Art & Inspiration That Little Birdie That Bites You In The A$$

Now just a minute Gman. I had a customer bring me a radiator for the 40 Ford I was building for him. He's cheap so he bought one of those $120 Chinese radiators of of Ebay. Not me, I bought a name brand Champion for my 40, cost a lot more but I don't do cheap. Had both radiators side by side, the quality of his offshore was MUCH better then mine! Can't go by where it's made or price anymore.
He probably never knew I switched them. (kidding)

 

Buy once Cry once.

 

Buy one and be done...

 

Another twist on this is higher paid long tenure QC and Senior Production staff being replaced by cheaper younger or otherwise know it alls and they don't...and you got it inferior product (Higher up save money anyone can do it at***ude).
You pay the big bucks and it ****s out...this is really all very fluid and a reality of the today we live in and your right...we fight back...after we are stranded in the middle of nowhere limping home at great expense and h***le.
Lots of complexities in this stuff and again lots of this is going on right here not overseas.
As the Joker said "The Town needs an enema"...
I would like to say there are lots of very reputable companies and this is not reflective of those that are...thank you to those that do the right thing.
It just is a **** shoot sometimes finding the good a**** the bad.
I appreciate the stand up never settle for second best workmanship in a lot of what goes on around here.
I must say the Ole Hotrod I have acquired has a lot of old and better quality new stuff and some newer reproduction vintage and overall things are pretty good considering. I credit the previous ownership for their considering how to approach the build.
I'd say a good percentage of the membership is very keen to quality and this is very powerful to the ethical practice and accountability of businesses in the hobby.
They will pay in the long run for poor quality as word travels fast and the dollar can change direction rapidly.

 

I have a copy of this framed and in my office for my Customer's to read.
It was written by a fellow named John Ruskin in 1891 -Timeless!
“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.”

 

Nobody's even mentioned Speedway. Thread after thread about quality issues

 

As a friend of mine often said, " When you pay peanuts, you get monkeys".

 

Mine has been dragging me with a chain since we were kids.

A few years back, about '08 or'09 we g***ed up one morning on our way to work. She was probably a block or two ahead of me in traffic when I lost a distributer gear. We are talking the beginning of rush hour on a divided highway. I am off on the left shoulder when I hear honking and here she comes backing up through traffic. I laughed as she piles out of her truck and flings the big tow chain at me. I hooked up and she starts honking again as she is crossing both lanes of traffic and heading catty corner toward a side road.

When we got home she says, "Lost your distributer didn't you?" Then she said ,"I heard it let go and figured you could use a lift."

We make jokes about Harbor Freight, but there are probably more hotrods on this board built with their tools than any other. One of the fellas has one of those blue compressors that they used to sell he bought cheap at Harbor Freight probably 10 years ago now. Not even boxed it was the floor model.

 

This post brings up a subject I noticed in my time, being a tradesman and business owner for 36 years (Tool & Die/Pattern Shop) When I started out, listened to my seniors/mentors, learned trade and changed w/ times, retraining myself to keep up w/technology and had some respect for elders even if I thought they were full of BS. Fast forward 25/30 years or so, now all the engineering people I had do deal with were kids right out of college and know everything and telling me how to build their tooling/patterns, best part, never worked in a shop of any kind, (their book technology was outdated) so for most of the last of my time in business, I had to babysit theses twits and educate them how things work in the real world w/ today's technology. Actually saw one cry when I had a meeting w/ him and top management over his stupidity, (they fired him) The confidence of some of these guys was amazing, but NO CLUE ! Retired/sold out at 62, (2010) And to my surprise, DO-NOT miss it at all, loved my work/trade/shop, BUT employee's are a PIA in general, dealing w/ costumers/engineering/accounts receiveable's was always a challenge, But in today's times it's a ***** ! IMO

 

My mom says I squeak when I walk (because I'm tight). I really don't buy new parts or tools, just decent or rebuildable old ones........same with my cars..........maybe she has a point .

 

Cheap, fast and good. You will only ever get 2 at a time. Think about it.

I read this written on the wall in a porta-john while working in a shipyard in 1969.

"Egotism is the anisthetic for the pain of stupidity"

 

In my estimation a Champion radiator would be what I call cheap. I learned a long time ago that when it comes to brakes, steering and cooling you buy the best. The way you'll never be disappointed or have your *** stuck on the side of the road.

Gary