Re: Randy Berger's 1956 Caribbean

Posted by BH On 2009/9/18 7:56:09

I believe die-cast tends to expand and distort from even a subtle amount of corrosion over a long period of time. Some die-cast is a rather "spongy" alloy to begin with; worse yet, if unplated.

However, I suspect the reverse is true in this case - that the replacement (polypropylene?) plastic part has shrunk over all the years that it sat unused in the box/bag. Else, pehaps it is not truly NOS.

You may very well ask, then, why the factory-installed part didn't shrink. I would suggest that the (phenolic) insulator/board, as a by-product, served as a stretcher of sorts, trying to maintain the original perimeter of the black plastic part - perhaps even causing the original plastic part breaking as it shrunk.