not happy
 

i know that most after market parts are probably made outside the USA . i received my 64 tri power waterneck the other day and the wrapper said "made in Taiwan" on it .i wish they would of taken that off before shipping to me or stated that in the catalog.kinda makes me sick to have crap made in taiwan on my motor.

i believe it should state were a part is made so i can decide if i want to buy it or find a used one.am i wrong?

i would have sent it back but i need it right now, but you can bet im gonna be looking for another one soon

Yea, I kinda have to agree. If what ever car you ave has managed to survive 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years, it deserves a quality part made here at home.

I'd be willing to bet that many of the repops made for our old cars are made over outside the US though.

I've ordered from Summit, Classic Industries, SDPerformance. When I get an invoive it usually states where the part is made. Very few parts are North American made. Sucks, but what can you do? ( Was really surprised to see that my multi keyway timing set was from Australia.)

when the clerk at the parts store tells me he has 3 grades of the parts that im lookin for and ask which one i want i always tell them i want the one made in the good ol'USA.
i realize that it might be more money but its worth it.

prime example is the oil pump drive in my 76 T/A. the previous owner put an overseas one in, it breaks and i have to pull engine. I bought one from Mellings that was made here. the cost was around $5 (iirc). So how much was really saved in the first place?

Would you have paid twice as much to have it made in the USA?

American made
 

Back in spring of '85 I took a tour with a buddy of mine on our way back from Florida of the Corvette plant In Bowling Green. I was driving an '84 vette( GM executive buy back car) so when they saw the sticker in the windshield (GM executive) they treated us royally and gave us the "Dollar tour as opposed to the 10 cent tour everyone else gets". He happened to show us some calipers and they were night and day difference in appearance and overall aesthetics. He asked me if I knew the difference between the 2 when I commented out loud to him. I said no and he proceeded to tell although they both were technically "American made" the better of the 2 was from Australia/New Zealand and the other Mexico. Both rotors were shipped to GM plants in the US and he said the bleeder screw was left untapped or threaded and was finished in the states. He said because of this it was considered an unfinished raw part and because the last set of hands that touched it was American it could be sold as American made. How true this was /is I cannot attest to the validity but it would sure make some sense 30 yrs later. Ed

Yup

I will pay Americans to rebuild/refurbish GM parts, or I will buy USA made at 2x or 3x the price.

Flame away......:jumping:

This is true. You are allowed to bring in certain parts and have them touched up or finished by American hands, and thus label it "Made in the USA." Some places have taken to saying "Made in USA with foreign source parts" to distinguish, but many don't.

No flames here. That's nice that you say that, but 99 out of 100 Americans will not do this. Listen to how often people on these forums complain about the price of restoration parts and how often "great ideas" to reproduce certain items that the market REALLY wants don't get off the ground because no one wants to pony up $350-500 for the part. We pay lip service to wanting American made parts, but when the chips are down most people won't pay the money for them even if they were available - even from China in some cases.

Was looking into 1/4 panels for my lemans, tried Goodmark and others, both were made in Taiwan. No choices.

Have to agree with Ben on this. I don't think its 99 out of 100 but a major portion of the American public price is their main concern.Sometimes we are or own worst enemies.

Not happy
 

the starter of one of the largest Pontiac repro parts co back in the late 70's began to search for suppliers in the US and was set back mostly because the quantity of parts were not large enough or simply did not want to do it. Also all the us company required a blue print of the part. He did reproduce a large number of pieces on his own. After much frustration he was told to go to Tiawan, there are people there that will make anything in any quantity so he did. He gave them the part to repro and after a few tries and tweeks an exact piece was born without red tape.Thus the start of many repro parts we have on our cars today.This thing about overseas parts in not new it's been going on for a long time. Now for me just seeing a tag from anywhere but China is refreshing. When was the last time you got a part from Japan or Mexico? Consider Taiwan as close as you can get to a American part for an older restoration.

On another Forum that I'm on one of the main contributors, a GM employee, was assigned to China for 2-3 years to get them in compliance with what necessary to meet the GM criteria. He stated that they can manufacture any part, not body parts, to the highest level possible if they are given the correct parameters and are willing to pay the cost. It doesn't have to be junk and the suppliers need to communicate that. Another problem that they had initially was conversion form metric to the US Customary system and how far do you carry out the decimal point.

I don't know how many people know this, but Walmart as of a couple of years ago made up over 2% of our GNP. That's huge! And nobody really comes close. Where do you think a majority of their products come from?

Do you guys remember when something made in Japan was garbage? Nowadays you can't even find anything made in Japan!! Ironically they feel it too. LOL

So, good news, things are starting to change, though slowly. More and more stuff is being "onshored', or at least "near-shored", and it is driven in small part through patriotism, but mostly through wage increases in the parts of the world that we've transformed from 3rd word countries to industrialized nations. Now they want more for their work and to build their factories, so it becomes more attractive to use our beleaguered workforce here (basic supply/demand). The fact that the Chinese have killed 500+ dogs with defective treats, poisononed and killed humans with lead tainted cheap painting and melamine food "product", and have screwed probably everyone on this board at one point or other (and probably multiple times) with sub-par products sold at a premium (to pad corporate top lines of course), then it is no surprise that we are buying their wares at a lesser rate. The Taiwanese, though an ally, aren't any better IMO. The way to stop it is to STOP BUYING CHINESE CRAP. Tell your friends and family that Chinese stuff is sub-par and bad for our country. The government won't do it, that would seem kinda weird given that we owe the Chinese gov't TRILLIONS in debt. Banish the companies that sell the crap. Case in point, I was recently in the market for a set of Torq Thrust style wheels for my GTO. By God the AMERICAN Racing TTO is made in CHINA! Nope, don't need them that bad. When it comes time to consider again, I'll pay a bit more to buy Vintage Wheel Works or other American company that builds product here with American workers.

Don't buy the stuff and they will go away. We still owe them money though, LOL - stay tuned for a war on that one when they start to throw around their weight with all the leverage they now have.

Yep, and better quality too.:) Just like what Toby Keith says in his song.:)

The majority of the aftermarket parts I have bought are made somewhere else. Recently bought some taillight bezels for my '65 GTO, made in China, and nowhere else. And if you buy any electronics , especially a TV, then you have no choice at all.... :eek:

Hell, I couldn't even find a damn shovel made in the USA!:(

I will go to yard sales or on e-Bay to buy USA made stuff.

The quality of stuff has really deteriorated.

My sons bought me a large Craftsman tool set for Christmas.

I compared the fit and finish of the new set to a set I bought 30 years ago - No Comparison!

The newer set had poor machining and average chrome.

Most people would not care, but I do.

The decline continues, and most folks are happy with mediocre stuff.

I Very Much Agree With Youre Statement On This. These Cars Were Built In America And So Was I. Iam Dead Set Against Buying Foreign Parts And Any Other Products For Any Application Unless There Is No Way Around It! Most All Of It Is Garbage Anyway!

I needed to replace the blower motor on my car.

A chineseum motor from the parts store was $30.

I took my Delco blower motor, and sent it to Casey's Auto Electric in Michigan.

It cost $75, buy I have a USA made part, refurbished by a USA shop.

Did the same thing for my heater core, starter, alternator, radio, gauges, etc.

Yeah, it costs more, but I sleep better at night......:D

I'm glad that you had good luck with him. I will never do business with that cheat again. He charged me for work that he didn't perform. I agree with getting things repaired but I'll deal with someone else.

Ignorance can be bliss I suppose :p

A couple weeks ago I'm having problems starting my 6.5 turbo diesel and the last thing I want to do is scrimp on a starter in a diesel and put a Hop Sing starter in something that requires a top notch starter motor to start in cold weather. I hunt down a Remy replacement, formerly Delco Remy with headquarters in Indiana, with a lifetime warranty and go to pick it up. First of all it's in a generic white box with a sticker that says Tough One on it and a smaller sticker with the Remy part number on it. I remove it from the box and it has no name on the starter whatsoever or on the installation instructions. It does have a prominent sticker that says "Made in China" on it though and I suspect someone has substituted a Hop Sing knockoff for a genuine Remy starter and being I could have bought a Chinese starter for about half of what I paid for the Remy. I'm pretty POed so I decide to call engineering in Indiana and tell them what I'm imagined happened and feel like I got royally shafted. The man asks me to read him the number on the bar code sticker on the starter so I give it to him and he says, Yep, that's a Remy starter". I say "but, it's made in China", he replies, Remy has a plant in China and it's a quality starter.

Well it has a lifetime non prorated warranty so we shall see, if it does screw up you know who is going to be laying under it changing it out for free, and it is gonna be the coldest day of the year without a doubt.:( It is working great so far, just makes me kinda upset that I paid the long dollar for a China starter when I could have bought a Chinese starter for a bunch less.:mad:

Brad,

That's why I send everything to Acme Auto Electric in Louisville. Good prices and service.

So what this is new? as stated this has been going on far longer then we all want to admit.
I don’t really care who makes it as long as it’s made right.
MADE IN AMERICA and/or MADE IN THE USA just doesn’t have the same meaning of quality any more. So whatever we buy is a crap shoot.
Oh and if your hell bent on not putting foreign parts on your classic then you better stop driving it because that's foreign oil making it run :rolleyes:

Regardless of all the above, if you want a '64 GTO waterneck made in the USA, PM me. I had them cast back in the '80's and have a few left. If you need pictures, PM your email address. Price will be the same or less than the Chinese one.

Start looking at the BIG PICTURE>>>>
 

I reckon this thread needs expanding considerably.

So you guys are moaning about your auto parts being made in countries other than America well, guess what, you are not alone. We are ALL suffering this new wave of commercialism whereby the average punter is only concerned about price - price -price. They simply do not CARE about the origin of the product as long as they can buy it cheaply and move on. They care not one toss about where their dollar is going and what the end ramifications are as they see local suppliers either falling off the tree or having to revamp their whole buying strategy just to compete (and survive).

This is a WORLD-WIDE problem. It's happening here just as much as in the US. maybe even more-so as we are closer to Asia and the shipping costs are so cheap.

Now start looking at the BIG PICTURE

Take a walk down the Supermarket aisle and start reading where your food is coming from? Have a look at how hard it is to buy something that says it is made in America from local produce. And that's it!! NO made in America from local and imported produce. Probably nigh on impossible???

Same thing over here. I live in a country which could probably sustain half the world food wise if it were economically feasible to do so. That's no doubt an exaggeration but you get my point!! Just last Saturday I was buying some lettuce mix. Pre-packaged, triple washed, ready to eat. I just needed a pack to throw in a cooler box to take on a picnic cum car show. So I read the label and it's a product of CHINA. Jezzzzus... Lettuce is as cheap a foodstuff you can get and they are importing it from CHINA!!!

It's almost impossible to buy processed foods wholly made in Australia. Looking at the frozen foods such as mixed vegetables, half seem to come from New Zealand. Pizza?? Made in New Zealand. Well OK you think, those Kiwi's are not so bad (half live in Australia anyway) so maybe that's OK. But it's NOT. Just the other day I saw a TV report indicating that some of the frozen vegetable packets sourced from New Zealand contain a proportion of vegetables which originated in China. So the Kiwi companies are buying in food stuffs made produced in other countries, combining them with Kiwi grown stuff then packaging it as made in New Zealand. And the Chinese vegetables are sprayed with a chemical which is banned in Australia but we are not told that. Only that the package comes from New Zealand.

This story is repeated ad-nauseum but you get my point.

Years ago, Australia's Riverina District (along the Murray River) had vast groves of citrus and stone fruit groves. We exported it by the shipload to Europe and mostly to England. Now, there are very few groves left. All bulldozed in and turned over to cattle farming. And now I'm expected to buy oranges from California or Argentina

We used to export frozen lamb and beef to England. Now??? NONE. Blame the EU for that. Even most of the bacon sold in Australia is sourced from CANADA.

At least we still do export a lot of frozen beef but huge amounts are ground up into hamburger mince. I understand a lot goes to the USA?

Our export meat trade is nowadays mostly confined to sending sheep to the Middle East in appalling conditions whereupon arrival they are treated and killed in the most in-humane conditions. Same with our beef trade. Sending live cattle to Indonesia where they are butchered in disgusting conditions. The whole thing makes me sick.

And just so none of you reading this think my family buys our vegetables frozen in packets or anything else, you are wrong. We only buy fresh vegetables sourced in Australia and our meat is only sourced from a butcher who we know. Local stuff and good.

Anyway, that's enough of a rant from me. You get my point.:mad:

Ian:ausflag::ausflag::ausflag:

Just saw this thread.....you could print volumes on this subject speaking from a supplier standpoint we started making GTO parts back around 1978..personally I never dealt with any company outside of the USA.

Nowadays if I had to guess over 60% of your repro parts come from overseas. Several issues can rear their ugly head when dealing with oversea suppliers and I know this for fact since I know many owners of companies in our immediate trade.

Unfortunately when you go overseas ethics and scruples don;t mean the same as they do here in the USA. By that I mean a overseas company that a supplier here deals with may get 500 parts on their initial run and then when they reorder that same overseas company to increase their profit margins may farm it out to another hungry supplier who then makes it for them. Problem is quality has now been lessened than the first run.

I am not saying this is true in all the cases but it is something that does happen.
When we started, I can recall 2 items that were made overseas thru my supplier who had it handled. One was the cone portion of the ralley one wheel the diecast cone.
The wheels thank goodness where USA made as was the saucer part....old timers may remember we had them designed with a fixture onthe back so 3 lug nuts secured the
ralley I center cap...kept them from falling off and getting stolen.

The other part that same supplier to me had made overseas was the initial run of the 1964 GTO hood scoops. About two years ago that initial supply ran out and production has been moved back to the states. Making a profit on a part that fits one year on a low production car is no way to make quick money! A theory shared by all of us vendors/suppliers.

The main reason overseas is popular in the industry is of course costs which translates into profit margins....also, not so much in the GTO world but step into the Mustang world which is larger and you can bet you got 3 or more companies making the same part each one trying to get your buck so each of them is cutting corners/costs to make it work. I know this for fact having had some of our Mustang items copied and they even use my photos for their inferior product.

Quality can vary immensely if several of the same part is made by several companies dealing with several different suppllers.

On the water neck mentioned in the initial post I would lay it on a flat surface first to be sure it is machined properly before I went any further.

[email protected]

If you have a HDTV, it ain't from here....no TV's made here in the states in years. :eek:

Normally I rebuild my own stuff, in this case I needed it right now and all the wear parts had to come from the manufacturer, 7 to 10 day wait and no guarantee of them not back ordering something.

Not only that, the parts would be close the the price if not more than a new starter so I opted for the new Remy part. Being a dealer line mechanic formerly I always rebuild my own starters, alternators, carbs etc. That way I know it was done correctly and in most cases it's much more cost effective. Just so happens on this gear reduction starter it isn't parts that even warehouses stock so I had my back against the wall.