The 480 total hours on the cat prior to Marc's restoration work made me talk serious to him and find out just what he accomplished with the restoration. It is much more than a cosmetic restoration which does happen on many cats that are for sale. Marc is serious about his work and takes great pride in the finished product. The Beemer could not pull the trailer....
I could take it for a ride though if the price was right....
Are you selling yours?
Realistically, the risk taken by the buyer is limited given the low hours of the machine. It would be helpful to know what went into mechanical restoration vs. cosmetic work. I don't even know if that term is fair but an activity list would help qualify the term: Restoration. A cat with 480 hours would probably need more of a refresh rather than a mechanical restoration (which also varies from Platinum Weatherby standard to other frame-up restorations).
I ask the question of why not do a Snow-Ops or Weatherby thread to show the work done, steps taken, etc? Not only is it selfishly interesting but it's a marketing-builder of confidence and builds brand for the seller.
If we were to be analytical about it...
How many hours went toward mechanical work and what was replaced/rebuilt? Then I ask, of those mechanical hours, how many hours were snowcat specific (ie, requiring expert knowledge of snowcats---hydro-drive/diff/powerdivider drive systems let's say-- rather than generic mechanical systems--ie, clutches, radiators, engines),
vs. How many hours toward fit/finish (this includes all prep work to remove mechanical infrastructure for paint, doing carpeting, diamond plate work, etc.)... alot of shops can do this type of work and the standard varies wildly in quality but if you pick up a car stereo mag you see how pimp-daddy a ride can be...apply that to car, truck, or snowcat and it's not a snowcat specific area of expertise.
A person can look at Snow Ops threads and see significant hours of work that goes from the infrastructure (like re-welding and extending the bed of the 1202 or the exhaust replace or the engine/trany work, etc...) to the stuff at the end for fit/finish. Still, welding/bed-extension is not snowcat specific but then Snow Ops is an expert in snowcats from years and years of experience (please, no more head-swelling than already there!)
so he applies mechanical expertise with extensive snowcat experience...same with Boggie.
So, there are many ways to slice/dice hours and skills but for this discussion:
Type A: Hard-to-find, highly experienced snowcat experts: Snowcat scar tissue
Type B: High-talent mechanical systems experts from engine to electrical
Type C: Fit/Finish/Accessories/Physical Add-ons, etc.
For a modern low hours cat, then type A may not be essential but could pull in an expert if not available in house. Type B for a low hours cat would be more appropriate and useful. Type C for a facelift/beauty package would probably be most time consuming from gutting, to blasting, to painting, diamond plating, stereo, etc... So that is where the quandry comes into play.
At the same time, this cat is more modern than the 1202 and has fewer hours, may have been used differently, etc... Who knows, maybe it has 480 hours of pure heavy, heavy lifting and alot of mechanical work was required???? It looks like it's in fantastic shape! So, it will help that you will be a very satisfied customer but I still don't see the need to keep the work out of the public eye unless there is a perception that the work is filled with lots of trade secrets and shouldn't be publicized? Everyone is learning on the site but I don't think anyone thinks it's rocket science. Type A skills are themost valued and appreciated on this site. In other forums Type C would be absolutely numero uno! When we're talking frostbite, I want type A and type B. If a BMW-buyer eventually sells it to someone that may use it heavily for outback excursions then that frostbite Type A/B work will be more valuable. BMW wants more type C because he's only tooling around a few miles for some cabin access, etc... Fogtender would without doubt drop his restoration cash into Type A and B (please yell at me if I'm wrong FogT) because he's doing 80 mile deep Alaska 'someone will let me freeze solid out there' type runs. As I recall he's still waiting on the 'go-fast' paintjob for good reason.
So for this low-hour cat, how many hours of work were spent doing Type A, B, and C type activities respectively?
OK, I've beat that horse a bit... but it's all in the odd-ball fun of good snowcat debate! Right?
With all that being said...this is mainly a theoretical discussion that comes from only seeing end-product pics and not seeing any of it like we're used to from Weatherby and Snowcat Ops---you guys have spoiled us! I think it's a gorgeous cat and Marc's team has a hard customer to please and you sound it so hat's off to him and his team at BD Custom Cats.
So how much to hunting-lodge-pimp one of my 601's Marc---I'd like to fill it with burl wood trim, mahogany flooring, and leather trim????
The irony of all this is that I think Marc could have more customers on his hands than he knows what to do with because end product looks fantastic but people just want to see the intermediate steps! I have a 601 in MI aching for a restore! I'm serious! Give me a reasonable price and use that one for a forums complete restore.
