Thread: Holy CRAP! I'm a Commie...........

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To quote Frank Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond) "Holy CRAP". I guess I'm a communist. Time to come out of the closet, or garage rather, and admit that I'm communist, or at the very least support them. Boy I hate the sound of that. So what you ask has brought me to this earth shattering revalation. A new radiator for my hot rod. I've been running an old modine out of a model super 66 Oliver tractor, that I modified. Well It's summer, almost. And it runs a little hotter than I would like. Radiator probably needs to be rodded. It was full of raw cotton when I got it and I flushed it several times. Well I stumbled onto 32 Ford aluminum radiators on e-bay for less than $200.00. Gonna cost at least $100.00 to rod mine. And pray the core doesnt disentergrate. So I buy a chopped one, so I can move grill shell closser to engine, and shorten engine bay. Radiator arrives on Wensday, right down side of box, Yeah you guessed it, Made in China. Well I was sure that it would be, but I cant afford $800.00 bucks for a Walker. It looks good. All welds look nice. All furnaced brazed, no epoxy. Cool.

Anyway I put it in, and I'm sitting in my chair, in front of my floor fan, (Made in China), looking at the rod and it occurs to me most of the damed thing was made in china. I shop wal-mart, there is really no other place in town, and I hate it. I call it China-Mart. But I don't make alot of money, so you do what you have to. Back to the rod. I start listing and can't believe it.
Radiator, Radiator electric fan, pulleys, timing cover, oil pan, probably valve covers, dust cover, trans pan, diff cover, pushrods, probably valves, probably valve springs, roller rockers (Comp) but probably, almost every nut and bolt, stainless, grade 5, and grade 8, probably half of all hose clamps, wire ??, new wheel cyl for 48 ft brakes (were name brand walker or ?) but made in china, half my gauges, one moon gauge I just got, probably all the new steel I bought, those heim joints and clevis from Speedway (probably), dist, plug wires ??, hog rings for upholstry (probably).

Anyway you get the idea. It's hard to touch anything that is not at lest partially from china. Oh lets not forget all those Harbor Freight tools I could not otherwise afford. Now don't get me wrong. I really have nothing against China, even if it is still Communist. But anymore I can't seam to buy anything that is made here. And I laugh when I see made in Japan, and think "Oh this is high quality"

So there it is. Like it or not I MUST Be Communist. There is no other explanation. How do you say Rat Rod in Chineese?

Holy CRAP, even the racoon tail on my antenna is from China, although for all I know it's probably a dog tail spray painted.

Just Shoot Me!

agreed ....

Sorry Louie - you're mistaken. What you have written is literally "Right Foot"..

"Rat Rod" is 大鼠桿

So Sollie
Grenn

I started to go out of my way to avoid purchasing anything from China. I avoid Walmart just because of it. But like you said it's hard to find things Not Made in China.

I bought a New, not rebuilt water pump Made in China for my Ford F-150. A coupe of months later while my son was driving it overheated, he went thru all kinds of things to fix it because he knew I put in that brand new one. Finally he took it off..... it looked like it exploded inside.

He put in a New Life Time Starter Made in China.... with in a year he's replaced it FIVE times.

Solenoid Made in China..... TWO in one year.

The junky parts look good on the outside but they are JUNK.

The garage mechanics around here are purchasing Used parts from Junkyards when they can't find new or rebuilt USA made replacement parts. All their profit goes down the drain when they have to replace a China built part over and over.

Rata Roda.

More like Lat Lod.

Wat Wod . . .

Louey, you speak Fudd?

Rik-shaw:d one people power

As much as we would all like to directly support American companies and their workers, it isn't just as simple as "Buy American" any more. So many American based companies are using parts or whole assemblies bought from foreign countries that it's almost impossible to know where something was really made.

We also have to remember that we Americans love it when other countries buy our stuff, which they do in huge quantities, so it is only fair that we buy some of theirs too. It's a different world today, and it would be impossible for us to seal our borders so that only truly American made products were sold here. Look at the foreign car makers who have factories here, employing American workers.

And, as much as we bash companies like Speedway and a zillion others for buying products from overseas, the fact is they have been forced to do so to stay profitable. I'm as guilty as anyone else because I love low prices and I shop places like Walmart and Harbor Freight because of that. I'm no expert on global economics, but I bet there would be very grave consequences if we were to magically exclude all foreign products from being sold here. We are tied into the rest of the world in ways none of us probably fully understand.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

..... but I bet there would be very grave consequences if we were to magically exclude all foreign products from being sold here. We are tied into the rest of the world in ways none of us probably fully understand.

Don

Like the REAL cost of buying votes as one example......:http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...978963,00.html

Agreed, most Chinese-sourced products are crap. The process is typically that an American company or individual sends a genuine, quality product to China and asks for a quotation for xx units. The Chinese are masters at copying the appearance of the unit but they sometimes have little clue regarding the material specifications, tolerances, design life goals, etc. The Chinese get an order for the xx units and produce a "look alike" to the real item.

Americans promote this trend of goods turning into junk because we (the general population) buy on price first....quality is way down the line. This is why the stores stock the junk. That's why the streets are full of ricer junk, tool boxes have crap tools, we shoot Russian ammo, etc. If we valued quality, this trend could change the stock in stores very quickly. Just like "you are what you eat", "you are what you buy"

mike in tucson

Originally Posted by robot

Agreed, most Chinese-sourced products are crap. The process is typically that an American company or individual sends a genuine, quality product to China and asks for a quotation for xx units. The Chinese are masters at copying the appearance of the unit but they sometimes have little clue regarding the material specifications, tolerances, design life goals, etc. The Chinese get an order for the xx units and produce a "look alike" to the real item.

Americans promote this trend of goods turning into junk because we (the general population) buy on price first....quality is way down the line. This is why the stores stock the junk. That's why the streets are full of ricer junk, tool boxes have crap tools, we shoot Russian ammo, etc. If we valued quality, this trend could change the stock in stores very quickly. Just like "you are what you eat", "you are what you buy"

mike in tucson

So very true. But it goes deeper than that. Many companies like Wal-Mart give forign manufactures specs, and sample, (maybe) but usually include the price per unit they are willing to pay. I have seen some forign manufactured stuff with high quality, but when you are willing to pay very little the manufactures have to cut more corners to turn a profit as well. If there is any blame it is us, (consumers) but also greedy corporations, who won't settle for profit margins that were envied by others 50 years ago. Too low, unacceptable. Hey they got to get those multi million bonus's and stock holders demand more return on their investment and quicker than in the past. And the shame is companies that have tried to turn out and sell high quality products have had troubles in the last 20 years. Reduce Production Cost, the buzz word in most industries. And I am as quilty as most, lets face it we have, want, too much crap that we really don't need. Oh well, Hey at least my forign radiator, fit good, and truck runs 25 degrees cooler than before. SIGH..........

I can say from personal experience that is is very difficult to even source parts here in the states.
We try to source as much as we can here, and most of our manufacturing is right here in Detroit. We have had a few projects stall out because we can't find anyone in the states to do the work! That's right, we get alot of jobs just flat out no bid, so sometimes we have to look overseas for a component.
For the most part, its not a matter of cost, most of the US made and imported parts we get cost about the same, unfortunately its the lackluster sales and willinngness to work on a project that has hurt us from using more US made parts.
Mark