Repro Parts No Longer Available

Bob Bidonde

Bob Bidonde

Well-known member
I sense that the reproduction parts business has declined overall, so several parts are no longer available.
I also am of the opinion that there is more reliance on foreign made parts such as bearings that are below the quality level of parts available 5 to 10 years ago.

Are my thoughts realistic?


 
I agree repop parts from China etc are becoming the norm over the years I have collected a lot of original stuff and that is now my go to parts and I believe it will only get worse unfortunately. The younger generation seems to be chasing the best price too much effort to chase the original stuff
 
Need a U-Joint or a radiator? Good luck. Front springs? Not available (the ones made in China can still be had). Hope it's just a supply chain thing and will correct itself.
 
I have not had any recent issues with getting radiators ( a pallet just arrived last week) front springs have been on the shelf for months.
 
Bob Bidonde said:
I sense that the reproduction parts business has declined overall, so several parts are no longer available.
I also am of the opinion that there is more reliance on foreign made parts such as bearings that are below the quality level of parts available 5 to 10 years ago.

Are my thoughts realistic?
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Bob, your thoughts are realistic. And the repro parts that are available don't fit.

 
Very realistic! I'm more familiar with the v8 and lots of parts that have been made are not now. 36 coupe rear fenders for one.
 
also consider of the 6-8 "major" parts vendors for A's- how many will be around in 5-10 yrs? will their kids keep running the businesses as we move forward?


also the vendors can only sell what is made- no matter where it is made. if demand dries up in any particular area, that part will be harder to find.


the other anomaly is, some of us wont be around in 10 yrs either.
 
I am spoiled with the availability of new parts for the Model A. Try to get some new parts for a 1929 Buick or any other pre WWII car. You just have to be careful to get good quality parts.
 
nkaminar said:
I am spoiled with the availability of new parts for the Model A. Try to get some new parts for a 1929 Buick or any other pre WWII car. You just have to be careful to get good quality parts.
Click to expand...

Yes, yourself, myself, and many of us are spoiled.

Hopefully we can get back to restoring parts. The 'irony' is one of the national Model-A club has the word 'Restorers' used in its name to signify the purpose however even that word has seemingly changed the mindset over the past decade or two to quit restoring components and now just replace parts.
 
Many parts need to be replaced because they cannot be restored like the aluminum top moldings that hide the attaching nail heads and are used on 1930 and 1931 closed cars.

See Snyder's top moldings A-47301-1 through A-47301-6.

I have had these moldings extruded in the USA for about 40 years.

The lack of demand has caused me to stop producing all except A-47301-1 and A-47301-2.
 
As Terry points out, the demand vs. economic production quantity is far askew. If you can only make a profit (or the break even point) is 500 units and the demand is 100, you needn’t buy a bigger truck! The demand for units of repop parts is far different than 1970’s
I looked at making channel for cabriolet side windows. I could get it made for $2/ft…but had to take 5,000 ft! Didn’t need a mile of the stuff!
 
I make my own water pumps that will never wear out - at least not my lifetime nor my children's. I looked into producing them but by the time I had patterns made, the castings made, then machined, the cost of the other components and shipping were considered, it wasn't going to be viable. Then came the clincher. To Americans, they would be foreign made so they would be reluctant to buy them, even though the quality would have been light years ahead of anything now on the market.
The number of sales I would need to break even was too high to be worth it. Given that there would not be any repeat sales because of the high quality, I gave up. Even if I sold one for every Model A powered by an original engine (or a Burtz engine), the market wouldn't be large enough.
I understand Terry's decision but I'm not sure enough of the owners of these cars do.
 
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I restored my Coupe in the late 1970s when there was not so many reproduction parts on the market. So I used the best used ones I could find in cases where I did not have the ability to restore the existing parts. Having driven my Coupe 50,000 miles, it is now tired and in need of some serious maintenance. I fear that some of the mechanical parts I will need are no longer available, or are of poor quality.
 

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Here is a great US source for Model-A and T springs. I recently bought one for my 29 Phaeton.



[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]"A" Springs c/o Travis M. Cook
P.O.Box 330322 West Hartford, Ct 06133-0322 USA
Phone (860) 233-3557 Fax (860) 523-0002[/SIZE][/FONT]
 
Another item made today that is superior is Bob Burdick's running board trim. They are zinc and fit perfectly. Sadly, Bob won't be making them forever so if you need a set, get them now.
 
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