<VV> Air Hoses----Made in USA?Very Little Corvair Content

[Frank DuVal]

Can't agree with alive and well in the same vein as it was 50 years ago. 
My dad worked for Richmond Foundry and Manufacturing Co.  from 1939 to 
1985. They were a grey iron, brass and aluminum foundry. Their main 
product output toward their end of life was plumbing fittings. The 
foundry closed in the late 80s because the economies of scale meant it 
was cheaper to import large quantities of fittings from outside our 
borders than cast and machine them here.  Plumbing supply house may 
still have some cast iron fittings with the Richmond Foundry logo, but 
there will also be a made in China logo. Manufacturers in the USA do 
still make pipe, but China is also suppling pipe to the USA along with 
the fittings, see   
http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/2239706/hubless_cast_iron_soil_pipe_fittings.html

Reynolds Aluminum, from whence our engine material came (required 
Corvair content) is also now out of business in Richmond. It was bought 
out  by Alcoa. Not that we mined bauxite here in Richmond, or cast much 
locally, but the World Headquarters, Engineering and Research & 
Development labs were here, now closed. This relationship is how the 
Super Monza got into private ownership, and now into CORSA ownership. 
The Reynold's Wrap foil plant is still operating here.

I have used many cast plumbing fittings at work in the last few years, 
and it is the rare part that still has USA on it. Ball valves mostly I 
can still get USA. Fittings have Indonesia, India, Thailand, 
Philippines, and China on them. And most everything we buy is SS 304 or 
316, some brass (red and white) and a little maleble iron/galvanized. 
And the fittings are sourced from local jobbers, big box stores and 
national jobbers (like McMaster Carr).

I have not seen made In USA on a television in over 20 years. GE was 
built right here in Portsmouth VA.  I shall take a new look to see the 
USA logo now that you say  you have seen them. And our Delco radios were 
also USA made, in Kokomo, ID. Right Mark? (More Corvair content). Seen 
any consumer radio with a USA logo? In over 30 years?

Regulations DO affect economics, rightly so. But I, like you, don't 
think regulations were the big killer of foundrys (mostly put a scrubber 
on the cupola), labor cost is. After all, China gets their raw materials 
from HERE! So raw material is cheaper here. How many Corvairs gave their 
lives to become plumbing fittings and new cars?

Frank DuVal

jvhroberts at aol.com wrote:

> It's a rumor, the casting business is alive and well here. After all, engines are made here. Pipe is made here, etc. It's economics, not regulations that make the difference. And we DO put tariffs on imports, and often a penalty if the manufacturer abroad is being environmentally irresponsible. 
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>John Roberts
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