Now, here is a close up of the grill farthest from the wall, that did in fact have the dark grey eggshells.. you can see what is left of the paint.. An original grill, with traces of the dark grey..easy to see..
And now the 55K mile grill.. unmolested, in actually much better shape than the other grill. These cars were built a month apart.. the this one was built the 2nd week of January, the other car was built the 2nd week of Febuary. No traces of any dark paint on the eggshells.. Took this pic tonight, as I thought it would be good to talk about this issue again of "absolutes".. to help make this post a bit more informational for everyone. The last pic was taken back in Nov, to show how the paint overlapped the eggshell tops..
Ok.. Onto the issue of the difference in the 71 grill. Yes, the center mounts were beefed up, this was an engineering decision and the studs were shortened to accomidate this design change. Fit and function exactly like the original. Here is a couple pics I took tonight to illustrate how we checked it back then.. First, a $2200 NOS 71 Grill. We are measuring the dimension here, after verifing the fit in the car, compared to the NOS one, but noteing the differences in the center studs. This measurment was done before I knew the difference was done on purpose, and part of the verification and check out process.
And that same measurement taken on the reproduction grill. We had verified that our measurement points were the same on both grills.
within .062.. And since this grill was designed off laser read Cad drawings, and since it fit perfectly, it is likely that that difference is in my measurment process.. we were just looking for it to be "off a mile". It's not. Better than the orginal. Beyond the stud length variation, exactly like the original in fit and function. Heck, when I walk around with that NOS grill, I feel like a need an armed guard, and a crew to clear an obsitcles so it won't be damaged.. you know, like those chase and lead cars used when the "wide load" trucks go down the highway.. The repro grill.. heck, you can drop that on the concrete from 6 feet in the air.. I have purposely done it several times.. ---------------- Now, reproducting parts is a monumental undertaking.. there will be mistakes made, and quite frankly, asking a whole bunch of folks is what cause the 70 grill painting issue.. that's not the answer. The answer is to work with an outfit that does only GS's, and has a dozen different models on the floor at any given time.. and I happen to know of such a place.. :Brow: Don't take that as me implying that we know everything here, I have always held to the fact anyone who thinks they know everything, doesn't understand the question fully.. or has not had enough questions asked them. This board, and the guys on it, are a wealth of knowledge no doubt, but as of yet, we have not had an instance with TPP where we did not have the answer, but when we do, you guys will be who we ask.. JW
I should add that the front marker lights, were one of their first offerings on our cars, before they knew of the existance of this board.. and that issue has been of course been take care of now. It strikes me as ironic, that we are able to sit here and discuss repro parts issues.. since just a few years ago, there wouldn't have been a whole lot to talk about.. some nice trinkets here and there, but not a lot of the high dollar stuff, that's for sure. JW
uzzled: 50 post's due to incorrect color on a grill Try to find parts for a 68 Riviera. I must have paid $2-3 grand for shipping of used parts alone the past two years. (Thereafter the fun starts, painting, glueing, welding, polishing etc). Get real. :boring: BTW, when are TPP starting to reproduce parts for us? Per. :beer :beer
confused wow what a bunch of primadonnas........my message to the parts place is"keep making parts for the buick community",the unsilent majority appreciates your efforts and the mispainted parts are trivial.if i had been waiting years for someone to repro a part and then they did,but painted it wrong.........SO WHAT!!!!!GRAB SOME MASKING TAPE AND REPAINT THE FRIGGIN THING"".....WHATS THE BIG DEAL!!!!!!...............my hats off to tpp!!!...........ed
:rant: NICE GOING FOOLS........WELL... NOW I'LL NEVER GET OUTER WHEEL HOUSING OR OTHER PARTS FOR MY 69 G.S. Shane don't listen to these CRYBABIES... lot's of us want your parts... they all think these cars were perfect for the factory.....well guys.. they WERE NOT... you guys should see all the stuff for my 68 cutlass....awwww hell with it ou: some of you guys just don't get it ....
Yeah, If us full size car owners could get anything, we would be very grateful! I can't wait till I can order my woodgrain dash decals from Greg!
Future Repro Parts To Shane and the crew at The Parts Place, Just want to let you know that I have been satisfied with your parts and service and I believe many others are as well. Of course you dont always hear back from all customers and sometimes when someone is pissed off about a deal that they dont think is fair their anger will be directed at you. If you are in this business for the long haul,the comments and the negative feedback will be forgotten and you will sell many parts to many appreciative customers. I hope you will reconsider any decisions to not reproduce new and much needed Buick parts. Mike Biagini
To TPP, You have been a huge part of our recent restorations on 442's! Without you, it would have cost more money and several parts would have never been bought. Now you have stepped up and delivered much needed Buick parts. I bought a 71 grill and LOVED it!!!! I didn't have $2400 to spend on a NOS one from ebay, so you saved the front of my car from a cracked and ugly grill. Please keep up the r&d on Buicks. We need you! I have never had a problem with you or your products. It was just a few people on here raising hell, but with over 10,000 memebers, what is a few??? Please don't let a few mess things up for the majority. John Ayers Wayne Ayers
Thank you TPP for your consideration in serving the BUICK Community. It is appreciated by all and I hope you continue to service our niche. While I can not say I have ever bought parts from you (because my car was "finished" several years ago), I feel that puts me in a position to offer an objective opinion. This opinion is based both on my experiences as a buyer of parts for my cars from several other vendors, as well as from my professional business experiences where I am responsible and accountable for the purchasing of 6-figure amounts of products yearly. It is my job to select vendors, develop working business relationships and evaluate all areas pertaining to this spending. While you have undoubtedly provided an excellent piece of needed hardware for many to purchase, you have let a minor production issue (that has been corrected) turn into a public relations fiasco. While I am not privy to the intricacies of the profitiblilty break-points associated with this particular piece - such as sales volumes of intro pieces versus actual sales of Full-cost pieces to date; projected sales numbers for the future; and a break even point of pieces sold to recoup your iinvestment capital,I am sure you were making some profit on the introductory price. ....I'll even go out on a limb here and venture a guess that the amount is more than the $18-$25 in shipping costs that this whole "Issue" is about. To me, your decision not to reimburse those fee's is a bad decision and proving to be a publicity nightmare. Shame on you for not seeing this at first light as a bad business decision and nipping it in the bud To those that bought into the pre-release discount and feel they should be able to return it for "correct" one from TPP instead of having JW repaint it - I say this - It is not as if the piece is of inferior quality, has been redesigned using new materials or, fixing a design flaw causing your piece to be "incorrect" or, not funtion correctly. Its paint....its the sugar sprinkled on top. Yes, there are those that also paid the discounted price and received the "correct" piece, but you didn't. Sorry o No: You still received Basically the exact same part and have a way to make it right. You saved $100 compared to those purchasing now - thats 20% !!!! Be Happy !!!
I look forward to the future with the parts place. I think that a few bad apples here on the board(read:whiners) don't speak for the community as a whole. Looking back, kind of a bone head mistake to make, but an easy one really. The total explosion of diarehea posts was just uncalled for. The grill is not hopeless, not a total loss, and quite a nice piece. Alot of people have the mentality that these "chevy-quality" or "chevy part makers" or "another chevy part assumed the same" parts are not good enough for them, or that the afteremarket owes us better. In my opinion, these guys can drink a tall glass of STFU :af: :eek2: I say the hell with them. I'd pay 400 bucks for a repop grill. let them pay the thousands for an NOS, then they can feel real good abotu themselves.
I was going to stay out of this thread because I have nothing invested in either side of the argument.... But then I read this quote: And now I feel compelled to comment... Personally, I prefer my STFU in a bowl. Thank you. p :moonu: :laugh: But I guess in all seriousness.... since I'm typing.... there is something I did kinda want to ask... How many grilles were shipped painted the wrong color? In other words... how big of a deal is this? Are there 10,000 grilles? or 10 grilles? The answer to this question effects my opinion on the whole matter. Not that my opinion matters though. o No: I guess to expand on that.... If there are 10 grilles out there... TPP should have taken care of it completely, free of charge, no questions asked. If there are 10,000 of them... I would hate to see TPP or JW taking that kind of hit and I'd want to help in any way possible. I'm sure the number is somewhere between 10 and 10,000... but you know what I'm getting at? Hope that explains my question a little.....
I don't have a dog in this fight either, but I have to say that the mis-painted grilles are an improvement over the factory paint colors. Perhaps some people would prefer that version. Though, I'm not a date code, crayon mark kind of guy either. :laugh:
I agree. I think the diference is not anything to worry about. but, I'm not a date-code person either.
I agree that the mispainted colors look better than the original. I for one am very happy with my new mispainted grill because I was going to paint the egg crate section black anyway. I think TPP has done a great job on this grill! :TU: I only hope they will continue to bring more high quality Buick resto parts to market. Hey Parts Place, you guys do a great job & keep the great reato parts comming!!!!!!!! :TU: :TU:
First of all I would like to say that I ordered and received one of the incorrectly painted grilles from The Parts Place for the introductory price. I am also fairly new to the Buick community and am impressed by how tight knit a group this is. I am also currently in the middle of the first restoration I have ever done. This is the way I see itTPP did say that the grilles would be painted correctly and ready to bolt on when they arrived. As we all know some were painted incorrectly and will need to be repainted. The solutions that have been offered by TPP are not the best in the world for anyone but are a decent compromise between the interested parties....at least they made an effort. I have looked at the situation and alternatives and have decided to repaint the grille myself and save me the hassle of shipping it and Jim the hassle of repainting it.its just not worth it. I am not going to say I wasnt a little disappointed that I would have to repaint the product I just bought under the impression it would be correct. I think TPP should have sent people who received the incorrect grilles correct ones. Thats just good business in my mind especially in a community so tightly knit like the Buicks. :Smarty: However from what I have heard and seen this grille is sooo much better than buying a used one for just as much and repairing it or spending way to much to buy an nos one only to be worried about breaking it. The grille I received was excellent quality and they paid a lot of attention to detail when designing it. So besides the paint it is an almost perfect product. This has been made into way too much of a deal than it should be and everyone needs to take a nice deep cleansing breath and actually evaluate the situation for what it is...a small mistake. I am very impressed with the parts that TPP puts out and even after the grille arrived incorrect I ordered hundreds more dollars worth of parts from them because of the quality, quick shipping, and the fact that they are developing our hard to find parts. I would like to thank The Parts Place for putting out very high quality parts for excellent prices. :TU: Lets all calm down, have a beer, and remember that we have all come together here and are united by our unquenchable love of boiling rubber, throaty exhausts, and wayyyy to much torque :laugh: :beer . :3gears:
