[special-K]

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.