Copycat product?

[bugnut68]

Just got the new Hot VWs today with the article on the gassers; sweet articles and photos...

My question stems from a product in the Parts Bin section.  A guy claims to have invented the temperature dipstick warning unit (like the one that the Bergs have offered for years) leading me to the question of who's the rightful inventor?  I'd always been under the impression that Gene Berg invented this part (triggers the idiot light to flicker when oil gets too hot), but this feller claims to have originated it.  Don't remember his name, magazine's out in the car and cant' find a web site through a cursory web search.  Just wondering if anyone else noticed this?

[hotrodsurplus]

I'd always been under the impression that Gene Berg invented this part

Berg would have loved for people to think that he invented a lot of things that his company sells but alas that dipstick wasn't his design.

I saw this at http://www.geneberg.com/cat.php?cPath=118_2734

**NOTE** As of 8/1/11 these are NLA as our supplier quit making them.

It sort of makes one wonder why the vendor isn't selling to Berg. Hmmm...

[deano]

Gene Berg DID NOT invent this part. Hal Brown did, and now his son is continuing to make and sell them. If the Bergs aren't selling them any more, ask them.

[bugnut68]

Ah, I see... I'll be darned.  I saw a Samba thread earlier where they were no longer making them, but I didn't know that the Bergs didn't originate the part.  New things learned every day!

[Brandon Sinclair]

http://www.savemybug.com/

[neil68]

[/quote] Berg would have loved for people to think that he invented a lot of things that his company sells but alas that dipstick wasn't his design.

[/quote]

That's BS:  The Berg catalogues of 1990 and 1993/1994 clearly state:  "Originated by Hal Brown in 1972."

[hotrodsurplus]

Berg would have loved for people to think that he invented a lot of things that his company sells but alas that dipstick wasn't his design.

That's BS:  The Berg catalogues of 1990 and 1993/1994 clearly state:  "Originated by Hal Brown in 1972."

BS? Nice to meet you too, Neil. 

I didn't say that he took the credit for that particular part. However, he did make it look like his company made it. Look at the second graf on page 37 in the '93/'94 catalog. "OUR temperature dipstick..." Under part number 227A: "Yes, many people do not know the value of OUR GB 227 dipstick..." It's no surprise that we all thought he made the part (hence the recent confusion).

But he did take credit for things, even if by omission. For example, his linkage was a direct ripoff of the Speedwell design. At the bottom of the description: "Originated in 1965." No mention of Speedwell. When taken with his "OUR linkages..." spiel it seems as if he invented it. There are more.

By the way he talked (and wrote) he made himself out as the only person who could do certain things properly. If you believed everything he said or wrote (as I once did) you'd think that an engine couldn't survive if every part wasn't ordained by him. He was a remarkable self promoter and it was often at the expense of integrity (a good deal of his marketing was maligning his competition's products). When taken in its entirety, his posturing makes him seem as if he invented the wheel (figuratively of course).

[neil68]

It's always misleading to take "selective words" by themselves: "Our GB 227 dipstick" means that is simply the part #. If you finish reading to the final paragraph, it states "Orginated by Hal Brown in 1972."

There are numerous examples all through the GBE catalogues of others he credits either as the originator, or the original that he has now modified or "improved", or the current supplier:  Joe Vittone, Dean Lowry, Harold Washington, Bugpack, Tayko, Carillo, Manley, Weber, Bosch, CB 044 heads, OEM VW parts (eg. oil pumps that are blueprinted/anodized), come to mind.

Regarding the carb linkage, Berg has always acknowledged that his linkage design was a derivative of the "no longer produced" Speedwell and EMPI designs.  However, the more recent versions have many changes since the '60's/'70's.

[DKK Ted]

Gene Berg DID NOT invent this part. Hal Brown did, and now his son is continuing to make and sell them. If the Bergs aren't selling them any more, ask them.

Yup! I remember Hal coming in early in the morning to Bergs and give Andy those, then Andy would do something, can't remember, Hal was a great brain in VW stuff and a cool guy to talk to, is he still around? I wonder. Had his number, but lost it.

Ted

[deano]

Yes, Hal is still living in Costa Mesa... same place as always. He threatened to move to Arkansas to be closer to his son, but then looked at the climate, and decided to stick it out at the beach... He came by our office about two weeks ago.