...but it could have been made anywhere in the world. This is on the box of OEM replacement radio speakers I ordered and just received from Amazon. The speakers look and I'm guessing will work just fine.

This cannot be avoided in the 21st century. If you want to drive your classic car, you pretty have no choice but to have a least some Chinese-made parts on it. Unless you want to try to find good used or NOS, but that's not always feasible safety or reliability-wise or financially doable.

 

Considering the size of SGM operations in China, of course it makes sense that some components are going to come from there. It's a pain in the *** for suppliers to keep building parts that are no longer serial production. Space is at a premium at almost every parts plant, even down in Mexico.

 

In 2016 I ordered a new points distributor for my car. Came from India in a GM AC Delco box. Instead of the molded rubber grommet holding the points wire from going deeper into the distributor and getting hung up they used a metal crimp like a heavy staple to hold it. Well I bet the guy in India had no idea what it was when he crimped it and compromised the wire. I found this out the hard way when I was heading to the west side of Indiana in 2017 and only made it 200 miles east of the PA/Ohio boarder.

 

 

Safe to say that you'd be right, Zeeke. Chances of the operators in low-cost countries understanding the function of the parts they are building is VERY low. They are taught how to build the part, and that's it. Why the hell a metal clip would be crimped onto a wire like that screams that someone on the line came up with a dumbass idea when they ran out of grommets.

 

Nothing new here. This has been the case for at least a decade. This is why I stopped using AC Delco filters. I've previously recounted the story of the heater control valve for the 307 in my Custom Cruiser. After several Four Seasons units from RockAuto that each failed at about 30 days old, I went to the local dealership and ordered a new GM valve. The AC Delco box I finally got a month later said "Made in Mexico".

 

Agreed.
No Chineasium junk in the 68, 442 I did in 91. Not so much so on the last 3-4 cars Ive done over the last 15 years (Vettes)
So glad I hoarded Olds parts in the 80s The only part in the 68, 442 that might be offshore is...well nothing to my knowledge Its all restored and reused OEM except for the rubber vinyl stuff and the battery. The battery, belts hoses and tires are the only modern items. So it's still possible... Fact of life I don't like...Older IS BETTER I say!
The next car on the resto block, now that will be a challenge to even find a percentage of USA made stuff. Fortunately, this car is a very good resto candidate so all hard parts are reusable at least upon initial assessment.
Let yall know how that works out.