[MikeB]

Originally Posted by gmachinz

GM doesn't sell ANY of their original tooling. Companies may build replicas of GM tooling but nobody has any actual production GM tooling.

But I read it on the Internet, so it must be true! In any case there are multiple sources for some sheet metal parts.

Interesting post by a guy at National Parts Depot:

"There are many different factories over in Taiwan, some names that you would recognize (Golden Legion, GT Golden Trust, CHL), and alot that you wouldn't.

They all more-or-less "cooperate" with each other to a certain degree, in order to be able to sell the other's products on their containers for parts that they do not have tooling for themselves...

Let's face it, there's not enough VOLUME in these old-car parts to support or justify each and every factory having its own complete array of tooling for every last widget...

It's a mixed-bag, a subject FAR TOO VAST to cover here, or begin to explain.

For certain parts/pieces, there are competing tools overseas, and hence a "choice" for us importers to make, in the quest to be carrying the best-quality that is available.

For other parts, there is only ONE set of tooling in operation overseas, and the products produced from that tooling get shared far and wide amongst various importers.

And then for many parts there are EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENTS between manufacturer and importer... I'm not going to name names, but certain major importers/distributors used to have alot of exclusives, but these exclusives seem to be expiring or getting bought-back by actual manufacturers. There's alot of turmoil currently...

See what a political mess we have here.

All of the U.S. importers/distributors work hard at marketing their "brand", which gives hobbyists such as yourselves the idea that they are making their own stuff. Yes, and no, and maybe, and not really, and.... It all depends...

But suffice it to say... Does it ALL come from the same place? No.

Does each company sell its own unique line-up of products? No.

Is it a big tangled mess of factories with strange names, importers paying for effective marketing and exclusives, competing tools, and non-competing tools? YES.

We've been importing on our own since "the beginning". It used to be a big deal for us back in the 80's, a big event, purchasing a full container from an overseas representative that acted as agency for these factories.

Today we have our own relationships, contacts, and pipelines. We go to Dynacorn or Goodmark when they hold an exclusive "monopoly" for a specific part that we need to carry. But if they don't own those rights, we buy it direct. Golden Legion has long been our primary source for awhile, but bottom-line is that we'll source to the best toolings available, to the best of our ability to ascertain.

We currently import over 60 containers a year.

I've said it a million times before, "generalizing" the topic of repro metal is like trying to simplify something very complex, it winds up getting you no good answers, and no solid advice. In the end, you just need to buy from an end-supplier that you can trust to have done their homework, and have good contacts/sourcing..."