When you’re laying awkwardly on your workshop floor, doused in various fluids which should be contained within your car rather than fountaining out of it, typically in great pain having rolled onto that 13mm socket you were using just a few minutes ago and now can’t reach, shouting THE RUDEST THINGS YOU’VE EVER SHOUTED about the bastards that put this car together, and the way that this one sodding bolt seems to have had the entire car built around it, and GERMAN ENGINEERING MY ARSE, you don’t really care about the box that the parts came in.
Once you’ve emerged from under the car, mopped up the blood, apologised to your neighbours and the police and extinguished the worst of the flames, you might take a minute or two to pause and consider the thought that was put into the packaging that you just hungrily tore into. OK, the part inside was the wrong one, but the box was pretty nice, wasn’t it?
Yes, it was. I notice this whenever I wrench on Project Audinary (next update expected November 2019). The bits that came from the dealership came in proper VAG boxes which looked really nice. Actual cardboard-coloured cardboard, with crisply printed emblems. VAG parts packaging is, in my opinion, the nicest looking parts packaging I’ve ever bought.
What’s the nicest parts packaging you’ve ever encountered, and why?
Thanks.
Hooniverse Asks (Bonus): Which firm has the best OEM parts packaging?
By RoadworkUK
Aug 4, 2015
By RoadworkUK
RoadworkUK is the online persona of Gianni Hirsch, a tall, awkward gentleman with a home office full of gently decomposing paper and a garage full of worthless scrap metal. He lives in the village of Moistly, which is a safe distance from London and is surrounded by enough water and scenery to be interesting. In another life, he has designed, sold, worked on and written about cars in exchange for small quantities of money.
Jeff Glucker
http://www.murileemartin.com/UG/LWA12/LWA12-UG-082.jpg
I’ve always been a fan of Unipart’s forthright warning labels.
The ones that aren’t ‘motortrade fit only’ carry other labels, like ‘contact points’, ‘condenser’, ‘gasket set’ or ‘oil filter’, but in the end they all work the same way and immobilise your vehicle.
You mean there are places besides Autozone/Advance and the junkyard to get parts?
Why aren’t the Bentley or Lambo logos on that box?
Possibly because ones Butler is dispatched to collect those parts and he carries them home on velvet cushions.
Or Ducati ?
How about this?
I’ve been trying to sell the wrong brake disks I bought for my Volvo 145 for years – Girling vs ATM almost made my head explode. Volvo boxes are really simple: Cardboard with lettering. But it is super reliable, indestructable cardboard, of course. Jepp.
http://s26.postimg.org/852wusx61/Volvo_brakes.jpg
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODAwWDYwMA==/z/F5sAAOxy63FSr42Q/$_57.JPG
The packaging for OEM parts for my 71 Alfa Spider is excellent in that the packaging teaches you exactly how each part should properly be attached to related parts.
Assembly is reverse of disassembly?
Although hitting stuff with a hammer in reverse, heating it with a blow torch in reverse, catching it on fire in reverse, bleeding in reverse and cursing in reverse means it’s never as easy as it seems.
IH has gone through a few iterations, here’s a sampling of their packaging from my own collection…
http://trdparts4u.toyotaofdallas.com/ProdImages/D3CASE.jpg
If your dealer portfolio spans across multiple brands, there’s never any mistaking which section of parts are for the Toyotas.
A fantastic introduction, Mr. Haining. Produced a hearty chuckle from me as I read it.
The best box is the one that you get to throw away …because that shiny new part is now integrated into your ride.
Not the same for every part, but Abarth tuning kits came in wooden boxes :
http://lnx.pixelbitstudio.it/e-commerce/open2b/var/products/250/96/0-d43c9ead-800.jpg
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/images/gallery/essen2010/23706.jpg
I had a hard time finding a picture, but I remember when some AC-Delco parts (like an ignition switch I once bought for my ’68 Bonneville) came in cardboard cans, with a metal top and bottom, and a string you pulled to separate the top and bottom halves:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTI2OFgxMjcw/$(KGrHqVHJDUFC(tpjVh,BQtn3(vbFg~~60_35.JPG
https://ssli.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzYwWDEwMTQ=/z/yNAAAOSwLVZVq7de/$_86.JPG
I was disappointed by the Cosworth performace parts box…
Apple – Designed in California