Can anyone share their experiences with Gordon Imports Body mouldings

[canitfloat]

I am wondering if anyone can share their experiences with the Chrome plated aluminum body trim for Hood, Headlights, Fin tops, and Taillights. Thanks for any information you can share.

 

[canitfloat]

Wow, not one reply? I cannot believe I am the only one that has a problem with these mouldings.

 

[Traben Trarbach]

I have seen those mouldings and don't think they are very good quality. I have seen some from Alan somebody in the USA and his have a much better finish and are more like the originals.
Same problems with that marine light, looked OK in the photos but not once it was in you hand and even more problems when on the car.
"Beauty" parts are difficult because everyone has a different idea but after the shock absorber failure we now only buy from that supplier if we absolutely can not find a suitable Amphicar part from anywhere else. It is not about price but quality.

 

[dougklink]

I used them on my car last spring during a full restoration. The look nice but there were some challenges with installation. It seems this is true for most of the body parts I bought from Gordon's. The rear bumper halves (horizontal) were so much too wide I sent them back and reused the old ones. The lower rear quarters I bought had to be returned as they weren't formed right, the next ones were OK. The fin moldings had to be trimmed, which is tough to get correct because you can't really hold them in position and mark them. The front cross trim on the truck was too long as well. The headlight brows were not formed right and the stuff is hard to bend. The tail light brows had to be trimmed as well. In the end it looks nice but requires quite bit of effort to fit correctly. I'm pretty sure the bodies were built to pretty tight standards so the variances shouldn't be nearly as much as the parts would suggest, but I'm not sure. I have no experience with Alan's so I can't comment on those.

 

[strandweiss62]

I mounted Alan Woodcock's headlight and taillight mouldings, they are very good. But every Amphicar is unique, so you have to bent the mouldings. I have NOS fin mouldings and they also did not fit at first attempt.
If you bent anodized material it will get a bit dull, chromed aluminium will get little cracks. So i did not use Gordon's mouldings, and stored them in the attic.

 

[mike_israel]

I also have Allan's mouldings and am pleased with them. Dave installed them during restoration so I can not say how easy or difficult they were to fit.

 

[canitfloat]

I purchased 7 pieces of the body trim mouldings in 2010 from GI and kept them wrapped and on the shelf in my house until I was ready to install them on my Amphi 8/2013. When installing then I found they were real difficult to install since they need to be cut and bent to fit and as everyone knows this is something that you do not do to chrome plated parts! Imagine taking a freshly chromed bumper, cutting it, bending it to fit your car. What will happen? The chrome will crack, blister and peel where it was cut and bent, right? After less than a year of the parts being on my car I first noticed the hood pc had pitts, blisters and peeling chrome 8/2014 not only where the cuts were but all over the finish! I called GI, and sent just the hood pc back. I was contacted by them and was told is that after selling hundreds of these trim pcs I am the ONLY one who has had a problem and since I had purchased the trim a few years ago, they would only credit me 1/2 the amount for a new pc .I declined, I would NEVER waste more $$ on these inferior parts. After spending countless dollars restoring 3 of these cars I would think they would treat their customers better. I looked closely at the other trim pcs on my car and noticed they ALL have various degrees of the same problem! In the past I have used Alans trim and was completely satisfied with the fit (it didn't need to be cut) finish was excellent and it was just like the original. But to save a few bucks I went with the GI trim on 2 cars and am now regretting it, you get what you pay for! Bottom line, 1)GI trim is junk! YOU DO NOT CHROME PLATE aluminum that will be bent, cut etc PERIOD! 2)Buy Alans trim! Now I am waiting for my propellors to break!

 

[canitfloat]

Just received a small parts order from GI, did they deduct the 1/2 price of the bad moulding I had sent them? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, ofcourse not! I just added up what they currently get for these mouldings= $518.93 without any discounts! Subtract 10% and I probably paid them $467.00 for 2 cars = $934. A lot, and it would have been fine if I would have to never think about these mouldings again, but to pay that and end up with trim that looks like it has been sitting in a junk yard for 25 years after 1, (ONE) year is unacceptable. Almost as bad as GI selling me an oil pump with a big hole in the side of it, not noticed until everything was back together and upon cranking the engine I found out I had no oil pressure! Did they pay for the R and R of the engine? NOOOOOO, but I did get a free oil pan gasket! Because of the labor that was probably worse, but enough is enough! I am sooo done with them! Thank God for Gord Souter!

 

[Midwest Amphicar]

If you did more cars you would have more stories. Welcome to My World. LOL!! I used GI trim once and had same experience. They should treat good customers a little better. Even with assorted issues they make My life much easier. It would be very difficult to continue without them.

 

[canitfloat]

I keep hearing from others who have had this problem with the trim. So when I am told by GI that I am the only one who has problems with this product it is a lie. Right? So like everything it comes to the cash, tell the truth and recall / refund the $500 + or - ( you took from your customers who put you where you are today), for all this bad trim and it costs you lots of $$, lie and it doesn't cost you anything.! That's what pisses me off.

 

[Cameron in UK]

We were "the only people that had ever had a problem" with the new production stainless emergency brake cables. The black plastic covering on both sides had cracked. We never had that issue with the old ones. Because of the cracks they were marked as a fail on our UK MOT (safety test) so we had replacements made locally.
More and more when we can't find originals we have Amphicar parts made locally, it sometimes costs more but it is really important to us that the quality is as good as original.
We also saw the new production shock absorber mentioned on here which failed at the Amphicar meeting in Germany, very frightening.

 

[jfriese]

The original trim parts were finished by "bright dip anodizing" and not chrome. The tail fin strips are quite difficult to fit correctly but the ones you buy from Allan are pre-fitted to a spare fender that he has. Finding a plating shop that still does this type of anodizing might be tough but there are a couple in the L.A. region and Allan has his done that way. Before Hugh ever did his trim I warned him about the problem with bending chrome plated pieces but he ignored my advise.

Even NOS original fin trim came with extra inches that needed to be trimmed; a tricky job.

Some years ago I had a place in L.A. refurbish the trim. They straightened the bent up fins pieces, removed minor dents and dings and redid the bright dip anodizing. They came out so perfect that I sold off the NOS ones I already had since they fit perfectly without any trimming.

Certainly Gordon's doesn't do everything right but keeping an Amphicar going without them would be a far more difficult experience.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Midwest Amphicar]

Some more fuel for the fire. When I think I ordered original style parts and get cheap off the shelf sort of fits replacements. That really drives me crazy. Trust me that is a short drive!!

 

[mike_israel]

Some more fuel for the fire. When I think I ordered original style parts and get cheap off the shelf sort of fits replacements. That really drives me crazy. Trust me that is a short drive!!

That is my own pet peeve. Nothing worse than paying a premium on something you can get at Pep Boys and / or is a poor fit.

I have suggested in the past that they adopt a practice used by The Roadster Factory and some other vendors. This suggestion has not been adopted. Simply put a designator at the end of a part number indicating if it is a Reproduction or a Substitute. Thus,

Part #1234 = original
Part #1234R = Reproduction
Part #1234S = Substitute

And yes, I agree that some of GI's practices are frustrating but there would not be many floating Amphicars without them.

 

[dougklink]

I, too, have been frustrated a number of the parts that I have purchased from GI. Actually quite a few. But Mike's point is well taken. We'd still be trying to use flat glass for a windshield, etc. Could they do better? I think so on many of the parts as evidenced by the fact that people like Alan and John have come up with better things like the trim pieces, bilge plugs, etc. Perhaps someone will buy them out at some point and work to improve the sub standard parts. They do operate very professionally on the purchasing end, web site and all. If Gord would operate like that I think he'd have more business and maybe that would drive improvement on the other end. I await a flaming response from Gord

 

[Midwest Amphicar]

I, too, have been frustrated a number of the parts that I have purchased from GI. Actually quite a few. But Mike's point is well taken. We'd still be trying to use flat glass for a windshield, etc. Could they do better? I think so on many of the parts as evidenced by the fact that people like Alan and John have come up with better things like the trim pieces, bilge plugs, etc. Perhaps someone will buy them out at some point and work to improve the sub standard parts. They do operate very professionally on the purchasing end, web site and all. If Gord would operate like that I think he'd have more business and maybe that would drive improvement on the other end. I await a flaming response from Gord

Flat glass....Funny many years ago we were dissatisfied with $1000 windshields that were delaminating. Brian Crombie and I ordered a boat load from the manufacturer. We offered GI an at cost deal and were turned down. Still that action brought down prices that are still in effect today. I also have to thank them for their quarter panels. They forced Me into making a quality part that is now installed on the record breaking Barrett Car, Alan Jacksons and many others. Every time they have angered Me,it has become a nice opportunity for Me. Also it would have been almost impossible for me to have a successful Amphicar restoration business without them. I will miss them greatly if / when they sell.

 

[dougklink]

Gord you're kidding right? Just in case you are not I'll sign my name.

Doug Klink

Honestly do you really think I'd make that up?

 

[canitfloat]

I just saw the weekend sale flier from GI and am in disbelief that they are still selling these inferior chrome parts that fail after less than 1 year. They call it quality and to call a local Amphibian? Ok, call me, I will tell you the straight scoop. They know it fails and are still selling it. VERY disappointed in GI, I never would have thought they would do something so low!

 

[CapnJohn]

This has been a problem for as long as I've been in Amphicars. The high prices for inferior and in some cases DANGEROUS parts is ignored by GI. I did a concourse (no expense spared) restoration for a client using GI repop props. The 1st water test went in with 2 and came out with one prop within 5 minutes. The propnut was still there bu the prop split in 2 shedding it completely. Immediately Hugh blamed my customer and then refused to refund or replace it citing my customer did not retrieve the broken prop. He was more concerned getting his 3yr old daughter back to shore safely not to mention he had almost zero control to get the prop had he wanted to! As per usual the props look the part but do not act the part. Cheaper plastic was used rather than the correct (as engineered by the factory) nylon. Just this summer a friend who I provided an Amphi for was out swimming and without warning started to only go starboard. Yes another prop split in half without apparent reason. Upon further inspection you can plainly see the void in the material. This along with inferior and incorrect materials caused the catastrophic failure. Had either of these instances been on a moving body of water the result could end in serious injuries or death if they are upriver from a dam or any number of situations.

If you are running GI's new props, your safety is unapologetically compromised for their profit margin.

This is but 2 first hand examples of many. I like Hugh and company, but I too have all been put out of business because as a steady customer I have been taken advantage of and treated poorly. The reason many will never reply to this is because they are afraid of stepping on Hugh's toes. I get that out of respect for what he has done for the Amphicar world, but that should not excuse the blatant disregard for your safety. When you bite the hands that feed you, refuse to improve or just not be un necessarily greedy somebody has to stand up to it (yes I love that bit of irony for those that know me). I don t' mind paying premium money for premium parts, I do mind greatly paying premium $ for 3rd rate (parts.