All;
-One of my first concerns on being interested in repro-ing the air
cleaner assembly was the trademark/copyright concerns because of the
"AC" on the top piece. Any Patent/Trademark attorney's please advise.
-I also felt by not worrying about the "AC" and making them without it
I could skip all the hassle of para. #1 above & also reduce both my
proto. & mfg. costs considerably. What scrap rate would be acceptable
if "some" of the letters didn't come out properly?5%, 10%, ?
-In my current company, we constantly have to "re-engineer" the dwgs.
we get from Japan to match U.S. specs., material & finish callouts,
etc. A few I worked on making better during the development stages
here were Mercury-based paints & Black Chrome as finishes.
Try getting these done in an EPA-approved paint or plating facility!
Additionally, we have to worry about UL requirements. Our products
mfg. by our parent for Asia & Europe don't need this. I correlate this
to the amber vs. red TIGER tail light lense requirements, depending on
market destination.
-So, we don't make a lot of the parts "exactly" like our Japanese
parent.Are they better or worse? No, form & fit are slightly
different, function is identical...and that's what our customer's
really care about.
Phil
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: NOS vs REPRO
Author: CMeinel464@aol.com at ~INTERNET
Date: 7/18/96 7:28 AM
Frank,
I don't know if you had the oppurtunity to read my posting NOS vs. REPRO, if
you haven't, please take a look. I have been reproducing parts for years and
as you well know, by law I can not put original logo's, trademarks etc. on
these parts. My lenses do not say Lucas, but have a few of the original
numbers on them. In regards to the Tiger air cleaner assembly, I welcome the
reproduction effort and I'm sending orignal drawings of the item to help out
the cause. I do not know if A.C. England still exists, but that might cause
of probelm in regards to the trademark, that is something that MUST be
checked into.
Now, I must admit, that some of the parts we reproduce DO NOT have any
markings on them to tell them from the originals. Mostly rubber parts that
we make such as: headlight to body, tailight to body, Tiger wheel cylinder
dust covers etc. What would be the point? On all the parts we make, we try
to improve the original if possible and thus sometimes although the part
looks original when installed, they are slightly different than original
physically.
Running parts are another problem, how many cars have they factory ball
joints, tie rod ends, coil spings and the like. When all the OEM running
parts are gone, most people will beg for the reproductions.
I do however feel that it's important to maintain the Tigers as close to
original as possible. Again if you want to spend $600 or so for an orignal
air cleaner or $75 for an original tail light lense, that is your right.
Baseball cards, art and other collectables, reproductions of all those items
exist ! Does that lower the value of the originals? I know that the repro
Mickey Mantle card has markings to let me know it's different from my
originals. I would have no problem with
an internal repro marking of some sort on any part that would come on the
market.
Best regards,
Curt
Classic Sunbeam Inc.
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