The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Almost everyone is now aware of the non quality of the Lucas parts in the green Lucas boxes. Switches that fall apart using twice, capacitors and rotors already broken when new and coils that are 1,50GBP Chinese items with a nice box LUCAS SPORT around them being just able to create a little sparky.

In the past I advised and many others not to buy and see if you can find genuine Lucas parts (who ever thought that are the ones to have for quality) boxed in the red boxes used from the early day's till the in the '80s.

Well, Lucas is reading also because the new Chinese Lucas parts are boxed in red boxes from now on... These are classic look alike '60s style boxes and don't look near the originals but try to explain now you have to buy Lucas parts in the red boxes but not in the red boxes...

Jeroen

To be fair it is not just Lucas, there are plenty of other quality brands that have offshored to China or been bought out by Chinese firms, that now make utter garbage.

In fact the quality of car parts is dire across the board. We have given up on our local motor factors because the quality parts they claim they pay a premium for, fall apart in matter of months. Sourcing parts from the internet is an absolute minefield, it very difficult to know if you're getting quality or not.

This isn't just classic parts, trying getting droplinks or suspension arms that last more than 30 seconds. Sure there is quality stuff out there but you need people who are in the know on forums like this. Who can tell you which brands are worth buying and which aren't.

I know the complaint is customers want things too cheap but I am sorry, that is no excuse for defective parts. The customer quite reasonably expects parts supplied by suppliers to be fit for purpose. Then in a free market the customer picks the lowest priced part.

Alas the market in car parts is broken because too many are willing to sell cheap nasty parts which are not fit for purpose.

I bought a Wolf branded drill a few years ago, in the past they were superb... now, not so much.

It's one of the reasons I really love buying Land Rover parts from http://lrdirect.com/ for any given part number they will quote you a price for each "grade/manufacturer" available and you can choose.
What really gets up my nose is paying a premium price for a part from a known "reputable" classic car specialist and when it arrives it's the same tat I could have had off eBay for half the price.

Caveat Emptor!