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It is my pleasure to be able to announce five new Land Rover Defender specific Tiktaalik products that will be available for pre-order on November 1st. All products are anodized aluminum which will never rust or flake like painted or powder coated steel products. The headlight surround and grill are intended to replace the stock plastic versions with a longer lasting, stronger and more durable version while maintaining the OEM appearance. The Defender Source discount of around 20% per product only applies to the first 40 sets/product category so if you want to be sure to receive the D-Source discount make sure you get your order in as soon as possible after the pre-orders become available on November 1st.
Design.
All the products except the Headlight Surround (which will be stamped one piece construction) are designed using a unique interlock assembly construction in order to increase structural rigidity and durability. The parts interlock and are plug welded, then tumbled and blasted to a smooth surface finish. All parts are made from 5052/6061 Aluminum. All products except the Headlight Surround (HS) will be sold with a Hard Black Anodized Finish (Type III). The Headlight Surround (HS) will be sold in a bare aluminum finish so that you can paint, powder coat or anodize to suit your Defender. The rendered images below shows the final design of each product. In 2-3 weeks when the "gold master" samples are finalized I will photograph them and post them up here.
Fitment.
The products are designed to fit into existing mounting points to the extent possible. The two front guards as well as the surround will fit in the existing headlight surround mounting holes. The rear NAS lamp guard will fit into the same holes as your existing NAS rear lamp guards. If you do not have rear lamp guards you will of course have to drill new holes. The OEM Grill will fit into the existing grill mounting holes as well. An important point about the Large Headlight guards (LG). The Large Headlight Guard (LG) does technically fit NAS and Military turn/marker bulb arrangements but I advise against this set up as there is too little clearance between the guard and the NAS /Military bulb housings. Too little clearance means no impact zone. If the guards are deformed from impact (as they should) they will be too close to the bulbs and likely will break them which defeats the purpose of a guard in the first place. There needs to be a an impact zone allowance between the guard and the bulb. Because the design would be to compromised if I made them work with every possible lamp option scenario I have the following recommendations:
For a NAS Defender: Small Headlight Guard (SG).
For a ROW Defender: Small Headlight Guard (SG) and Large Headlight Guard (LG).
For a Military Defender: Small Headlight Guard (SG) will fit but keep in mind that having no surround means a much larger gap between headlight and guard, particularly on the top and bottom. If this is a concern I recommend installing the Headlight Surround (HS) and painting it body color before installing the Small Headlight Guard (SG).
The Headlight Surround (HS) is designed to replace the ROW Defender Headlight Surround and it has the TD5 style horn/signal louvers detail. I chose the ROW version because this is my personal preference. I never liked the comically large NAS turn signal. This was the by-product of a forced importation requirement, not by original design or intention which is why my personal preference falls on the ROW version of the Headlight Surround design.
Minimum Order Quantity & Defender Source Discount.
Each product has a pre-order quantity threshold of a minimum of 40 sets/product which means that a minimum of 40 sets need to be pre-ordered for that product to go into production. If a product does not go into production you will receive a full refund but I will make every effort to avoid this situation by extending the group offer to other forums, world-wide. Please note that the D-Source discount only applies to the 40 first sets ordered. Once the order amount has reached 40 sets for a particular product the pricing will convert to standard pricing and the discount will no longer be valid. If you want to be sure to receive the discount make sure to order as soon as pre-orders become available on November 1st.
Defender Source Discount Pricing Offer.
All pricing is preliminary until product is finalized and may be subject to change. Here's what the current pricing estimates look like after the D-Source discount is applied:
Small Headlight Guard set (SG) - $240/set
Large Headlight Guard set (LG) - $450/set
Rear Lamp Guard set (RG) - $350/set
Headlamp Surround (HS) - $420/set
OEM Grill (OG) - $440/each
Order Process.
Pre-orders will be accepted via the Tiktaalik website starting November 1st, 2014. You'll be able to use a D-Source Discount code if you're a Defender Source Member. Please be aware that these products will not ship immediately upon placing your order. You are pre-ordering them in order to enable a crowd-sourced production. Once each product has reached its MOQ the order will be placed with the manufacturing facility and the production process at that point begin.
Shipping.
Shipping cost will be calculated per individual order once the product has arrived at the Tiktaalik HQ.
Timeline.
You patience and understanding for the development process is greatly appreciated. I am taking great care and attention to detail to make sure that each of these product come out just right which is why I have already spent a lot of time and resources on a number of iterations of prototypes for each of these products. Once the products have reached their MOQ please allow a minimum of 8 weeks for delivery. I will ensure that you are kept up-to-date with the progress of production along the way. Please note that the Headlight Surround, unlike the others, will be using a stamping process for production which requires tooling. This may result in this product taking a little longer to produce than the other products because the tooling first has to be built and tested before production can proceed.
Notification List.
If you would like to be put on a pre-order notification list please PM me with a list of the products that you are interested in as well as your name and email address. The Notification list is also a very helpful way for me to gauge interest in each product. I have a couple of names on this list already so it would be helpful for those of you who have already signed up to let me know that you are still interested.
I hope you are as excited about these products as I am. Don't hesitate to ask questions regarding product or fitment. Thank you.
Design.
All the products except the Headlight Surround (which will be stamped one piece construction) are designed using a unique interlock assembly construction in order to increase structural rigidity and durability. The parts interlock and are plug welded, then tumbled and blasted to a smooth surface finish. All parts are made from 5052/6061 Aluminum. All products except the Headlight Surround (HS) will be sold with a Hard Black Anodized Finish (Type III). The Headlight Surround (HS) will be sold in a bare aluminum finish so that you can paint, powder coat or anodize to suit your Defender. The rendered images below shows the final design of each product. In 2-3 weeks when the "gold master" samples are finalized I will photograph them and post them up here.
Fitment.
The products are designed to fit into existing mounting points to the extent possible. The two front guards as well as the surround will fit in the existing headlight surround mounting holes. The rear NAS lamp guard will fit into the same holes as your existing NAS rear lamp guards. If you do not have rear lamp guards you will of course have to drill new holes. The OEM Grill will fit into the existing grill mounting holes as well. An important point about the Large Headlight guards (LG). The Large Headlight Guard (LG) does technically fit NAS and Military turn/marker bulb arrangements but I advise against this set up as there is too little clearance between the guard and the NAS /Military bulb housings. Too little clearance means no impact zone. If the guards are deformed from impact (as they should) they will be too close to the bulbs and likely will break them which defeats the purpose of a guard in the first place. There needs to be a an impact zone allowance between the guard and the bulb. Because the design would be to compromised if I made them work with every possible lamp option scenario I have the following recommendations:
For a NAS Defender: Small Headlight Guard (SG).
For a ROW Defender: Small Headlight Guard (SG) and Large Headlight Guard (LG).
For a Military Defender: Small Headlight Guard (SG) will fit but keep in mind that having no surround means a much larger gap between headlight and guard, particularly on the top and bottom. If this is a concern I recommend installing the Headlight Surround (HS) and painting it body color before installing the Small Headlight Guard (SG).
The Headlight Surround (HS) is designed to replace the ROW Defender Headlight Surround and it has the TD5 style horn/signal louvers detail. I chose the ROW version because this is my personal preference. I never liked the comically large NAS turn signal. This was the by-product of a forced importation requirement, not by original design or intention which is why my personal preference falls on the ROW version of the Headlight Surround design.
Minimum Order Quantity & Defender Source Discount.
Each product has a pre-order quantity threshold of a minimum of 40 sets/product which means that a minimum of 40 sets need to be pre-ordered for that product to go into production. If a product does not go into production you will receive a full refund but I will make every effort to avoid this situation by extending the group offer to other forums, world-wide. Please note that the D-Source discount only applies to the 40 first sets ordered. Once the order amount has reached 40 sets for a particular product the pricing will convert to standard pricing and the discount will no longer be valid. If you want to be sure to receive the discount make sure to order as soon as pre-orders become available on November 1st.
Defender Source Discount Pricing Offer.
All pricing is preliminary until product is finalized and may be subject to change. Here's what the current pricing estimates look like after the D-Source discount is applied:
Small Headlight Guard set (SG) - $240/set
Large Headlight Guard set (LG) - $450/set
Rear Lamp Guard set (RG) - $350/set
Headlamp Surround (HS) - $420/set
OEM Grill (OG) - $440/each
Order Process.
Pre-orders will be accepted via the Tiktaalik website starting November 1st, 2014. You'll be able to use a D-Source Discount code if you're a Defender Source Member. Please be aware that these products will not ship immediately upon placing your order. You are pre-ordering them in order to enable a crowd-sourced production. Once each product has reached its MOQ the order will be placed with the manufacturing facility and the production process at that point begin.
Shipping.
Shipping cost will be calculated per individual order once the product has arrived at the Tiktaalik HQ.
Timeline.
You patience and understanding for the development process is greatly appreciated. I am taking great care and attention to detail to make sure that each of these product come out just right which is why I have already spent a lot of time and resources on a number of iterations of prototypes for each of these products. Once the products have reached their MOQ please allow a minimum of 8 weeks for delivery. I will ensure that you are kept up-to-date with the progress of production along the way. Please note that the Headlight Surround, unlike the others, will be using a stamping process for production which requires tooling. This may result in this product taking a little longer to produce than the other products because the tooling first has to be built and tested before production can proceed.
Notification List.
If you would like to be put on a pre-order notification list please PM me with a list of the products that you are interested in as well as your name and email address. The Notification list is also a very helpful way for me to gauge interest in each product. I have a couple of names on this list already so it would be helpful for those of you who have already signed up to let me know that you are still interested.
I hope you are as excited about these products as I am. Don't hesitate to ask questions regarding product or fitment. Thank you.
