I am working on my 62 MGA coupe, which is at the body shop for a respray.
One of the things I have to do is replace or replate some of the bumpers and
over-riders.
I dug out my brand new Moss chrome, sealed in plastic in dry storage
since purchase. I have two complete sets, one bought way back in 1979,
and one purchased in the early 1990s.
The oldest set has:
- front bumpers that are not made to stock profile - the bottom lip
does not extend as far as the stock bumper, with the result that the
little clips that bolt to the bottom of the bumper to hold the license
plate on do not go through holes in the edge of the bumper as
intended, but through little 'D' shaped extensions of the lower bumper
blade, because it is too short.
- the large flat area of the front outer bumper where it curves into
the body near the fender/body join is wavy instead of flat from some
idiot leaning on the grinder too hard.
- the rear bumper looks perfect, and mirabile dictu, has a factory part
number on the inside. This must have been early enough that they were still
sourcing some NOS and reselling it - a definite keeper!
- the overriders have raw edges where they didn't bother grinding it smooth
before chroming. The surface of the chrome, never exposed in all these years,
is blistering.
The newer set has:
- a front bumper that now has the proper shape with the license bracket
holes where they should be.
- the flat areas of the outer pieces are just as shoddy and wavy as
the earlier ones - there is no way to salvage these front pieces -
they are crap and cannot be recovered once they have been ground
unevenly, as the material isn't thick enough to allow grinding flat.
- the centre bar looks OK
- the rear bumper lacks the crispness of the original, and the 'brand new'
chrome is marred and worthless without rechroming the whole thing.
So here is Moss Motors record with me - 2 complete sets of bumpers - all
unsalvageable crap except for the lucky original rear bar.
Four new overriders, all with bad chrome, and poorly finished = more junk.
I will be rechroming my original pieces, except for the factory rear, which
I will use.
I will be tossing out two sets of brand new bumpers (except that rear) that
I paid for, as even if I could get an exchange after so many years (while I
foolishly left them wrapped, trusting that they would be of decent quality),
I've seen no evidence that the ones I'd get today are any better. No point
exchanging garbage for more garbage.
If anyone is stupid enough to want these brand new bits, I'll gladly sell
them to you at a substantial reduction - at least you wouldn't be getting
ripped off for quite as much for the same stuff as if you bought new.
And finally, at least some of the blame rests with the customers who
are too cheap to pay fair prices for good quality parts. If Moss could
sell higher prices bumpers that weren't wavy and didn't have to go
straight from the post office to the chromer so they'd last more than
a couple of years, I'm sure they'd do it.
While you are at it, I'd love to be able to buy a grille badge that
had the bolt actually screwed into the badge instead of held on with
some sort of lame glue that allows the badge to pop off the minute you
start to compress the lockwasher - I've tossed out a couple of those
as well.
For all this stuff, I'd be happy to pay double or more for something
that wasn't TOTAL BLOODY CRAP!!!
I have owned my MGA race car for 34 years and my coupe for about 20 -
I first restored it in 1979 - so I tend to keep these things around
awhile. You can't tell me there aren't other people out here like me
that want some sort of quality and are willing to pay for it. Discount
the kids that are new to the game and want to save a dollar - they'll
eventually learn that it is false economy. There have to be enough old
fogeys like me to pay for at least a few decent and more expensive parts.
Well at least I have a Mk 2 grille, brand new from the factory that I
squirrelled away many years ago, and a brand new Moss Motors badge bar
to mount in front and protect it - no, wait - the new badge bar also
seems to have the chrome peeling off where the tubing meets the
mounting plate.........arghhhhhhh.......
Bill
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