Tom, sent you a direct email on this, but thought I'd post to share with the group the same;

My advice to you is to call up Tbird hdqtrs and ask for Bev. She is the owner (& owner's wife). You might let her know that Jed is cutting your new front foams and you'd like your money back post haste. I have spoken with her several times and offered to make foams for them in their interim shut down. However I am sure she'd be willing to accommodate your money return request. She had told me that their manufacturer, she'd thought just merely closed over Christmas, but in fact found out after that they'd shut down. I think that Bev's tooling and die forms are now locked inside the old factory and it may take a court order to obtain the forms and then get them transferred to their new manufacturer. Then of course get the equipt set up and run off a few test prototypes before they go back into production.

I've had good and bad dealings w/TBHQ. They are the most local for me (Aprox 50 mi from here)
Bev is tough to deal with. I've heard good and bad as well from other members of NorCal TBirds. They've bailed me out in a pinch a time or two though.

I don't know if Larry's has improved. I will never find out either because I will NOT deal with them. They are jokers. They should not be in the parts business. No communication skills. I could go on & on.

Lance @ TBirds S.West (Texas) is the best. He's the most knowledgable and he's pretty reasonable.

John Draxler is good. He's knowledgable, pretty reasonable, just not speedy. Might be a one man show.

Concours Parts in Carson City is good, especially for trim and weather strips.

I always order from Larrys. Never ever any problem what so ever with deliverys or anything. I have a great communication with them, and can discuss things in many mails before I order. They guy I have contact with is Mike Fisher ( Mike@larrystbird.com ). He even gave me his personal mailadress and mailed me from his home the two times they have computer problems at Larrys.
He even have looked up parts at other places for me, and this pretty much is the reason I never even thought about any of the other vendors. So Iīm suppriced to read your comments.
I was recommended this guy from another T-birder here in Sweden, and to be honest, I donīt think I canīt get much better support and help than what I get from Mike.
In my opinion, communication is there strong part. Except for the products

Years back, I developed a suspicion that people listed items to sell that they did not necessarily have in stock, so when I would phone in an order, I would then ask "could you verify for me that you really have that in stock?" A fair amount of the time the answer would come back "no, but..." and I would go from there. You are sometimes dealing with someone merely looking at a computer screen, instead of someone looking on a shelf, so it can pay to ask.

I live in the East. I have been using MACs in New York state for sometime now. They are a tad more expensive but seem to run a solid operation and ship extremely quickly (I have often gotten stuff the next day). I got some carpetting I was not completely pleased with last year and got about an 80% refund despite keeping the carpetting.

The one policy I have never come to like on anyone's part is "Back orders". You either don't have it, have it, or are about to get it. Anything else and you don't get to keep my money - I'm not in the loan business! I hate the vagueness of "we'll send it when we get some more".

Bottom line: you can't take anything for granted, have to be aggressive and have to ask questions.

John

Well good. I'm glad to hear that. It's been 3 or 4 yrs since I've called them. A buddy at work with a 67 Mustang tried to use them a year or so ago. Same results I had.
Is it in stock? Yes

Will it ship today? Yes

A week or so goes by, he calls to check on it.

"Oh I'm sorry the computer showed it in stock but it wasn't there
(I'm in the parts business and that does happen)

He asks them "Were you going to call me and let me know?"
Uh Oh Mmmm we uh . . . then umm duh

I said yep, thats larrys.

He wound up calling some other Mustang supplier and had the part in 3 days. Larry's never shipped the part or even called him back.

Sounds like this Mike guy may know what he's doing. Good !!!

I live about a half hour from Mac's. I can vouch for what John says. When you call them, they check to make sure they have the item in stock. I pick my items up from them so they put them on reserve and tag them for me to pick up. Never had a problem with them. They are often a bit more expensive - but not always. For example Dave Dare got a rear brake hose from me from NAPA - approx. $25. I hadn't check Mac's price. After the fact we found that Mac's price for the same item was $20!

Mac's has quite a large new warehouse including a good sized show room with several restored vehicles and numerous parts on display. The last time I was there about a month ago, I think they had three Model Ts, a 20s style Ford racer and a fairly early Mustang in the show room. If your every in the Buffalo area, it is worthwhile visiting their store. Maybe as much as 99% of their volume is mail order but they welcome walk-in customers.

I have catalogues from Larrys, Thunderbird Headquarter and Bird Nest.
But as they all seems to have the same parts, do they all buy them from the same supplier? If so, I guess that things that donīt sell too much or are the most popular, or parts that are very expensive, they order them as the orders comes in?
I donīsee much of a difference compairing to any business realy.
To save cost, more and more companies seems to have less in stock.

I am sure that holding less stock is a sign of the financial woes in the US. When we visited California last year we made a point of dropping in to Larry's in Corona (love that name, or is it for another reason...) and met Rod, whom I deal with all too regularly. We were given somewhat of a store tour and they seemed to have a lot more empty space than stock. Having said that, there were clear indications that they had loads more stock at one time.

When we went to So-Cal, it was the same deal with some parts we were seeking not available until ordered and I am not talking about particularly high costs items either. If times are tight in business and it gets down to holding less stock rather than letting staff go I know which I would prefer but you have to be careful to still look after the customer 100%, and that's what Anders and John have mentioned - communication!

Larrys' still do it well enough for me not to bother going anywhere else.

TBird Headquarters

To answer Anders question, it is my understanding that only one supplier might supply a certain item or items to many different Tbird parts vendors. Sometimes there may be more than one. If you lose that one lone vendor, as we did regarding seat cushion foams for our Squarebird front seats, all the vendors loose that source. I seem to remember a conversation I had with Don at Birds Nest about this a year or so ago. If I remember correctly, he said that most Tbird parts places get their parts from the very same vendor or in some cases, vendors...

BTW, some of our vendors are members of this Forum and read what is written on our various forums at times. I can think of several that I know of who are members.

Anders, some suppliers are the ONLY licensed manufacturers. Dennis-Carpenter makes lots of Ford parts, but oftentimes another supplier will sell those same parts cheaper (in the Dennis-Carpenter bag).

Carpenter used to make Y-Block rocker arm shafts (in a cardboard tube with "FORD" printed all over it. They sold for $16/ea. Now, nobody has them except a few companies that want $35/ea. Most companies want to slide the rocker arms on the shafts and sell them for $200.

I agree with all three of these MAC's accounts. The salesperson will actually get off their butt and look on the shelf. They will bring the part back to the phone to give measurements and answer questions, too. It's a nice service.

If you are a history buff, Lockport got its name because they are on the Erie Canal. MAC's is in Lockport, NY. Every summer, the town offers nostalgic cruises and events on and around the canal:

It's just a great-cozy little town 18 miles from Niagara Falls. I love this part of New York because it's so much like Michigan (lush with green, and plenty of freshwater lakes).

"I got an old mule and her name is, Sal...
15 miles on the Erie Canal..."-American Folk Song
- Dave

Carpenter's is a name I don't hear often but my impression is that they actually make some parts thanks to owning original dies that Ford had. Dennis Carpenter? down south? That they are involved with the actual manufacture of something and not just a middle man is of interest.

Anders asked how many suppliers there really are and that is a good question, one that I have wondered about. Given the limited market for Squarebirds parts, you have to wonder how many people would go to the bother of setting up, for example, dies to make some of the pot metal based trim on my '58. There is a minimum number needed for any operation to make it worth the trouble.

One area to be cautious on: ignition points. If the price is too good to be true, beware! Some of the points I have seen from the TBird places don't deserve room at a lawn sale. Go with Accel or something high quality. The points have nothing to do with a TBird per se; they just go with an FE motor.

Low inventories: quite understandable. I don't mind someone not having something they list, as long as they have a concrete plan to get it once I order it. Once they have my money, I simply expect them to care and hold up their part of the bargain. If they tell me it will take two weeks, fine. But then I expect some action in two weeks or so. Everyone has a computer so emailing order status is an easy thing to do, provided someone gives a ****.

___________

later: Dennis Carpenter is at: http://www.dennis-carpenter.com/cars.php

Living in NY I've also dealt with Mac's only (for about 20 yrs). They've been great. Last order was for a carb rebuild kit and the girl on the phone personally went to the warehouse while I was on hold to grab the last kit on the shelf to make sure I got it. Once they sent me wrong bearings, but replaced them quickly. They've got a great new free catalog and good website too. http://www.macsautoparts.com/birds.html

Thanks to all for the tip about Mac's, sounds like my kind of place, customer service what a concept! Next time I will give them a call.

I guess the guy who phoned and asked about a carb rebuild kit 10 minutes after you donīt think there service is as good as you do...
See my point: They perhaps only have 1 in stock at a time.... ( JOKE!!!!!)

Now, I have tryed to get one of Macīs catalogues but they are the only one who donīt send. I then found out they charge for the catalogue ( no other vendor have asked money for it ), and mailed them and said Iīm willing to pay, but I didnīt recieve any answer at all...