Reputable companies vs. knock offs (informational thread)

[xxlbeerz]

Originally Posted by Jason 98 TA

We're working really hard to get you guys a header option for good $$ so you don't have to buy OBX! In the next month I'll have a great option for you guys that will be top quality & a affordable price. We're working to get some 2mm thick 304 stainless so we can keep the headers extra thick like our current headers.

I would have probably went with the Texas Speed system if it wasn't 409. An American, inexpensive 304ss system, you would sell a ton!

[HumanWiki]

That would be nice.... The other irritation point that I feel pushes people over to things like OBX is sales that are bragged about in large letters, but don't amount to much.. I've seen too many times where sale prices are something on the order of 50.00 off a set of 1400.00 headers. Really? That's just insulting to call that a sale price and make a big deal out of. selling a 1400.00 set of headers for 900.00 would be a "BIG SALE" in my mind.

[TBone]

Well I can vouch for Maryland Speed on this one HumanWiki. When they had their Black Friday sale on Kooks Headers they were A LOT more that $50 or even $100 dollars off their normal prices listed on their website right now. They even shipped them to me for free. So there are dealers out there that when they ask you to "Call them for a price" DO IT!!! I saved a TON of money, thanks again Brandon.

I was even able to install them in enough time to make the final Chicago 5th Gen cruise of the year and Great Lakes Dragway for a final run. I beat Dan, DarkSS, for the fastest V8 list in our club before putting her up for the season, he he he. (That was just an added bonus, I am gonna get creamed next year)

T.

[mikeSS]

great thread..

if i didn't already buy my mods i would for sure buy them from maryland any day.

[Dion_1969]

Originally Posted by A.R. Headers

Guys, here's a little American Racing Headers philosophy, we buy American, period. Our tubing, flanges, collectors, cats, O2 fittings, clamps, hardware etc... are all made here. We even insist on all our hats, T-shirts and jackets have a Made In USA label. The header industry is one where you don't have to settle though most do. Is does cost more to operate like this but we refuse to do things any other way. Our goals are to pass that sense of pride to our customers and it not only works, it's appreciated.

Our biggest concern isn't only the fact that our parts are being knocked off. It's more than that. It's the fact that these parts are being misrepresented as being US made and some folks are buying into it. These companies flood the market with junk. They then get exposed by eventually selling parts that either no longer fit or cracks. This has happened more times than you can count and everyone in the exhaust industry knows it.
We will continue to call a spade a spade to educate the consumer. We're not interested in offending anyone but we won't be knocked off without setting the record straight.

Nick

I know you have a good product but Made in the USA doesn't guarantee that the product isn't made by Chinese workers at slave wages.

"Made for America

Aside from Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands are the only other insular commonwealth of the United States. The arrangement, which began in 1978, grants all indigenous inhabitants of the islands American citizenship and allows them to elect a local island government but excludes the right to vote in U.S. presidential elections. The government of the Northern Marianas benefits from substantial U.S. federal funds-in the form of subsidies and development assistance-administered by the Department of the Interior. The United States benefits by having a strategic military site in the Pacific.

Under the terms of their commonwealth agreement, the Northern Marianas also maintained the right to label "Made in the U.S.A." all products manufactured on the islands — despite the fact that they had been given exemption from some federal labor laws, customs laws, immigration laws, quotas and tariffs laws By the late 1980s, this state of affairs had become a boon both for the island's garment industry and for a slew of American apparel giants who could count on abundant cheap labor without sacrificing the sacred "U.S.A." label.

During those years, the Northern Mariana's garment and textile businesses exploded, with companies importing tens of thousands of foreign workers from China, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to stitch in their factories for roughly half the American minimum wage. These immigrants often paid thousands of dollars to loan sharks to bring them to Saipan with the promise of work and spent months, if not years, paying off their debts, if they found work at all. Workers were often housed in barracks behind barbed-wire fences, often in unsafe, overcrowded and unhygienic conditions, and were charged exorbitant amounts for their room and board.

In the early 1990s, the U.S. Department of Labor began looking into allegations of garment industry worker abuses, focusing on factories owned by one of Saipan's biggest employers, Willie Tan. In 1992, the department filed suit against Tan and ordered him to pay $9 million in back wages and damages to workers at five of his plants-at the time, the largest fine ever imposed by the Department of Labor. The suit alleged that employees were forced to work more than 80 hours a week, below the islands' already low minimum wage and with no overtime. Further, workers were kept locked inside their barracks and were not allowed to leave during their off-work hours

Tan and his associates in the government of the Northern Marianas looked to American lobbyists for protection against potential federal regulation. Jack Abramoff was one of those lobbyists.

Enter Abramoff

Abramoff pocketed nearly $8 million from his contracts with Saipan between 1995 and 2001, according to the Northern Marianas' public auditor. And with the help of Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and others he accomplished his goal of keeping congressional hands off the commonwealth's sweatshops, despite a growing public outcry over the continuing abuse of immigrant workers.

Between 1995 and 1998 — in testimony before Congress; in investigations by the Department of Labor and the Department of the Interior; in congressional fact-finding missions; and in numerous media accounts, including a report which aired on ABC's 20/20 as "The Shame of Saipan"-the mistreatment of nearly 18,000 workers in the Northern Marianas became widely known. The public and the nation's lawmakers heard tales of women forced to undergo abortions in order to keep their jobs, of women and young girls guaranteed jobs in the restaurant industry only to find that they would be working as prostitutes; of long hours with no overtime and illegally substandard pay; of foul living conditions and beatings and humiliations.

In 1997, no doubt in partial response to these accounts, the Clinton administration wrote to the Marianas' elected leader, Governor Froilan Tenorio, that "certain labor practices in the islands ...are inconsistent with our country's values," and made mention of reforming the commonwealth's labor and immigration laws to bring them into line with those of the United States.

Tom DeLay visited Saipan in for the New Years holiday 1997/1998 — at the invitation of Abramoff, whom DeLay called one of his "closest and dearest friends." DeLay's trip — which boasted luxury hotels, fine white-sand beaches and several premier golf courses — was paid for by the government of the Northern Marianas and was one of a number of junkets the government sprung for at the urging of Abramoff.

When DeLay returned to Washington, he kept his promise to his clients in the Northern Marianas regarding federal regulation. Although the Senate in 1999 passed legislation that would have stipulated that any garment bearing a "Made in the U.S.A." label would have to be made by American workers, and more than 200 members of the House co-sponsored similar legislation the same year, the efforts never made it into law.

Willie Tan, the Saipan garment giant was captured on hidden camera by by Global Survival Network saying that DeLay had effectively told him not to worry about the legislation. According to Tan, "[Delay] said, 'Willie, if they elect me majority whip, I make the schedule of the Congress, and I'm not going to put it on the schedule.' So Tom told me, 'Forget it, Willie. No chance.' "

In 2000, Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski of Alaska authored a bill that would have extended U.S. labor protections and minimum-wage laws to the Northern Marianas. The Senate bill passed with unanimous consent. Again, it died in the House. But a number of class actions suits filed on behalf of garment workers in Saipan have fared better. In 2004 the workers dismissed their remaining lawsuit after having won a $20 million settlement with 26 U.S. retailers and 23 Saipan garment factories."

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/citizenscl.../abramoff_inc/

[Russo]

Originally Posted by HumanWiki

That would be nice.... The other irritation point that I feel pushes people over to things like OBX is sales that are bragged about in large letters, but don't amount to much.. I've seen too many times where sale prices are something on the order of 50.00 off a set of 1400.00 headers. Really? That's just insulting to call that a sale price and make a big deal out of. selling a 1400.00 set of headers for 900.00 would be a "BIG SALE" in my mind.

if i have a $900 investiment, i better make $1400! i dont stay in business for practice or to pass the time.. ive heard the same profit jargin from atv companies, power tools, etc.. want you to spend $6000 to make $50-100...

[A.R. Headers]

Dion, I understand where you're going with this but our approach isn't very complicated. As an example, our tubing is made in North Carolina by coil that's produced in Ohio. Along these lines is how we operate with all our materials. We actually check into where our materials come from and our suppliers know we'll reject anything that isn't produced here. Our track record with material quality has been near flawless.

We 've had many opportunities to test Chinese sourced materials. It does not measure up no matter how shiny they choose to make it. This is fact!

Nick

[mlee]

Originally Posted by Jason 98 TA

We're working really hard to get you guys a header option for good $$ so you don't have to buy OBX! In the next month I'll have a great option for you guys that will be top quality & a affordable price. We're working to get some 2mm thick 304 stainless so we can keep the headers extra thick like our current headers.

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