a law to provide parts for 7 years? it does not exist...

[CARIBOULH@domain.elided]

Nicky had said in AD1183...
<<Gummint requires auto manufacturers to support cars for 7 years after they 
become obsolete>>

This is what folks commonly believe, but it simply is not true. There is 
absolutely no law anywhere that requires a vehicle manufacturer to continue 
to supply parts. Same goes for a VCR manufacturer, a refrigerator 
manufacturer or a hula hoop manufacturer.

Good recent example... for a few short months about a year or so ago you 
could buy a Quavle Mangusta. Mr. Quavle (from northern California) made a 
nice sum of money over the years importing British sports cars. He entered 
into a partnership with Alessandro DeTomaso a couple of years ago to 
reintroduce a "new" DeTomaso Mangusta. Contrary to how most ventures like 
this turn out, Quavle actually bought a factory in Italy, sent his son over 
to run it, designed and produced a nice Italian convertible sports car (using 
a Ford drivetrain) and brought it to market. Those of you who subscribe to R&
T, C&D, Autoweek or Automobile may remember it was reviewed and even on the 
cover of a few magazines. And you could actually buy them too! There were 
Mangusta dealerships in San Francisco, Beverly Hills and I believe Miami. As 
a footnote... right as the cars were being introduced, some snag arose with 
the rights for the "DeTomaso" name, so hurriedly the cars were re-badged as a 
"Quavle". Also if you all remember the 2000 Trans-Am series, Quavle Mangustas 
simply "cleaned up" that season.

What happened??? After less than a single year of production MG in England 
made the Quavles an offer to purchase their factory in Italy. From my 
understanding the money was way, way too good to turn down, so they sold and 
after less than a year in production, the Quavle Mangusta is just a footnote 
in history. And you know what??...

The Quavles have absolutely NO responsibility to continue to provide fenders, 
seats, taillights, wheels. etc. etc. They exited the car business and they 
are gone... period. There is no government law or agency that forces them to 
continue in any manner.

The only exception to this (and isn't there always) is that they must honor 
any warranty that was offered (but they can contract with an outside warranty 
service to continue to provide this) and the ways they can fulfill warranty 
claims are many, up to and including simply buying the car back! Also, they 
must be responsible for the Federal emissions warranty on the drivetrain (but 
by using a US-legal Ford drivetrain they've covered themselves on this 
angle). But as far as you, an individual, owning one of the Quavles sold here 
in the US, if you want to buy a replacement door or convertible top or ??? at 
this point you're simply SOL.

If ARDONA has decided to pack it up and leave, it is simply a business 
decision. Maybe it's a precursor to GM purchasing Fiat and that "remnants" of 
the "old" auto business must be gone from the US to avoid any potential 
future GM tie in or liability. Or maybe they had reached the point where it 
simply wasn't profitable enough to continue to supply replacement parts to 
the North American market. Whatever the reason is, it is not because of a 
commonly believed (but not true) 7-year law.

Best Wishes,

Ed at Caribou
Alfa parts at: www.AlfaSpider.cc
convertible tops at: www.convertible.top.ms
top care products at: www.Renovo-USA.com
Max-Flow Catalysts at: www.SportsCarConverters.com
Fiat parts at: www.caribou.cc
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided