Had a thought. The huge dies that are used to stamp out body panels. I assume they have to be made to very tight tolerances and are quite big. Who makes these? Is the work outsourced to China, or done in house? How much are they worth? Enquiring minds need to know.
My ex-FIL works as a tool & die man at Eagle Wing, which is a supplier to the Mitsubishi plant in Bloomington, IL. I know he worked on the dies and presses that stamped out whatever parts his employer supplied.
As to value, I'd guess thousands of dollars depending on the size and intricacy of the individual die?
Typically it takes 4-5 dies to produce a panel. 1st is the draw die, special die w/ an outer shoe to clamp the flat sheet of steel firmly while the inner shoe does the forming (special press is needed for this operation also). 2nd die is the trim die, the panel is clamped in place in the die while the panel is trimmed of excess steel from the draw die. 3rd-5th dies may redefine the shape, punch holes, additional trim operations etc. Each die may weigh roughly between 40,000- 65,000 lbs depending on the size of the panel produced... hoods, door inners and outers, fenders, quarters, deck lids etc.
Yur gonna need an overhead crane to split the upper and lower die halves to work on 'em. Big honkin' die cart to shuttle 'em around and load 'em into n outta the presses. Experienced Automotive Tool n Die men too... you ain't doin' this work yurself.
... and ya might need one of these
typical toggle press (draw die)
I worked for a company in the "80s. Teledyne Efficient Industries. We made big dies and molds for the auto industry. Our biggest press was 2000 ton. Not that big by auto industry standards. When I was there we made double door dies for Dodge Dynasty (Chrysler- Twinsburg Stamping) , inner door panels for S-10 ( CPC "Chevy-Parma") and Volvo Truck roof. In the mold dept we made molds for Fiero hood and roof, mold for "84 Corvette (solid block of steel with hood shape machined into it! (That was pure art). We also did a hood mold for a Freightliner. (huge)! We had to put a new 35 ton crane in for that. The Freightliner mold shipped out on two tractor trailers. Most of the dies and molds had to be transfered from bay to bay with two towmotors. One towmotor had a 345 c.i. V8. The bigger one had a 460 c.i. Ford V8. Sadly, the company is out of buisness.
Two shops that make old parts... Brookville Roadster and Snyder International. Where I work we make parts for Snyder. These are both in Ohio. The owner of Snyder has the first Thunderbolt!
In other news, Abe Vigoda is still alive. 
When I was an engineering admin for a Tier 1 supplier I interacted with die builders on a weekly basis. We didn't do body panels. Mostly brackets, frame pieces, trans plates, and that type of stuff.
Small progressive dies to stamp "L" brackets might run $10 - $15K. We had some multi-piece floor pan side rail dies that cost us $150K+. We also did some transmission plate stampings for one of the big auto trans suppliers. We were able to swap the stations out to make 3 different plates from the same basic extrusion. Those dies cost over $400K in total.
We had as many dies built in the USA as we could. It was more expensive at the beginning of a project but they often lasted longer, used less consumables, had better design and material utilization, and much shorter lead times than dies built overseas.
We did have one large die built in China (our Big 3 customer insisted for cost savings). The savings ultimately weren't worth the delays and shipping headaches. The only thing that kept us from incurring financial penalties for delaying their production kickoff was that it was their idea for the die to be built overseas in the first place. That die also had to have punches replaced nearly every time it ran because of the way the stations were designed.
RIP Mr. Stamping. 
In reply to cwh:
Are you asking because you'd like to stamp your own at home?
No such intent, just curiosity. Never know when that might come in handy or help me win a trivia contest.
You'll need to log in to post.
