Brattons higher quality than Macs

Hi George,

Really like your response; and also, in Free Enterprise, for "eternity", we can all realize that there will always be a market for offering Cheap Products to "Buyers".

I really like it where some Model A parts catalogs offer choices and differentiate between different "Best Parts Available" and the "Me Too" parts.

It always depends on the "Buyer" who is buying for "what".

Is he carefully restoring a Model A to keep or leave same to family members or grandkids ...... or is he a Model A parts "Buyer" restoring a Model A to quickly sell on e-bay ........ Huh?

Like some "Buyers" purchasing exterior house paint ...... planning to live here 20 years and retire .... or is he a paint "Buyer" planning to sell his house in (2) weeks ...... where "Buyer" goes out and buys a cheap gallon of paint and gets four (4) gallons Free and hope it does not rain.

Hope this helps someone to ask, to shop carefully, and to stay tuned in to experiences of other Model A owners prior to buying something very expensive.

If you have questions, this Forum has answers.
 
Fred K-OR said:
Sooo, here we go again. If you don't like something, send it back but don't tear down any vendor good or bad. This company (MAC'S) does have some good qualities and as pointed out sells the less expensive and less "pure" type of products. But some people want these types of products so let them have a place to get them. Also their catalog is the best in the business. Whenever I want to look up a part to see what it looks like, I get the MAC'S catalog to check it out.

So the point trying to be said here is; lets try to keep this forum constructive rather that destructive. Amen
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Well said, I couldn't agree more. Also if you don't like them refuse or send back their catalogue !
Wayne
 
I'm glad to see MACs is attempting to respond to questions with Scott monitoring this site. MACs use to advertise with the Model A Times and I worked with the two brothers that operated the business before selling it to Ecklers. They chose to discontinue the ad with us and I assumed they were moving away from the Model A business like other suppliers have done. Nice to see they are staying involved at least through this site.
 
I agree with George Miller as far as repro parts are concerned. I suspect that there are enough model A people that want cheap parts and if the part(s) don't look right or fit right, they don't really care that much, so crappy parts keep being made and sold. It would seem to me that in modern times with all the improvements in manufacturing, it would be fairly easy to duplicate original parts and make them correctly, but that isn't happening very often. However, I can't think of a lot of parts that are really duplicates of original parts and many of the good parts that are, are made by A&L Parts Specialties. I know Braton's and Bert's make some very nice parts, but they can only do so much with financial constraints they must have. I believe A&L supplies parts to most model A vendors. I have posted it here before and I will bring it up again, two times I called Mac's and ask who provided the part I was inquiring about, they stated that DIDN'T provide supplier information. The parts I was inquiring about were sheetmetal parts and I wanted to make sure the parts were NOT made by Howell's, but they would tell me who make them. BTW, Bratton's will always tell you who the supplier is, if you ask them and I believe Bert's will to.
Rusty Nelson
 
I do not understand why model A people will buy parts because they are CHEAP, when it has been proven that cheap parts are often junk. Why not spend a little more and get good QUALITY from Bratton's, Snyder's and Mike's???
 
2manycars said:
I do not understand why model A people will buy parts because they are CHEAP, when it has been proven that cheap parts are often junk. Why not spend a little more and get good QUALITY from Bratton's, Snyder's and Mike's???
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Very simple! Why do some people drive a Honda and others drive a Cadillac or a BMW ? It fits their budget better! Wayne
 
Hi Pgerhardt,
Thanks for relating your experience here. WE need to know!
Bratton's and Bert's (and some others) work hard to supply us with quality parts.
It doesn't happen by chance.
Al
 
Fred K-OR said:
Sooo, here we go again. If you don't like something, send it back but don't tear down any vendor good or bad. This company (MAC'S) does have some good qualities and as pointed out sells the less expensive and less "pure" type of products. But some people want these types of products so let them have a place to get them. Also their catalog is the best in the business. Whenever I want to look up a part to see what it looks like, I get the MAC'S catalog to check it out.

So the point trying to be said here is; lets try to keep this forum constructive rather that destructive. Amen
Click to expand...

I was not comparing venders (both venders have given me good service), but just these two products. In case of metal stem tubes - Brattons is the way to go. I was just wanted to alert others. As far as returning goes, I am sure the Macs tube will function just fine so I'll use them replacing the dust covers and valve caps when I can. Hopefully when Scott shows the Macs execs the pictures they will move to improve their product line and everyone will benefit.
 
You seemed to be very unhappy with Macs product so why not return it and buy something you are happy with. The Macs rep offered his assistance. Wayne
 
pgerhardt said:
I was not comparing venders (both venders have given me good service), but just these two products. In case of metal stem tubes - Brattons is the way to go. I was just wanted to alert others. As far as returning goes, I am sure the Macs tube will function just fine so I'll use them replacing the dust covers and valve caps when I can. Hopefully when Scott shows the Macs execs the pictures they will move to improve their product line and everyone will benefit.
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Sorry Pgerhardt, I was not being critical of your post. You did an excellent job of showing the different quality of the two products and vendors and you were not criticizing MAC'S. And it is good for people on the Barn to have access to this type of information.

I was just getting tired of the continual postings on a subject like this where people like to point out all their vendor problems they have ever had and it becomes a nonproductive post and lasts forever.
 
Mac's also has been flooding eBay lately and it's a pain when I am looking for good original parts and have to wade thru pages of their new stuff. It can add a lot of time to the search.
Any one else???
 
Mike V. Florida said:
Sad that we keep reading about this. If you want the best you need to ask! There is a difference in a bolt made to Ford specs and one from a hardware store that some vendors sell.

With that said, a lot of owners are happy with anything that even looks like an original part.

I was reading about a coupe for sale that the when "restored" the builder took pride in replacing straight head screws with phillips. He even laughed when people would mention it and he would brag about replacing them all. Now the car is for sale, guess who is not laughing any more?
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Funny, I was looking for my LIKE BUTTON on Mike's comment as I was thinking the same thing on that Facebook comment someone made on his "Meticulously Restored" Model A with ALL Philips Head fasteners.
 
Nice to see a comparison of products between vendors. Valuable for readers interested in that part. Wish we could do that for every part.

However, after spending many thousands of dollars restoring my A parts, from ALL of the vendors, including swap meet vendors, I can’t say any vendor is the best. I have received good and bad parts from ALL of the vendors. Just send them back if not acceptable.

Seems, we are quick to put a single manufacturer down. Perhaps we could compare that part with all the suppliers.

Funny, I have sent parts back, and got the same identical part from another vendor, even with the same packaging. I suspect they may be sourcing from the same suppliers.
 
Dodge said:
Mac's also has been flooding eBay lately and it's a pain when I am looking for good original parts and have to wade thru pages of their new stuff. It can add a lot of time to the search.
Any one else???
Click to expand...

I just put the word 'used' in my search and it weeds out (most) of the new parts offered by Mac's and other 'vendors'.:cool:
 
2manycars said:
I do not understand why model A people will buy parts because they are CHEAP, when it has been proven that cheap parts are often junk. Why not spend a little more and get good QUALITY from Bratton's, Snyder's and Mike's???
Click to expand...

I think a lot of the ones that buy these cheap parts are the ones that
cut, grind and beat with a big hammer to make thing work because it's
only a driver. :eek:

Bob
 
E
Y-Blockhead said:
I just put the word 'used' in my search and it weeds out (most) of the new parts offered by Mac's and other 'vendors'.:cool:
Click to expand...

I do it the same way, On the E-Bay motors search page -- Enter model A Ford used parts, it will post around 20 pages till the odd ball stuff shows up.
 
One thing no one has mentioned. Brattons often includes a helpful slip of paper explaining the part and how to install it. Last 5 or 6 orders have been from Brattons. I'm waiting on one now. I also like Snyders. Both charge actual shipping. Macs inflates shipping charges and has a lot more junk parts in their catalog than either Brattons or Snyders. I called Brattons and requested PO shipping which is 2 days vs UPS which is 7 days.
 
Lots of complaining here about inferior repro parts. In the case of sheet metal you are faced with inferior repro or no part available. I know one reason the repro parts don't fit. A local Model A sheet metal supplier in Beaumont,TX (not Howells, the other one)drop ships for many parts houses. The owner and only employee is a sheet metal worker with 20+ years experience. As nice of a guy as he is, he doesn't really know much if anything about Model As. I got some good sheet metal from him because I brought down a sample of what I wanted. Any shortages of wood parts? His partner was working full time making wood parts but he died about 2 years ago, so no more parts from him. So supply of wood parts is less unless the other makers out there can take up the slack.
 
jkassay said:
Nice to see a comparison of products between vendors. Valuable for readers interested in that part. Wish we could do that for every part.

However, after spending many thousands of dollars restoring my A parts, from ALL of the vendors, including swap meet vendors, I can’t say any vendor is the best. I have received good and bad parts from ALL of the vendors. Just send them back if not acceptable.

Seems, we are quick to put a single manufacturer down. Perhaps we could compare that part with all the suppliers.

Funny, I have sent parts back, and got the same identical part from another vendor, even with the same packaging. I suspect they may be sourcing from the same suppliers.
Click to expand...

Well said. All vendors have good and bad days and services. So why pick on any one at any one time? Pgerhart started with a very informative post comparing quality of parts. From there things went in all directions.
 
I've been buying all my repo parts from Brattons for several years. My only disappointment has been with some cast chassis parts that should have been forged. When tightened, they broke.
 
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