What most folks don't know,is that a manufacturer can never exactly gauge when to make more parts. Lets say you make that door latch for $10. you have to make 1000 of them at a time. Thats $10K for making that latch. But wait- then you need the other side, thats another $10K. Then you find out that the company that makes them for you layed off half their workforce 3 years ago when the economy tanked. So now, the economy is coming back, but they dont quite want to hire everyone back, so they tell you it is going to be 8 weeks till you get your 1000 door latches that you need to make sure you have the $20K to give them, and hope you sell some. That is the two things that make a part like that out of stock nationwide for a couple months. The irony to me, is that in this case, almost everyone that wants that door latch, already has one, that they could have rebuilt in less time then they spent making all the phone calls to get a new one, that will need some work done to it to get it to work in the car. In the last week we have had several dozen people call us wanting that same door latch. The same thing happens everyday on numerous other parts. The manufacturing, stocking, shipping, selling of ANY single part is a delicate balance. Many people pick on Mitchell manufacturing for not having 100's of overdrives in stock....but in many ways, I think they are the smart ones. They are still in business , making a quality part, and not going out of business like many other manufacturers have in this and many other industries. Several companies that make Model A parts have gone out of business in the last few years- some due to retirement, some due to lack of sales, some due to overseas competition, some due to soaring healthcare costs for their employees, and some just went on to make parts for other cars that they can make more money on. All I am saying is, it takes a lot of different things to get one little part on the market, at a reasonable price, in the relatively small quantity that we need for all cars. We make parts for Model A's. Many of these, in order to get them at a reasonable price, we have to make 5 years supply. It is all a big gamble really, if you look at the big picture here. Most machine shops, foundries, etc that make car parts, make them for Napa, or the Big Three, want to make orders for 50,000- 100,000 pieces- not the 500 pieces or 1000 pieces we need on our small hobby....
Just my 2 cents worth.....
Steve Becker
Bert's Model A Center
