Buyer beware / early ford ohio

Bought fiberglass fenders all the way around for my gmc. Have more time in them than if I had fixed the originals. Still have the originals by the way, just in case!
j

 

Agreed. It sucks to have to spend that much to come to that conclusion, though. Mismatched parts can be a nightmare, too. We are also building our cars to a fit/finish standard that Henry and the boys didn't take the time to do on the assembly line.

 

Maybe I am alone on this but I can see his point. Repop parts do need a bit of massaging to fit, heck even original equipment will get a dent or a deformation from shipping, but in that pic, those panels do not even seem to be for that car. Regardless if the grille is repop or original. There comes a point where throwing alot of labor into a part to make it work is called for but not after dropping a grand on them... Prices should reflect value of the part and for a grand it better be a simple primer, knock a dent or 2 out of it and bolt it on...

 

Yes it sucks it is all part of it have bought a lot of crap that doesnt fit.Ihave found sometimes it is better to work with what you got.Lookin at what you got your body man should be able to make em fit.AINT nothin bolt on I mean nothin even original stuff you still have to mess with it.But what ever it is you buy you need to try it see how it works before you alter,paint ,bolt on,mount .As pappy use to tell me nothin good comes easy

 

I agree with fat47. main point of this post was a 'bad product sold to a customer', and basically told to 'jam it'. Has nothing to do with, wudda, cudda shudda, and then suckitup!

 

Agreed.....but the key word there was "returned". These guys would not do that.

 

The day we picked them up from Early Ford it was raining and they had been out in the rain and already had some very light surface rust on them. My friend was not ready to install them quite yet but wanted to protect them so they were sanded and PRIMED only....no body work or paint done. They were not fitted right away as the car already had fiberglass fenders on it and he was driving the car. Beings the body was a steel body he wanted to go back to steel fenders. The fiberglass fenders he had on there fit 100% better than the steel ones and they are not originals. There is a point where "massaging" becomes total re-fabrication.

 

The width of the front of the two panels are totally different...look at the pic.
Massaging is one thing....total re-fab is another. Like stated above.....a pos re-pop and the parts company doesnt want to make the customer happy. He even admitted to having other issues with some of these before.

 

don't get me wrong i think it really sucks you spent $1000 and aren't happy, but he really should not have primed the fenders prior to fitting, he should have sanded and applied a coating like gibbs, doesn't change the end result but it really ruins any chance of returning and this goes for just about any company out there good or bad

 

Hey guys....I didnt want to start hard feelings among any of the members here....my intent was to pass on info to you all and allow you to draw your own conclusions. At least you have information to mull over ...I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I thoroughly enjoy this website, and although I do not make hardly any posts up until today, I am always reading it and getting a ton of good information from very knowledgeable folks. The very bottom line is a satisfied customer is just good business. Its bad enough that these days we have to deal with aftermarket junk parts and you hardly ever see "Made in the USA" as much as we used to. Everyone is looking for the shortcut to making a product cheaper and now not standing behind it. Its not like the old days.

 

The front fenders on my avatar are repro bought maybe 15 years ago. They fit worse than those pics you have. I had problems at both runningboards, inner fenders, front fender tie point and headlight holes. They were awful and I had them shipped in so I spent extra money there. I was told they would 'need some fitting' but I think the point here is the sellers of these items need to attach a bunch of pics to the product BEFORE people buy them so that people can actually see what they need to do. To me the words 'need some fitting' means elongating bolt holes or tapping on an edge not splitting the fender down the middle so that it will meet the inner fenders. The statement should be 'needs major work to fit'. So I support this thread that calls out Early Ford and other vendors that don't give a damn except making money. I am a business owner myself and wouldn't think of trying to pass this crap onto my customer whose referrals I need to stay in business. It is sad that this many years later these parts haven't gotten better and neither have those that sell them.

 

Whinning? Problem is his. Your response is unsolicited and uncalled for.

 

caveat emp·tor

<INPUT class=au title="Listen to the pronunciation of caveat emptor" type=button> noun \-&#712;em(p)-t&#601;r, -&#716;to&#775;r\
Definition of CAVEAT EMPTOR

: a principle in commerce: without a warranty the buyer takes the risk

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Origin of CAVEAT EMPTOR

New Latin, let the buyer beware First Known Use: 1523
5Belair7 has done his job by making us aware. As has been stated numerous times: offshore reproduced shit does not fit nor perform as OEM-that's common knowledge by now. Sometimes I guess we just need a reminder. Now everyone can go back to work.

 

Buy a good grade (CAPA certified) aftermarket part for a late model car and it won't need much work, some are actually very good. I haven't seen a major problem with one for some time now. But...they are good because they have to be, there is a lot of volume in that market and shops/insurers have put the pressure on. Those stampers in Taiwan are capable of making those old Ford fenders much better, but why? As long as people are buying them nothing will change.

The vendor here could have done a lot of things to make this right, at least meeting your friend halfway. This fellow Brian will never know how much business he lost by the way you were treated.

 

one of the best things going for the HAMB is to expose those that don,t deal fair.

 

I agree with 39cent, thanks for the heads up and also for some laughs after reading this thread.

 

I'm glad I read this thread. I was just about to order a set of fenders for my 32. I don't know who to spend my money with but it won't be them.

 

What parts vendor are we talking about?
Early Ford, Old Ford, what?
The Early Ford Store in Springfield OH?

Are the fenders actually made in Taiwan, or Red China, or in the USA?

Anything made overseas must have the country of origin marked on it or a sticker showing the country of origin when it is sold to the retail customer.

When the first reproduction 33-34 fenders came out years ago they were American made and didn't fit that well either, don't remember how badly but always heard they were fixable and even then were a grand or so a pair.

 

been there , done that ! i begged the owner to buy a pair of og front fenders from early ford store in san dimas, but he went the repop route, what a pain in the ass !but after i MADE them fit, two weeks later he got tee boned , ruined the whole car !

 

Yep " A picture is worth a 1000 word"
Had to modify many in my 40+ years of doin this

 

I think if you talk to anyone that has put a 34 front end together they would all agree that it sucks and is very time consuming! SLICE AND DICE MAN. After market stuff you have to deal with.

 

Sorry for the problems,i do admire you for comming out with it.With that amount of money lots of guys would suck it up,and most likely has .Some guys i know are never wrong and they would hide this for a number of reasons.The truth will win,might have to go to court ,hope ya dont and get your money back......................YG

 

I would do a quick check of the PA Merchantibility Laws. I mAine we are protected against things like this by laws that require things to work/fit as advertised. Also, the laws DO NOT allow the seller to put you off by saying that you ( not they ) have to deal with the manufacturer. In a case like this the seller would have to deal; with the manufacturer . Check it out.

 

Sorry you have a problem, but every thread like this has common themes:
1. Aftermarket sheet metal is problematic. Fitting it to an 80 year old car, likely with other odd bits and pieces-also problematic.
2. Easy to blame to overseas manufacturers, but USA made steel may not be much better in many cases (search for Howell's).
3. Buyer has often "modified" the part before fitting and while priming them isn't such a bid deal,it can't be resold like new now can it?
4. All sellers are aware of the fitting issues, the good ones will tell you about them up front.
5. I'd do a bit of research before I plunked down $1000 on sheetmetal when a quick HAMB search would show you that there are huge problems everywhere w/ aftermarket metal.
6. Any HAMBer henceforth that buys a piece of sheet metal without determining where it's made, what the company knows about fitting issues and what the seller's return policy is is foolish.
Good luck.

 

I have a clue for you ... even original Henry Ford fenders do not fit well ... car to car.



I ended up buying and selling at least 25 original Henry Ford 32 fenders to get 4 that fit perfectly on my 32 roadster When I was having a problem with the fit on my 32 3W ... I took the right front off my roadster and it did NOT fit the 3W ... but fit great on the roadster.

I bought a set of Brookville 32 Fronts for the 3W and they fit awful. @ 1200 dollars for the pair ... I did not want to cut and dice them up ... so I just " cut and diced " on the original front fenders that came with the 3W. So I sold the Brookvilles at a loss.

( edit ) ... it was over 20 years ago when I was buying all the fenders. NOW ... it would take a couple years to find 25 original decent fenders )

 

I have no experience in the metal stamping industry,but it seems to me like it would cost no more to stamp a fender or other stamped part in a die that is correct as it would from one that is made incorrect.If someone made the dies closer to original shape they would sell a lot more in the long run. I was thinking repro steel also but now maybe fiberglass might get more consideration.

 

Close this thread. These forums aren't a place for this.

 

Im sorry to say this seems to be the way of most aftermarket companies, Speedway is number one on the shit list and honestly P&J,So Cal, and Bob Drake arent far behind, they all sell you shit parts knowing full well you will have to have the ability to actually make it work. Unfortunately we as hobbiest have allowed this to happen by continueing to purchase parts from them..............Sorry about your bad luck!!

 

I have been dealing with Early Ford for years including last weekend and they are a stand up company to deal with in my opinion. As with any re-pop body part one must expect to have to make it fit. Have you ever checked out the body lines on a new re-pop Dearborne Duece? I rest my case.

 

sHAME BUT THATS THE WAY IT HAS BEEN LATELY.