On Tue, 4 Mar 1997, Lenny Seidman wrote:
> I for one would like to know when it is time to bash or hear from Vicky
> Brit, Moss, British Parts Connection, TS Imports or any other
> supplier/vendor used by people on this list. If we bash one supplier it
> should be open season for all. Bring on the the other vendors, bring out
> all the dirty laundry, lets clean house. Maybe the suppliers will start
> telling stories about there favorite pain in the ass customers for us
> all to read. Come on list I'm sure you all can do it.
>
> Lenny Seidman
Well put, Lenny! :-)
It seems to me that some folks have missed two important points throughout
this discussion:
1. When you get a bad box of cereal at the local supermarket, do you first
a: talk to the store manager and explain the situation, or b: call
Geraldo and see if he can develop a theme show around this terrible
injustice done to you?
2. Frankly, we're dealing with cars here that are of relatively low-volume
production, the very newest of which has been gone from the market for
about 15 years or so. In many cases (wet-sleeve, Vanguard-based TR four
cylinder engines), we're talking about stuff that has been out of
production for 30-35 years. Yet most or all of the major suppliers can
send you from stock just about everything you need, requiring little more
than a few minutes of your time on the telephone and whatever energy is
expended extracting the charge card from your wallet. How often can you do
that with your newer, daily transportation?
Case in point. There's a little key/pin that helps hold together the
automatic locking hubs on the front axle of my 1991 Ford Explorer (best
selling SUV, blah, blah). When I had to replace one of those keys two
years ago, the first dealer parts counter I visited spent 20 minutes with
the microfiche machine, never sure that he did find the right part, and
finally decided it must be a part that only came in some sort of
semi-major rebuild kit. Neither of us ever actually could find the exact
part identified on the microfiche (so much for factory or vendor
documentation).
A second dealer was a bit more accommodating. It was no easier for that
counterperson to find the part listing, or to determine that the part was
or was not available separately, but at least he was willing to go back
into the service area and talk to the mechanics, one of whom had set aside
a couple of these pins for whenever he might need them. They were
amost clandestinely sold to me.
Those who express disappointment at the lack of a vendor's catalog any
more comprehensive than anything the factory itself could provide would do
well to reread the previous two paragraphs. Those for whom blood pressure
readings go off the scale when they see the words "back ordered" also
might reread the previous two paragraphs.
Anyone can grab a few bits and pieces and set up a card table at a flea
market or get a PO Box and an "800" line. Folks like Charles Runyan, Al
Moss and successors, John Kipping, Rimmer Bros., Dick Burger (to name but
a very few) are under absolutely no obligation to provide the level of
service they all do. No law forces any of these folks to travel the world
identifying companies that can remanufacture green hoses to original
specification or better, or to worry that some customer will be bent out
of shape years later because a Concours judge explained that door seal
clips are the wrong size, or to see if an old warehouse in the bad section
of Istanbul actually does house a supply of NOS Harmo silencers.
Similarly, no law that I know of prevents people from doing as they wish
with PERSONAL gains realized from their hard work. Folks are so fast to
jump on someone for trying to realize another dream in the form of an
English-style pub. Heaven forbid that such an endeavor were to be
successful enough to bring extra visitors to the neighborhood, thereby
benefitting other area businesses as well.
Let's give Charles and the rest of the vendors out there credit for
struggling to hold to their dreams against business and economic
realities, grumpy customers and a hobby market that could at any time
collapse faster than the market for leisure suits and pet rocks.
And I won't say anymore about it if you won't. ;-)
Speaking only for myself and NOT for VTR or any other group:
--Andy
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Andrew Mace, President and *
* 10/Herald/Vitesse (Sports 6) Consultant *
* Vintage Triumph Register *
* amace@unix2.nysed.gov *
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