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Just received a couple of parts from CC. Their label was stuck over another label from Vette Products of Michigan (vetteproducts.net). I hadn't heard of them before so I checked out their site. Could have saved significant bucks if I had shopped there first. FWIW
acquire parts from other sources to 'round out' their offering portfolio to provide 'one stop' shopping convenience. Sometimes breaking your buys down to get the lowest source cost can backfire due to additional S&H charges....
Most people do not realize that C Central, Ecklers, etc. do not make all the parts they sell. I had a list of over 150 suppliers that I bought parts from when I was in business. Some made just one small item, maybe a special screw or clip. Very few got into the heavy manufacturing like Vette Products, Paragon, or C Central. And I think that that was mostly arangements with the original OEM suppliers. Tooling cost limits the number of people that can actually manufacture major parts. A simple "short run" die for a small part can cost $25,000 or more today. A lot of the items you see today, such as bumpers, are made off the original tooling. Just refurbishing those dies can cost close to $100,000. Some items will never be reproduced due to the up front costs.
-------Most normal manufacturers today who make a product that is sold by dealers protect those same dealers and will not wholesale out the back door or front door for that matter. Of course this does seem to have something to do with the size of the business,the # of dealers,etc. I would have thought that we all know that,but I guess this isnt always the case.
-------It seems,however,that several of the major Corvette reproduction manufacturing facilitys also have retail stores in which they regularly undercut the very dealers they supply. Not only does this confuse things but different dealers have different profit needs and motivations,and because of this arrive at different retail prices for the same item. If these different mark-ups are too far out of wack from one dealer to another the consumer can get confused and think that maybe the more expensive of the two pieces is somehow a better piece.
-------To confuse things even more,there are duplications in the reproduction manufacturing world of the same product from time to time,and often one item is vastly superior to the same item from a different manufacturer.
-------This all points out the need for something. Im just not sure what. Maybe a magazine with a really good comparison column? Maybe an internet sight with qualitative analysis? Either of these would have to be known as totally unbiased somehow. Maybe its enough to come here to this sight and ask? The only problem is that we never really know about the vested interests of those who answer here.
------- If nothing else,buying reproduction parts today is somewhat like traversing a minefield,just without the physical pain.............Bill S
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