"What happened to Quality-Control?? Where did it go?"
We are working with 40-50 year old cars here. Volkswagen AG wants us to go away. Most of the suppliers are selling crap because they know they can unload it, people will buy it, and what are you going to do after you get taken? Try to get a refund? Good luck. I know all about the problems with tinware that doesn't fit, carburetors that don't work out of the box, brake drums that are warped out of the package, new wheel bearings with looser tolerances than the ones I removed, yada yada yada.
I've encountered a lot of 'crap' in recent years. It stands to only get worse as times rolls along. The days of using a bug/bus as a daily driver are certainly becoming harder and harder to justify.
Good parts are out there, it just takes digging to find them and you have to pony up the cash when you find them. I try not to buy parts without inspecting them first anymore.
Couple years back I was doing a top-end overhaul on my 74 super. I need some shims to set the deck height, so I went down to the local VW place and they had some shims bubblepacked that I think said "EMPI" on them. I asked to cut the shrinkwrap enough to put my caliper on them. I don't remember the exact numbers but I know that the number on the package was at least 15 thousands off from what the shims actually measured, and not one of those damn things measured the same as the others.
Buyer beware.
Chris