Brake components

[MeeferMadness]

Looking for advice on replacing the master and slave cylinders on my 56 rag. As I dig into the car it needs most everything fixed or replaced. It had some recent brake work but from what I see it is of poor quality. So I would like to replace all brake components and my real question is whether it is worth substantially more to root out German parts. The only German cylinders I have found have been around $60 to $80 apiece compared to around $25 for non German.
I am under a tight budget but I know that brakes are essential so I want to do the right thing. Also any sources for German parts would be appreciated.
Bruce Ebling

[Bub]

I was / am in a similar situation with me 54' . I think this all depends on the condition of your car and the final plan for it.
Is it VERY original and in good / unrestored condition? My opinion is if it's a great time capsule of a car and you're trying to preserve it's condition then do what you can to use correct, proper german parts to keep OEM authenticity.
If it's good and clean, but it's been around and you're just trying to make it safe, driveable and enjoyable- do what you can afford, but do it properly with good parts.
My 54' is somewhere in the middle of this condition. It's a decent unmolested car, but has been apart for a long time and repainted and repaired a couple different ways. The rear brakes were a mix of early and late parts and difficult/expensive to source a handful of random parts to make it "correct'.
I figure that at any point in the future if it MUST be 100% correct it is fixable.

But current budget and purpose for the car I wanted working brakes on a budget. 98% of the people that will ever even see the brakes wouldn't even know the difference.
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[MeeferMadness]

Great advice! I just completed a frame up resto on a 59 euro sunroof and now I am trying to build a driver. The car is all OG metal with no rust. Original color prairie beige that has been painted over.
Anyway I think I will go non German; any idea of who would sell a good quality repro part?
Thanks again
Bruce

[ZENVWDRIVER]

I am on a perpetual budget - I usually look for German brake parts, first on thesamba classifieds and usually score wonderfully - my second choice is Bughaus in Tulsa, Oklahoma (a few miles away) - they sell expensive German and much cheaper Taiwan (Chinese). The cheaper parts are okay and will last a few years - look on thesamba first, is my suggestion.
I have a set of German wheel cylinders, bought ala carte, at different times,, on thesmba, just to have - can't pass up a good deal
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[RustPatch]

If you've already got german parts you could just rebuild them.

For ATE brake stuff on my '56, I used https://www.carpartsdiscount.com/ and purchased an ATE master cylinder, ATE 19mm front wheel cylinders, and FTE (ATE) 17mm rear wheel cylinders. Unfortunately it looks like they no longer supply the FTE rears. They also have ATE brake hoses. I can share pictures of how all these parts look if you like.

I did notice the ATE master cylinder has threaded holes which doesn't work with the original bolt/nut so I reamed the hole out to fit the original bolt.

https://www.bughaus.com/ does supply ATE stuff and although they sell the master cylinder for a little less, they sell the wheel cylinders for quite a bit more.

[MeeferMadness]

I was actually able to purchase a complete set o brake master and cylinders from CIP1 for a great price. Unfortunately one of the front cylinders is not a ATE brand. I will try to sort this out today. The box on the odd one says "Classic Line" I have no idea of where it was made
Bruce