I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

Who sells the best quality '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels

Didnt get any responses elsewhere

Anyone buy from The Truck Shop of Orange?

Re: I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

I would bet that the truck stop likely sells the same Thailand special that all the other vendors sell. What I’m getting at is there’s likely only one or two factory’s of which are in Asia somewhere that make these parts under several different brand names.

Re: I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

I cant believe no one has bought aftermarket grills

Re: I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

I haven't needed to buy one. But The Truck Shop is the retailing side of their Counterpart manufacturing side. If they make a grille it's the one you'd be buying from most other vendors. If they don't make one it's because someone else does and that is the brand The Truck Shop would be selling

Re: I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

Sounds like a Abot and Costelo routine

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Re: I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

Funny, but if you can follow what I typed it gives you a helpful explanation. These big outfits carry a full line of parts for classic GM Trucks, but they don't make every part they sell. Big dealers like The Truck Shop and Brothers are also involved in producing parts. So the smaller vendors will be selling those same parts as well.

On some parts, once one company comes out with one it is not worth it for another to produce their own and split the market. Therefore even the big outfits that make their own parts will be selling parts made by someone else. Sometimes they even have quantities from another producer use boxes with their own name on it. For instance, a part you buy from The Truck Shop/Counterpart could be a part produced by Key Parts but say Counterpart on the box.

What you are doing is the right thing to do. Find out if more than one version is available, which one is best, but then you need to ask the vendor which one they are selling. If they can't or won't tell you it's time to move on.

I see people claiming Goodmark makes the good stuff. I'm not up on things these days (buy-outs and such), but when Goodmark was an independent business they only marketed parts. They didn't make anything. I know they were bought by LKQ but I don't know if LKQ got involved in making parts. I do know at one time LKQ was buying sheet metal from Key Parts.

Obviously, it's not as simple as it would seem. But that is the general way things are. Some just buy without knowing and some want to know. It's hard to know with all the smoke & mirrors of today's business models but that's what you have to deal with. I hope you learned enough to know what you have to do to find the best, or if there are options. I'm not sure why no one has any specific answers for you. I have never bought an aftermarket grille from any year.

Re: I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

Doesn't seem hard to understand to me…

Re: I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

Who said..... ?

'cept you? :alky:

:confused:

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Re: I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

First question asks who sells the best quality. Then you asked about The Truck Shop. I explained, first, the truck shop is the selling (retail) end of the manufacturer named Counterpart. One in the same. Second I explained if Counterpart makes this part, that will be what The Truck Shop is selling. Are you following so far?

Other vendors will also be selling Counterpart because Counterpart is a wholesaler to vendors. The only way to know is ask the vendor who makes their part. Because the next question is, does another company also make this part. With many parts they are too costly to develop unless they have the entire market. Say like GMC core supports. Once one company invests in development costs and putting it on the market, it's not worth producing for anyone else. So all vendors, even those who have a manufacturing side, will be selling some products produced by someone else.

It's simple as this. You need to be asking about brand not vendor. You need to find out if there are options. If there are, which is best, then who can you buy it from. The vendor has nothing to do with the quality of the part.

I imagine for Squarebodies there will be multiple manufacturers. These trucks are new enough that they always had strong aftermarket crash parts support since new, even when factory parts were in stock. Not so many years ago I asked a higher-up at The Truck Shop when they were going to get into Squarebody stuff, which they had not yet started offering. And this was once the Swuarebodies had taken off. He said it wasn't worth it since they had such strong existing aftermarket support. I guess their thoughts on that changed, if they now sell newer than '72 parts.

If you can't follow all that, then just know this vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Keep on asking to find out what your options are as far as manufacturer, then find out who sells that brand. Asking about a vendor is step 2 not step 1

I think you will get the best answers in the 73-87 forum since that is all trucks, not just 4wds.

Re: I'll put this here: '81 K20 grill and headlight bezels , Best?
 

What the heck are you talking about?