One thing that always amazes me is if I cannot find a part through a Fiat part vendor, I can sometimes find it through a discount autoparts store like your Halfords. And these stores make the bulk of their money on selling car parts for American cars.Guy Croft wrote:You in USA are spared EU regulations regarding scrappage and a million other things!
Here it is a very different story.
G
I've got a 68 Ford Fairlane and most of these places has parts for this car in stock! Just the other day I bought a headlamp and a dimmer switch which were in stock. Too bad they were made in India... Of course these same parts fit just about any Ford from that era and Ford built the same amount of Fairlanes just in 1968 as Pininfarina did with the 124 Spider over a course of almost 20 years.
One time I called around looking for a SOHC thermostat. Three vendors told me this part was on back order for three months!!! So I called NAPA and they got me one with in a week for around US$10. Advance autoparts could get me one but it was a special order part directly from the manufacturer and was US$40 and could take a month.
On the other hand Advance got me the "correct length" of American made Bendix front Yugo brake hoses. Spider and X 1/9 hoses would work if they were only 3 inches longer but none of the Fiat vendors sells them!
And the only Yugo specalist in the USA could not get me a lower radiator hose. Once again Advance came to the rescue and even had one in stock! It was a cut to fit hose but once I trimmed 2" off one end and 3" off the other it was identical to the original hose.
I'm not bashing Fiat part suppliers, I order from them all the time and try to order from them before going to discount autopart store but I'm just saying if someone tells me a part is going to take 3 months to get it because they are all using the same supplier, I'm going to look somewheres else.