Replica Key Fob Interest Thread

[Terry Posten]

Same company made them and and they are doing these as well. So yes it will.

Unless you mess up and tell Steve the wrong number /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif.

 

[BrandonEchols]

Quoting Terry Posten:
Same company made them and and they are doing these as well. So yes it will.

Unless you mess up and tell Steve the wrong number /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif.



I realize that...however I am just checking because of this:

Quoting RayN:
I'm newly registered, and I don't own a VR4, but I have a 'connection' to all of the 1991 vehicles.

Has anyone tried contacting "Medalcraft" in Green Bay, WI to see if they have any spares/originals/molds? They are the ones who were originally contracted to provide the dash plaques & keyfobs to Mitsubishi.

Medalcraft subbed out the engraving to a company called "Green Bay Trophies", just a few miles away. I was employed there, and myself & a co-worker engraved every single one of the dash plaques & keyfobs for the 1991 year run. This was a long time ago, so I'm not entirely sure on the details, but I believe it was a Triple Line Roman font, don't remember what font size, but that would be pretty easy to measure from the originals. These were all cast medallions, what their composition was, I don't remember, however.

I don't have a lot more info other than this, but I can try to answer whatever questions I can...

Ray Nelson

 

[steve]

MedalCraft will try to identify and use the same style font.

 

[AWD_DSM]

Payment sent for 1. #30/1000

Thanks

 

[dustyduff]

Payment sent for 2 fobs. #1759/2000.

Thanks again for coordinating this.

 

[donkeylips]

Just ordered 5! My bro will probably order a few.

 

[TWEAKD4]

I would like 2 for 59/1000 (1992) if price is under $20/each shipped.

 

[steve]

Please refer to the FS ad in classifieds, and thanks for your support guys. I hope the spreadsheet makes thing clear and easy for everyone, including myself.

 

First post updated with a link to the for sale thread!

We can probably lock this up now.

 

[steve]

Thanks for all your help. I will leave this unlocked but I expect this thread can die off now.

 

I'm glad that my information was instrumental in kicking off this project for you all. Now if only I could remember the engraving details, but this was done almost 20 years ago and I've slept since then. If someone would be willing to get a close-up hi-res shot of one of the dash plaques from 1991, I can try my best to identify the font & size of the engraving.

When Medalcraft did these castings, they didn't have the engraving capabilities in-house, that's why they subbed it out to Green Bay Trophies (a.k.a. Global Recognition).

It was a very specific size and location for the engraving on the plates, and I was working on a 'new' engraver that the company had just purchased & nobody else at the shop wanted to run it because it was too complicated. Enter the computer guru (me).... I certainly learned a lot about the engraving industry while dealing with that. The engraving equipment was a Xenetech computerized engraver with a diamond tip, I think it was their first ever model. It was hooked to a generic 286 PC running DOS & the GEM graphics environment at the blazing fast speed of 8 mhz. All the layouts were done in the Xenetech app for their hardware, but we were able to create custom logos & dies using DesignCad 3d (another learning curve for me).

I was able to get the table of the engraver set up so I could do the dash plaques easily and repeatedly and fast. There were a few 'goofs', but Medalcraft generally took those back to melt the material down for re-use (darn the luck, I could've had 0000/2000 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif ). The keyfobs were all done on a New Hermes engraver, also with a diamond tip stylus.

Medalcraft sent us a lot of business, lots of medals for high school band or various other achievements that would be displayed on letter jackets.

Hope I haven't bored anyone with this info. If anyone else needs more, please let me know. I was out of town for a week or so and I didn't think to check this thread while I was gone.

Ray Nelson

 

[Struc]

Certainly not boring at all. Thanks for all your great insight!

 

[464/2K]

Real quick, Ray, what made you decide to register in the nick of time for us to get these done?

 

I've had a couple people wonder why I posted info in what seemed to be 'just in time' for this thread. When I was working at GB Trophy, I was involved with engraving a number of different things for various clients and I just never gave much thought that this project may become a piece of automotive history. According to some, maybe not a huge part, but significant nonetheless.

I knew that these GVR4s were a limited production vehicle, but I never realized that they would become this much of a significance to so many people. Over the years, I've occasionally run across one on ebay or Craigslist or something and if it was a 1991, I got a little warm feeling because the dash plaque was my handiwork. A few years ago I stumbled across this forum, but never felt the need to post this information for fear of being thought of as 'boasting' or 'bragging'.... I'm a fairly modest person, this was from a time in my life when things weren't going well for me for a variety of reasons I won't get into here, but I wanted it to stay in the past. I never realized, however, that what I knew could be valuable to so many people out there, and when the keyfob thread came up, I felt that it was time I should share what I knew.

Also, one note, as far as when they got the numberings, I believe it was after the vehicles arrived at the dealers, and not during customs importing. I seem to recall seeing/hearing info that there were 'batches' of what we completed that were to be shipped to dealers for installation onto the GVR4s. I left Green Bay Trophy for another job before the 1992 order was requested, so I have no knowledge of anything regarding that year. I'm not sure if it was done in-house or if GB Trophy did it or what....

I've never owned a GVR4, never (until the last 5-10 years) was financially in a place to even consider owning one. A number of years ago I did own another Mitsubishi/Chrysler hybrid, the 2-door Sebring coupe, which was based closely on an Eclipse but with the running gear & wheelbase comparable to the Galant.

Because there were/are only a couple of people who were aware of the story of the dash plaques/keyfobs, I felt it was important (and finally time) to share what I knew.

Thanks for the welcome into this forum, I'm afraid that I may not be able to contribute much more info than what I already have, but I greatly appreciate the welcome.

Ray Nelson (1991 GVR4 dash plaque engraver)

 

[turbowop]

Do you remember engraving 1051? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif

Seriously though, this is some great info you've brought forth, and much appreciated. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif

 

[Tondar]

Ray,

I would be very interested to know if you have any of the records for the the '91 batch? or does GB trophy still posses any records?

My GVR4 is numbered 1667/2000. A long time ago another member posted pictures of his ride which strangely enough was also 1667/2000. I think this has happened once more since then (two cars with the same number).

Do you remember engraving more than one plaque with the same number? and if so why was it done?

Thank you so much for your contribution.
Tony

 

Tony, to my knowledge there were no duplicates engraved at all. We did the keyfobs all on one machine, the dash plaques on another, and then they were paired up in packaging to go back to Medalcraft. There may have been one or two we did after the initial 4000 pieces (2000 fobs & 2000 dash plaques) to account for any damage in shipping back to Medalcraft or if some of the dealers received damaged goods, but I don't recall any other duplicates made for any other purposes.

GB Trophy (Global Recognition) is still in existence, their website is here: Global Recognition

I was only with that company a little over a year, so I don't know if any of the people that I used to work with are even still there. There's a contact page on that site, that may be able to provide you with the info you are seeking.

As to how the duplicate vehicles could have come about, I honestly don't know how that could have happened. All of the fobs had their pairs with the dash plaques & vice versa.

Hope this helps,
Ray Nelson

 

[jepherz]

I believe they must have changed up the engraving for the 1992 models. I want to say they are laser etched?

 

[iceman69510]

Quoting Tondar:
My GVR4 is numbered 1667/2000. A long time ago another member posted pictures of his ride which strangely enough was also 1667/2000. I think this has happened once more since then (two cars with the same number).




One of the mysteries we have not been able to completely clear up. I will have to search my registry again, but I believe there may be a second number claimed to be shared by two cars.

I have posted previously one piece of information differing from Ray's. I spoke about 9 years ago to one of the employees who recalled installing the badges at the port or entry, just randomly up and down the rows of cars. Maybe some early cars could have been shipped to dealers, necessitating the sending of badges/fobs directly there.

 

[steve]

I will get detailed pics of the '91 and '92 fobs when I get them, so the engraving/etching can be inspected closely.