Fords do everything down to a price. Its the Woolworths philosophy "pile it high sell it cheap". About 40 years ago a colleague who had worked for a world famous shock absorber company told of an order for many thousands of shock absorbers. The car giant had supplied blueprints showing that they wanted the valve-block made from Mazak type alloy "monkey metal". The shock absorber company were horrified and rang the multi-national to say that if the block was made from bronze at a cost of a shilling extra per unit the expected lifespan would rise from 10,000 miles to 50,000 miles. "Make it out of monkey metal" was the reply to which the answer was "OK but we're not putting OUR name on it". I worked as a Machine-Load-Control-and-Automation-Systems-Technician at British Leyland a few years ago and basically you get what you pay for. Most brands are now Woolworths quality and would benefit tremendously from a few grease nipples. Trouble was that most of Joe Public and garages never used the grease points anyway. Good Luck!
Davey from Bude, April 2009
