At 11:29 AM 1/18/2002 -0800, Dodd, Kelvin wrote:
>It feels a little tricky speaking up for the competition, but it seems that
>the Roadster Factory is financially a bit rocky right now. Although one
>part of me is saying "he is competition, he must die" another part is
>considerate of an enthusiast supporting the British Parts Business in his
>own unique way.
This past year, the Roadster Factory had been soliciting investors from
their customer base to invest $5000 or more with an annual return of 10%.
This might have been a sign of problems or difficulties with the banks.
They had expanded into some other ventures like the Coventry Inn. I would
have liked to help out except money has been tight as of late.
TRF started out mostly dealing with Triumphs and later expanded into MGs
(mid 80s?). They stressed quality parts/service and as a result they tended
to be a little more expensive than their competition. Like Moss, they
support the community with nice newsletters plus they host a TRF summer
party every year. Not that I've been there - they are clear on the other
side of the country.
I still order parts from them, including a few odds and ends that no one
else sells. My main problem was the distant shipping although they offered
me a 3 day shipping. Moss is closer and quicker plus I can almost always
get the lowest prices through a Moss reseller - two who support this list.
So my point is that we really need to support these businesses like Moss or
TRF. They keep our hobby viable by maintaining the parts supply lines.
We used to have a local British car parts store here in Billings, MT - BAP
aka British Auto Parts (part of the BAP/GEON chain). In the early 80s, they
would have parts like SU carb kits, points, etc hanging on display racks in
the store. But by the 90s, you had to ask the parts counter for those items
but they still had them in stock. But as the British cars started to
disappear here, so did their business. Eventually, they started selling
more Japanese car parts than British car parts. Then two years ago, I went
to buy some parts and they were in the middle of a going out of business
sale. It was sad - I had supported them for almost 15 years, but in recent
years I had found it cheaper to get the big items mail order from Moss. And
that was one of the things that finally caused their business to dwindle away.
I only hope that we can continue to maintain our current providers and keep
the quality of the parts up good enough to keep our cars going.
David
67 BGT
72 B restore - a parts supplier's dream
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