Potential Group Buy - Custom HVAC Panels

Nallboy · Post by **Nallboy** » April 11th, 2005, 4:41 pm

Alright, I haven't talked to anyone on here about getting a GB together yet. This is kinda testing the water. I would love to have a custom HVAC panel to match some custom gauges. For some background: the guys at speedhut have been sending us back a generic email saying that they might make a custom panel for us one day. Well, hopefully that day will come soon. I sent them this email just a few minutes ago:

Speedhut Sales Department:

I am an involved member of Mx-3.com, an online forum for Mazda Mx-3 owners, and many of us are wondering what it would take to get a group buy together for some - customizable - HVAC panels for our cars. You have the HVAC panels available in only blue on white; we were considering something like blue or red on silver, etc. I personally have been waiting to buy custom gauges until I can get a custom HVAC panel to match. I am certain that many of us who would take part in such a group buy would be interested in a full set of gauges as well; I believe a package with both custom gauges and matching HVAC panel would draw a great number of buyers. If a custom HVAC panel (and/or a package with the gauges) is possible, please let me know the minimum number of people we would need for a group buy of this sort to take place. My e-mail address is:
Nallboy@bellsouth.net
Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
John Nall

So... hopefully I'll get a response from them soon, but I really need to know how many would be in on something like this. Post with your email address but only if you're serious about it. Let's get it going!

fry_81 · Post by **fry_81** » April 11th, 2005, 4:56 pm

id be interested depending on cost.

ovendenk · Post by **ovendenk** » April 11th, 2005, 8:04 pm

sure. i might be going all digital down the line but some nice new gauges and matching hvac for now would be nice. count me in for at least the hvac.

Nallboy · Post by **Nallboy** » April 12th, 2005, 12:27 am

Here's their response, came rather quickly I might add:

Hi John,

If we can get 15 people to preorder custom HVAC panels for the MX3 we will go ahead and tool them up. We will not need a cluster because we alreadyhave one.

If your group is interested in this, please call in orders at 801.796.1460,
ext. 110.

Thanks,
Speedhut.com team

Acamori · Post by **Acamori** » April 12th, 2005, 12:32 am

such panels were made before (by speedhut i think, not entirely sure). i have one on mine, and they do look nice with the white gauge faces. if you haven't already, i'd suggest taking a look through the forums for them. i believe that buy was done about a year ago, give or take a month or two or so. if it was speedhut i would think they could use the same tooling, if it was someone else, it would probably be cheaper to go with them. i remember there being some pictures of the template in the thread before, though that may have gotten messed up in the transfer.

Nallboy · Post by **Nallboy** » April 12th, 2005, 12:33 am

Yeah, this is speedhut, but the prob is that the HVACs they have now only come in the blue on white. I'd like to have a silver background, and some others surely will want something to go with their own scheme. This is all about getting them to make an interchangeable template.
I'm assuming that the price will be the same as the original since they didn't specify, but they just got another email asking about it. It's $29.95 and... well, here's a link:
http://www.speedhut.com/accessory_detai ... NUMBER=431
If you haven't checked out their gauge customizing thingy yet, you really should. They can make your stuff totally unique.
I really hope 15 of us will step up to this because I really want one!

93SOHC · Post by **93SOHC** » April 12th, 2005, 1:17 am

i'm in for silver background w/ blue lights!

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » April 12th, 2005, 1:21 am

I'll have to think about the color combos, but I'll most likely be in.

SIXPACK · Post by **SIXPACK** » April 12th, 2005, 2:47 am

I am in too

fry_81 · Post by **fry_81** » April 12th, 2005, 7:30 am

will they make km/h?

ovendenk · Post by **ovendenk** » April 12th, 2005, 10:29 am

fry_81 wrote:will they make km/h?

. this is for the hvac panel, but yes speedhut.com does make customizable kph gauges. you get to choose basically everthing from font to light color to color of the gauges. hell you can even put any graphic you want on them.

can't remember cost, but i think they're around $100.

btw, i'm definitely in for the panels. silver with red light would be my choice.

wickedmx3 · Post by **wickedmx3** » April 12th, 2005, 10:47 am

This is very cool, I am going to sit in the car and see what combination will work for me

Nallboy · Post by **Nallboy** » April 12th, 2005, 4:53 pm

Yeah, guys. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm sure we can get fifteen people together. Right now I'm waiting for the final price from Speedhut and for permission to open this under the GB section. There will probably be a donation of $5 or so to Mx-3.com included in the price. I think that's how it works, and it's something we all need to do anyways. I'll be making a list of those interested and those in it for sure when I can post there.

solo_ryder · Post by **solo_ryder** » April 13th, 2005, 12:37 am

HAHAH good thing I brought up these HVAC panels in the first place lol, it evolved to a growing GB, good job Nallboy. Hey, do u guys know if the regular panels change color from blue to green?

Chiggles · Post by **Chiggles** » April 13th, 2005, 3:26 am

Sadly, my HVAC panel is of the push-button style instead of the slider bars. I don't think they would be able to do anything for those of us that have the buttons.