Dumbest Reproduction Parts 1 Attachment(s)
I would like to have a little fun and see if anyone else has some really terrible reproduction parts they have pulled from cars. I don't mean parts that have the holes a little misaligned but rather the holes in the 100% wrong place or parts that would just never work.
Im going to start this off with a lovely all aluminum terminal box lid. I don't know how long this was on the car but as soon as it hit my shop it began sparking and the ammeter wasn't too happy. |
Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts I don't think you have been around long enough to have experienced some of the first Specialized Auto stuff (made in Argentina) which was only slightly better than Ricks of Shawnee Mission KS (ahh, the infamous "Rick's Pack"), ...which was even worse than the JC Whitney garbage offered before that. If only you could travel back in time to the 60's and early 70s to experience the 'Repro Replacement Revolution'!! :(
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts I have one of the old Ricks catalogues. We found it when we were cleaning up after my Grandfather passed. My old man handed it to me saying I could use it. That was the funniest thing I had heard in a while.
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts In the past 100 years, I have not thought of "Rick's" catalog (and manual), but yesterday, I was looking for something in my Ford Model A Library and stumbled onto the 'long forgotten' "Rick's" Restoration manual. Hummm, I thought. And Now today, to have it mentioned again - what a coincidence !
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts Much agreed, the Specialized Auto and Rick Pack's stuff was still in abundance in the early 80's when I first got into the hobbie. I still seen some in the JC Whitney catalogs of that era. I did most of my business with Masonville Garage during that time, so never really encountered the worst of the worse. Rod
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts Here you go...
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts Oh yes, Rick's. I ended up letting my attorney handle Rick.
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts Wick,
I love the Hubcap, I have never seen that before! |
Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts I have a two bladed fan that was stamped (not stock, not fabicated) out of 16ga (Possibly 18 ga) that's about as chintzy as they come. I was wondering just who made this P.O.S.?
Terry |
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One of the first Model A books I bought. Was better than nothing. Kinda. LOL
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts I saw that book on ebay one time, there were a lot of bids on it! I've got some more Ricks junk in the shed.
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts Wow. Rick's. I remember buying some stuff from that place back in the 1970s and nothing I got was even close to what I needed. I was new at messing with my old car so I just thought I ordered the wrong stuff. I don't remember where I got the right parts. I am glad to see that it wasn't me but his cheap crap.
So, whats the story on Rick's? Whatever happened to him? |
Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts I believe someone posted a while back, that Rick snuck off in the middle of the night to avoid the lawyer stampede that was bearing down on him! Don't know where he is now somebody on here might chime in-------------
And, wasn't he related to the folks that ran JC Whitney and Warshawski's (sp) same people? I was just starting out back in those days too, and quickly learned my lesson on THOSE parts. Threw them away, was afraid somebody might actually try to use them after I wasn't around. |
Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts If those who remember that RICK'S had a large trailer at Hershey in the early 70's [1974 ?],,, I bought aluminum rain gutters for my 1931 Tudor. What did i know i was 20 at the time and my first time at Hershey...l.o.l.
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Because of the incorrect bend in the repro battery holder, the hole will not line up to mount the part to the top of the frame lip. To use the repro part you will need to mount it under the frame.:mad:
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts Worst one for me was, repro taiwan transmission shift lever, sat on the shelf for one year, turned into a ball of rust.
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts All in one word---Vintique
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Buster T.'s:cool: Pet Man.:D |
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts I have a Snyders Catalog from the late 70's, it is about 14 pages with hand drawn pictures of the item, and the prices are a bit different. I am not in any way saying Snyders is junk, just noting the catalog.
I always enjoy 'Exact Reproduction' parts with Phillips screws and Metric nuts. From the past (circa 1976-7) I bought a $4.50 item from J.C.Whitney, the item was out of stock, they sent a refund, and the check bounced. |
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I was recently contacted by a guy that has 5-7 trailer loads of Model A stuff his brother bought when a Model A place went out of business in the 80's. He wants $7k, I looked through it, massive undertaking, way too much. So it was sold for scrap. He would not dicker on the price at all. |
Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts A friend has a 30-31 Radcap from Mac's But when you try to put it on the Rad the mounting part underneath is to big and wont fit the Rad .
It wont fit because the mounting part is for a Gas Cap !!! But it wont fit on the Gas Tank either as the Rad cap top is too deep to fit on a Gas Tank . IMO A Classic Example of a Crap part . John Cochran |
Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts I concur with Brent, the early stuff from the 60s and 70s was really something. The reason I started the magazine was to point out some of the really bad stuff and see if we could get it fixed. I think I have made some headway but we will keep reviewing.
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You have no idea the "headway" you have accomplished towards the hobby! Keep it up... Pluck |
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Now to bring this back to a positive spin, I realize that many here do not see the direct benefit that Fine-point Judging has/had on the hobby, but I believe it is directly through the efforts of Marco, Doug Clayton, and a super large list of people who have studied prints and releases tirelessly to establish a timeline and to document what the vehicle was originally. Their work has also been published not only in the Judging Stds & Restoration Guidelines but in both club's mags. and some websites. This has educated the hobbyist (albeit sometimes subliminally) where they demanded better quality. When there is a market, folks like Steve Becker, Don Snyder, Walt Bratton, and others have done their best to produce a much more authentic item to fit the need. I guess everything has to start somewhere and build on that. Therefore maybe we needed Rick's and Specialized back in the day to start supplying where we could grown on making it better. I know that I recently had the opportunity to work on a car that I restored back about 14 years ago, and throughout the entire vehicle I kept seeing little details that I couldn't believe I/we did like that back then. Now some 50 Model-As later, we have learned to be better so I guess that is a step in the right direction. ;) |
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts hasn't Gaslight Auto Parts been around since the 1960s and while my perception has always been that their inventory was somewhat limited, I never heard anything negative about their business practices....
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts Becker Parts....I've got a suit case full of that stuff! Very nice Parts!!!
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts My coupe came with a 1986 Rick's catalog; didn't read it til now. They must have been composed by whoever did the JC Whitney catalogs. I like how they would put Rick's picture in the listings to show how sincere they were.
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts In 1972, after buying a $12 fire wall mounted sediment bowl that wouldn't seal at the tubing flares because of a shifted mold, and after buying a genuine A roadster front seat upholstery that was none returnable (it looked like a hot stamped vinyl rain coat) for $79 from Rick's. I mentioned it at our Bellingham Antique Auto Restorers Club meeting about how bad a rip off that Rick's parts really were. My report accidentally went down in the meeting minutes and they were printed up in our monthly club bulletin, The Spokesman. One of our members, who also was also on a rant about Rick's parts, sent Rick's our Bulletin as a testimony of how bad Rick's parts really were. Rick call me one evening and chewed on my butt for saying such bad things about his business. He said that he worked long hours at night to keep his business going and that I had no idea how hard it to have a business in the market place. He also called our club president, Ron Harriman, and chewed on his butt with the same complaints that Ron allowed me to say such things at a meeting and then have it put into print. I threw the sediment bowl into my scrap barrel. The hot stamped seat covers I gave away to a member that had a rat rod type of a model A roadster, and he wouldn't even use them either. I am still pissed off at Rick's.
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts Guess who built companies like Vintique , Bob Drake , Ricks etc. When you find a part you want you say "How much is it ? These companies are trying to give you what you want at as low a price as possible so you will buy from them and not use American parts, which may or may not cost more.
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Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts I agree, you will only get two out of the three. A few vendors sell low quality at high price. I won't name names. I think that most vendors offer the Vintique products because they are the only people that make them. Same for some of the sheet metal body parts that are made by another firm.
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Our major suppliers try to buy the best they can. Sometimes that American, sometimes they have to go overseas-things like giant metal presses don't exist here anymore. Folks like Bratton's will tell you the quality of their parts-and offer a variety if it's available. Sometimes, only crap is available, but they'll offer ti as the only alternative. You make it out like suppliers are not only anti-American, but also out to get you at the expense of making a dollar. That's just not the truth. |
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