Hi all. I'm interested in buying some new parking light housing from Dennis Capenter for my 56 HT. Has anyone bought these from them and is the fit and finish worth the money or should I just have my originals rechromed? I’m also looking at their grille.
I have several parts from them that are decent quality but my park light housings and grill are rechromed originals. Mine were done by Highline plating from Missouri but I can't recommend them. They look decent on outward appearances but I don't expect them to look good long term. But they are cheap for rechroming.. I can recommend Red's Parts Attic in Texas they do a fantastic job and are cheaper than Advance Plating in Tennessee. I had small dash items done by Highline that were so bad I sent them to Red's to be redone and they came back beautiful. I would suggest rechroming the originals for better fit and quality.
I have Dennis Carpenter grill and park lights in my '55. They were put in my the previous owner about 8-10 years ago. They are very bright with no evidence of corrosion so far.
Another source is Concours in Carson City, NV Vintage & Cl***ic Ford Cars & Trucks Restoration Parts - Old & Antique Auto Parts - Ford Sheet Metal, Interior Parts & More
When Dennis stepped down and his Son took over, they began to outsource and that has caused problems in quality, especially some rubber products, it is best to call in an order and ask if the product is still USA made in house or outsourced and what the country of origin is, if they say China or India you should p*** and keep looking.
I bought a set, the plating was good but the tops showed a ripples in reflections. I actually bought the them thru Concours in Carson City Nevada. I took photos and sent them to Concours and asked what I should do as I was not going to put them on the car. They asked me to send the photos to Carpenter. A week later I received a new set from them. They didn’t want the first set back. The lip edge where the lenses attach are hard to polish and they could be a little better but to me are acceptable.
I have a '54 Ford and have used many of the parts from Dennis Carpenter, I have not been disappointed with any of the chrome parts I have purchased, the only real problem has been with the air duct ventilators, they have a very short life span, about a year. athe rubber is very thin and it ends up splitting, I have seen people use inner tube from a motorcycle to cure the problem, it's not a nice looking as the original piece but it does work. This is one part that they need to look into and make it from better materials. HRP
I had a similar problem with the duct connectors as well. They were purchased from Concours and I contacted them after they failed in short order. I got the "we've never heard of that happening before" but they sent me replacements.
I made my own out of EPDM rubber from an old pond liner I had. They sell EPDM on Amazon too. Mine are thick and work well.....
I ordered and installed some rubber suspension and steering parts (bushed/dust covers) some time ago for my 53. Very poor rubber quality, they were almost like plasticthan rubber, and almost impossible to install. Within weeks they had all split.
Gotta disagree there. NOS rubber part?? I wouldn't think there is any way 60-year-old rubber is going to be good, regardless of the ****py stuff nowadays.
See the picture of my '54 Ford Skyliner? I have owned that car for nearly 40 years as I bought it from the original owner in 1986. That car still has ALL of its ORIGINAL rubber weatherstrips in perfect soft and supple condition just like the day they were made. The reason....this car has spent its entire life garaged with no prolonged exposure to the sun or weather. I have bought many NOS or NORS rubber parts in their original boxes or wrapping and so long as they have not been exposed they are in as new condition. On the other hand, when I did a frame off restoration of my '54 Ford Convertible, I did not have the luxury of as new original parts. I bought a pair of Carpenter rubber taillight pads and they cracked within a year. I replaced them with a good used pair of originals from one of my parts cars and those are still on the convertible and crack free. Those Carpenter heater duct rubbers are even worse. I put a pair on my convertible and they fell apart within 6 months. I ended up using sections of Harley-Davidson inner tubes and they are still on the car in good condition. I stand by my opinion that NOS or NORS parts are always better than repro. including rubber parts in original boxes or wrappers.
I've heard mostly good reviews about Steele Rubber Products although they're a bit more expensive than most. I believe Steele produces their own products. A lot of DC rubber is truly junk....I do know that. But, to Alan's point, NOS would probably be better than some of DC's garbage as well as most of the other rubber suppliers cuz they all get it from the same overseas supplier. I did order a DC hood to firewall seal that cracked immediately when I installed it. I dug up my old factory seal and found it was dirty/nasty but not cracked or deteriorated at all. So, I cleaned it well, added some protectant and installed it. Still in great shape a year later.
I rest my case!!! I don't know what it is but there is definitely something different in the ingredients in the new rubber that make it go bad so quickly. (There are probably some banned chemicals in the old stuff that can no longer be used).
I’ve used Steele rubber for a Cadillac years ago. Most of their weatherstripping fit poorly. Some of them were molded that after installing them I couldn’t close the doors or had gaps. I ended up using originals that I found on a car in a specialty wrecking yard that were still in OK usable condition. They didn’t even charge me since I told them that I needed them as “patterns”.
For suspension bushings and boots check out this company. These will not rot or crack like rubber, https://www.energysuspensionparts.com/shop-universal-parts.asp? They do not list the older Fords, but if you go to the part you want in the universal list it shows how to measure for them. I used their sway bar bushings and end links and linkage boots on my '54, Two Thumbs up ! Hint to save you some bucks on shipping, take the part numbers to your local AutoZone or Pep Boys order over the counter and since most will be in their warehouses you won't pay for shipping and usually will have the parts overnight.
I needed a defroster duct hose and nobody had them. It is oval in shape. I found a Jeep rectangular duct that worked fine. I has another need for something else rubber, I used an old wheelbarrow tube and weatherstrip adhesive. New tie rods and ball joints, boots splitting with zero miles on them. I fished out a used tue rod boot from my hardware pail, 8 years ago. Still perfect. I even had new Energy Suspension boots split after a short while. There has to be some tidbit of information missing regarding offshore rubber products. Just enough, maybe our US makers do this by design? Keep the cards close to the vest.
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