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Old 11-30-2013, 01:06 PM   #1
jkeesey
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Default Dumbest Reproduction Parts

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.
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Old 11-30-2013, 01:18 PM   #2
BRENT in 10-uh-C
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Default 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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Old 11-30-2013, 01:55 PM   #3
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Default 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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Old 12-02-2013, 04:27 PM   #4
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Default Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts

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"..... I did most of my business with Masonville Garage during that time.............". Rod
Oh man, that's a blast from the past ! I bought almost all of the parts for the first A I restored about 30 years ago from Masonville Garage. I hadn't thought about them for a loooong time!
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Old 12-01-2013, 10:41 AM   #5
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Default Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts

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Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C View Post
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'!!

.
in those earlier days, though, wasn't there a kind of inverse relationship in that repro parts were junkier but there were more NOS parts available?
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Old 12-01-2013, 12:47 PM   #6
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in those earlier days, though, wasn't there a kind of inverse relationship in that repro parts were junkier but there were more NOS parts available?
I hate to sound like my father, but I bought my Model A just 40 years ago. Back then when the tranny made a noise, you would go to the club and 5 guys would say they have 6-10 of them in the shed, find one that works. Not like that any more.
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.
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Old 12-01-2013, 05:06 PM   #7
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I hate to sound like my father, but I bought my Model A just 40 years ago. Back then when the tranny made a noise, you would go to the club and 5 guys would say they have 6-10 of them in the shed, find one that works. Not like that any more.
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.
In the mid '50's, at our hang out shop, we had a standing deal with a scrapper, he'd sell us complete Model A & Early V-8 transmissions for $5.00 & rear ends for $7.50! Sometimes, the rear ends even had wheels & once in a while, a usable tire Bill W.
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Old 12-04-2013, 02:56 PM   #8
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I hate to sound like my father, but I bought my Model A just 40 years ago. Back then when the tranny made a noise, you would go to the club and 5 guys would say they have 6-10 of them in the shed, find one that works. Not like that any more.
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.
Bet he didn't get $7K for it.
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Old 12-01-2013, 03:26 PM   #9
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in those earlier days, though, wasn't there a kind of inverse relationship in that repro parts were junkier but there were more NOS parts available?
Yes the NOS stuff was still available however fewer in between ...and at a much higher price. In the instance of Tommy Trayler, he got his start by scavenging NOS parts from small TX Ford dealers and from aftermarket parts stores (Western Auto, etc.). His grandparents had empty dairy barns that he filled with parts. Tommy's downfall IMO was he really didn't know Model-As like Marco and different ones who have researched design changes. When Tommy would have something 're-made', he would find a part (often a NORS item) and send it down to Argentina (the back then version of Taiwan) to have THEM reverse engineer it. :O This became Specialized Auto which later became affiliated with MACs when they bought Tommy's tooling & parts and started offering the same parts as he had been making. Based on my own experiences, I believe MACs is still using some of that tooling to make parts!!

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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Old 03-07-2020, 07:19 AM   #10
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Default Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts

Quote:
Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C View Post
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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Ric pac boy did you say a mouthful there my friend.
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Old 11-30-2013, 01:20 PM   #11
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Default 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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Old 11-30-2013, 01:52 PM   #12
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Default 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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Old 11-30-2013, 03:36 PM   #13
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Default Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts

Here you go...

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Old 11-30-2013, 03:46 PM   #14
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Default Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts

Oh yes, Rick's. I ended up letting my attorney handle Rick.
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Old 11-30-2013, 06:10 PM   #15
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Default Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts

Wick,
I love the Hubcap, I have never seen that before!
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Old 11-30-2013, 06:16 PM   #16
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Default 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.?
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Old 11-30-2013, 06:25 PM   #17
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Default Re: Dumbest Reproduction Parts

One of the first Model A books I bought. Was better than nothing. Kinda. LOL
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Old 11-30-2013, 06:45 PM   #18
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Default 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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Old 11-30-2013, 07:17 PM   #19
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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?
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Old 11-30-2013, 07:29 PM   #20
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Default 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.
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