ORIGINAL: Skypilot_one
Ed,
MRC had a huge Enya parts inventory, enough parts to assemble and sell engines before finally giving up. They had a long history with Enya. I think you always found it was the parts prices that were high not the labor.
I have great respect for Carol, Tim and Mr. Enya.
I'm happy I found a few 60XL aac engines, both pumped and regular nib. Though dated and heavy by todays standards, they are the best 60 size glow engines ever made, excellent carbs, aac, stainless bearings etc. They were also the most expensive, SELLING for over $330.00 back in the day.
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Frankly, I never had to buy that many parts from them and I never once had to send an Enya back for service, so I never took advantage of their free labor.
Frankly, Enya did not need to update many of their engines, as far as I'm concerned. Their .60 and .80 four-strokes were/are still fantastic. Their AAC engines have yet to be topped by more modern designs in my applications. I just went through a buying phase of used Enya engines via auction sites and have accumulated quite a few of their CX and .60-.80 four-strokes. I'm set, as far as I'm concerned.
Not changing engines just for the sake of stirring up more sales is a plus as far as I'm concerned. A few comparison based advertisements by MRC would have generated more sales of existing engine designs. In fact, I'm not sure that they did not do this at one point.
A few distributors had unreasonable policies regarding selling to hobbyshops some years back. They made it difficult for a small town hobbyshop to stock their products due to financial constraints. I have been told that two of the worst were Ace and MRC. This is the reason I have always felt that Enya engines were not as popular as other engine brands, not the higher price. Folks will pay more for higher quality. I do/did.
Ed Cregger