St Charles online Parts Catalog is dead :(

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Originally Posted by Cobrajet

My new bumper reinforcement arrived today. Looks purdy! Really gonna make my VX stand out from the crowd. I imagine it will reduce my aerodynamic drag substantially, and increase my gas mileage by at least .06%. I'll take pictures of my naked VX during install (next warm weekend)...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0bar%20003.JPG

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hey, we gotta help T4B get that udder bumper bar, cuz he can add .06% MPG to his .03% drop in throttle response and then he'll get.....um, oh h3!!, I don't know what he'll get :confused: .... but it sounds important!

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Originally Posted by tysamigo

UPDATE:

I called the only official Isuzu Dealer/Service Center here in Louisville KY. I ended up speaking with Will (Parts Dept, Assistant Manager) for about 30 minutes about Isuzu. To sum it up, he said (similar to Phil's story) that Isuzu was waiting for some warranties to run out before they pull out. He said that most dealers across the country, knowing that Isuzu was leaving, started the process of purging Isuzu data out of their system (for the slower dealers/service centers). Also at some point (I think he said 2 or 3 yrs ago) GM purchased all parts, rights, design, etc. for all domestic vehicles 2004 and older. He said that currently some select dealers will be able to offer "limited service/part options" to heavy duty commercial vehicles but there won't be many and that ALL domestic stuff is now owned by GM. I've phoned a couple friends here in the group that I thought may be able to help investigate this info. I'm still investigating. I really twisted his arm on where we can still get new parts and he said that his main parts warehouse was in Auroa IL. He said when he was not able to get them from there, they would order straight from Isuzu Korea and he says they are still active, however they can no longer issue PO's for any of these warehouses and that the "limited parts" for commercial vehicles was coming from a U.S. warehouse which he wouldn't share the info with me. He also told me that a few times that Isuzu Korea would be low on stock and they had a warehouse in Equador drop ship the parts. He said when parts came from Equador that the boxes would always be "double labeled with GM" so that there was yet another middle man (GM) in there somewhere. He told me although he cannot give me any more info than he has, that it shouldn't be difficult by using the internet to find contact names for any of these warehouses... however I have not yet started looking. I just wanted to throw this info out there.

Oh yeah, I told him that I really appreciate his help and that the next time he's out in my neck of the woods to stop by and I will treat him to lunch at my place (our family's bbq restaurant). You could tell he was VERY excited and he said "yea, in fact I've been wanting to try that any way, I think I'll bring my crew out there for our next meeting, is that ok?" And before we hung up he said... Tyler I tell you what, If you do find yourself stuck in a corner after doing research...give me a call and I'll be glad to help.

Oh yea... he also gave me the name of a guy locally who was his "last resort" when he couldn't find a part. I called him and asked for a quote on a passenger headlight. He said, "how about $275... it's got a haze to it but we'll buff that out for ya". Of course since that's a cheap price, I went out to www.car-part.com to look for myself and found a couple that were listed at $225 and $215 and both had a description of "hazy" or "foggy". So I'm not sure if this guy is something special OR that he just knows a couple of sites like car-part.com and marks up a price for being a middle man.

Just wanted to throw all this out there in my ongoing search for us all to have continuing access to parts...

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Thanks for the homework; sounds like all is not lost. GM seems to have stepped in on the remaining inventory.

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Originally Posted by VX KAT

hey, we gotta help T4B get that udder bumper bar, cuz he can add .06% MPG to his .03% drop in throttle response and then he'll get.....um, oh h3!!, I don't know what he'll get :confused: .... but it sounds important!

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Yah, I'll make me one outta aluminum foam, install a 'lectric fan, finish the crossover tube & the performance will increase to the point the VX is putting money back into my wallet.:smack:

The family business is calling my name, I'll be tied up for a while again...so my research will slow dramatically for now... but my the idea is to:

1. Try to find one or more of these warehouses and establish a contact. Maybe someone at one of these places could point into the direction of who to contact at GM

2. Try to find either someone in the group here (that maybe doesn't post much) or outside the group (like a dealer, parts guy, "redee guy",etc) that could help lead us to a contact at GM that is responsible for the Isuzu stuff acquired by GM.

when i talked to isuzu last october they told me all the same info about gm owning all the rights (on my post about transfer case issues)

the bad news is gm is not going to be making ANY new parts they cant make money on - unfortunately for us that includes most if not all of the major components of the vehicross

we are not a big enough customer base for most companies to care about - including general motors

Too bad the VX isn't like the DeLorean, where they made enough parts for 35,000 cars but only sold 9,000...

We are the redheaded stepchildren of the car world. And I'm not just talking to you Foxfires out there. :p

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Originally Posted by WormGod

We are the redheaded stepchildren of the car world. And I'm not just talking to you Foxfires out there. :p

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So that's why the previous owner of my #1033 Foxfire had it painted gunmetal metallic, tired of gettin' beat! Poor Foxfires...:_crying:

Just got my front bumper reinforcement.

FWIW, it was shipped from this address....

American Isuzu Parts Distribution Network
5265 E Provident Dr
Cincinnati, OH 45246

Just in case someone on the private eye trail wants to research their process in the scheme of things.

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Originally Posted by WormGod

Just got my front bumper reinforcement.

FWIW, it was shipped from this address....

American Isuzu Parts Distribution Network
5265 E Provident Dr
Cincinnati, OH 45246

Just in case someone on the private eye trail wants to research their process in the scheme of things.

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This is where my parts have come from for years. Yes, when an item runs low in the USA they will back order to Japan. When those run out it's over, so grab body and trim stuff now. The mechanical is largely Trooper, they made hundreds of thousand of those and the parts may never run dry.

Just got a call on my cell from Phil at St. Charles. He said effective as of today, they are no longer an Isuzu Dealer (which I knew was coming)...but the shocking thing is that...

ALL PENDING ORDERS HAVE BEEN AUTOMATICALLY PUT IN CANCELLED STATUS AND CANNOT BE REOPENED.

I had a few things that were "Back Ordered" but not discontinued (which means likely that I will "eventually" get the part), but now St. Charles' system has purged ALL remaining/pending orders to a cancelled state.

He was very nice and apologetic, but that's it. No more parts or assistance from St. Charles even if you've paid for and ordered a back ordered part. I'm assuming that if the part was "in stock" that you will still get it, but outside of that... it's a wrap...game over.

If you have an order from them, I would call to make sure that you get CREDIT back to your card, which is what I just did.

:madb:

I'll see if my local dealer is still taking orders. I suggest others try as well. Thx

so.... does anyone speak japanese?....

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Originally Posted by tysamigo

Just got a call on my cell from Phil at St. Charles. He said effective as of today, they are no longer an Isuzu Dealer (which I knew was coming)...but the shocking thing is that...

ALL PENDING ORDERS HAVE BEEN AUTOMATICALLY PUT IN CANCELLED STATUS AND CANNOT BE REOPENED.

I had a few things that were "Back Ordered" but not discontinued (which means likely that I will "eventually" get the part), but now St. Charles' system has purged ALL remaining/pending orders to a cancelled state.

He was very nice and apologetic, but that's it. No more parts or assistance from St. Charles even if you've paid for and ordered a back ordered part. I'm assuming that if the part was "in stock" that you will still get it, but outside of that... it's a wrap...game over.

If you have an order from them, I would call to make sure that you get CREDIT back to your card, which is what I just did.

:madb:

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Ty,

IIRC, St Charles only hit your credit card when they shipped the part to you, they didn't hit it when the part was back ordered. I'm like the Dubster tho, memory T'ain't what it usta be.

Tom

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Originally Posted by blacksambo

I'll see if my local dealer is still taking orders. I suggest others try as well. Thx

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You still have local dealers? Huh.... I haven't had one around here for about 6-8 years. :(