the original style emblem or the replacement style.

 

Wow, excellent info Stanger!

You are correct that the pin by the horse has been relocated on my new Scott Drake emblems. The part is marked C5ZZ and the pins are smaller but the pin on the tail is about 1/4" further towards the tail. My "original" is a C8ZZ and has the larger diameter pins but they do line up with the original holes and the pin on the tail is closer to the rump.

Since I had to drill new holes in the new fender anyway and the hole on the existing fender will be covered by the emblem, I drilled the holes to fit these emblems and just drilled an additional hole on the existing fender.

BTW, the Pro Products label clearly states that it is a reproduction and is not NOS or related with FoMoCo. I guess lawyers were busy even back then.