On Sunday, 2-Feb-97, you wrote:
[stuff deleted]
but noone buys a points set thinking that it'd be a good idea in 4 - 6
weeks to install...
I have news for you. I always keep a couple of sets of spare "consumable"
parts for when I need them. This neurotic behavior traces back to the
last days of Triumph and trying to keep a car on the road.
Go back a few years, okay 15 years. You're TR is running like crap,
diagnosis: bad points from sitting for a year, two months with the
ignition key in the "on" position. The points are fried.
And then some.
You head off to your Jaguar, Rover Triumph Dealer. "Points set" the guy
behind the counter says, "for a TR6, that'll be $15..." Your reaction
might be described as "ballistic". I mean, a 4X markup??
Then you realize that Napa and some others, like Foreign Autopart can
actually get the parts you need. Unfortunately, you need to _backorder"
the parts because they don't stock them. A good auto distributor can come
up with your parts in less than 24 hours. This is acceptable, but you
wonder: are Echlin points as good as the original Lucas parts?? ;-0 And
we all know the answer, don't we?
Along comes Charles and other vendors. They see a void, and they attempt
to fill it. Cheers to them, I say. Then they invent the Winter Parts Sale
or other marketing tool. Everybody waits 'till January 15th to order all
that stuff that they used up last year or think they will need next year.
Backorders.
Its a fact of life. Live with it.
Suggestion: Identify things that you use up on your car. Instead of
buying one next time, get two - or three. Then you'll have a spare.
Don't wait 'till you _need it_, get when you _think_ you might need it.
I know a lot of folks that wind up with the TR on blocks because they
can't get a certain part in the middle of the summer (backorders happen
then too!) I've done this myself.
And, I might add, it's in the character of the car to hoarde parts. Look
at the suggested service maintenance schedule for your car. Hell, they
suggest a valve job at 50K miles. For that job you need a lot of parts, a
"top end" gasket kit, new items that have "perished" etc. A wise person
does not start this job before having parts in hand!
In defense of all of the parts providers, the nature of the retail world
is that you just don't know what folks are going to need. That's life.
Sure, they have inventory computers and all that stuff. But they can't
"hit the nail on the head" every time and keep everything in stock. Maybe
if TRF was the size of Ford, they could stay ahead of demand, they aren't
and they don't
I might also add that there are a lot of suppliers out there. Sure, you
have to take some chances in dealing with them, but once you identify the
"good" ones, you'll be able to deal with your parts crises better.
Oh well.
rml
p.s. when I "freshened" my engine a couple of years back, I waited 'till
the last minute to get the parts. My reasoning was: I have to measure
stuff before I can buy rings and bearings and so forth. Result: all parts
were backordered. I got all the parts (times two because I placed orders
with both TRf and Moss) in time to get the car running in April of that
year. I now have "spares" if I build another engine. No waiting this time!
p.p.s. I have run Echlin points in my TR6 for 10 years. And Echline cap
and rotor etc. They work just as good as the original Lucas parts. Maybe
better. The last set of points lasted close to 4 years. That's around 25K
miles, I might add.
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Quote: How many Triumphs do you own??? Never enough, but I'm close.
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