Vintage Mustang Forums banner

Is it really made in the USA ?

7K views 94 replies 32 participants last post by  Nailbender 
#1 ·
I posted a question regarding updates on the suspension of my 68 Mustang Coupe and now I thought I would ask if anyone knows who produces suspension parts the are really 100% made in the USA ? Like the rubber bushings and the fabricated or pressed steel uppers and lowers and even the bolts. I would love to spend my money even if it's a little more to buy American and not buy outsources parts. Anyone know ?
Thanks
 
#4 ·
Well I called NPD and was ask can you please hold and before I got a word out of my mouth the jackass put me on hold. I waited and waited as a matter of fact I went ahead and called CJ Pony Parts to ask them about American Made and their answering machine put me on hold and then a message came on that said the hold time is 45 mins. I 'm not kidding it really did. I bailed out on both calls now and I'm not spending my money with either of them. I think that kind of service is just crap.
 
#9 ·
So no matter how busy they are, when you call they should drop everything and everyone else to wait on you?!

I’m sure they’re just busy, haven’t you ever been in the same position,..... I for one certainly have.

Regardless, Rick will take care of you!
 
#6 ·
If you aren’t going to deal with either of those vendors you’ve seriously limited your choices particularly with the quality of parts NPD offers.

Most of the restoration parts are made offshore. If you’re trying to restore a car using US only reproduction parts you probably will never be able to finish the project.
 
#7 ·
NPD is probably the best source of products and service your gonna find. I might suggest treading lightly if you decide to broadcast your attitude on the forum. A better bet might be to contact @69bossnine on this forum via PM. He will answer your questions directly... oh yea, he also owns the place.
 
#12 ·
I was just stating exactly what occurred. Yes I suppose saying " Jackass " might have been harsh so please forgive me for portraying my attitude there. I can see that my real point has been lost though in saying how these two companies handle customer service regarding phone calls. I will continue the pursuit of seeing who really has restoration parts or upgrade parts that are made in the USA. I will take the advice of emailing for the answer.
 
#8 ·
Be sure to thank Rick after he straightens this out.
 
#83 ·
Not that Rick will lose sleep over it, but I guess he’s not getting any type of acknowledgment on actually taking the time to Personally reply to a disgruntled shopper,.....
 
#11 ·
That's a pretty wide-open question. I do know some of the answers. In general, none of the stock stuff is made in the USA. The only exception would be
Moog . There's a pretty good chance that their products are still made here for the vintage Mustang applications. They have long ago amortized their
machinery, so provided that the raw material can be had at a decent price, all they have in it is labor to run the equipment..... there's no real reason to
outsource. They have been known to source their steering stuff from outside of the US- and yet I've seen the Mustang apps Made In USA still today.
Go figure.

High performance aftermarket suspension stuff is largely made in the USA. (as in Global West, Street or Track, Mike Maier, etc.)

ex-Global West GM
1991-1995
 
#19 ·
That's a pretty wide-open question. I do know some of the answers. In general, none of the stock stuff is made in the USA. The only exception would be
Moog . There's a pretty good chance that their products are still made here for the vintage Mustang applications. They have long ago amortized their
machinery, so provided that the raw material can be had at a decent price, all they have in it is labor to run the equipment..... there's no real reason to
outsource. They have been known to source their steering stuff from outside of the US- and yet I've seen the Mustang apps Made In USA still today.
Go figure.

High performance aftermarket suspension stuff is largely made in the USA. (as in Global West, Street or Track, Mike Maier, etc.)

ex-Global West GM
1991-1995
You know Moog was a company that came to mind. I recall being in one of their plants in Mississippi I believe it was and they were producing front end components. I think they have good products.
 
#15 ·
Would you rather NPD not answer the phone when they are on another line?. They answer the phone & say please hold & when they are done with the call they are on go to the next one in line.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rpm and Israel
#18 ·
Haven’t you ever been so busy that’s it all you can do to just answer one of the Many ringing lines and be as polite as possible while asking if you could put someone on hold?
 
#20 ·
Moog parts have the greatest chance of being USA made. You'll also want to skip the "R" series parts they offer, as those are guaranteed to be imports. Some items are just not economically viable to produce in the US anymore, unless you get into specialty and military grade items.
 
#23 ·
Amazing! I'd rather have a person answer the phone and tell/ask me if they can put me on hold. (It's pretty much standard business practice for businesses that are busy and take care of their customers. ) Also shows they are not just sitting there waiting for someone to call because their business practices put customers off. But then I don't think/feel that the world revolves around me. I'd rather have a person answer and do that then have a auto answer bot. By the way both NPD and CJPP (I know the owners) won't go belly up without your patronage.
 
#24 ·
Many businesses are limited in the number of employees they can have on site and are doing their best with fewer staff. I wouldn’t let this one experience color your opinion of NPD. They are well respected here at VMF and great friends to the hobby. Have a glass of a nice bourbon and call them back on Monday. Good luck!
 
#28 ·
No disrespect intended.....You are running into this reaction because the owner of NPD @69bossnine (Rick) is a member on this board and regularly contributes. He also takes a lot of time out of his busy schedule to help people on this board resolve issues with parts or with the company. He will personally go out of his way to make sure any issue is resolved to the customers satisfaction. Not assign one of his workers to do it. Many on this board would call him a friend. If you do some searching of past posts you will find there is very little negative to be found about NPD. They offer some of, if not the best customer service in the vintage car industry. Search for CJPP as well and see what people feel about them..

Maybe the person that answered was a little quick to put you on hold, I'm sure Rick will look into it given the opportunity.
You can buy from whoever you like but if you dismiss NPD you will be dismissing one of your best sources for parts and information you have available to you IMO.

As other have stated, you re going to find a lot of the repop suspension parts to be imports and as you have found MOOG is a likely source of USA parts.
 
#29 ·
[/QUOTE]
No disrespect intended.....You are running into this reaction because the owner of NPD @69bossnine (Rick) is a member on this board and regularly contributes. He also takes a lot of time out of his busy schedule to help people on this board resolve issues with parts or with the company. He will personally go out of his way to make sure any issue is resolved to the customers satisfaction. Not assign one of his workers to do it. Many on this board would call him a friend. If you do some searching of past posts you will find there is very little negative to be found about NPD. They offer some of, if not the best customer service in the vintage car industry. Search for CJPP as well and see what people feel about them..

Maybe the person that answered was a little quick to put you on hold, I'm sure Rick will look into it given the opportunity.
You can buy from whoever you like but if you dismiss NPD you will be dismissing one of your best sources for parts and information you have available to you IMO.

As other have stated, you re going to find a lot of the repop suspension parts to be imports and as you have found MOOG is a likely source of USA parts.
I imagine it wasn't Rick that answered the phone when I called. If it were my business then I might just pickup a phone from some unknown number and call my customer service line and see what I get. I bet Rick wouldn't think that was a very professional response if he got the same treatment that I got. It has been and interesting process to find American Made auto parts.
 
#30 ·
So you called CJs
Have you ever placed an order with them. Did your part get to you in 2 days.
I doubt it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rpm
#39 ·
You are correct, Moog I think does make quality parts and from time to time I see where people do find NOS pieces also I have seen where ebay can be a source for used parts that still work. If I were a company that has American made parts I would be touting it to the heavens in this day and time. Plus if I were getting much of my products from China then I'd just say nothing I guess.
 
#34 · (Edited)
I love these threads and since it's late, I'm a bit mellowed, relaxed and in such a good mood, I'll contribute.

There is one jackass on this thread and it happens to be OP. Get the F over yourself and get in line. Can't be put on hold because why? You're better than the person on hold in front of you? GTFOH...

Allen

Just saying what the mods can't say and trust me, I know Israel, he would be happy to say it too!
 
#44 ·
Thanks to all for a thoroughly entertaining Saturday afternoon read. Amazing to me, generally speaking, these type of "slam" threads are usually started by a member with less than 100 posts (and I might add no location information is in their profile).

Use the forum search function and get a real feel for the two vendors you mentioned in your OP. Hopefully you'll understand why there is so much forum support of NPD and CJJP, not so much.

Wish I would have seen this last night when I was also relaxed ( @Turnall ;) ), my response would probably have been in the same vein.

That is all, carry on........

John
 
#45 ·
In discussions like this quite often the commenters exceed their ability to communicate without turning to obscenities or name calling or like children using abbreviations of obscenities. My only point was to find if a person could spend their money on American made products which I prefer to do if I can. I made the mistake of calling out the customer service of NPD and apparently many people on here are fond of them and not so much of CJ Pony.
 
#48 ·
Your very first post started with name calling.......



Now imagine you’re being helped by an employee of NPD, the phone rings, he/she answers it and starts helping the other person, disrupting your transaction. My guess is you’d still be blasting them on the forum for this behavior. It seems like a no win for NPD, with you. Some people can’t be pleased. I’d just be happy to still have a job!
 
#53 ·
I'm the same way, the first response is why?. Then reality has to take over and realize these folks (It be O'reilly, Auto Zone, Walmart our Doctor office) have to make a profit. The bottom line is make or break in business.
I've been put on hold in all mentioned, when it gets to long, I simple hang up, call later. All most always NPD puts me on hold, Damn it, put speaker on, continue another task, answer when they respond, no big deal.
Some of us do have a short fuse, I think OP did, then our folks on forum entertained him with the fact we kinda protect our members who overextend themselves to help others.
 
#54 ·
While it might not be reassuring in the method you were placed on hold, I think we all need to stop as consumers and think about what's happening on the other end of the phone. As others have pointed out, lots of people are doing restorations and or scooping up parts to fix their vehicles. We as consumers need to be aware that many people of different abilities and knowledge levels are calling places such as NPD. When someone of lesser knowledge or experience calls and ties up a finite amount of employees, or the calls exceed the employee staffing at the time, it can lead to higher than normal wait times. We need to remember the person on the other line is just trying to earn a living and likely is doing cross duty work, such as attending will call, helping with shipping, and other capacities within the company. Are there companies where people don't care and just want to receive a paycheck? Absolutely, look no further than most Autozone employees(not all). This is due to company culture.

Some people may ask, "well why doesn't NPD higher more employees?!?!" The answer is simple. NPD is competing with CJ Pony Parts and the likes, and hiring more employees means the cost of their salaries is passed on to you, the consumer. I can guarantee you any business is doing that cost benefit analysis. There is only so much margin in a part where overhead begins to erode your profit and make it not sustainable to do business, especially in this day in age where it is a constant race to the bottom. I'm sure the owner of NPD knows exactly what that means. As a consumer you do have choices, but it does seem reasonable to take the above into consideration. Another thing that is challenging for an automotive company, is finding qualified employees. Sounds easy, but you could never begin to understand how hard it is with the current generations that are working. COVID19 and their related safety policies have also made it much more difficult to efficiently process orders because of the protocols that need to be followed.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top