Over the years, old-Ford hot-rod guru Vern Tardel has developed some nifty problem-solving parts to help folks building their rides with Henry hardware. He's made them affordable, adding only a reasonable and usually very modest markup over his manufacturing costs. One of those parts is a brake-drum retainer that captures the flange on the drum and prevents it -- and the wheel -- from leaving the car in the event of an axle breaking. Not only is it effective, it's also a super-easy install thanks to Vern's cleverness. Vern sells the retainers direct to the customer as well as to parts dealers at a reasonabale discount. His biggest single customer over the years was Speedway Motors, a good customer that ordered and sold a fair number of the retainers. Their reorder routine ceased not long ago, and Vern thought it was a little odd, but otherwise didn't pay it much mind. Then, last week when he was going through the provided parts a customer brought in with his car that is scheduled for final assembly and fettling at Vern's shop, he opened a Speedway box and discovered . . . brake-drum retainers. Yes, identical to Vern's but gold irridite plated instead of vern's black-oxide coating, and bearing a little gold sticker proclaiming "Made in Taiwan." BTW, a sticker on the outside of the Speeway box proudly proclaims "MADE IN THE USA." Things must be tight at Speedway for Speedy Bill to rip off one of the very good little guys who has been supporting his end of the hobby for many years.
that really pisses me off! hope speedway reads the forum...I personally don't need anything they've got!
And I WAS planning on ordering some stuff from them.Suddenly,I've changed my mind. They will go right at the top of the Shit list,right beside Eastwood.Another Theiving Bastard outfit.
I wonder if it is some cost cutting purchasing personnel trying to make himself look good for three cents he saved the corporation and "Speedy" doesn't know anything about it.
Uh-oh....this is one I don't need to get into....it's kinda like having 2 of your friends fighting. If you take sides, you lose at least one friend. I can understand both sides. ON one hand, you have the guy selling to a big retailer at a nice discount and the guy starts repopping his part. On the other hand, you have a bidnessman trying to make a living selling parts.....sees the part can be made cheaper without breaking any copyright laws and goes for it... Hmmmmmmmmm.......I suppose the box was made in the USA, eh?
That's just GAY! And speaking of gay, here's a shot of the late, almost great, but definitely gay Truman Capote. Does he look like anyone we know? I'm just kidding. Just because Speedy Bill Smith looks like Truman Capote doesn't mean that Speedy Bill is anally raping anyone. Ripping off Vern Tardell's design, however, does mean that Speedy Bill is anally raping someone. Mike, doesn't Vern have any proprietary rights to his design? --Matt
What is at the root of this problem is something that is at the root of many problems in the USA... That is, car parts are REDICULOUSLY CHEAP these days... I'm talking about parts that the aftermarket industry sells. If you can find the answer as to why the price of an intake manifold hasn't gone up in the last 20 years... you'll find the answer as to why an upstanding busuinessman like Vern is getting "back door'd" by some Tiawaneese company seeling these things for 25 cents apiece... I have to laugh when somone bitches about a hot rod being "too rich for my blood" at $15,000 or even $10,000... When I finished my '55 Chevy in 1989 (paint, interior, chrome ETC.) I had ten grand in it... and that was doing it almost all at home, paying for it by working at the local burger stand for $3.75 an hour! Bottom line is... when people "price shop" that drives the price down of "stuff"... then, in order to "stay competitive" (read, make more money) or sometimes just even to stay in buisiness... all the service, quality and the stuff some of us like and can afford... goes out the window. If you have bought from speedway, you have more than likely bought there because they offer the best prices... I know I have... but with that, comes a price... something we are unaware of... until now. Sam
Man sounds prett crappy to me. MAybe I spend too much money at Speedway. Does Vern sell direct to anyone? If so does he have a catalog? I'll drive 10 miles out of my way to avoid places like WalMart, Target etc. I have a friend that owns a lumberyard in our town. He and his brother and dad run it. I never ask for a buddy discount because I don't want him to feel obligated, it's his livelyhood. Very seldom do I shop at Home Depot or Lowe's just because I like to help the local businessman. You have to or you will be slaves to the coorperate America, that is eating Mainstreet,USA as we speak. Sorry for the rant.
someone has to pass this thread on to speedway bill,he needs to see people are aware he's doing this shit.maybe he'll read this while he's shittin in boxes and marken em "made in usa"and come to his senses....the dick.
I added the link to the thread but I am not sure if the link will work on one of those "comment" boxes.
That's fucked up for sure... People who invent things really need to patent/trademark/copyright their stuff right away..!! esp. in the automobile aftermarket industry..!!! I hope this gets resolved the right way...
Same thing happened to my buddy "UNKL AL", ripped off with his "DOOR GO'S" and other parts. In his case , someone found the supplier, didn't change anything..just cut his throat........OLDBEET
roothawg thats kool,did you e-mail or call direct?if so post the numbers so we can call too...im out quickrod
I'm pretty sure that was why Jake Jaocbs got out of Pete and Jakes... If my memory serves me correct he squirreled himslef away and made up all of those 35-48 Ford brackets, steering box mount to ford frame, engine mounts, paralel leaf set up, etc... and within as short time everyone else copied his stuff and was selling it as well.
This is why Speed Bill is so rich, taking advantage of situations just like you've described. I subcontracted the building of oval track products for Howe Racing Enterprises here in Michigan. Early in the game Speedway ordered parts from us (Howe) that were Howe designes and included them in their catalog. After awhile the orders from Speedway stopped and we wondered why. The answer was as close as their next catalog. They had their own manufacturing facility duplicate the parts and cut Howe out of the equation. They got to employ (or keep employed) their people and made money off Howe's design without sharing the profit with anyone. Pretty clever as those products were not patented and Howe had no recourse. I used to walk into Bill's shop in Lincoln,NE when I was 13/14 years old when I was downtown buying model airplanes. When I'd go in there Bill would lean over the counter and ask what I wanted. The reply was "I'm just looking", at which time I was asked to leave if I wasn't going to buy anything. This wasn't a friendly request, more like an order. Bill's shop at the time was just a small place, today he has an empire. From a business standpoint its hard to argue with his success, Bill chose a somewhat hardnose approach. I'm sure he sleeps well at night.
From the Speedway site Early Ford Brake Drum Retainer If you snap an axle in your non-safety-hub-equipped '39-'48 Ford rear end, you can stop the loss of the brake drum and axle stub with this kit. Includes 2 brackets and hardware. #91031365 $19.95 !
Vern does sell all of his parts direct to the consumer. At present he has catalog sheets for each of his products (we just finished new ones last week that are all nice and uniform. We'll be working on a catalog this Winter. Keep in mind that Vern's offerrings are flathead hot-rod specific, so if that's not your direction you probably won't find much to interest you, other than the neat art-deco ashtray or the quick-change key fob. I doubt that Speedy Bill has any knowledge of the decision to go off-shore to make a few extra bucks. I feel it's a bean-counter decision . . . at least that's what I'd like to think; I've long considered Speedy Bill a friend of the budget racer and hot rodder.
And Speedy Bill isn't the only one doin it either. When my brother worked for Bob Drake, he was trying to manufacture, finish and package as many parts as he could right here in the US. His prices were not competitive with the rest of the industry, so he began sending work to indonesia and Tiwan. The quality suffers but he's staying competitive with the "other guys". People want low prices first...quality second. It's a fact of business life but it's still a damn shame.
the quest for the almighty dollar makes people make shity decisions somtimes. but i hate to think i've got fucking sweatshop SAFETY parts on my car. speedybill couldn't charge 25 or 30 dollars for a better part? i guess those brake retainers will get tested properly when someones axle breaks. hope it's not yours. fuck speedy bill
What pisses me off is when I pay a premium price for something and STILL get the off-shore made crap. At the present rate i wonder how long it's going to be before our military ordinanace is made in Taiwan or mainland China? That is, if it isn't already! The real winner in this game is still the big ugly brown UPS truck
Just to add one more thing. Bill claimes he is the oldest speed shop on the planet. Well he is not, the Rocco and Cheaters Speed shop in Birmingham Alabama has been in contionus operation since 1946. Thats 2 years longer than Speedways 1948.Several letters were sent to Bill to advise to stop this untruth but he has not replied. Oh yes R&C owner and manger is HAMB member Pinstriper, Sam.
This is a lil' OT but look at the aftermarket products for bikes, very expensive compared to automotive. It's rediculous that I can buy a 502 GM crate motor for what I could buy a 2 cylinder under 100 horse power H-D motor. What gives, the quality is on the same par to each other, and that big block will be running reliably way longer than that EVO would. Or look at something as simple as wheels, a stock replacment 16 inch H-D wheel caosts twice as much as a nice aftermarket wheel for a car, and that OEM wheel is probably made in Mexico anyway. Sorry for the rant this kinda shit just really buggs me and is why people will dive absolute shit, they just can't afford a nice ride(or at least keep it nice). -Jesse
Speedway is like Wall Mart. Everything there does the job, but kind of sucks. I guess if I was manufacturing something to sell to Wall Mart I would make sure it had a patent. I would also only sell to them under some sort of contract. Speedway has only done their job. Suppling cheap usable parts to fags like us. Selling parts to Speedway, or buying parts from Speedway has nothing to to with honor. It's all about cost. It sucks that Speedway had to go to tiawan to keep the parts cheap enough for us to keep buying them. If Vern was smart he would have manufactured the pieces in Tiawan in the first place......... If he was TRULY honerable he would have never sold them to a place like Speedway in the first place. I mean no disrespect, but Speedway is motivated by cost. That is the only reason people buy from them. There really isn't anything in that catolog that couldn't be found or bought from the "little guy." The convience and savings is what drives people to buy from them, just like the rest of America who buys from Wall Mart instead of a Ma and Pa type place. Bottom line, if he would have patented the parts, he could have liscened them to Speedway for them to make where ever they wanted.
<font color="red"> DrJ....remember a guy named John Walker?....he was the faggot asshole who sold secrets to the Russians...one of the things he sold to the ruskies was the angles and curvatures of US submarine screws(propellors for you non-seamen)........the point to this little rant?....the reason the Russians wanted the info was because they already had bought the tools for doing it from Mitsubishi Corporation...yes top secret parts machining tools were being made by a Japanese company!!....and that was back in the late 80's early 90's........lots of our munitions are built in foreign countries .......if we went to war against Mexico we would have to watch what plants we bombed as we would be shutting down or our militaries parts supply! CHEW ON THAT SHIT FOR AWHILE!!!! R E D M E A T </font>
I thought Honor died in the 70's and we started kicking it to make damn sure it was dead in the 80's... Today we just keep the corpse around as a bad joke about a by-gone era. Point being, there hasn't been honor in business for a long time. I'm sure Vern could sue but he won't cause it'd cost too much and that's what big busineses like Speedway count on. I bet Vern knew somewhere in the back of his head that this might happen... But then again I'm just a cynical fuck.
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