Well I read Tim's article some months ago about the efforts of the BMTA and I certainly support what Tim was saying, but also really, what's it going to take. I am sick of the junk we are forced to buy thru the aftermarket. I do want to say right in the onset, that I believe the car restoration aftermarket has come along way in the last 40 years. What they can produce is certainly unprecedented. And the very fact that many of the companies making parts for the aftermarket are also the companies that are making parts for the OEMs is a most beneficial development. But the reciprocal of that is the segment of the supplies that are bringing us junk. And I believe this segment is the largest segment. I read a poster on this site in the articles column that said if we the end user would not be so cheap and didn't insist on price that we could get better parts. I can't agree with that. For one thing I believe most serious restorers, both hobbiest and pros, do not want to do the same job over and over again. And they want quality and they want a finished car they can use and rely on. It's not 'do we want to spend less' but it is that we will spend what its true value is. Make for us, supply to us the part that will do the job correctly and reliably at the fair true value that it takes to produce it and we will buy it. You might notice that there are a lot of people that are spending OUTRAGEOUS amounts of money to restore or build a car. I'm sure they are not looking for the cheapest part. Let me tell you, I AM NOT LOOKING FOR THE CHEAPEST PART. I want the part that will work and keep working, and yeh I don't want to be soaked to the bone to get it but I am willing to pay what it took to make it and the margin necessary to keep the business going. The reason we are getting junk is because 'We' the middleman and the end user are accepting that the market will bare it. And as many of us will readily admit, most of the poorly built stuff is coming from foreign sources. And our suppliers keep buying it. Poor specification, poor oversight,poor follow-up. So what's it going to take, who ya going to call. Do I call the BMTA, do I call the manufacturer or my direct supplier. Maybe we should just have a mass boycott of parts from certain parts of the world even if we suffer without parts we need. What got me started on this tirade was minor this time, yet all to familiar. In the last 5 years I have finished two cars. One a Healey the other a Vette. What I went thru to get working parts from the aftermarket to finish these car just about made me quite the hobby. And I have been doing this awhile, about 40+ years or more. But then after the cars were on the road, just three little failures makes me furious because they are just to simple that they shouldn't have created a problem but they did. Drove the Healey on an out of town day trip and a condenser that was only two months old shorted out. then about 3 months later, the new set of points broke. Most recently, I bought a new gas tank for the Healey (because I sealed the old tank and it started to peel inside) I then discovered that the rubber gasket to the sending unit had been leaking. Thinking that I might not have snugged it down well I removed it, cleaned the gasket and the surfaces and reinstalled it ensuring that it was install right. Two days later discovered that it was leaking. WHO MADE THIS RUBBER GASKET, WHO DECIDED THAT IT WILL WORK? I removed it, made my own cork gasket, coated it with Permatex,"Hard Setting" "High Tack" gasket sealant and let it cure overnight. Took the car on a 2 hour, one way, trip today and their is not leak. Throw that damn rubber gasket in the trash. And while your at is throw the manufacturer and vendor of that rubber gasket in the trash as well. I vote that the BMTA start to ban suppliers of junk!
