Scott Drake "quality"

[iskwezm]

Obviously you didnt read or didnt understand and posted the SAME PICS AGAIN..Find those cars in a year or more and see how the parts held up.

 

[2+2GT]

Obviously you didnt read or didnt understand and posted the SAME PICS AGAIN..Find those cars in a year or more and see how the parts held up.

Oh, gotcha. I just saw a car last fall that they did about 20 years ago. Maybe it'll be at their open house this summer. If so, I'll get some photos.

Oh, and about the "same pics"? The third picture, of the convertible? That quarter panel was installed about 3 days ago, I don't think I could have posted that one before.

 

[Westmus]

.... about 20 years ago.....

The parts you can buy today don't have to be the same quality as the ones sold 20 years ago even from the same brand. I think manufacturing as cheap as possible has been the main focus for all in any business in the last years. Every day they look at ways to cut down production cost even more. So people today get only the lowest quality for the money they pay. Companys that dont think this way dont survive long today.

I work in a electronic production that makes VERY expensive high end products and even here they are every day looking for how can we lower the quality (and cut the cost) and still seld to the high prices. Looking only at "quality" we all live in a totally different world today.

 

[2+2GT]

Saw this on another forum this morning:

9 times out of 10 a customer (unless its a poor kid trying to just get by) will pay more for the quality part that will last and not have headaches associated to poor quality or fitment.

NPD- I wish that were the case... It's actually the opposite, statistically-speaking. Just a few examples:

We sell FIVE imported 65-66 fenders for every ONE 65-66 Ford-tooling fender.

We sell pretty-much equal amounts of imported windshield weatherstrips compared to U.S.-made, and the cost difference is only $7 bucks. 50% of customers opt to save the 7 bills, rather than buy U.S.-made, with the choice clearly presented to them.

We sell two grades of standard 65-66 steering wheels, and the slightly-cheaper poorer-grade outsells the better-grade roughly 60/40.

I could go on...

[ed.]You may be correct that the population HERE is willing to pay the price. And you'd be correct that your demographic at any MCA show or event would be willing to pay the price.

But when you back away from these demographics that are concentrated with serious enthusiasts, and look at the entire market, the notion of being willing to pay more gets really hacked-up by folks who simply buy on price, and price alone. Sure, they complain just as much as anybody about quality, but they don't seem to back up their words with their checkbooks.

As I travel around to all the different forums, I see more and more, that the most significant consideration is price. "Who's got the cheapest..." is the beginning of most parts-related threads.

So us, and Drake, we simply keep marching forward, doing our best to both produce and find the best stuff, price regardless... And in our case where we're a retailer, we continue to offer tiers and choices based-upon the reality of market-demand.

But in all honesty... The overall level of quality of repro parts is not ONLY due to negligence and indifference of manufacturers... It is also a reflection of the overall market. The laws of supply and demand apply, and what we have is a mirrored-reflection of that. Luckily, it seems to continually push towards the better. I can honestly say that quality is better today than it was 10 years ago, which was better than 20 years ago. But it's a slow process, and there's a BALANCE. The huge need for parts to be affordable will always push-back on the drive for quality, and that's the market speaking as much as it is the manufacturers.

No, I'm not being an apologist or a distributor of blame. I'm just trying to relate the picture I see from my desk, my daily tug of war. Thanks for allowing me to babble.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Saw this on another forum this morning:

I can't say I'm surprised. I can only speak for myself. Knowing how much extra time it's likely to take to install a low quality cheap fender - Given the option, I'll go for quality vs. price. I have to admit, the past few years the cars have taken a back seat to several more important household projects. I think the following cliche often applies: "If you have the time you don't have the money and if you have the money you don't have the time."

 

[other_shoe]

Following up on the quote 2+2 posted, it took me a while to learn that I pretty much always wanted to go with the option NPD labeled as "best."

For me, a big misunderstanding was that I thought most of the distinctions being made were about getting it right for MCA judging. I didn't (and still mostly don't) care to pursue that level of restoration. However, I care greatly about issues of fitment and durability.

For example, a couple of years ago I ordered the cheaper GT exhaust tips since (I thought) I did not care about having the rolled ends and they were going to be welded onto a non-stock exhaust on a non-GT. Turns out the differences in quality ran deeper with clumpy beads and holes in the welding at the Y. So now I'm the not-so-proud owner of a pair of bad "back-up" tips in addition to the much better tips with the cool rolled ends.

It does seem that forums like this one can serve to educate people on which differences make a difference and when it is impossible to find a truly satisfactory repo part. Those of you who are in the restoration business (or hang out at shops a lot) see far more parts than a weekend wrencher like me, so I appreciate hearing about issues of quality. I suspect a "known problem part" post would be too contentious and might cause problems for the site and its administrators, but it is the sort of thing that would be pretty useful to the end-consumer and might begin to address the misguided demand problem.

Also, it should be noted that even when consumers try to choose quality there are sometimes significant problems finding out what part you are actually buying as with the recent post on here about the Dynacorn doors and CJ, IIRC.

 

[2+2GT]

Following up on the quote 2+2 posted, it took me a while to learn that I pretty much always wanted to go with the option NPD labeled as "best."

For me, a big misunderstanding was that I thought most of the distinctions being made were about getting it right for MCA judging. I didn't (and still mostly don't) care to pursue that level of restoration. However, I care greatly about issues of fitment and durability.

For example, a couple of years ago I ordered the cheaper GT exhaust tips since (I thought) I did not care about having the rolled ends and they were going to be welded onto a non-stock exhaust on a non-GT. Turns out the differences in quality ran deeper with clumpy beads and holes in the welding at the Y. So now I'm the not-so-proud owner of a pair of bad "back-up" tips in addition to the much better tips with the cool rolled ends.

It does seem that forums like this one can serve to educate people on which differences make a difference and when it is impossible to find a truly satisfactory repo part. Those of you who are in the restoration business (or hang out at shops a lot) see far more parts than a weekend wrencher like me, so I appreciate hearing about issues of quality. I suspect a "known problem part" post would be too contentious and might cause problems for the site and its administrators, but it is the sort of thing that would be pretty useful to the end-consumer and might begin to address the misguided demand problem.

Also, it should be noted that even when consumers try to choose quality there are sometimes significant problems finding out what part you are actually buying as with the recent post on here about the Dynacorn doors and CJ, IIRC.

This is why I respect the folks at Glazier/Nolan. A small parts house, with huge catalog, they have been restoring Mustangs for 35 years. If a part is available in two quality levels, they'll usually list them both. However, if the cheaper one is just crap (antennas, for example) and the crap part is $20 while the better one is $25, they offer only the better one. Perversely, this reduces their sales volume, because many people shop price, price, and price.

If you call them and ask "are your doors Golden Legion?" they'll tell you, and they'll tell you why. Many parts, even the better ones, have issues, and they'll tell you what those issues are, how to deal with them.

I hear stories about G/N, people buy a part somewhere else, have a problem, and the dealer who sold it to them has no idea what to do about it. G/N will even answer their questions.

 

[10secgoal]

People who shop by price are generally the new comers and younger people just getting into it. People who have been there done that, replaced it twice are the ones willing to pay. They do exist.

So what's the moral of the story here ? Since everyone shops by price, no one should make a quality product for those who expect more ?

Sometimes maybe you should concentrate on a larger profit margin than volume. That's what I have been doing and am much better off.

 

[Rusty67]

Ok, so I just read the entire thread so far.

I've had issues with some of the SD stuff and had no problems with others. I haven't bought anything from them in quite some time so I can't comment how good their stuff is today.

I do remember about 5 years ago I needed to get a new breather tube for a SD Cougar valve cover. Well they gave me hell on wheels just trying to order that and wanted to play 20 questions as to why I needed it and how the original got damaged. I talked with the guy for quite a while and finally got him to sell me one. One thing I learned during the course of that conversation was that while the valve covers we had were made right here in Camarillo, California (about an hour away from me) the current production facility had moved to a cheaper location. I don't remember if it moved out of state or out of country but I knew the over all quality of products was destined for a decline because they would start using more and more over seas production.

I think most people don't understand the way globalization of manufacturing is supposed to work and that includes the majority of people/businesses that try to outsource production to the cheaper over seas locations. The idea is to use a company that specializes in making a product so you can lower your cost. The idea is to actually RAISE the quality of the product by leting the specialized firm do a BETTER job producing a product then you could do and do it at a LOWER cost then you could do it for yourself.

The problem is all the morons out there find ways to cut corners on the products as well as outsource the production. Cheaper materials lead to a lower quality product which has sadly gone hand in hand with outsourcing. This is NOT the way it is supposed to work but the all mighty dollor rules in the minds of the corporations.

Also, consider this, outsourcing does not mean a job leaves the country, only the company. Many US companies have realized there are QC issues with making things over seas and some have started to bring production back to the US but are actually still outsourcing. They find a US company and ask them to compete with the price. The fact that the quality is higher means they loose less money on product returns, in turn they can still pay more for the product but maintain or even lower the cost of production. This results in happier end user because the products are higher quality/last longer and are some times actually cheaper.

Buck knives tried going to China for production and in less then a year brought all their production back to the US. I called them to complain about the poor quality of one of the knives I have bought. They told me they would send me a brand new USA made knife of the same model if I sent in my made in China crappy one. Good customer service and learning from their mistakes, other US companies could learn from that example.

Oh boy I'm ranting about globalization.....

 

[NMEMJCM]

I have nothing against Scott Drake, or any other manufacturer, as I have accepted the fact that some parts are just poor for whatever reason and wont buy that part again. However, I think a sticky of known parts problems is a great idea, I know I would check it often to see which brand to buy or how to modify a part to work correctly. Just sayen.