CAUTION. Long Post Warning.
Ok. Folks. My two bits.
Background. I sell British and Taiwanese parts eight hours a
day. Ok, that pegs me.
The descriptions I work with.
O.E.M. Original Equipment Manufacture
Built to the original design specs by a manufacturer who was an
original supplier to the factory. These parts must be equivalent to
those that are, or were supplied by dealer networks both visually and
materially.
Aftermarket
Built to equal, or exceed original design specs. These may be of
a more modern design, different materials etc. Quality should be
equivalent to OEM or better. These parts may be visually different from
OEM.
Reproduction
These are parts produced on limited run tooling. Usually
supplied because OEM parts and tooling are no longer available. Quality
can swing wildly from batch to batch. "Soft" tooling tends to wear out
quickly. Quality control and delivery timing are very difficult due to
cottage industry quantities.
Please note, there are no definitions in the market. These are
the definitions I use.
Applications.
Ok the nitty gritty.
A lot of the people who originally made the stuff for BMC and BL
are still around and many still have tooling. In most cases they
produce quality products and stick their own name on the box. Example.
Lucas, AE/Clevite, Girling, Adwest, Quinton Hazell, FAI etc. Now the
down side, in many cases the tooling is worn and replacement costs are
prohibitive. A lot of the tooling is patched back together each time a
production run is made. The name is there but the accuracy may not be.
Also production is done in batches, which is why MGB 5 main oil pumps
were difficult to get for a while. The good news is that modern CAD/CAM
technology is making limited production runs more feasible. AE just set
up a whole new factory devoted to limited batch runs of classic car
pistons.
More down side. Companies that used to supply OE quality parts
contract out production to low bid suppliers. Here is where you see
Lucas boxed, substandard parts. Unipart used to supply top line OE type
parts, now quality can vary. The problem is that the purchasers are
used to the historical quality and do not react quickly to the change.
The market is changing every day. The best way to make sure you
get good value for money and good parts is to develop a rapport with a
company that buys parts every day. They will have a feel for the market
and also have a good relationship with their suppliers. If there is a
problem, they can return parts and source from alternate vendors. For
this service you will pay. Don't be a butt and play price shopper. You
either want quality or you want cheap. You cannot have both. But also
do not get taken. Your prices should be within 10-15% of mail order.
If they are not, your supplier is either not getting a good deal or you
are being had. If a price seems out of line, expect a reason. It may
be a higher quality part or it may be difficult to find. Above all be
patient. Most of the people who are still in the business are honest
and sincere. But typically overworked and under appreciated. The bad
eggs went out of business when times got tough. They are now selling
religious tracts door to door.
Ok, enough of a parts rant.
I hope this was of some use to LBC newbies. Any questions about
specifics please feel free to e-mail me directly
Kelvin.
James Howard wrote:
>
> On Fri, 28 Feb 1997, Christopher M. Delling wrote:
>
> > I certainly agree that a Weber carb is an aftermarket part. However, I
> > also believe that buying, say, a Lucas coil from Moss is also considered
> > an aftermarket part. This is due to the fact that the original
> > manufacturer, i.e. British Leyland, is not the source for the part.
> > Many OEM suppliers sell the same part that they sell to the manufacturer
> > through "aftermarket retailers".
>
> But BL did not manufacture the coil - Lucas did, and BL stuck their label
> on it. Thus, Lucas is the OEM part, and the BL part would have been the
> Genuine item.
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