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RE: king bearings

To: "'MARK J WEATHERS'" <markjwea@email.msn.com>,
Subject: RE: king bearings
From: "Hugh Barber" <tr6nut@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 20:12:34 -0700
Mark J Weathers wrote:

Amici, I am trying to get my head around all the bearing discussions so I
can order a set for my TR6 but I have a few questions.


Mark,

A search of the web provided me with what might be the answer to "why can't
we get the bearings we used to be able to get?" Once upon a time, there were
many (competing) bearing companies.  Now there's only a few.  Dana
Corporation bought up Clevite, Glacier, and Vandervell (among others).
Here's a quote from the Dana Corp web site
http://www.glaciervandervell.com/na/ :

"Glacier Vandervell North America is a market leader in the design,
manufacture and sale of thinwall bearing products in North America.  We
supply original equipment manufacturers in the automotive, heavy duty and
industrial markets. 

Additionally, Glacier Vandervell products have strong brand recognition in
the automotive aftermarket under the brand name of Clevite. "

So there you have it.  If you are the only game in town, then there's no
economic reason to make "premium" bearings for limited markets like ours.
You can make whatever crap you want to make and we (eventually) will have no
choice but to use the sub-standard bearings or park the car.

Hugh Barber
Hollister, CA
'73 TR6  

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