Hi,
Thanks for all the feed-back. Nice to see so many people as interested and
involved with their cars as I am. One clarification...the NOS British
Leyland key I bought at the car show WAS BOUGHT FROM PETE GROH. IT WAS HIS
BOOTH...that's why I contacted him in the first place.
As for the rest, I was just going by my experience with my house keys and
keys for my regular car. After years of constant use, they wear down and
don't turn in the lock very easily. So typically I just go down to the Honda
dealership and they cut me a new key based on the code and I have an
essentially "original" key that works fine. In the case of my house, I just
pull out the original door key from a drawer, have a new copy made from that,
and problem solved.
My point is, I thought I could get an essentially "original" key for the
Spitfire that I could use as a master for making copies for years to come.
But if you're saying that no matter how old and worn down a key gets, I can
take it to the hardware store and have a new copy cut and it'll work fine,
then that's something I didn't know and I thank you for the advice.
But the other point of this whole thing is the poor customer service I got
from Pete. Let's say you were buying a carburettor from somebody that
advertises all NOS Stromberg and SU carbs. You buy one and install it and it
works fine. But a few days later you have a maintenace question, and in the
course of that interaction you find out they sold you a rebuilt carb instead
of a new one. No real problem, since the rebuilt carb works as good as the
NOS carb. But the point is, it would've been nice to know what you were
buying ahead of time instead of finding out later by some chance encounter.
Wouldn't you feel mislead into believing you were buying a NOS part if that's
what they advertise, and never mentioned they were selling you something else?
As for picking my battles wisely...I guess some of us are more meticulous and
obsessed about the restoration and care of our cars than others. That's the
nature of the hobby. While some of us might groan at the sight of a rusted
out old TR6 driving down the road, others might be happy just to see someone
enjoying a British car regardless of its condition. People who are going to
do business with us should be prepared to deal with both the casual
rust-bucket drivers and the obsessed show-car owners. Again, it's the nature
of the hobby...and the business.
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