letter to Honda Ireland

[beecee]

Last week i sent a message to what i thought was Honda Ireland but turned out to be a dealer ,this is the message i sent .


As the the owner of 2 old Hondas ,a 1992 crx(my pride and joy ) and a 1994 Honda Beat , both of which i have spent many an hour and many a penny on , all in the attempt to keep these former Honda glorys on the road , parts for both are getting harder to source through forums and owners clubs , so you end up ringing your local Honda dealership for a price on a part , and invariably thats where it ends as the price is do restrictive that i genuinely doubt anyone has actually purchased these type of parts in years for what are now old cars , new car parts are expensive but they are going on new cars and worth the expense , for someone trying to keep a hobby car on the road its to cost restrictive . The type of parts im talking about are plastic body trim and window rubber seals and the like , and im not a spoty teenager on a budget ,im mid 40's with a good salary , ah well better to have these part gathering dust on shelves that showing off your former glorys .
Rant over .
BRIAN

The reply ....


Hi Brian
I can safely say i have never been asked to price parts for a Honda Beat,we don’t do the cars,only motorcycles,atvs etc.
However i did have a Beat a few years back and i think i may still have a parts book somewhere,will try and root it out for you.
Regarding the prices,unfortunately there is very little i can do,but as a fellow enthusiast(i have a Suzuki Cappuccino at home) i will look after you with a decent discount.


so i sent this back .



Hi Kenny
thanks for the prompt reply ,an ex Beat owner , although you have gone over to the other side with the Cappo :) , Are you aware of the Cars And Coffee meetings,
they are held on the first Sunday of every month in Cheerywood business park between 11 to 2 pm , its a bring what you drive meet , everything from Farraris to fiats
and Bentlys to Beats , there is a regular red cappo that turns , just thought you might be interested .
Anyway the Beat parts i would be looking for are window roof seals

72381-SS1-003, 72382-SS1-003 & 72383-SS1-013 R/H side.

72391-SS1-003, 72392-SS1-003 & 72393-SS1-013 L/H side.


And for the crx its the plastic trims
Position Description Part Number Quantity
1 GARNISH, R. SIDE SILL 71801-SH2-J00 1
2 GARNISH, R. FR. FENDER LOWER 71810-SH2-J00 1
3 GARNISH, R. FR. DOOR SKIN 71821-SH2-J00 1
4 GARNISH, L. SIDE SILL 71851-SH2-J00 1
5 GARNISH, L. FR. FENDER LOWER 71860-SH2-J00 1
6 GARNISH, L. FR. DOOR SKIN 71871-SH2-J00 1
7 MOLDING ASSY., R. DOOR 72410-SH3-003 1
Cheers
BRIAN .

His reply


Hi Brian
I have set out prices for you below.most of these parts would have to come from Japan
72381-ss1-003 86 euro
72382-ss1-003 59 euro
72383-ss1-013 74 euro
72391-ss1-003 56 euro
72392-ss1-003 61 euro
72393-ss1-013 52 euro
All the other parts for the CRX are discontinued bar the last one 72410-sh3-003 which retails at 110 euro
All these prices are including vat and i can give you 15% discount off them.
Let me know

Kind Regards,
Kenny

Retail Sales Executive


So its still 300 for 5ft of rubber door seal !!
I dont think ill be bothering .
BRIAN

[Steve_M]

Mouldings and trims are normally the first parts to be discontinued or if there is high demand additional parts will be made, but a short run of parts is expensive to produce and as Beat was a low volume car anyway, Beat specific parts would be expensive to produce.

A worn/damage piece of trim won't stop a 10 year old car from running, even thou in Japan Beat is quite different to the majority of Japan model with so many still on the road.

Many parts have been affected by the natural disasters and economic climate. E.g suppliers factories have been destroyed or they have gone out of business and the cost of new dies for a few parts is just not cost effective.

I had to do some investigation on a 2004 CR-V the other week and had to organise parts for a complete drivers door, both the interior door trim and some lock parts had been discontinued.

I'm afraid this is a fact of the motor trade and as your cars get older more and more parts will be discontinued or if available will be a premium price due to storage or remanufactor costs.

[LawrenceHarding]

Its early days now but I suspect the longer term future here is 3D printing. This site will give you a bit more info http://www.reprapcentral.com. They supply machines which could make items like heater knobs or the black plastic bits for the bumpers out of ABS. I understand from some forums that nylon ie strimmer string can also be used (mudflaps possibly). I would also imagine that if a suitable plastic could be found we could replace the mazak in broken door mirrors. This process uses CAD type files to control the machine so if it does get off the ground members could supply the club with copies to form a library.

[steveinjapan]

Lawrence is probably right about 3D printing, but another solution is to wait another decade or two. Case in point - old Alfas (late-50's early 60's 750-101 series especially) -- practically impossible to get rubber parts when they were just "old cars", but now that they are collectible and worth some real money, repro parts are fairly easy to get and surprisingly not too expensive.