[mustang66gtaqua]

Originally Posted by KBossGT500

Allan, sorry I did not reply sooner. Home computer down.

Just so we are clear. You told me you had a clearly marked 1965 Underdash Fog harness but you own a 1966 and it would not fit your car? I agreed it would not fit your car. Nowhere in any of our catalog, Website or anywhere do we say it fits a 1966. You sent me a picture and a part number of C6ZZ-15223-FUD and yes is the correct Harness for your car which I agreed with you on the phone. It is also the only harness that will fit you car.

You initially ordered or were given a 1965 Harness for your 1966 by one of our Dealers and it still seems to be our fault and you are mad at myself/SDM. I am sorry you got the wrong harness and I am sorry when you called one of my salesman said it was all that there was when you could not make it work.

Also when we speaking on the phone you had all ready discovered this on your own that we did make a 66 Harness and you had it in your hand when we were speaking. So what more could I do except apologize that my salesman gave you bad info. We did not initially put the wrong part in your hands and it was not labeled to fit your car in the first place. Anyways I really do not want to go back and forth on this subject anymore. I truly hope you have your Fog Lamps working now and it sounded like your were all ready on the right path when we finished our Conversation on the phone. Otherwise I would have tried to help you out.

I am at work and should be doing other things right now but before I go I would like to state something that some of you may not know. All though we do sell close to 9,000 parts through a Dealer Network. We actually only make a little over 2000 parts ourselves off of our own Tooling. The balance we buy from other Vendors which many times they are the only source and yes sometimes quality is not to OEM specs but that is all that is available.

Somebody above mentioned about about our Tail lamp Bezel pitting. Were those actual Scott Drake Brand (our name is cast into the part) or were they the Taiwan Version that Scott Drake also sells. If Scott Drake Brand I will happlily replace them. These Scott Drake Brand do cost more than double the Taiwan Version. We offer both because their is a demand for both.

Somebody also complained about Scott Drake Door Handles I can tell by his description they are ecomomy Taiwan version that we sell and so does everybody else for that matter. And he is correct that they are far from perfect, but they are good sellers because of the price. But we do also make our own Outside Door Handles off of our own Tooling (our name is cast into the part)and everything about them is better (Chrome, Fit, Hardware), but once again about double the price that not everybody is willing to pay for.

Should we not carry ecomomy parts? and only the best which are always more expensive? We try and give people choices when available and let the Consumer decide.

Regarding solenoids just one supplier of Solenoids and we all get from the same place and failure rate is higher than any of us would like.

We only make a handfull of Wiring harnesses, we buy 95% of them from the same two manufacturers everyone else does.

Not trying to make excuses here for everything but just want people to keep in mind just because it has a Bar Code label that has Scott Drake Mustang on it does not necessarily mean we actually make it. We have very little control over quality of parts we do not actually make.

Anyways thanks to all of you for listening. If you made it this far.

Sincerely,
Paul Kerner

i,m sorry paul.......but if its not a quality part then scott drakes name should not be on it...on most of your products on the back of the packaging there is a statement that talks about how scott drakes make high quality parts.....that sould be across the line with all of your parts......... thank you for writing back... and i will not bother you guys at scott drake anymore...with anymore posts...take care paul......

[4 stvmcqn]

I'm going to throw in my 2 cents about reproduction parts since I'm going through a restoration of a '68 Mustang coupe at this time.

My advice...WHENEVER POSSIBLE, REUSE YOUR OLD PARTS!!!!

I've been involved with Mustangs ever since I purchased my very first car, a '68 fastback in 1988.

My first NPD catalog looked more like a comic book than the current 250+ pages. So many more parts are available in reproduction than ever before...in one hand, this is great since we have so many options. On the other hand, we now have more inferior quality reproduction pieces being made that is maybe 80% to 85% accurate to the original piece it replicates.

Here are a few recent examples of what I'm talking about.

Front bumper- Dynacorn reproduction..attractive price of a little over $100...Unfortunately, I had to go through three bumpers before I could even present a bumper to my body man. Two had terrible weld beads along the edges of the bumper that were chromed over and the third had a wave issue in the bumper. I eventually went to a local bumper shop that had several original cores sitting on a shelf and purchased a bumper that had a superior chrome finish, thicker material, and better fit. It cost me twice as much as the reproduction piece would have been, but in the end it was worth it.

Lower Driver Door Hinge - Scott Drake

I thought I would be saving myself some time by buying a Scott Drake labeled reproduction piece, rather than rebuild the original...what a mistake. My body shop calls me one day complaining about how the driver door moves up and down and does not have the proper door detent hold when it is partially opened. Sure enough, the inferior reproduction part is to blame. I ended up rebuilding the original piece with a hinge kit and having my brother in-law weld a small crack. The door works like it should now.

Instrument cluster lens kit from Mustangs Unlimited-
Clear Lens ok, but the silver centers were totally unlike the original. I ended up purchasing a set of Scott Drake pieces which were closer to the originals.

Vent window seals. Scott Drake reproduction
I bought a pair and the driver's side piece had a problem. Looked almost like it was pulled from a mold too quickly. Returned the item for another one and it was better.

I have to say the most frustrating part of my current restoration is having to deal with part returns because of inferior quality issues. Where's the quality control before sending these parts out to the consumer at the factory or even with the parts vendor?

I have to waste my time repacking items for returns and spending my own money for shipping the item back to the vendor. What about the delays during the restoration???...I have to send back part "A" because it didn't fit right, so now I have to wait for a replacement or find an alternate part. In the meantime, I can't go on with the restoration, because part "A" is needed before I can assemble item "B".


Paul,

Thank you for your honesty about Scott Drake. You admit to repackaging items sold behind the Scott Drake label when in fact it is made overseas by another vendor. Frankly, I used to think the Scott Drake name meant something....a quality reproduction part you could count on for fit and finish. Why would you cheapen your reputation by putting out reproduction parts you already know don't meet OEM specs and have quality control issues just to make a buck? If these vendors are the only source, drop them. Maybe consider tooling them yourselves or find an alternate source that can make them to the level of quality we should expect.
When I hear the Scott Drake name now, I think.... a quality reproduction part you could count on... about 22% of the time! Please feel free to bring this up during your next company meeting.

Mike, you hit the nail on the head....

[Veronica]

Originally Posted by KBossGT500

Not trying to make excuses here for everything but just want people to keep in mind just because it has a Bar Code label that has Scott Drake Mustang on it does not necessarily mean we actually make it. We have very little control over quality of parts we do not actually make.

Anyways thanks to all of you for listening. If you made it this far.

Sincerely,
Paul Kerner

I think that this pretty much sums up Scott Drake's opinion of his customer base. Personally, if I was a customer of his, I would not appreciate having someone think that I was stupid enough to actually believe that a company has no control over the quality of a product that they sell with their name on it. You might not have any control over what someone puts in a box that they ship to you, but you have total control over the checks that you write, what you place the company logo on, and, what you sell to your customers. But, my opinion of your products really doesn't matter from a business standpoint. There isn't one Scott Drake part anywhere on my car, and there never will be. At least, not while it's my car. And, the reason for that is very simple. I drive my car, and I demand that it starts, takes me where I want to go and brings me back home safely every time I get in it, and I also demand that every system in the car functions correctly every time I engage that system. When I hit the windshield wiper switch, I want the windshield wipers to start waving around and knocking rain off of my windshield, when I turn on the A/C, I want it to start blowing cold air in my face, when I start turning the window crank, I want the window to go up or down smoothly. I want my gas gauge to tell me how much gas I have in the tank, etc... Not half the time, not most of the time, not 99.9% of the time. I want my stuff to actually work correctly all the time. I've never had my starter solenoid fail on me, because it was made by Ford. I've also never had a Motorcraft or BWD S-63 starter solenoid fail on anyone else's car that I've installed it on. It isn't starter solenoids that have a high failure rate, it's your starter solenoids that have a high failure rate.

If you want to sell cheap parts of sub-standard quality, that is entirely your own affair, but, don't sit there trying to tell us that you have no control over the quality of the parts you sell that have your name all over them. That won't hold up under even the most casual examination.

[66Sprint200]

Looking back now, the only scott drake parts I bought that weren't crap were the emblems and badges.

[Grayle]

Wow, I have purchased a few scott drake items and was happy with quality, but now since I have read this thread, I'll think twice before going with scott drake parts!

[vegasmike]

I have already vented to some degree about Mr Drake and his horrible parts, but I am getting close to being done with my 65 resto, with tons of help from Veroinca, but the straw that broke this camels back was so simple. I bought a rearview mirror from SD before I knew the parts were garbage, I put the mirror in a few weeks back and last weekend installed the windshield and was putting in the chrome trim around the window, it needs a bit of a bump here and there, and I did just that, bumped it a bit, and I heard a clunk, had no idea what it was but got in my car and looked down and there was the mirror lying on the floor, not the whole mirror just the glass, upset yep and then I realize it was Scott Dredge parts so I started laughing, I took the whole thing off, and have boxed it up and sent it back to MR SD in hopes that he would fire his import manager, hopefully not his wife, but that indeed is the last part I will buy from them, now if I bid on a part on ebay or order from NPD or whomever the first thing I ask is IS THIS SD, if they say yes I dont order. The old tome that you get what you pay for is for the most part correct but with SD you get garbage. I will gladly pay more for the good stuff and that is what I am doing. Found a NOS mirror, bought it and guess what, it did not fall apart, IMagine that.
Soapbox off.

Mike