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Triumph TR6 - Truth In Labeling or Are They the 51st State?

I picked up a couple of brake discs on the way home today (yet another project). In big, bold print, the boxes were labeled "MADE IN USA." Opened up a box to take some measurements and there on the disc, bigger than life "MADE IN CANADA." Have I missed something lately? Did Canada decide to join up as the 51st state and I slept through it or are these guys labeling the boxes confused?
SteveP

Its the box Steve! The box is made in USA! I'm sure that it is some sort od odd allowance made under NAFTA.
Gene Holtzclaw

Hi Steve

Southern Ontario has more auto-parts manufacturing than anything else. The city I live in has a population of 100k. One part manufacturer the Linamar group employs 8 thousand in about 30 plants. Thats the Canadian one then there's Dana's huge plant Polypenco for plastic parts PPG paint etc. etc. for the American owned. If it was for Honda or Toyota most cars are made within 40 clicks each way of us.

Gene may be right about the box but Jones or Guelph box probably made those to. So the label was made in the states? That's it!

Something like the British heritage floor panels and sills I bought "Made in England" from original dies so says the little cheap sticker. They costed out Canadian over $700. When anti-rust primer was matched up against other readily available repop Taiwan parts by paint lab. The boys felt not only that the paint matched exactly but likely made in the same factory due to the primer material thickness being identical likely Robot applied. If I bought larger and more complicated repops I would have paid well under $200. direct to Canada from Taiwan.

We call it SHAFTYA here Gene.

Bill





Bill Brayford

You're not alone Steve - I ordered some brake parts from TRF years ago - packaging read 'Made in USA' on the box. Inside had 'Product of Great Britain' on the plastic envelope. Inside that was a PBR kit in a box which was manufactured in Australia! - I could have gone down the road and got one - still don't know where it was made but could track the origins of the packaging very clearly!!.

'Made in Australia' on our food packaging can actually mean packaged in OZ from imported products. To top it all off, the fine print is getting finer which is getting harder to read anyway with my eyesight!!!
Roger H

Sorry, SteveP, but Puerto Rico is next...!!!
Angel L. Traverso

When I saw the posting about the 51st state it made me think if this story. It seems the our government officials have been reading about "cabin fever" on the BBS. Florida will cold by comparison.


Mon, March 15, 2004
Canadian paradise a hot topic
Caribbean islands next province?

By Canadian Press


FREDERICTON -- It's a dream that just won't die -- a Canadian paradise in the sun with sugar-sand beaches, crystal clear water, medicare and the loonie. After failed attempts in the 1970s and 1980s to breathe life into the idea of a union between Canada and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, the proposal is back, and this time it's supported by determined politicians and business people in both countries.

"In the long term, what is so absolutely vital for Canada is to expand our sphere of influence," says Conservative MP Peter Goldring, a driving force behind the Turks and Caicos movement.

"We had a sphere of influence in the Caribbean 100 years ago. Canada was a major shipper and transporter to the Caribbean from the Maritime provinces.

"We have lost that direct Maritime link with the Caribbean."

Goldring has organized an all-party committee of parliamentarians as well as a group of business leaders to lay the groundwork for a possible union between Canada and the Caribbean Island.

"I'd like it to be the 11th province," Goldring says. "It would be a Canadian province at the gateway to the Caribbean."

He thinks even Prime Minister Paul Martin might go for the idea.
Mati

Steve, how imperialistic of you, perhaps your
the 11th province of Canada.
Christopher Trace

I had considered the possibility of Baja Cañada, but thought that since the box has USA on the outside and the part inside has Canada on it that it might be more a state of confusion issue rather than provincial in nature. No imperialism was intended.

I had also wondered if the labeling was somehow allowed under NAFTA, after all, we're just one big, happy, dysfunctional family. Then Roger's post from OZ blew holes in the NAFTA allowance theory.
SteveP

Perhaps parts made in Mexico would make you happier? Of course its all about free trade (NAFTA) You sounded like you were getting sub par merchandise, I dont here any complaints about the clean water we give or the natural gas..ha ha ha all MADE IN CANADA...and not made with beer, nor are our plants igloo's, our transportation isn;t dog sled teams.
Peace
Marcello

Gee Marcello, did you read the entire thread or just jump from the top to post? Most of it was either other tales of silly packaging and jokes/joking about OZ, Puerto Rico, the 11th Province and Baja Cañada.

I don't recall impugning the quality of the subject merchandise I purchased with the funny labeling. I just thought the labeling was funny. The pieces themselves are nice pieces for the price. As for Canadian fabricated/fabriqué components, I was aware that there are many facilities up there cranking out parts, cars too. I've purchased a couple of GM 'Mericun cars that were assembled in Canada. It's not just NAFTA, it's also part of how companies here and elsewhere get to rip off your government.

On the Mexican stuff, don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Twenty five or so years ago when a friend was running Formula V (I had a different set of problems with BL parts for a car I was running), we tried to source as many mechanical parts for his car as we could out of Mexico. As long as it was a VW produced part we could use it, country of origin did not matter. The tooling was newer on the Mexican stuff and the parts had a lower deviation from nominal as far as tolerances were concerned. As a rule, the worst stuff that we got came from Brazil and Germany. Their tooling for the old Type I and forty horse parts was pretty well worn out. By the way, at least one of my current daily driver type cars has some Mexican components; odds are high that if you drive anything post-NAFTA signing from Chrysler, Ford or GM, yours does too.

So just to set the record straight:

1) I don't think Dudley Doright is a typical Mountie or that Nell is in love with Horse.

2) When I've been to Canada, I've never seen an igloo or a dog team. I'm sure there is probably at least one of each somewhere in Canada, but Alaska is the only place I've seen them and even then they seemed aimed primarily at the tourists.

3) For the most part, mass-produced 'Mericun beers are like sex in a canoe.

4) The movie Strange Brew is quite a send up of Hamlet. However, in these litigious days you should be able to get a lot more than a case of free beer if you really do find a mouse in your bottle of Elsinore.



SteveP

This thread was discussed between 22/03/2004 and 10/04/2004

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