The Punisher

Tried going to there website and it takes me to some place called Top Flight Automotive

gguillot

I got an email from them that they were merging/changing the name or something along those lines.

KenSny

I know they were acquired by CID Capital last year. I wonder if CA was renamed or sold again?

kansas123

The Punisher

Well I have to say The Top Flight Website blows

Mark G

Oh boy.

Thanks guys for letting me know. I actually had a bunch of stuff in the CA shopping cart I was planning on ordering. Now I have to figure it out and who to order it from. Looks like they're trying to grow and compete with some of the larger classic car parts outfits. I hope the merger works. I wonder how many larger classic car parts sellers the market can take? I imagine the overall market is tight with so many sellers and the other sources like ebay, Amazon, Rock Auto, etc.

Seems to me the usual path a company takes after it's bought out is it goes south a little initially, then more and more later on as the parent company continues to cut staff, combine tech support, combine warehousing, hire a bunch of young low-paid workers who don't know the product, grow management-heavy, spin-off in-house manufacturing they're not interested in doing. OTOH, size allows companies to invest and contract out with manufacturers and produce parts wich might not be available at this time, but I guess it depends on what they commit to. I'll stand on the fence and see how things shape up I guess before passing judgement, but my initial reaction is it point out the importance of helping out the smaller sellers or they may not be around someday.



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Tjf2000

Very hard to navigate. It use to be very easy to find stuff, not anymore

Bikespace

They make great interior pieces. You can order their reproductions from Zip, Willcox, or other places with better websites. I hope their manufacturing doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

4corvettes

I agree that this new website is garbage. 20 minutes on it and I still have not found a single part I have tried to look up. I was in their showroom the other day and the employee did not say anything about it. I hope they get negative feedback. I will call them and complain.

Inca32x

I tried using the new website and found myself having to go through pages just to get to corvette items. Then picked corvette parts from a list of their other business ( could care less about Mustang, etc.). Then I searched for a part and ended up with some Ford parts in my corvette search.
through up my hands and sent them an email outlining my frustration with the new website, they replied and said I would really like it once I got use to it. I placed my my next orders with competitors and was very satisfied. Told them they lost a long term customer.

caskiguy

Thanks for heads up on this.

Duke94

OK, just tried the web site. I agree, one of the worst out there. If CA still sends me a paper catalog, I'll use the site because I can look it up in the catalog then just search by part number. I find ZIP to be about the easiest.

bikesnbroadheads

i agree also the new website is not that good to navigate. i try to buy from CA because they are local to me and provide jobs for an area that jobs are needed. one thing i did not like ordering online from CA is you never knew if the part you ordered was in stock.i learned the best way was to call the order in so they would let you know if the parts are in stock or not. maybe the new website will tell you if the parts are in stock. got an email from topflight about discount levels you can get pending on how much you spent at CA in the past.looks like parts prices are the same or less from other vendors even with top flights discount! hope they dont close up the operation in reedsville but time will tell.

fastimes

Hate the new website.
The old CA was so much better. Even though they merged divisions, they should have left the CA site as a stand alone.

CMD1

I agree, spent thousands with Corvette America in the past 3 years at my small shop, now my commercial account is no longer able to be logged into, sales tax ID is longer valid, and the site navigation is just plan irritating.
Emailed about my business account status, and no replay after 3 days ....tells me all I need to know..
Guess I'm going to be using Corvette Central, Wilcox, and Doc Rebuild.like I always did in the beginning of my Corvette projects.

Mark G

Thats stupid. They just did the competition a huge favor. Someone didn't think this out too well. You'd think they would want to warn good customers of an upcoming change. That tells you something about their planning/management. It's a lot cheaper to keep customers than entice new ones. I had a several hundred dollar order in my 'cart' that was wiped. I wonder if they will eventually have a catalog?

20mercury

Agree, I sent them a note, glad to know it is not just me.

The general "seach" function was obviously designed by someone who has never looked for Corvette parts.

Bikespace

The AC Delco website references many of the parts for our cars. You can then use RockAuto to look up the original GM part number.

So let's try an experiment with parts I've bought and installed recently (on my 80, may be different for other C3s).

Let's start with a unique Corvette part, an AC Delco water pump, part number 252-585.
RockAuto shows me it is also GM Part 88926099, and is $35- (plus shipping)
Amazon confirms the part number, and the reviews imply that it will fit a C3 Corvette, $45- (plus free shipping for Prime members)
I also get hits at GMPartsDirect and Summit Racing.
Searching on the new TopFlightAutomotive site: No Matches with either part number. Their own water pump is $51-, and has numbers on the casting not present on the Delco pump.

Okay, they don't need to resell Delco parts, especially when they make or contract to make their own, and the numbers may NCRS relevant, I dunno.

How about a water neck? Delco doesn't make that part anymore, so I use an aluminum water neck that deletes the vacuum switches, Made in USA, GM Part 10108470
Jegs, $5.43
RockAuto, No Matches
Amazon lists the Jegs price, but can't sell it to me right now.
Both Summit and GMPartsDirect have it for $4.93
TopFlightAutomotive.com, $11.99

Finally, a front wheel bearing seal. Delco doesn't make these, but Timken does, part number 9406S
RockAuto, $6.15, and shows relevant GM part numbers
Amazon, Summit, even Motion Industries (not the same Motion), and others, all about $10
TopFlightAutomotive only sells the "Auto Accessories of America" brand (Corvette America's in-house brand), for $8-
Unfortunately, this looks suspiciously like the RockAuto budget offering from WJB, priced there at $0.59 (not a typo, literally 1/10th the lowest Timken price). At any rate, it isn't green like the Timken seal.

So good job TopFlightAutomotive! Not only do I have to look up my own part numbers, or enter a verbose description, to use your site, I can save money by shopping elsewhere!

I really hope they get their act together. The CA seats in my 79 (bought by the PO) are phenomenal. All of the other interior items that I've bought from them are great as well. It would be a shame to lose that capability.

Pzark

They are having problems with their online catalogue so call them to order as a lot of parts are not showing up online.

Top Flight Automotive

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to address your concerns. We can assure you that Corvette America has not been sold again—we are still the same people doing the same quality work here in Reedsville, PA. To explain further, Corvette America has been our manufacturing brand since 1977. All Corvette America products are now available on Top Flight Automotive for retail customers and at Auto Accessories of America for wholesale customers as it has been for over 40 Years.

We started to make customers aware of the upcoming changes at Corvettes at Carlisle in August of 2019 and also included information in our weekly emails and at the top of our old website. We did have to do some updates to our website because it hadn’t changed in 20 years! We decided to get in front of any problems that might arise due to computer software getting more advanced than the website could handle. Since we were planning to make the website change, it made sense for us to consolidate all of our websites (Corvette America, Mustang America, Classic Car Dashes, and Classic Fit Covers) into one. Customers now have the convenience of one stop shopping, rather than bouncing from one site to the other.

This new website has been a learning experience for all of us. But, thanks to the feedback that we have received from the Corvette community, we have made many improvements to make it easier to search for items. The biggest change being that you can lock in your year, make, and model at the top of the page and it will keep that information for your searches until you change it! Plus, you can narrow things down more by using the filters on the left side of the screen. And you can always call us for assistance or email us at service@topflightautomovive.com. (Wholesale customers can also call or email us at service@AAAdirect.com .)

We appreciate your concern and feedback and thank you for the loyalty that you’ve shown Corvette America for the last 40+ years!