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Man, is there a whole lot of "disunderstanding" here!!

It is very very simple:

An "Import Part" is a part for an imported vehicle, however the line has been blurred since the term came into common use in the '50's as we now have "import" makes such as Honda made in the US. The term now applies to parts for vehicles where the BRAND is of foreign origin.

If you look in the local paper vehicles are often listed as Domestic ( Cadillac-USA, Chevy Aveo-Korea, Pontiac G8-Australia) and Imports (Honda-US and Japan, Mercedes-US and Japan etc)

What I think the originator of the thread meant was "imported part", which is a part manufactured in a country other than the US.

It is not true that unmarked parts are made here and there helter skelter. BY LAW a part manufactured in a country OTHER THAN THE USA MUST BE MARKED WITH COUNTRY OF ORIGIN.
The "substantially transformed" exemption is if a piston raw casting is made in Canada or China adn is machined in the USA and has a USA piston pin installed, the part is legally "Made in the USA"

There is no law requiring a part made in the USA to be marked, whether it is made in Kansas, New York or California, thus unmarked parts, if the vendor is abiding by the law are all made in the USA.

Reboxing to hide the country of origin IS ILLEGAL.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH A PERSON NOT WANTING TO BUY FRENCH MADE PARTS, FRENCH FOOD OR FRENCH'S MUSTARD. THERE IS NO LAW AGAINST PERSONAL TASTE OR PREJUDICES IN THIS AREA.
KEEP YOUR PREJUDICES TO YOURSELF

If you don't want that stuff, ask the vendor first then there are no return problems.

HOWEVER, I FEEL IT IS UNETHICAL FOR ANYONE TO CAST ASPERSIONS ON A PRODUCT OR VENDOR MERELY BECAUSE OF THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF THE PARTS. GOOD PARTS ARE GOOD , BAD PARTS ARE BAD AND THE MARKETPLACE WILL SORT THEM OUT RATHER QUICKLY.

We have over 3 million engine bearings made in 5 different countries. Sometimes for a particular car .010 and .040 undersize are USA made and std,.020 and .030 are Israel made. Virtualy impossible to list that in a catalog especailly as the stock may change next month.

Yes, we sell parts from China, India, Israel, Maylasia, Australia and many other countries. I have not seen any posts on this site saying any vendors parts are defective or have caused damage.

Get over the issue, if it were not for foreign sourced parts
there would be no engine bearings available for Packards at a decent price. With a US manufacturer requiring a 10,000 pc minimum order and a foreign source 500 which one of you out there is willing to foot the bill for 10,000 sets and go into business with just one item?

Fred Kanter
Kanter Auto Products
Boonton NJ

"Mr. Reality Check"

"Virtualy impossible to list that in a catalog especailly as the stock may change next month."

Could they be listed for sale as "No Particular Brand, Imported Part". Maybe a new accronym: NPBIP.

If a licensed and well known vendor name is cast into the parts or permanantly detailed on the parts in someway then that would be as good as a recognizable brand name.

Quote: "KEEP YOUR PREJUDICES TO YOURSELF"

Where were any statements of prejudice made??? I can't find any such statements of prejudice anywhere in this forum.

" IT IS UNETHICAL FOR ANYONE TO CAST ASPERSIONS ON A PRODUCT OR VENDOR MERELY BECAUSE OF THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF THE PARTS."

Noone has done that. THe idea is to be able to determine the source and brand of a part before purchase, after purchase and maybe years or decades from now when the part becomes an issue for replacement or continued use. Whether, good, bad or mediocre.

And THEN the market will decide.

I think what Fred means here is that it's not "economically feasible" to have a minimum order of parts that are definitely not a fast moving part to be made in the USA. I completely understand and agree with that assessment.

I also understand where Keith's (PackardV8) is coming from, when you buy parts it's nice to know where they come from before you buy them, for any future reference.

Point of fact, Packards aren't made anymore, and we're lucky to even be able to buy parts for them at all. NOS stuff is nice, but it's even more expensive usually (unless you get lucky and find a sleepy auction on ebay) and the supply of that is dwindling up.

If I was Fred and I had a choice of ordering 10,000 sets of bearings from a USA manufacturer at say $50 a set, or 500 sets from a foreign manufacturer for the same price, there's a no-brainer decision. I don't think he wants to sit on half a million dollars worth of inventory for an unspecified amount of time and I wouldn't either. You don't get to where he is today without making good business decisions, no matter what some of us think of him.

That being said, I think that most people would like to know what they're buying beforehand, and the simplest solution to that is also like Fred says, ask when ordering where the parts are from, and if you're not satisfied with the answer buy elsewhere.

Fire away.

Eric, I completely agree with that. Nice, calm and sensible. So lets leave this thread on that high-note.