Do you ever feel like you're being screwed?

[TPR]

OK, so this thread is more of a rant than anything else, so tune out now if you're not interested.
I've been looking for a few items to finish off some of the small details on my '68 and I'm looking for a pair of seat latch release knobs.
I have checked out a few sources, and at around $50-$60US a pair, it's got me thinking, what the ****?

I understand about the cost of tooling new parts, the impact of the GFC etc. etc, but $60US for two small pieces of chromed plastic [before currency conversion and shipping] seems pretty outrageous.
After all, in reality it's sure to be made in a foreign country using child labor. I would love to know what the profit margin is on an item like this.
I recently paid $175US for a repro remote mirror and that seemed reasonable for the rubber, metal, glass and plastic components it is made from. But for these knobs, I just can't see it.

So are we all suckers, or what?
Anyway, to get to my point, does anyone know of a supplier who does these kinds of small items for less dollars?

And before you say it, yeah I'm in the wrong hobby to complain about such things. I guess I should be lucky my Charger was mostly complete when I bought it.
Rant over, thanks guys.
TPR

[RallyeMike]

It is as you already know the price of small production runs. Sure there is probably a 50% markup, but the fabricator probably sunk $10k into the start up. Its a long time to recover that at $30 per latch. The other option is we don't have the parts available.

[1974dodgecharger]

Imagine if there was none then we would bitch, but then someone fabricates them and we still bitch.  Which bitching do u want?

[tan top]

  yes it annoyed me too  ,  but !! just ordered them & tried to forget about it , as it was a one off type thing , ie not restoring my charger every week  ! & just thought about the day I would fire the charger up when I finished the resto .

[Mike DC]

 
I think in the case of a little part like this, it's the very small size of the market.  It's not a part that even wears out normally. 

[Dino]

It's not so much the cost anymore that gets to me, but the crap you get when you pay for quality.  I'm still pissed that the friggin' tail panel emblem was crooked and then I get told by three different vendors that they are all like that.  Should that make me feel better?   

[moparnation74]

It's not so much the cost anymore that gets to me, but the crap you get when you pay for quality.  I'm still pissed that the friggin' tail panel emblem was crooked and then I get told by three different vendors that they are all like that.  Should that make me feel better?   

I agree with Dino.  The access to these parts are great but some of the parts available are poor quality.  Don't even get me started on shipping costs, what a rip off.

[tan top]

It's not so much the cost anymore that gets to me, but the crap you get when you pay for quality.  I'm still pissed that the friggin' tail panel emblem was crooked and then I get told by three different vendors that they are all like that.  Should that make me feel better?   

I agree with Dino.  The access to these parts are great but some of the parts available are poor quality.  Don't even get me started on shipping costs, what a rip off.

yes a  more than a few repop parts ive had were  crap !!  yeah & shipping prices  with the likes of Yearone   

[fy469rtse]

I know what you mean TPR , had just ordered headlight vacuum lines kit, bit pricey  but its not going to be made again for a while , I missed out on last run and it's been a couple of years , if you can't find parts ,? What do you do
If you can live without part good but if you can't 

[Mike DC]

   
I'm just glad AMD is making sheetmetal that vaguely resembles the original quality. 

   

[Bob T]

I know what you mean TPR , had just ordered headlight vacuum lines kit, bit pricey  but its not going to be made again for a while , I missed out on last run and it's been a couple of years , if you can't find parts ,? What do you do
If you can live without part good but if you can't 

I can live with the black vac lines from repco, they do the same job without stressing on finding the correct looking oem stuff.

[fy469rtse]

Yep bob  I hear you, but have never taken apart a charger yet and find those in there let alone the block area to headlight vac switch,
Last car missed the last run of these , ended up glueing hoses on because they kept coming off , one of this'd parts that's a pain if missing

[ionracer24]

Nothing is as bad as the anal fracking we're all getting at the gas pump...

[TPR]

It is as you already know the price of small production runs. Sure there is probably a 50% markup, but the fabricator probably sunk $10k into the start up. Its a long time to recover that at $30 per latch. The other option is we don't have the parts available.

I guess I was thinking that the makers of this little item would actually sell quite a lot of them given that they can easily get kicked out of the car and lost. Not many Chargers I've seen have still got their originals on after 40 odd years.

Imagine if there was none then we would bitch, but then someone fabricates them and we still bitch.  Which bitching do u want?

The latter bitch.

It's not so much the cost anymore that gets to me, but the crap you get when you pay for quality.  I'm still pissed that the friggin' tail panel emblem was crooked and then I get told by three different vendors that they are all like that.  Should that make me feel better?   

That's it, I don't mind paying good money for good products and service, but sometimes I wonder about the half arsed production quality and the fact that when desperate, we'll settle for less than acceptable.
I think there is an automatic markup on anything Mopar and its just accepted as being the norm.

  yes it annoyed me too  ,  but !! just ordered them & tried to forget about it , as it was a one off type thing , ie not restoring my charger every week  ! & just thought about the day I would fire the charger up when I finished the resto .

This is about where I'm at right now. I'll get them anyway, but I may feel tempted to buy something else to make the shipping worthwhile and that's when things will spiral out of control!!!

Nothing is as bad as the anal fracking we're all getting at the gas pump...

I guess we should all come to accept that, regardless of what car we drive. It's not going to get any better.

Anyway, small price to pay for having the best car ever made.

TPR

[Bob T]

True enough.
I've got a lot of parts needed to out my car back to a reasonably stockish looking engine bay, among them tin rocker covers, correct pie tin and decal and radiator shroud hence I don't open the hood too often when its out.

Had wondered though, was there ever any block off grommets in the two large oval holes under the lower front valance, its always struck me as odd that the ugly access holes were never covered up. For me they really detract from the front sleek finish

[tan top]

 yes it annoyed me too  ,  but !! just ordered them & tried to forget about it , as it was a one off type thing , ie not restoring my charger every week  ! & just thought about the day I would fire the charger up when I finished the resto .

This is about where I'm at right now. I'll get them anyway, but I may feel tempted to buy something else to make the shipping worthwhile and that's when things will spiral out of control!!!


TPR

 haha , yes I  would do the same  , towards the end of the resto   if  I needed extra parts due to unforeseen circumstances  , or  , did not like a particular repop part  or I would decide to alter or change something       cant order anything worth $20 , not worth the shipping  no point  so , would make it up to $200  , if it came to $250 , make it up to $300 & so on , not literally  , but you get the idea    always stuff to buy , service parts , gasket sets etc 

[A12 Superbee]

I see you're in Oz mate, I'm down in Canberra myself. I buy the odd part now and again and have really learnt it pays to shop around. I'm in the market for wheel arch mouldings for my Superbee, found two sets for sale on Ebay, one is being sold by the bloke that makes them, Dales Cuda shop, for $249 and the other is being sold by an on-seller for $269. Both sets are by the same manufacturer. No big deal of course except Dales Cuda shop want $179.00 to post it to Australia and the other bloke, selling the exact same thing, wants $87.00....

WTF?

I'm sure if Pentastar parts in Sydney or Elko in Melbourne had them they'd be around $500 a set, so it seems no matter where you turn we are being screwed over, you really do have to shop around. I've saved a lot of money this way. Also, don't be afraid to think outside the box, it may not apply to the exact part you are chasing now but there may be another model that has the same or similar part to what you want and because it's a less popular or in some cases, higher volume car, it can be cheaper. I found this out when I was looking for parts for my GT Falcon. I wanted a diskbrake proportioning valve, Aircon/heater tap and sunroof cables, here in Australia these parts are either super rare or super expensive so I thought to myself the bloody yanks had all this stuff on Mustangs and god knows how many other models and sure enough, i found all these parts for a fraction of the cost of what people locally were asking, so much so that I bought several and sold the spares here so I made money overall!

I'm all for supporting local suppliers but I'm not a patsy and you can only be shafted so much before you move on, suppliers have overheads of course but when they try to make thier full years profit on your order alone, then I'm lookin elsewhere!

3D printing is also going to see a lot of impossible and hard to get parts start popping up, always keep that in the back of your mind too, its an evolving industry that is eventually going to save us enthusiasts a lot of money.

[TPR]

Now that's a coincidence.
I think I just saw you on Classic Restos. There can't be too many A12 Superbees from Canberra, missing their wheel arch moldings! Nice ride.
3D printing is all the rage at the moment and you're right, this will eventually open up a lot of possibilities and bring production costs down.
I know first hand that the technology still has some way to go in terms of functional parts though, especially in the entry level printer range.
I did think about drawing up a CAD model of the part to print out but that requires an original piece to accurately measure. Mmmmmm, maybe I should give it a go.
Are you coming up for the Rumble this year?
TPR

[wingcar]

All I can say is I still remember the day...way back in the day....when driving a Mopar made you an outcast of sorts and most manufactuers offered little in the way of parts for our cars.  Most ads and in most of the after market catalogs you had to read through line after line if not page after page to finally find a few Mopar parts.  We all became very good at dealing with junk yards and private individuals for the parts we needed. 
I don't like paying high prices, but if only one vendor is offering the part you need....well there's not much you can do about it.  But do shop around as you never know what you will find, and try and find out who the original manufactuer is and deal directly with them if possible....that will save a few dollars.... 

[Ghoste]

Yep, Mopar supercars were not used cars very long, about ten years out, and if you found a decent used part in the scrapyard you felt like you hit the jackpot.  Yes, a lot of the repro stuff is not what we would consider "cheap" but I don't think those guys are becoming multimillionaires on our backs.  They are largely businessmen/hobbyists in what is really a niche market.

[bakerhillpins]

It's not so much the cost anymore that gets to me, but the crap you get when you pay for quality.  I'm still pissed that the friggin' tail panel emblem was crooked and then I get told by three different vendors that they are all like that.  Should that make me feel better?   

Its funny, because this stuff keeps them from selling, and in turn keeps new stuff from being built because both sides are complaining about the other. 

[Dino]

It's not so much the cost anymore that gets to me, but the crap you get when you pay for quality.  I'm still pissed that the friggin' tail panel emblem was crooked and then I get told by three different vendors that they are all like that.  Should that make me feel better?   

Its funny, because this stuff keeps them from selling, and in turn keeps new stuff from being built because both sides are complaining about the other. 

The worst of it all is this attitude sellers get, as if I should be kissing their butts because they made a part available.  Well if it's not up to quality, then you really didn't make squat available in my book!

One of the vendors told me he had sold 50 tail panel emblems this year without a single complaint.  Maybe because they have it laying on a shelf until the car is ready for this part or they don't care, I do.  I mounted it and it looked like crap, plus there was tension on the studs because they didn't line up.  I have pics on my other pc if someone wants to see the comparison with my stock emblem.

I had plans to buy several repro parts, such as the sill plates, but I have not heard any positive comments on how they fit.  It's really sad, we're always happy when we talk about the repro parts being available at last, but should we really accept what they are trying to sell us?  I'll spend more and restore what I have.  It'll take me several hours to make my sill plates look like new, but at least they fit.

Rant over...for now

[A12 Superbee]

Now that's a coincidence.
I think I just saw you on Classic Restos. There can't be too many A12 Superbees from Canberra, missing their wheel arch moldings! Nice ride.
3D printing is all the rage at the moment and you're right, this will eventually open up a lot of possibilities and bring production costs down.
I know first hand that the technology still has some way to go in terms of functional parts though, especially in the entry level printer range.
I did think about drawing up a CAD model of the part to print out but that requires an original piece to accurately measure. Mmmmmm, maybe I should give it a go.
Are you coming up for the Rumble this year?
TPR

No I won't be at the Rumble, I'm lucky to have time for short cruises with my local club let alone a trip up to Sydney. Will try next year, see how things go.
I have seen the COTM episode of Classic Resto's where my car gets a quick few seconds on screen in Part 1, haven't seen part 2, does it getter on screen again? I just wish I was around the car when Fletch was filming, might have jagged a few minutes to dribble shit about it and tell the world how much more awesome the A12's are than Chargers....all in good fun of course!

[troy.70R/T]

Everyday when I go to work. Everytime I get my paycheck and look at the gross then net. Every time I go grocery shopping and the person in front of me cant speak English and uses food stamps (EBT card here in MO). Every time I buy something and pay tax on it after I was already taxed for earning the money. Every time there is an election. Everytime there is a late night bill passed and we lose rights.  Yes I feel like I am having a train pulled on me every day.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Everyday when I go to work. Everytime I get my paycheck and look at the gross then net. Every time I go grocery shopping and the person in front of me cant speak English and uses food stamps (EBT card here in MO). Every time I buy something and pay tax on it after I was already taxed for earning the money. Every time there is an election. Everytime there is a late night bill passed and we lose rights.  Yes I feel like I am having a train pulled on me every day.