lmc vs bronco graveyard

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Aug 26, 2010 | 03:49 PM

#16

MAULMAUL

More Turbo

Joined: Jul 2010

Posts: 653

Likes: 2

From: Concord, NC

I can honestly say that Dennis Carpenter's is great to work with. I am fortunate to live only two miles from their facility. The prices are not the cheapest available, but having seen and dealt with them personally, I believe it to be a quality shop. I have only begun restoring my Dad's 77' F100, so I am pretty new to these trucks if not a wrench. They are polite and helpful in person and most drive or own older Fords Trucks or Mustangs, so they are very knowledgeable about the parts they sale. I should get a discount for all the advertising I do for them, but they have been very nice as are the people on this forum and it just makes a huge difference in where I spend my money or in the case of this forum, my time. By the way, there is a huge swap meet and car/truck show this weekend in Charlotte at the Speedway if anyone lives close enough to stop in.

Aug 26, 2010 | 04:29 PM

#17

NumberDummy

Ford Parts Specialist

Joined: Nov 2006

Posts: 88,826

Likes: 785

From: Simi Valley, CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by 704 dentside man

This is the order I buy stuff:

1) Try to find NOS
2) Find top notch OEM stuff
3) Green Sales
4) Dennis Carpenter
5) NPD/JBG

I wouldn't take anything LMC has even if it were given to me.

The 1973/79 Ford LIGHT Truck Parts Catalog ia available on a CD from hipoparts.com.

Green Sales has the largest inventory of obsolete (NOS-New Old Stock) parts, Carpenter, beside having repro parts, has the second largest inventory of NOS parts.

Obsolete parts can also be found at 100's of FoMoCo dealers and dozens of obsolete parts vendors besides Green & Carpenter.

Having the Ford part number is a major asset when looking for NOS parts.

I've typed over 30,000 Ford part numbers here on FTE, found 1000's of obsolete parts for members.

Oh, and btw: In case y'all are unaware, LMC is a middleman operation, they don't carry much of anything shown in their catalogs.

Middleman operations use the J. Paul Getty method of making money.

You send in your order, they then use your money to buy the parts from other sources.

This method keeps costs down, since these operations don't tie up vast amounts of money in inventory....that may sit on shelves for months/years/decades!

Aug 26, 2010 | 05:42 PM

#18

Blown 331

Moderator

Joined: Jan 2006

Posts: 1,779

Likes: 3

From: Waterloo IL

Quote:

Originally Posted by rat49f6

looking for floor boards, inner and outer rocker panels

I would look into Tabco for that stuff. I put a Tabco floor board in my truck and it was excellent. Its made in USA and same gauge steel as factory.

Aug 26, 2010 | 08:37 PM

#19

hasteranger

Lead Driver

Joined: Mar 2010

Posts: 5,250

Likes: 11

From: West Virginia

I read a thread by a manager type guy at NPD where he explained that there are really only 2 or 3 companies that make all this sheetmetal. He said almost all the "brands" rebrand it, they are not the original manufacturers. He knew way more about and explained it better, and he said that the prices aren't that different from one to the next. He also said that if a customer notices that another "brand" is better quality and complains, he will look up who manufactures that, and he said that they go with whichever manufacture is best for that part, they pick and choose, and they will switch manufacturers to get the better quality piece.

I just searched for a while for the thread, it was in a camaro, chevelle, or mustang forum, but I just can't find it.

Edit, here it is. Very enlightening:

http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/archiv.../t-176464.html

Aug 26, 2010 | 08:59 PM

#20

northeaster79

Elder User

Joined: Jul 2008

Posts: 899

Likes: 1

From: trenton ns canada

It like hasteranger said there are only a few companies stamping panels and repoping these parts,odds are nomatter where you buy it from it came from the same shelf at one time,I have bought parts from lmc for my 78,some decent some junk,decently priced but I will use my imagination before buying from them again,I tried to buy parts from bgy and they wanted me to pay $30 to get a shipping quote.
They said they would refund the that if I ordered,but if I got the quote and found I would not be saving anything buying ffom them,and supporting them,a supporter of our great FTE forum I would be out my thirty clams.I went local and bought those parts.
To each there own,but before you order out for your parts.
Check your local parts shops,not the big name shops the smaller guys that really care about your truck.Bet 9 time out of 10 they can find you wnat your looking for and for a decent price.

Aug 27, 2010 | 09:33 PM

#21

benmoderow

Tuned

Joined: May 2009

Posts: 435

Likes: 1

[quote=SuperDutyScaler;9262275]well i buy 90% from BGY and i never had a LMC sticker on it.
I've only been working on my truck for a year and it's happened to me three times! Numberdummy had a great point, because twice I ordered from BGY and it took forever to get the stuff because they were just the middle man. They took my money and then ordered the parts from someone else. And the ordered parts came from the other company, so that means BGY never even touched them! And Hasteranger also has a good point. Maybe that explains the LMC stickers. I've ordered alot of stuff from LMC and have been extremely happy. And their catalogs are great to use as a referance. Not sure why everyone talks bad about them, because I'm as **** as they come and haven't had any product problems.

Aug 28, 2010 | 09:45 AM

#22

Ronzi

More Turbo

Joined: Feb 2008

Posts: 641

Likes: 25

From: Port Charlotte, Florida

I avoided LMC when redoing my truck because of all the bad stuff Ive read on here about them. I ordered all my trim and rubber from DC. I needed a grill shell and the only place that had them was LMC. It was a new steel chrome plated shell so I ordered it along with new mounting hardware and was very pleased. DC charged me a fortune to ship the long trim pieces, LMC's shipping for the big grill shell was 20 bucks. I would be leary about ordering body pannels from them(because I hear they are thin metal) but I will order any other items I may need from LMC in the future.