Awana Grand Prix Billy's Red Neck Investigative Reporting; What's Up With The AWANA Supply Line

[ratrodsrule1]

Being born and raised in an area where the median income is $16,807.00 less that the rest of the country, Billy's Momma always said "Son, it's ok to be a red neck but you don't have to be a dumb one". And just like that Billy went on to play football for the great state of Alabama. And that's all Billy's gotta say about that. Billy loves the Grand Prix and the AWANA Program but there seem's to be some conflicting reports about what comes in the kit vs OEM AWANA replacement parts. Being the Woodward and Bernstein sleuth that he is, he went under cover and ordered from the official AWANA replacement parts page to bring you this special report.

He ordered a complete kit #71669 and a 5 pack of extra wheels #16029 and here's what he discovered. The kit had the standard AWANA block, 4 axles and 4 DULL looking smooth inner faced wheels without the little plastic nub. The replacement wheels were SHINNY with the plastic nub.

So he's curious as to what other AWANA builders are experiencing and would like their input. Happy building Y'all.......RRR

 

[xjarcher]

Being born and raised in an area where the median income is $16,807.00 less that the rest of the country, Billy's Momma always said "Son, it's ok to be a red neck but you don't have to be a dumb one". And just like that Billy went on to play football for the great state of Alabama. And that's all Billy's gotta say about that. Billy loves the Grand Prix and the AWANA Program but there seem's to be some conflicting reports about what comes in the kit vs OEM AWANA replacement parts. Being the Woodward and Bernstein sleuth that he is, he went under cover and ordered from the official AWANA replacement parts page to bring you this special report.

He ordered a complete kit #71669 and a 5 pack of extra wheels #16029 and here's what he discovered. The kit had the standard AWANA block, 4 axles and 4 DULL looking smooth inner faced wheels without the little plastic nub. The replacement wheels were SHINNY with the plastic nub.

So he's curious as to what other AWANA builders are experiencing and would like their input. Happy building Y'all.......RRR

The no ejector pin wheels are older. I don't care for them as they are a bit more challenging to get raceworthy. The standard Awana block became non standard this year. We saw some that were pine, some poplar and one maple!!!!! I've been building Awana cars for 25 years and this year we had ridiculous wood quality and it seemed they were going through old stock with respect to parts. Different from past years for certain.

 

[ratrodsrule1]

The no ejector pin wheels are older. I don't care for them as they are a bit more challenging to get raceworthy. The standard Awana block became non standard this year. We saw some that were pine, some poplar and one maple!!!!! I've been building Awana cars for 25 years and this year we had ridiculous wood quality and it seemed they were going through old stock with respect to parts. Different from past years for certain.

I called Headquarters and they said it must be a dis-connect somewhere within the supply.(I'll say) IMHO I think they either use multiple vendors of change vendors occasionally possibility thru a bid process.

 

[xjarcher]

I called Headquarters and they said it must be a dis-connect somewhere within the supply.(I'll say) IMHO I think they either use multiple vendors of change vendors occasionally possibility thru a bid process.

I think that there must be two vendors as the molds are slightly different as are the mold numbers on the wheels.

 

[ratrodsrule1]

I think that there must be two vendors as the molds are slightly different as are the mold numbers on the wheels.

Agreed !!

 

[The Grand Poobah]

The no ejector pin wheels are older. I don't care for them as they are a bit more challenging to get raceworthy. The standard Awana block became non standard this year. We saw some that were pine, some poplar and one maple!!!!! I've been building Awana cars for 25 years and this year we had ridiculous wood quality and it seemed they were going through old stock with respect to parts. Different from past years for certain.

I know this is an older post, but the wood quality this year compared to pre-Covid has really taken a dive. Was out with my son tonight to cut the usual ladder body design like previous years and snapped both car bodies in the process. The wood is very light, but brittle. Seems like we got the poplar blocks or some other very lightweight wood. The ~1/4” pre-ladder cutting bodies are already around 14 grams.
Even the blocks from 2020 that had “Made in China” stickers on them held up better. I wonder if the lower quality blocks are due to the price of lumber going up. Is anyone else seeing the same thing?