Jay,
Yeah. I pretty much agree with you (at least on the part that I can
understand;) ). But, not ALL repro parts come from the same sources and not
all are junk. However, in general, you are right about the repro stuff.
(climbing back onto my soapbox) We are very lucky, in the Brit car hobby,
compared to those who play with German or Italian classics. Much of what is
available to us is, through the efforts of British Motor Heritage and
others, of original or better quality, with much of it from the O.E.
manufacturers, using the original tooling or to the original drawings &
specifications and is offered to us at very reasonable prices. I also play
with air-cooled VWs and the 356 series Porsche. Also, I'm the custodian of
my Dad's '72 BMW 2002A, which we've owned since new. In general, original,
genuine, O.E. parts for the German cars are horribly expensive or
unobtainable. And the repro stuff, especially the sheet metal, is of a very
un-uniform quality.
The Germans don't really want to even acknowledge that they ever built those
cars in the first place, let alone support a hobby that maintains and
restores them. Porsche has softened a bit, in recent years and now actively
supports their older models (although nowhere NEAR as well as BMH supports
the many different makes and models of British manufacture). VW (of the US,
anyway) briefly removed it's head from it's butt, then quickly reinserted
it, again, when Clive Warrilow and Ferdinand Piesch retired. I've got a
beautiful, fast '62 Porsche coupe, with a broken transaxle that'll cost me
about $2K to have correctly rebuilt, using many used/reconditioned parts and
others that my trans guy has to get from obscure, overseas sources because
the ones Porsche currently offers are not nearly as good as the original
equipment was. With the economy still a bit queasy, I don't dare spend that
kind of money on a toy. Fortunately, for my piece of mind, the Brit cars
offer a tremendous bang-for-the-buck and I continue to have a wonderful time
with my Midgets, for very little money. I get a lot of good-natured ribbing
from my local Porsche 356 group about me driving a Midget on Porsche driving
tours, but they have been amazed by the Midget's capabilities over our
area's tight, plunging, twisting back-roads.
So, be thankful for all that is available to our Brit car hobby, INSIST on
good service and high-quality parts and patronize the vendors who offer the
best parts and service, even if at a somewhat higher price (quality doesn't
always come cheaply). When you've had a good experience with a vendor,
spread the word. Likewise for negative experiences. Don't accept poor
quality parts without complaining. Our Spridgets, as well as most of the
Brit cars, had a pretty good build quality and the O.E. components,
including most (but not all) of the electrics. We should not accept
inferior replacements, that make our cars less than reliable.
I've owned numerous Porsches, BMWs and VWs, new and used, over the years.
My '74 MGB-GT was more reliable than any of them. In over 100,000 miles of
fast touring, my MG NEVER, EVER FAILED me. My Midget has also been quite
"bullet-proof" and, with 167,000 miles on the clock, I have total and
complete confidence in it. That reliability has been achieved through very
thorough and careful maintenance, with particular attention paid to the
quality of replacement parts. I've rejected many, many new replacement
parts over the years, always insisting on the original equipment type stuff.
Bud Osbourne
-----Original Message-----
From owner-spridgets at autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-spridgets@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Jay Fishbein
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 10:47 AM
Cc: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: TRF
Bottom line to all of this is that there are numerous independent
vendors that provide proper service, but some people will continue to
purchase from the Moss/VB Depot operations as well.
Unfortunately when it comes to repro parts, they all come from the same
source, so the unacceptable repro junk (grills/door latch
mechanisms/unboxed Lucas-style light units/etc.) from the Moss/VB is the
same unacceptable repro junk from everywhere else.
There isn't a business on the planet that has the ability to please 100%
of the people 100% of the time.
To summarize: We should all try to utilize impactful convergence and
unleash open-source functionalities so that our internet purchases
support the drive to end-to-end web-readiness and therefore monetize
frictionless deliverables to grow collaborative infrastructures. Sounds
complicated but if we just synergize one-to-one e-commerce the result
will be recontextualization of real-time functionalities. And who can
argue with that?
jay fishbein
wallingford, ct
Home of "The Innocenti Project"
61 Innocenti 950 Spyder
63 Pink Sprite MkII
74 RWA Midget 38,000 miles
http://home.ix.netcom.com/~type79/
Bud Osbourne wrote:
>#1.) By not supporting TRF, they ARE supporting Moss and VB. <SNIP>
>
>#3.) <SNIP>. Look at "the big picture", guys.
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