Date:         Mon, 29 May 2006 22:02:56 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: outside mirrors
In-Reply-To:  <6da579340605291532s55002922h19a9c9351a011593@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> Anyone familiar with the reproduction mirrors 
> offered at: http://tinyurl.com/l2ltd
> Quality? 



The only repro's I've seen in years have been Taiwanese made, and noticably
inferior to the German ones - lighter weight, and inconsistent quality
control (wavy 'glass' on some samples I saw).  When they last were offered
to me a while back they wholesaled for under $10, so assuming that is what
these are, this eBay'er is making quite a killing at $23.  At that time I
turned them down after looking over several samples. I could see myself
maybe carrying them someday if they were still somewhere under $20 and if
the German ones hit the $40 mark (which I think will happen eventually; I've
held my retail price so far, but every time I re-order they're 50 cents or a
buck more than the time before). But for now, with German ones only $7 more,
it would be silly to buy the knock-offs.

That said, I do concur with John's statement that all of them (even German
ones) will tend to get floppy eventually due to the intrinsic design which
they all share.  The ones that came on the vans when new did it, the new
German ones will do it, they all do it eventually. (This can sometimes be
rectified by tightening the nut under the base, if you're careful not to
torque it too much and snap it.)

German mirrors for under $30:

<http://busdepot.com/view.jsp?model=58&prodgroup=1030>

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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