|  After several years of dealing with different parts
suppliers I have formed my own opinions on these companies. Some are good, some are
better, and some just don't make the grade. Remember that these are just my opinions and
you may have different results. I have also graded these companies on a curve because
while most of them are very good it doesn't mean that one can't be the best.
When you shop for
Camaro parts there are a few other things you should be aware of. First of all, you can
save some money by careful comparison shopping, but remember that you get what you pay
for. If you check prices from several different companies you may find that Company A has
the part for $99 while Company B has it for $95. Then you check another part and find that
this time Company A is a few dollars less than Company B. Comparison shopping in this
manner can save you a few dollars but beware of unusually low prices. If the difference on
the part is just a few dollars it's probably the same part, or at least one of comparable
quality, but if you find that Company C has the same part for $49 when the others are
around $100 it is not the same part. It could very well be junk. Make sure you
check the price from several companies just to make sure the price, and therefore the
quality, is comparable.
A+
If one company has to stand out at the top
of the heap, this is it. Year One believes in service and in keeping you happy. Their
prices may not always be the lowest but they are certainly competitive, and they don't
sell junk parts, period. You don't find any of these "good, better, best"
choices you get from other suppliers. I tend to use the Year One catalog as a price
reference for quality parts if I see an unusually low price from another company. If the
price differs more than about 15-20% from Year One's the quality is probably not very
good. All in all, you can't go wrong dealing with Year One.
 A
Classic Industries rates below Year One for
just one reason - they do sell junk. Not a lot, and they usually offer quality parts along
with the cheap stuff, but you can't just order on faith like you can with Year One. I
tried a set of their reproduction wheel opening moldings a couple of years ago and what I
got was useless. The metal was so thin it bent like cardboard, the chrome was extremely
poor quality, they weren't shaped like the wheelwells, and the mounting holes were off by
inches.
 Another time
I got a set of ball joints and didn't notice the unusually low price. A good sale would be
around $24 apiece, and these were $24 a pair. Well, less than 2,500 miles later
they were completely shot.
Don't get me wrong,
Classic Industries is still a reputable company and I recommend them highly. Just be
careful when you order.
Classic Industries
almost pulls their rating level with Year One with their catalog. It's 600 pages of full
color and it's the nicest catalog I've seen in the industry. I find myself using their
catalog as a reference because almost every part on the car is there in color. It's a work
of art by itself.
A
When I first added this section to the web site last
summer I gave Rick's an "F" rating because they had just screwed me on an order.
I've thought about the situation and decided that perhaps I was a bit hasty with that
judgement, and I've decided to restore my previous "A" rating for them. Here's
what happenned.
I was trying
to get ready for a car show and needed new leaf springs for my Z/28. I ordered a set from
Rick's and the parts showed up a few days later. They hadn't packaged the springs, just
taped the shipping label to them, so naturally they were all scratched up and needed to be
refinished, which was pretty much what I had expected. No problem there. Unfortunately,
they were also the wrong springs. The Z/28 used 4-leaf springs and these were the SS
5-leaf version. Still, no problem. It was an honest mistake, and these things happen.
I called
Rick's and explained the problem. They said they would have the incorrect springs picked
up and ship me the correct set that day. This was on Friday and I had to leave for the
show the following Thursday, so things were getting pretty tight. They promised me the new
springs would arrive by Wednsday at the latest.
Well,
Wednsday came and I had no springs. A friend who worked for UPS told me he would
personally get them to me that night if they were anywhere in the state, so I called to
get a tracking number to find out where the springs were.
They were
still sitting in the warehouse. Now the guy at Rick's said they couldn't ship them until
they got the first set back. He said that even though it was their mistake that he
couldn't have another set of springs "floating around" and didn't trust me to
return the first pair of springs even though he had my name, address, phone number, and
credit card number. He didn't seem to find anything ironic in the fact that he was holding
$229 of my money and I was supposed to trust him to return it.
That
attitude was bad enough, but I had taken him at his word when he promised to ship the
correct springs, and it was now too late to get them anywhere else. He claimed that he had
tried to call and let me know they had changed their mind on shipping the springs, but my
view is that if you don't leave a message on one of my three answering machines - 2 home
numbers and a work number - or on my cellular voice mail, then don't even bother claiming
you called.
I checked
the only other parts suppliers within a two hour drive and neither of them had the springs
in stock. The bottom line is that I didn't make the show. Because of this incident I
decided not to deal with Rick's again and gave them an "F" rating.
This winter
I received a handwritten letter from Rick George, the owner of Rick's First Generation. He
apologized for the incident and assured me that it was not his policy to deal with
customers in that fashion. Rick has done a lot for the hobby, and I believe his
explanation. I decided it wasn't really fair to penalize the whole company just because
they have a jerk working for them. Therefore I've restored my previous 'A" rating,
and just have a few words of advice. If you don't get satisfactory service from the guy on
the phone, ask to speak to his boss. I'm sure that you will be able to work things out to
your satisfaction. The jerk is probably acting on his own if he does something that's
plainly wrong, as the guy did to me. (I think his name was Chris.) Anyway, I no longer
hesitate to once again recommend Rick's as a good solid supplier.
 B
D&R Classic and Pristine Motors come in with a
solid "B." They aren't large companies, and they don't stock nearly the
variety of parts that the big ones do, but they specialize in detail parts and they are an
invaluable source when you need just the right part.
 C
These companies rate a solid "C," but that
doesn't mean they aren't reputable suppliers. Remember, I'm grading on a curve here. I've
ordered from both of these people and been perfectly satisfied each time. They just don't
have anything special to make them stand out like the higher rated companies. Well, they
do have one thing - National Parts Depot has several locations, and if one is near where
you live you can save a considerable amount on shipping. Also, Camaro Specialty Company
shows up at most of the Camro events in the southeast with a trailer of parts so you can
get that last minute detail just right. In my rating system, "C" means a good,
average company.
TAMRAZ Automotive F
I've only dealt with Tamraz once and they ripped me
off. It was several years ago, just as the supply of NOS quarters for the 69 Camaro was
drying up. Tamraz sent out a flyer advertising reproduction quarter panels for $120 each.
I called and asked them if they were full panels or just skins, because the price was high
for skins but low for quarters, and I didn't know of anyone who made repro quarters. They
assured me that they were the full panel and were brand new. I took them at their word and
ordered a set. What I got was a set of poor quality skins worth about $60 each. When I
called them back about it they changed their story and claimed that they never told me
they were full panels. They agreed to refund my money, but I was going to have to eat the
shipping - both ways. I had already wasted $80 in shipping, so rather than send them back
I sold them for half price at a local swap meet and crossed Tamaraz off my list of
suppliers.
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