Re: Repro-Conclusion

Posted by carla on August 29, 1998 at 00:42:29

In Reply to: Repro-Conclusion
posted by Malcolm Fischer on August 28, 1998 at 23:24:49

hello, malcolm,
i think the recent discussion of remake items on this board might be a good start--- after all, if the "ford owning public" were to "just say no" to substandard items, and let the dealers keep them for shelf decorations, then the makers of these items could go back to making tin toys, or paper-weights, or something.
but--- if we are to have newly made parts of acceptable quality, we shall have to be willing to pay the price for them.
many years ago, mr ford became the world's first billionare cos he was one of the world's best businessmen-- he "played fair" with the buyers of his cars by building a reliable cheap car of excellent materials, in mass production.
if, today, a toolmaker was to make up the jigs and fixtures for a run of, say, 500 of a part, instead of the 5 million of each model "a" part built at the ford works, the cost per part is obviously a lot higher.
if some number of ford owners, as a group, were to solicit bids from responsible machinists for this or that part, and establish credible inspection standards, then almost any part could be remade to original quality standards---but--- who would be willing to invest in expensive tooling?
i just can't visualise any answer to that in near future--maychance, over a period of years, some sort of special-interest group might be possible--- i've heard that packard owners have been doing this for years--- individual owners will place a deposit with some reliable third party, and when enough orders have been placed, the group will negotiate with reliable machinists to produce their parts.
carla