Any resto parts actually made in North America?

[oldzy]

I just ordered a bunch of parts for my '72 CS (backup/side marker lenses, tail light set, etc.) from Fusick and everything is made in Taiwan.

Are there any resto parts actually made in the US or Canada???

[gearheads78]

Originally Posted by oldzy

I just ordered a bunch of parts for my '72 CS (backup/side marker lenses, tail light set, etc.) from Fusick and everything is made in Taiwan.

Are there any resto parts actually made in the US or Canada???

Is anything still made in North America?? Thats a better subject line for you.

[Olds64]

I've never purchased anything from Fusicks that was sub-par in quality.

[WhatIf]

The answer is essentially "no", everything is farmed out to Taiwan now. It's extremely rare to find anything for our old cars that's made in America. The resto companies have eliminated just about everything that was ever made in America, they have the parts made in Taiwan for pennies on the dollar, and sell the parts to Americans at about a 5000% markup. The part that used to cost $50 about 15 years ago, made in America, and cost $25 to make, is now sold for $100 and it costs $2 to make by being farmed out to Taiwan, and the quality sucks.

We don't have a steel industry anymore, we don't have a textile industry anymore. Heck, we barely have an auto industry. Take a look at the labels on all your pants or shirts in your closet. Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Taiwan....you'd actually be hard-pressed to find anything made in America in your home, from stereo equipment to furniture, from clothing to your car, we don't make anything here in America anymore. Iconic American products, like Schwinn bicycles, Hot Wheels cars, they're all made in Taiwan and China.

The only thing we make in America is money, from other people's money. It's very sad. We used to be such a great nation. Now we're a third world country that has to import everything to survive.

I'd rather try to restore an original part first before simply replacing it. I just hate to line the pockets of the resto companies. The resto houses used to be honest companies making a decent profit, helping the hobby, but the leaders of those businesses are long gone. They sold out your typical greedy self-centered American profiteers that farm everything out to Taiwan. They don't care about quality, or about the hobby. All they care about is being filthy stinking rich.

We pay WAY too much for reproduction parts nowadays. When I see people paying $12 for a spray can of semi-gloss black paint, that the resto house simply changed the label off a store bought $5 can (which they paid $1 for), it makes me sick.

I's really disgusting...

[cutlassgal]

Sad, but true.

[oldzy]

Thx. I should have researched more. I will now just look harder for original parts, and clean them up (including my own), even if they are not as pretty as something new. I did luck out on a NOS rear bumper recently, which was nice.

[wolfman98]

This has been going on for quite some time now and once the big multinational companies figured out it was cheaper to get it made in a third world country then ship it here and sell it for bigger profits then it made it harder for other companies to compete. They either did the same thing or were bought out by the big companies. When you have shareholders expecting larger and larger returns on their investments you have to find ways of making those huge profits.

[Olds64]

How did this come up? I thought we were talking about Fusicks...

Regardless of where their parts are manufactured, they sell only top notch products. I've never heard anything negative about Fusicks until now.

[Oldskeeper]

Just to let you guys know I am reproducing the side panels for the 61,62 and 63 STARFIRES.
It's a lot of work but the cars that have them on are winning shows,it is still possible for us to make stuff rather the offshore it.
If we as a whole don't get a handle on the crap coming in from asia we will and are becoming the third world countries,or are we to late.
And I also buy from Fusick and have never had a problem with quality,I've been buying from them since the mid eighty's.I have delt with both Mike and Dave Jackson,they are very knowledgable and respectful as well as willing to walk you through the process of identifying the part you need.

[jaunty75]

Originally Posted by Olds64

How did this come up? I thought we were talking about Fusicks...

Regardless of where their parts are manufactured, they sell only top notch products. I've never heard anything negative about Fusicks until now.

This is the most important point here. Just because something is made in Taiwan doesn't automatically mean that it's of inferior quality. Also, if Fusick wants to carry a particular part in its inventory, and the only place the part is made is overseas, what choice do they have if they want to carry it? Can hardly blame them.


Also, I just bought new rear brake shoes for my '67 Delta 88 through NAPA. They were made in the U.S.A. If you call up wheel cylinders on their website for my car, you can look at an enlarged image of them from several angles. For at least one of the choices, in one of the photos, there is clearly stamped "Made in U.S.A." on it.

So the situation is not completely hopeless!

[OLD SKL 69]

I have not bought a lot of parts from Fusick's but what I bought was made here in the USA. There are still many outfits that still make their parts here so all is not lost, yet anyway. Besides, the dollar is so devalued right now it makes sense to produce parts here again. We will have to hope and see.

[bigblockolds]

Sometime in 1995, Mike Fusick invited our newly formed New England Olds Club to visit his shop and he did a presentation talking about his business, how he got started, etc. One of the first things Mike addressed was the number of "rice paper cardboard boxes" on his shelves. Well, he wasn't very thrilled about the fact that nearly every one of his suppliers was overseas, but as he put it, "no one in America wanted the job". Meaning, that every manufacturer that he approached was too busy hunting for the 1,000,000 minimum quantity order, and/or they said they couldn't produce the part for the price point that Mike thought the market could bear.

So after approaching many, many American shops, he looked overseas. And there you have it. He tried, he tried, he tried with American suppliers and they declined. However, the Asians had an entirely different attitude and business philosophy. They wanted his size production runs and agreed to make the product to his standards and at the price point where he could afford to buy, inventory and turn a profit. Don't forget, when Mike makes a lens, not only does he pay for the part to be developed, and for the dies, and the GM fees, he also has to buy a minimum quantity. That minimum quantity isn't typically a couple dozen, it is in the thousands. How'd you like to be sitting on 10,000 tail light lenses that you paid cash to develop, cash to make dies for, cash to GM for nothing but royalties, and now you are stocked up for the next 15 years? Literally he has to sell certain parts for ten years before he begins to turn a profit. So the comments about the mark-up being 5000 percent is really untrue and doesn't equate to the real world.

Just be glad there was Mike Fusick because if he didn't champion Oldsmobile and stick his neck and wallet out to make all the parts that he does make, then you'd be bolting cracked lenses and chevelle grills into your 442.

[Eightupman]

Canada. I know there is a guy in Canada that is reproducing rear frame sections for G bodies, and if I'm not mistaken... every peice of sheet metal in Goodmark's inventory is also Canadian.

I find your comments about Mike sort of a crock. No one wanted the job? Seriously? Did he go to Canada, or Mexico? Or even those start up companies to give them a chance? No, I bet he went to Delphi or larger companies where it would cost THEM too much to retool for smaller batchwork than the 1M parts for the mainstream auto industry.

If guy like me can flip open the phonebook and find someone willing to cast me a couple dozen aluminum parts within 300 miles of me... well I'm sorry, I'm thinking he fed you a line.

John

[bigblockolds]

A crock? Hey listen, I'm not here to argue with the experts. If you think he should have done better, then call him on the phone and grill him. He's there every day and I'm sure he'd welcome the opportunity to respond personally to all your remarks, especially about him being a liar. Sounds like you are very knowledgeable and very experienced, so maybe you can advise him on how to run his business more patriotically. Good luck.

[Oldskeeper]

When I started buying parts fron Mike he was also dealing in buick,he decided to go with OLDS and sold the other line off.I think this was a good choice for us.
The cutlass line is a 1-800 line everyone is carrying parts,but who else handles the parts we big cars of low production need?
We need people like Mike and we shouldn't get involved in production,only quality or you can take the old piece and shop it around to people who have stocked the part from cars in wreckers in the dry states (most starfire guys know who I'm talking about) and pay.
Quality and price both in the same place not to mention that they treat you with respect.
My thoughts
Steve

[Olds64]

Sometime in 1995, Mike Fusick invited our newly formed New England Olds Club to visit his shop and he did a presentation talking about his business, how he got started, etc.

That is cool info BBO. As I said earlier, I don't care where the product I buy is made, as long as it is good quality.

[nelsontj]

Another way of looking at this reproduction parts matter is using an inflation calculator. If you ordered a rally pac tic toc tac back in 1970 you would have paid 84.00 (rounded off) for the option. If you bought it now, taking inflation into account, you would probably pay $444.00 (rounded off). The reproduction rallye pac tic toc tac sells at about $426.00 from two vendors I know of. I went with a used rally pac and I am almost embarrassed to tell anyone how much I have into it after paying for them and getting everything working. If I had it to over, I would go with the reproduction rally pac.
If you ordered the W-25 hood, as an option in 1970, you paid $158.00 (rounded off). If you take inflation into account you would pay $835.00 for that hood today. One of the vendors is offering the hood for $729.00. I realize you have to order the OAI air cleaner equipment on top of the cost, which would have come with the original factory hood. I also realize the OAI reproduction hood is not an exact copy of the GM hood, and it is an import. As most of you know there is a GM licensed OAI hood made in America that is an exact copy that sells for over $2000.00. What that vendor has into equipment/machinery, materials, licensing, etc., he has to charge that to stay afloat and keep making them. The latter hood is the way to go if you want to stay true to original and you can afford it. However, when the hoods are closed I would imagine one could not tell which was which unless they really scrutinized them.

My point is: The imported reproduction parts are keeping "realistic" pricing and an availability that I think is important to the hobby. If they were all made in the USA I don't think those prices would be reachable for many in the hobby. Also, there are only so many NOS and used parts out there and everyone can't have them for their classic. The reproduction parts may seem expensive for what they are, but what isn't expensive in comparison to the day our cars came off the production line. I imagine a lot of cars would not be restored if the reproduction parts supply was not around. Those cars would probably just end up rotting away. I know there is an argument about quality, but I remember we were bitching about the quality of the parts, back then, in comparison to what you got as far as quality years before. Just compare a dashboard from a 1950 Olds to one in 1970. Granted the 1970 dashboard is a lot safer for the occupants in a crash situation, but I would say the "quality" of the dashboard is far superior on the 1950 compared to the 1970. If I took my fist and whacked the two cars in their fenders, I would probably say there is more metal in the 1950 Olds than the 1970. Back then, I would probably have said, "Now there's a quality fender compared to my '70."

Also remember, the machining techniques of today, using computers, can create some very accurate parts at a low cost that would not have been possible in years past. I cannot speak for the manufacturers or vendors, for they all have their idiosyncrasies, but I am, for one, happy that they are around, as an option, and I hope the hobby supports them.

[jaunty75]

Also, there are only so many NOS and used parts out there and everyone can't have them for their classic.

Every one of your points is excellent, particularly what you said about prices then and now, and I think what you said right here can be extended further.

Not only is there a limited supply of NOS and used parts, there is a limited supply of restorable CARS! Anyone who sets up to start making reproduction parts for a car no longer made has to realize that his is a market that is only shrinking. There are only so many restorable, say, '68 Cutlasses out there. Granted, in absolute terms, the number might be large, but it's smaller today than it was yesterday, and it will be smaller still tomorrow. Every day another '68 Cutlass is restored, parted out, or scrapped, and the supply of them is not being replenished. If you make reproduction '68 Cutlass hoods, you know this, and you realize that one day you will no longer be able to sell enough reproduction '68 Cutlass hoods to stay in business, and you take this into account before you ever start the business. If you decide that you can't sell enough of them to recover your initial investment and make a fair profit along the way, you never start making them in the first place.