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I purchased a set of radiator hoses from Max Merritt. I was a bit surprised to find that the hoses say 'Made in Mexico' on them

Where can I buy of original type hoses?? Kanter?

I got my 356 hose from ordinary autoparts store that handles Gates.

Bill, I forget what year and model you're working on, but straight section hose can be bought in most any diameter in 3 foot lengths. For hoses with curved sections, I usually just take the old one to an autoparts store and look for a modern hose that I can but to cut a section from with the correct configuration.

Quote: I'm surprised that you can even buy Gates without a made in or assembled somewhere else on them since we have so little manufacturing left. Most of the stuff all the parts stores carry are made in China or Mexico. O_D's suggestion of matching the curves is great if they will do it. Used to but unfortunately so many of them now have their hoses up high, out of sight in the backroom you are at the mercy of some young kid who won't do anything without a number.

As a thread hijack, There was a "test yourself" quiz on one of the news site compilations last year--think it was Yahoo auto. 10 stellar American brand & model cars--including one mentioned here on the forum as owned because it was American made. Only one was completely made in USA and that wasn't it. All others were assembled in Canada & Mexico and even a couple elsewhere -- some with US made content but most of those with content at less than 50%.

Made in Mexico or other south american countries has not presented any significant quality issues with me in terms products (other than food).

I now buy Mexican made dress boots instead of Spanish. They are excellent and far exceed the often over embellsihed Italian made boots.

Products from countries i completely avoid are Indonesia and China. To a lesser extent India. Some India made repop products are ok but require some hand fitting.

Recently bought some Phillips lite bulbs made in Indonesia. They fall apart when removed from the package. OR fall apart with in 5 or 10 minutes of use. A real safety hazard for flying glass. AND I MEAN it happened 4 or 5 times in a row, NOT just once.

F indonesian made products.

1936 Packard 120 is the model. There is a link to my car in my signature.

The quality isn't the issue.... it is trying to keep the car as original as is practical.

The hoses do look like decent quality and I could position the wording so it faces down... would you guys just use them??

Thanks!!

Side Note: Can you guys put links to your Owner Registry pages so everyone can see what car you guys have??? Thnx!

Whether to use them or not depends on a personal judgement call. Since a big name vendor supplied them then they will most likely pass show judging. i.e. they suddenly become original.

In my own judgement it depends on price. If i paid more than 30% of what an equivelent discount store charges for the same hose i'd learn a valuable lesson from the ordeal. Of course that means i'd have run to the autoparts store and spend some time matching up the hoses or doing other research.

In the imortal words of Jack Vines it's YOUR car, YOUR money, and YOUR time. YOU figure out what YOU need to do in terms of cost, time, what's best for the car and whatever may be typed in a rule book.

I'm not trying to be sarcastic. I'm just calling the cards the way they lay on the table. Myself and others i know have been thru auto parts ordeals just like this one you're going thru rite now for many many times over many many years across many many different makes and vendors.

Caveat Emptor!

OR, welcome to the wonderful world of automobiles.

If you're worried about the markings on the hose, you can use a little paint thinner on a rag and just remove the markings. Problem solved. I was actually able to get Goodyear Hoses from my local Kragen/O'Reiley and cut them down to fit.