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Well...
I need new outter door handles for my 70 coupe. I have seen them ranging in price from 250.00 a pair, for GM resteration parts, to 32.00 a pair.
Are they all the same?, i mean is GM having them made elsewear, putting them in a nice box and skyrocketing the price? I want to buy a quality, nice fitting handle, but dont want to get fooled by a cheap import in a nice GM box?
Any advice, prior experiance buying these would be greatly appreciated.....
I personally don't think GM is reducing the quality of their parts no matter where they are made. They have too much to lose in doing so. Buying from other manufacturers is another story.
I've seen the cheap door handles and the expensive ones. Don't know where the expensive ones were made, but the quality was much, much better. Don't get the cheapos.
some of the reproduction parts are either thin metal, or lower grade potmetal.
The original GM parts seem to be better constructed, and have use a thicker material. The same is true with some other material.
example 1. The exhaust bezels for my 73 look like thin aluminum , but the originals on my 72 are 1/8 inch thick approx
example 2 On my 86 the replacement front air dam ABS Plastic shattered the first time it hit a curb stop. The 2nd replacement air dam was a OEM part at 3x the price and has had no cracks after 2 years of use.
Paragon has them listed without ("imported") next to the item #'s. You may want to call them to make sure, or they may also have used ones in good condition.
Good luck.
Glenn
The repro door handles are junk, the chrome is so bad that you can see scratches after one use! Otherwise, they work ok but I for one will be replacing them with OEM asap.
GM is not actually making these restoration parts as I understand it.
The are allowing select companies to reproduce them under license.
Having said that. I just purchased a RC-15 radiator cap that looks 100% dead on, HAs the arrows and the circles where they belong.It is a GM restoration part. Box marked GM restoration.
The part in side had a made in Tiawan sticker. I would have loved to not have seen that.
I replaced the drivers side handle with a cheapo and the chrome is perfect after 6 years. It looks just like the original, I couldn't see any difference, and works just as it should.
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