Year One

[freddyd02]

Not sure if anyone brought this up before but have you guys noticed Year One has gone to the dogs? They changed their website which is worse in my opinion and they seem to have less parts for Mopars! I went to look for a radio delete plate for a 69 charger and i knew they had them a year or two ago and now nothing! Anyone know what happened?

[Ghoste]

The founder sold it and it became structured along a more corporate fashion.  The first thing the board of directors noticed was that it was much cheaper to middleman everything and not get involved with reproduction (believe it or not, at one time YO did some repop work of their own).  The next thing they noticed was the quicker sales response in following trends. This left the market wide open for the people who really love Mopars and dont care to get involved in the latest GM crate engine for my late model Chevy pickup or whatever.
Those are a couple of things that are just my opinion and not based in fact at all.

[tan top]

yep have noticed similiar with year one  ,   

[Indygenerallee]

Last time I bought anything from Year One was 1997. Shipping on their stuff (you can find on Ebay cheaper) is attrocious, Year One can go the way of the dinosaur and I won't care.

[ITSA426]

I was a big Year One fan until their shipping got so pricey.  Now I shop around a lot more.  I can get a lot of their stuff at my Dodge/Chrysler dealer for less money, and with no shipping charges.

[Ghoste]

Yes, it's been long enough since I've ordered from them myself that I had forgotten about the anal rape they describe as a shipping fee.

[41husk]

at one time Year One was the only show out there for reproduction Mopar stuff.

[Ghoste]

And yet strangely, when that was the case they weren't so bad to deal with.  It seems like after they had competing suppliers they responded by becoming a mail order version of a big box store with all the service and hidden upcharges those type of places offer.

[bull]

Year One was great... to look up the parts to buy elsewhere for much less. Anyway, I used them once and bought more than $800 worth of stuff after using their 25% off trick (it was more than $1,100 before the discount). I got all the wiring harnesses, a new gauge lense and a some other stuff. For big orders it was a good deal with the discounts but I wouldn't buy just 2-3 things from them due to the insane shipping costs.

[Rolling_Thunder]

Their parts are rediculously priced   -   Sometimes over $100 more than other repo houses. Don't get me started on shipping prices

[BananaDan]

Their old website was bad, the new one is terrible.  12 years ago when I bought my car they were the only ones selling parts.  Now, maybe 1-2 items out of 100 I buy comes from them.

[model maker]

This is what happens when a business becomes successful and builds a strong reputation with loyal customers, suddenly some "corporate types" decide they want in on the action ( or even a family member takes over) and decides that THEY can slowly change the way things have been done because they know they can make a quick buck and they hide behind the strong reputation that made it such a success and totally destroy the loyal customer base who pay GOOD money for cheap crap they try to pass off in order to increase the bottom line. and later the entire company just out of greed, we see this happening way to much these days

[bull]

This is what happens when a business becomes successful and builds a strong reputation with loyal customers, suddenly some "corporate types" decide they want in on the action ( or even a family member takes over) and decides that THEY can slowly change the way things have been done because they know they can make a quick buck and they hide behind the strong reputation that made it such a success and totally destroy the loyal customer base who pay GOOD money for cheap crap they try to pass off in order to increase the bottom line. and later the entire company just out of greed, we see this happening way to much these days

There are plenty of people out there who start businesses for the sole purpose of selling them, so don't get too bent out of shape about the "corporate types" ruining things. I'm not defending them but in many cases if it weren't the "corporate types" we would never hear aboout some of these businesses we love so much.

[model maker]

Mostley I was talking about the business owners kids  who take over  relying on the strong reputation their dad or grand dad built who really only want to get as much money out of the company as they can RIGHT NOW & pretty soon they run that business into the ground leaving loyal customers with substandard merchandise & service. I have seen that happen too many times. those who "take over" always think their way is better.

[TUFCAT]

Year One who...  like "Snake Plissken"- - I thought they were dead. 

[cactuswren]

I'm not too happy with them. First of all you cant find anything on their website without doing a specific search for the part you want. It's not browser friendly like a catalog.  Second I bought a h-pipe from them last summer and it was garbage. The entire pipe looked like it was put together crooked in the jig which caused it to be almost 1" narrow between manifolds. Had to customize it to make it fit. I'm staying away from them from now on.

[freddyd02]

Agreed, I used to like browsing their parts making a wish list of stuff i like.. Not going to give them my business anymore.. 

[Ghoste]

Yep.  I used to spend hours going through their catalog and highlighting all the 69 Charger parts.

[DixieRestoParts]

Full disclosure -  I have a self motivated interest in replying to this thread. 

There is not much they sell that you can't get from a smaller supplier cheaper. It really pays to shop around, and luckily there are some good small guys to choose from. If you've ever heard Detroit Muscle Technologies talk about how they did him wrong, then you know where their heart (business philosophy) is. My old company, RPM Restoration Parts, was a victim of similar unethical business practices from them. Practices we deemed unethical anyway. We quit selling to them and never looked back.

So, do yourself a favor and hit the Mopar boards asking for a good company to deal with. Check them out and use the one you like the best.

[model maker]

You guys should get all of these opinions here together and email them to year one, let them know how the news of their bad business  practices and cheap junk they sell will spread rapidly through the classic car community, THAT SHOULD HOPEFULLY GET THEIR ATTENTION TO CLEAN UP their act !

[Scaregrabber]

They were the best (and almost the only) game in town a couple of decades ago but they're no good at all anymore. There's so many better choices out there these days. They forgot that the customer is #1.

Sheldon

[model maker]

They are not in touch with the average  guy in the hobby or better yet, "way of life" it is a shame when these companies get to big for their own good & then think they can just fall back on the hard earned reputation of the company and slowly trash that reputation in exchange for an extra dollar

[tan top]

Yep.  I used to spend hours going through their catalog and highlighting all the 69 Charger parts.

haha me too    , still got a 1989  yearone  catalogue some where i think , with all the 69 charger parts highlighted in yellow ,  !
remember a lot of NOS parts they had too ,

[myk]

I was a big Year One fan until their shipping got so pricey.  Now I shop around a lot more.  I can get a lot of their stuff at my Dodge/Chrysler dealer for less money, and with no shipping charges.

$13 for a pair of door lock knobs.  Fantastic....