Paul Hammarstedt wrote:
> Are "replacement" body parts always so poor, or am I just having
> another stupid streak?
From my experience, it's hit and miss.
Actually, in defense of the panels, it's not that
they are poor. But this demonstrates the kind of
tolerances that our cars were built to.
Over the months and years, the parts coming out
of the plant could change subtly, but during assembly
of the car it was all made to work on the fly. If
the bonnets started to be made a little wider over
time, the workers would make the cars work with it,
perhaps without even noticing.
Not to mention that when assembling a car, Abingdon
workers could always grab the next bonnet if the
first one they grab didn't work so well. When buying
replacement parts by mail, you get one chance.
--
Trevor Boicey
Ottawa, Canada
tboicey@brit.ca
http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
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