Car Companies That Borrow Parts From Other Companies?

I was inspired by the "best taillights" thread, specifically the Fiat taillights that were also used in a bunch of exotics. So what's the best/worst/weirdest example of automotive sharing that you can think of?

My vote for weirdest and worst goes to the UPS trucks with Olds Alero headlights.

since the 1980's, there has probably been more "competitor sourced" parts in several Chrysler products than chrysler made themselves.....Seems to have become their doctrine after they got ahold of AMC

No kidding. It seemed like mid-eighties Jeeps had more GM parts on them than anything else.

16vCorey wrote: My vote for weirdest and worst goes to the UPS trucks with Old Alero headlights.

I was just thinking about those trucks a couple days ago...I assume some poor guy was given the job of updating the look of the standard UPS truck, and they told him, "We got a great deal on a trainload of these surplus Alero headlights, make them fit."

RV's are the worst. OBS ford truck headlights or maybe round nose Explorer ones with fox body stang tailights.

No AMC was/is the worst. Its a smorgasbord with them things.

Ranger50 wrote: RV's are the worst. OBS ford truck headlights or maybe round nose Explorer ones with fox body stang tailights.

The '92-'94 Econoline tail lights were pretty popular in RV's as well.

Just gonna leave this here:

This car:

using this car's taillights:

Because nothing says "exotic" like a Korean crap-can's taillights.

slefain wrote: Just gonna leave this here:

There is already probably a fuel leak. Quick. Someone light a match.

I nominate the Morris Marina. It donated door handles to Land Rovers, Lotus Esprits, Range Rovers and who knows what else. And I just found out from Wikipedia that the interior switchgear was also used in the Lamborghini Diablo.

From:

To:

One of the funniest ones I've seen was that someone had noted a particular GM power steering pump bolted into Chrysler muscle cars - but at the time, a lot of Mopar fans were embarrassed about swapping in a GM part onto their cars. They seemed to be missing that the whole reason it bolted on was that Chrysler had been using GM power steering pumps to begin with.

I've seen Volvo 7/9 series wagon taillights on some RVs. Not too weird I guess.

Jeep tail lights and about every medium and heavy duty truck from the 60s-2000s

oldtin wrote: Jeep tail lights and about every medium and heavy duty truck from the 60s-2000s

And 3/4 of the trailers on the planet.

Aston Martin Virage used Scirocco tail lights.

Which is what makes this so retarded. They look like nasty cheap trailer lights, but they cost like a vehicle (and side) specific taillight. A Wrangler is a perfect example of a vehicle that should have a generic, readily available taillight. It's not like you're going to make it attractive.

N Sperlo wrote:

slefain wrote: Just gonna leave this here:

There is already probably a fuel leak. Quick. Someone light a match.

It looks like it just ate a handful of Sour Patch Kids.

The Bradley GT II used school bus tail lights.

Lots of small British specialty car builders used MGB interior door handles.

yamaha wrote: since the 1980's, there has probably been more "competitor sourced" parts in several Chrysler products than chrysler made themselves.....Seems to have become their doctrine after they got ahold of AMC

Only if you consider parts from companies that either Chrysler owned or owned Chrysler as borrowed. The exception being Mitsu engines in K cars and the captive imports from Mitsu. The DSMs and Avenger/sebrings were joint designed by Mitsu and Chrysler so they weren't really borrowed. Daimler parts aren't really borrowed if Daimler owns Chrysler just like Fiat parts aren't borrowed now.

As for Jeep, Chrysler bought AMC in 1987 at which point most parts were either Jeep specific or Chrysler parts. Previous to then AMC sourced parts from everywhere.

Mitchell wrote:

N Sperlo wrote:

slefain wrote: Just gonna leave this here:

There is already probably a fuel leak. Quick. Someone light a match.

It looks like it just ate a handful of Sour Patch Kids.

Hmmm, I'd probably drive that. Wonder what kind of fuel economy it gets.

I vote Lotus Elise. I'm trying to figure out what Toyota the fuel pump/level sender is out of right now.

In the mid to late 1960s, some Pontiacs used a Dearborn toploader three speed manual transmission, as GM didn't have a three speed manual that was strong enough for the application. A lot of people were surprised when they crawled under their car and saw Ford stamped on the transmission case.

I just remembered a motorcycle example: some years ago I restored a 1968 Benelli Mojave (they were sold as Riverside motorcycles by Montgomery Ward.) The taillight was broken, and one day I was in an auto parts store and noticed a display of trailer lights; one of the lights was the exact same part used on the bike, it had the same part number stamped on it and everything. So, instead of hunting down a replacement on eBay and paying big bucks for it, I bought the trailer light for $4.99.

Lamborghini Diablo used Nissan 300zx headlights.

I also get a kick out of telling customers that the Cadillac Escalade shares its chassis and all its glass with the Yukon/Tahoe/suburban or Chevy avalanche. Pretty much every gm model has a clone across product lines....