Throw away thinking

[dakazman]

  Can you imagine all the manufactures of cars in the past not supplying parts after 10 -20 years or so?
 
   JUST TRY TO GET A COMPUTER SCREEN FOR A NEW CAR AND HAVE IT PROGRAMMED TO WORK IN 20 YEARS. OR FIND THAT PLASTIC LENS AROUND THE HEDLIGHTS OR GRILLE?
   What are they doing?
Dakazman
 

[Richard48Y]

Realizing Chevrolet's dream from 1955!
The original SBC was an exercise in cost cutting that made aftermarket suppliers rich.
To cut cost, even minor items like exhaust gaskets were not used.
The idea being that when those were needed the car would be scrapped and they could sell another.
Aftermarket spoiled that by suppling the parts.

But with the model proliferation now, and many if not most being completely restyled every year, the pie has too many very thin slices for the aftermarket to care.
So only the most popular models are supported, for a short time.

Forty - fifty year old cars from extinct makers are now better supported than ten year old cars!

[EuropaTC]

It's already with us, and with Lotus. I've decided to put the Elise on the road next summer after far too long sitting in the garage, so I made a list and went looking for bits.

Thankfully not needed (fingers crossed) but the plastic front/rear indicators & stop lamps are NLA, SJS have recommissioned a batch apparently but the OEM headlamps, an odd size with a recurve glass, are again NLA. Old stock (if you can find any) is expensive as you'd expect.  Some suspension parts are the same and don't even think about asking for a replacement chassis. And that's on a car that is just over 20yrs old, mine is '99 and they were sold into 2000-2001 I think. I'll bet that the S2 Elise, <20yrs old with moulded headlamps is already in the rocking horse poo category now.

We bought a new Ford at the end of last year and there's so much electronics in the thing that I think cars are becoming like the modern TV, washing machine or freezer - work brilliantly until right to the point where they don't, and then you just dump it and buy a new one.....

Edit to add - out of curiosity I looked up the lamps for the S2, <2007. Still available at roughly £1k per corner....    wow.

[S2Zetec54]

£1000 for an Elise s2 headlight ….. 

[EuropaTC]

Yep, Lotus only parts ain't cheap any more.  I had a swift intake of breath when I saw £300 for the fuel pump and £1700 for the Stack instrument unit although I suppose that does cover speed/revs/temperature & fuel.  Half a dozen Smiths gauges are still cheaper though !

Brian

[BDA]

This reminds me of an Elan M100 I saw on BaT a while ago. There were some trim pieces that missing/damaged and were NLA. I figure the chances of them being reproduced was nil. But because of the “crudeness” of the Europa, there are either replacements that are similar enough to generally be considered “original” (ex. stainless trim above the trim panel under doors) and pretty much everything else can fairly easily reproduced or sourced from other cars that are more common. Obviously, there are a few exceptions like the 5th gear for a 365 tranny and I had a hard time finding a bearing for my NG3 (which isn’t stock of course). Who would have thought that parts would be easier to find for a 50 year old car that less than 10,000 of them were made than some much more recent cars with larger production numbers?!

[Rosco5000]

I can tell you working for an auto part wholesaler and retailer that part proliferation is a huge problem.  There are many functional parts that are similar or the same across models on the same platform but still not enough.  The other problem for brands like Lotus is that they are still parts bin cars but they hold fitment information very close to the chest so that the aftermarket doesn't get a hold of it.  One example the Elise S2 sway bar drop link is a Kia sway bar drop link.  Obscure but came up on a random fitment search I did.  That is the only cross reference I have ever been able to make but I'm sure they are out there.  Brake pads for the rear of the elise I heard was the same as a WRX but I have never been able to confirm the year or model.  Frustrating position to be in when all you want to do is help a customer no longer being serviced well by the dealership.

[cazman]

I am an aftermarket manufacture of some "legacy" parts. I always thought that the Tier 1, 2, 3 and then various aftermarket suppliers was a good system. When the volume goes down, the OEMs just cannot make the parts at any affordable price anymore (at least if they keep redesigning every few years), then the aftermarket has an opportunity to step in. Hopefully the lack of overhead offsets the lower volume cost increase. Some of the problem now is that the OEs parts divisions have been let go. Its not AC Delco's job to support GM anymore. And many of the aftermarket "manufactures" have relied on China production.