I don't know whether they are American or Chinese, but my best guess is they are a re-boxer and source parts from different manufacturers and slap there name on it. I wanted to put new calipers on my '92 300D and the guy at the parts store (the one that starts with a big "O") told me their Duralast brand calipers were OEM MB calipers that were remanufactured. So I ordered them and they came in a box that said Duralast. When I pulled them out of the box, inside were we're Girling calipers for the front and Ate for the rear, both the OEM caliper manufacturers. So you've got an ignition rotor from Italy, a radiator cap from Israel, and I've got MB reman calipers.... and all these parts have The name Duralast on them. Sounds like a re-boxer to me, although a higher quality one than what a lot of the German re-boxers that are only sourcing with cheap, inferior quality Chinese parts.

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'89 260e (212K Mi.), '92 400e (208K Mi.), '92 400e (not a misprint) (146K Mi.), '95 C220, '81 240D--Sold