<VV> Carpets- Clark's Corvair

Wed Jan 27 10:14:06 EST 2010

Folks,

I emailed Carl and then talked with Mark at Clarks Corvair.

Mark offered Carl a cut & sew carpet as Carl mentioned. Carl at this point 
would still like to try and get a molded carpet.

As I understand it, Mark has called their mfg and asked if they can get a 
bare molded carpet and when. He is expecting an answer today or tomorrow. 
Mark will have an answer shortly.

If Clarks cannot get a bare carpet then Carl will have to decide whether he 
will accept the cut & sew or not.

Clark's is doing everything they can to try and fill the order and satisfy 
the customer.

Regards,

Chuck S

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <airvair at earthlink.net>
To: "Tony Underwood" <tony.underwood at cox.net>; <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Cc: "Carl Arlette" <arlettecarl at hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 9:50 AM
Subject: Re: <VV> Frustration with Clark's Corvair

> If I may put in my two cents worth, as a customer and also as his supplier
> (on some parts), so I talk to Cal often. Cal gets his molded carpet (as
> does Wall's, and probably anyone else who supplies molded LM Corvair
> carpet) from ACC, who like Cal's wiring harness supplier, is notoriously
> difficult to deal with. They have the attitude that since they are the 
> ONLY
> supplier of said goods, it's their way or the highway, so any requests
> outside of the way they want to supply said part gets a big "go ****
> yourself" response. In other words, it's not Cal who's inflexible, but his
> suppliers.
>
> I purchased a molded carpet (thru Wall's) back in '93. At that time, I
> noted (among other things) that they had put the binding for the center
> strip of carpet (which is attached to the rear piece, and lies between the
> buckets) on the rear section. Totally incorrect, as ALL binding goes on 
> the
> FRONT piece of carpet. I mentioned this to Lon, and he passed the info to
> ACC. Their response (if memory serves me right) was as I mentioned above.
> They neither cared nor wanted to be accurate.
>
> Pretty sad when manufacturers of parts for the old car hobby take that
> attitude. But then, they know they have you over a barrel. The Corvair is
> not like something really popular, like a Camaro for instance, where
> everybody and his brother can supply the same parts, simply because the
> market's that big. Only then can the market encourage the best, most
> accurate reproduction parts. We Corvair enthusiasts thus often have to
> accept what is offered, and to his defense, Cal does try to offer the best
> parts possible. But like any businessman, he often has to compromise
> accuracy and quality, just in order to have SOMEthing available. He
> regrettably can only control that on parts he himself manufactures.
>
> -Mark
>
>> [Original Message]
>> From: Tony Underwood <tony.underwood at cox.net>
>> Subject: Re: <VV> Frustration with Clark's Corvair
>>
>> At 04:15 PM 1/26/2010, John Kepler wrote:
>>
>> >Am I expecting to much from Clarks?  I would hate to see how Clark's
> would
>> >deal with a difficult modification!
>> >
>> >Frustrated from 'down under'
>> >
>> >Gee....expecting a non-standard, custom part at an "Off-the-shelf" 
>> >price!
>> >Yeah...you're expecting too much.  Sorry you folks in Oz have to drive 
>> >on
>> >the wrong side of the road!
>> >
>> >BTW...what the hell makes you think what you want isn't a "difficult
>> >modification"?
>>
>> ...isn't this a bit harsh?
>>
>> If it had been me, I'd have been wondering why a custom carpet
>> wouldn't have been available as well.   Wasn't the request made with
>> allowances of plenty of lead time?
>>
>> There can't be that many middlemen between the guy who slices a
>> length of automotive carpet off a roll to make a Corvair part, and
>> the fellow in MA who stuffs it into a box for shipping.    If a
>> contractor is so arbitrary that they can't be bothered to respond
>> positively to a request by Clark's to make a carpet without the pad
>> attached, it's simply unfortunate and a bit of an example of how
>> customer service has dwindled to a trickle in today's domestic
>> manufacturing for niche items like carpet specifically made for a
>> 40-50 year old car.
>>
>> ...unless that carpet is coming from China... ;)
>>
>> Clarks might not be at fault here and may be getting a bad rap, if
>> it's the contractor who can't be bothered to make a custom
>> piece.     Seems that the flak needs to be fired off in that
>> direction and maybe not at Clark's.    Where I work, we supply odd
>> things to customers in the construction business and we'll go out of
>> our way to do custom work to keep a customer happy.   Of course we
>> don't have a lot of middlemen....
>>
>> Maybe the resident Aussie needs a proxy here stateside to work in his
>> best interests to see if something can't be worked out.    It would
>> make a great human interest "see what we can do" piece for the back
>> pages of a Clark's catalog, regarding a custom carpet made for a
>> Corvair from "dahyun undeah".  (tongue in cheek talk-funny reference
>> )  Probably a likely candidate for a Communique article for that
>> matter...  if it's timed right and it's a slow month and the
>> Communique is a bit light on tech articles.   The right greasing of
>> the wheels of progress and a bit of attention in the direction of the
>> right person might turn this into a satisfactory situation that might
>> be good for everyone.
>>
>> tony..
>>
>
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