LMC Replacement Rocker Was Too Short

[gmachinz]

Originally Posted by jdl71

So what becomes of it (GM tooling) if it's not sold? Sent to China for scrap and then sent back to us as stamped steel patch panels? Only partially tongue in cheek there. I've also heard that after a while the tooling gets too old, worn out, etc to continue making the parts within tolerance. I'll admit I know nothing about manufacturing but to me that means that the dies or whatever they use to stamp steel with have just physically lost enough material that they are no longer accurate. Hopefully someone will chime in and set me straight if I'm way off here.

Keith?

I say that based on conversations with a local gentleman who is a machinist by trade (retired) and he has exclusive rights to reproduce the Impala SS swirl pattern interior and exterior trim moldings-he had to build his own machining processes too-he was told by a rep for GM Restoration Parts that they would grant him the license to offer them for sale IF he could manufacture them as well as NOS parts would look. He inquired about using GM original tooling and was told GM keeps the original production equipment and does not offer them for sale. Ive been told by AMD (repro sheetmetal) reps too that GM keeps their production tooling and does not sell it or rent it. So as far as I know from people who actually have licensed permission from GM to reproduce certain parts that nobody uses actual GM tooling.