Yes, I agree with Stu, the NOS stuff can get out of hand. How many Tigers
or any car in fact are 100% original? Paint, tires, light bulbs, oil????
I'm glad to see that someone will undertake the air-cleaner reproduction.
Just the other day a parts-locating service called me to see if we had any
used/new ones in stock, and I know from some of your letters that this would
be resold for big bucks.
People like ourselves (Classic Sunbeam), Rick McLeod, Tiger Tom and Martha
Wheat have been reproducing parts for years, this will not stop the guy who
wants to pay $700.00 for the NOS air cleaner but will make the part available
to the mass of owners who may be in need, at a resonable price.
Lets face in, every year less and less NOS stuff is available. In the past
we had bought out old Rootes dealers and had quite a large amount of NOS in
inventory, most of the NOS has been sold and since many sources have dried
up, less and less will be around.
Almost all of the rubber parts, chrome parts, lenses and uphostery on the
market are reproductions. Many of the vendors like ourselves are also owners
(Tiger Ia, Alpine V)
and as owners we want the repro parts to be the best possible and as-original
as possible. It takes a great amount of effort and money to bring each item
on the market and frankly without these repro parts a lot of cars would never
be on the road.
Tigers & Alpines were not made in great numbers like the MGB so it's a
risk for any vendor to bring parts on the market, this effort should be
appreciated.
By the way my Tiger has: interior by Martha Wheat, side chrome by Sunbeam
Specialtes and our own front and rear lenses..................I keep the NOS
versions in our warehouse for patterns in case we have to repro them.
For the people who are going to make the air-cleaner assembly...thank you.
Best Regards,
Curt Meinel
Classic Sunbeam Inc.
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