- Bad window rubber as compared to what else is available?
- Compared to what came off of your car and has been out of production for 40 years?
- What are your options for new stuff from other vendors?
1960 LeBaron rear window seals are not being reproduced anywhere, as the car had a 1600 unit production run, and almost nobody else besides me is dumb enough to work on restoring one, so with a handful of exceptions worldwide; nobody is buying. ....so nobody is reproducing either.
The example that I got from AB wasn't as good as what I already had taken off of the car, so I grumbled and reused my original rubber, but if the original were trash, I think that I could have rigged the AB item to work, even if it were extruded and not molded. Beggars can't be choosers, and it WAS technically a viable solution to my problem, even if not "correct".
I am now facing having to redo the rubber window seals in the 1970. Although Bernbaum isn't the first place that I'd check (have not done so already, and intend to shop around - esp. with Steele Rubber Products), if Andy Bernbaum were the only place offering something, and it were marginal
, that would be better than nothing, would it not?
So I guess that a good question to ask here is: If what you got just can't be made to work, are you:
- facing a challenging restoration where truly correct parts are horribly scarce,
- a stooge/victim of false advertising,
- someone that got the wrong part by mistake,
- the wronged victim of a merchant offering shoddy goods in a marketplace brimming with superior alternatives
What other resources are there for window rubber by comparison? (I will need some soon, so would like to know)
The only other vendors listed on the club website that have not already been hung out to dry here for other crimes seem to be Soffseal and Steele.
Do they stock what you want/need? Is it specific to the Imperial or some sort of generic item that you have to chigger to get right? If not, that stuff from Andy may be the only thing going or represent what the ENTIRE marketplace is offering as a solution! Remember, Chrysler parts are not so common as to warrant a strong aftermarket. That's why the club website & the IML are as focused on mutual support for poor suffering Imperial owners as they are. The 1957 Chevvy folks don't need to band together - companies are beating down
their door with catalogs and enough parts to build a "2005" 1957 Chevvy.
Remember, it's easier to be a critic than to be an artist.
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