Buyer beware / early ford ohio

Here is the summary. My buddy pays $1000 for two steel front fenders from Early Ford at the Carlisle show last season. When purchased...it was raining and they had surface rust on them. My friend, who has been a pro body guy for 40 years, sanded the fenders and primed with epoxy primer.

A couple months ago he starts to install on his 34 steel body Ford and after 6 hours finds the fit is not even close in many ways. Very poor quality. He calls Early Ford a few times and they say they will get back to him but never do. So, we take them to Carlislse this past weekend and speak to "Brian" from Early Ford and tell him the problem and show him several pictures of the no where close fit.

First Brian says my friend must contact the distributor, even though Early Ford sold them and took his money.

Then he says that they are "altered" because of the primer paint. He admitted that although they have sold many of these fenders that they HAVE experienced this before. He said sometimes they have to be "adjusted" to make them fit. My friend said when you pay $1000 for fenders you shouldnt have to rebuild the whole things to try to make them work.

The gap at the front under the grille show you can drive a car through. If you look at one fender its about 3/4 wider than the other where they meet at the bottom. When you try to correct that area it buckles the top area. Where they meet the running boards is a whole different issue.

When we tried to reason with him explaining this is not good business he got pissed off and said he was done with us and we are "stuck" with them and walked away. Picture attached...see for yourself.

 

This is a shame-sooo many times our experiences can remove the fun that this hobby is to be about..

I feel for you!

 

well im sorry about your fenders there definitly not made right but when that dummy told you that you were stuck id have shoved them up his ass i hope you get them straightend out

 

I am NOT fussy, for an old flapper I would pie cut a bunch of times & make them wrap around. But you obviously don't have that level of project and I can't imagine what you can do with those parts. Sucks that there is no way to know what other vendors get theirs from the same 3rd world stamp shop.

 

those tools are way off---Taiwan crap.

 

He's not alone
same problem different part, and supplier

something to be said for original steel..
and i agree, when you pay good money for something advertised to fit, it should fucking fit..period
if they cant make the parts right, its time to quit pushing them out there

 

In the motorcycle busines this is what we call "suitable lump" from which to make a part.

 

I bought a 29 ford front fender and had to do work on them to fit. The supplier did put in their add that it needed work to fit.

 

Like many reproduction parts - Made to sell, not to fit.

 

aint that the truth.

 

I would have made some signs and stood outside the booth all weekend doing my best to drive people away by telling them about your crap treatment. Make it a point to tell this Brian guy that you figure when you drive away a couple grand of business you'll be close to square.

 

Been discussed before about the fit of a lot of the replacement fenders. I spent a lot of time slicing and dicing the new fenders I bought for the 32 but what was I to do. Wasn't about to use fiberglass and if I had found a set of originals I'd paid as much and spent more time working them.
That said your vender should of been more up front at the time of purchase and explained the fenders will need to be worked to fit, my vender did. They knew the problems and they should of risked not making a sell by being up front about it, been better for their reputation in the long run imho.

 

Bad deal for sure.....
I would keep on complaining.........and if necessary yes, swap meet signs showing them and where you bought them...
Good luck...

 

Yep, that's why even banged up originals sell more than repops most of the time. Figure in the time & hassle getting the repop's to fit, originals usually come out as the better deal.

Sorry to hear abotu the experience. Certainly stinks.

 

All reproduction fenders need some work to make them fit.. I would think your friend, being a "pro" and a body man for 40 Years would know that.. That said, it's too bad something could'nt be worked out.........

 

I work as a parts manager in a collision shop and believe me, if its made off-shore...it aint gonna fit like an original part. Never will, either, in my book...even if you "make it fit".

 

I think your "pro" body man buddy should fix them so they fit the (repop?) grill, and you should stop whining about a problem that isn't yours...

Brian

 

We did stand out front of his spot and show the pics to potential customers as they came up to look at the fenders he had piled up out front. After seeing the other pics they agreed and walked away. One of them was a "Hamber" and I told him I was going to post a warning to the board. That didnt seem to bother "Brian" of Old Ford much but he did lose at least a few sales from that.

As for "working" with these fenders....I didnt post the other pics where the fenders meet the running boards etc....that was an entirely different issue. Yes, he is a 40 year body guy....but doesnt have a mgic wand.....and again...after spending 6 hours trying to work one area, and watching all the other areas "wrack" out of shape while attempting to do so, he decided on returning them. Again...when you pay that kind of money you shouldnt have to slice and dice to make them work when they are not even close.

Sorry....its just bad business for ANY company to sell foreign re-pop JUNK and not come to a realization where the customer is more important than the money. My friend has bought parts from this company many times over the past several years and when he told the guy that it didnt seem to make a difference.

OLD FORD from Springfield Ohio just didnt want to satisfy this customer.

 

Wow, you don't have any friends you'd go to bat for if this problem happened to them? Your attitude's a little uncalled for isn't it? To the OP, thanks for the info. I don't know if I'll ever have to deal with them, but it's good to know what to expect.

 

I had to massage the repo fenders a little on my model A. I know for sure that they were stamped here (in Ohio), it was no big deal and I,m differently not a professional body man for sure.
I even had to adjust original Henry fenders from another A to make them fit on mine.

 

A. My friend doesn't have a computer so I am posting FOR him.....just as I would expect YOU to do for a friend of yours. (or maybe not)

B. The steel running boards are not re-pops and Im not sure if the grille is or isnt.

C. Sorry....I dont consider it "whining". I am passing this info on to this venue to save others the problems they may also incur if they purchase these fenders. Isnt that what this is all about?

 

btw.....Is it only a Coincidence that YOUR name happens to be ......"Brian"

 

Dammn shame , hell in Texas , I would say hang em from a Mesquite tree...... scrubba

 

I am sorry that for that kind of money, your friend got such poorly fitting fenders.

There's a reason a lot of people run fenderless cars!

 

Maybe. Sorry to ruffle your feathers. My reply was a little harsh, and while I still think your pal ought to man up and make 'em fit, I'm sorry I replied with that.

That said, I've NEVER bought aftermaket sheet metal for ANYTHING that fits well or didn't need work, and your friend has an 80 year old car with mismatched parts and who knows what's been done to it over it's lifetime.

Brian

 

I don't know of ANY repro part that fits exactly like original. And ALL vendors say you can't return a part after you have modified (painted) it. Did your 40-year-experienced bodyman never run into an aftermarket fender that didn't fit right?

I also agree that the grille may be a big part of your problem. It IS a new grille, and I personally think a grille may be harder to make accurately than a fender. Did he try returning the grille?

$1,000 is not a lot of money for '34 fenders. A cherry pair of originals would cost half again as much, and chances are they would need tweeking as well.

Show your bodyman this link http://www.fastlanerodshop.com/becker/frontfenders.htm and see how a real bodyman takes care of fender-fit problems.

 

Repops either don't fit or are of poor quality. Chinese crap just doesn't have the same dimensions as originals. A good case in point was trying to fit repop $400.00 56 Chevy tail light assemblies that were 1/4 " shorter then originals not to mention the chrome was piss poor. Returned them and re-chromed the originals. If its not OEM, I'll do without.

 

Lost in some to the harsh replys is the fact that they buyer paid a lot for fenders that were sold as replacements and weren't. Yes, a lot of aftermarket parts described as "bolt-in", replicas, etc. need adjustment, but a lot of them just don't plain fit. Yes, you can make them work, but why, after paying hard earned cash, should you have to spend hours "making them fit". The point is that many of the after market suppliers are selling crap replacement stuff AND, MORE SIGNIFICANTLY, THEY WON'T STAND BEHIND WHAT THEY SELL.


So, someone comes on HAMB and warns other's about a problem and he has to take shit. Really?

Oh, and by the way, I had a problem with Early Ford on another, albeit, much smaller part and when I brought it back to them had exactly the same experience.

 

true but then again you also have to remember if you buy cheap replacement parts they will always need work

$500 is half of what a new fender from S.A.R. cost, $500 is alot of money but not alot of money for a 34 fender. you wouldn't walk into harbor freight buy a tool for half the price of a snap on tool and then complain it sucks would you? oh never mind there are a hundred of those threads, carry on...

 

Whether this is a legitimate complaint or not, I would suggest that carefully trial fitting the fenders to the vehicle BEFORE priming and painting might have eliminated
a lot of grief on the part of both parties. If these parts had not been altered by the buyer would they have been returned and refunded?
Not taking sides......just sayin'.