Re: 164 driver's side door handles

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Don Daegrigg writes, under the subject "Wanted:  164 Driver side door handle",
"If you have or know where I can get one, please email off line." and adds
"Already tried APE".

Glad to express an opinion off-line, but it might also be relevant, or at
least arguable, on-line. Since the door handles are fracture-prone, therefore
virtually a consumable, and used ones stand four chances in five of being the
wrong color, and they take a fair amount of work both to remove and to
install, and are available new from dealers, I would wonder why anyone would
look for a possibly ten or twelve year old minor part in a salvage yard unless
the car was a make-do beater or was just being tarted-up for an immanent sale.
It is wonderful to have salvage yards (especially fine ones) for expensive
major parts of known condition and predictable life and for NLA parts, but it
is also wonderful to have dealers and the parent distributor willing to invest
in a service inventory. I'd check them first, the aftermarket second, and the
salvage yard third on any possibly relatively inexpensive, relatively
short-lived parts. (My new driver's side door handle, four years ago, for an
eight-year old 164, cost $35.95 - cheap enough, in the grand scheme of
things.)

I'm not trying to dump on Don, but a constant FAQ on the digest is "Where can
I get a (whatever)", and it seems the search for a used part is too often the
automatic first question. (Apologies for the rant, and best wishes on your
search -)

John H.
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