Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 02:09:33 -0500
Reply-To: Al and Sue Brase <albeeee@MCHSI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Al and Sue Brase <albeeee@MCHSI.COM>
Subject: Re: jack, costs
In-Reply-To: <JHEHKLEAKBLMKEJMBNOOIELFDIAA.jeff@vanagonparts.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Jeff, BenT:
And crap from Great Britain. Which in the past and presently makes some
lovely stuff, too. (those King Dick tools look nice!)
If I remember correctly, Honda was one of the first companies to really
try to improve quality to world class levels. One of the things they did
was to pursue racing (GP motorcycles) in about 1959. I've read alot
about them from that time period.
And NPR pistons may have been just as good as Mahles, but they are
different now.
I think I mighta been the one that raised the level of volume on this
thread. My whole intention was that one should buy good tools. The
bitterness of low quality remains long after the sweetness of low price.
While China might have the oldest civilization on our planet, high
quality, long lasting, SAFE tools with which to fix our Vanagons are NOT
what those containerloads in ships are filled with. And while things
might look pretty good to BenT in Pacific Heights, out here where they
USED to make stuff, it's not so great. IF customers buy quality, the
companies MAY flourish and they may have quality choices in the future.
VW enthusiasts should be particularly interested in this. VW has almost
COMPLETELY killed the goose that laid the golden egg. Replacement parts
are almost 2 times the price in the US as anywhere else in the world. VW
had it ALL when it came to van/ station wagon (dare I say "mini Van")/
small pickup sales in the 50's to early 60's. They made a lot of
mistakes and now their market share is near zero in those product lines
in the US.
We customers have no choice of a VW double cab unless we resort to
pretty unusual purchasing strategies.
Just consider buying quality whether it is a Snap-on wrench (I only have
10, but the important ones!), or a German exhaust valve (are they even
out there for Vanagons?).
Al Brase
(you can call me kraut-boy if you want -no one's called me a boy in 45
years!)
It was friday in cal-ee-forneyaa when I started this, does that count?
Jeffrey Schwaia wrote:
>I think you missed the major gist of Ben's email, the subtle racial
>references are more the problem, than complaints about quality. And ANY
>statement that degrades another based on race, belief, appearance, etc. is
>more than just "sometimes unfortunate"... it is always WRONG.
>
>As for quality:
> - I've seen crap from China
> - I've seen crap from Germany
> - I've seen crap from the USA
>
>
>
>
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