History What car part have you just given away in the past that is now worth a fortune?

I can recall giving my neighbor a complete 32 Ford front axle assembly, spindles to wishbone when I was building my coupe back in 74'. The steering column, drop and gearbox also. Looking through the classifieds, I see that that would be worth a four digit number now. Gave away 2 bent spoke 16" Kelsey Hayes wheels also.
This hobby has really become expensive. Its no wonder the younger crowd can't enter into it as easily as I did.

 

In 1960 I traded a shift nob to a buddy for one he had,mine worked better on his 57Chey 3 on the tree,the one he gave me was too long an plus too havey for his car,worked better on my hot rod floor shift,I'm still happy with it. The one I gave him was a Regel Beer tap nob,a little smaller then baseball,that is now wroth $500+ vs the one on my floor shifter ,that type goes fore $20 now days,I love it anyway. Its been on my hotrod from 1960 to now.

 

Original VW spare tire tool kit. I gave it to a kid that bought my last running VW. I always thought the tools were kinda cheap looking anyway. oops.

 

might as well have given them away...a complete 409-425 in 1972 for $250 and then a 427-435 with a 850 Holley also for $250 in 1975!! What a dumbass!

 

I gave a good friend a very nice original 32 grille shell & insert for his 29 hiboy roadster almost 30 years ago, I didn't have too much in it and he was raising a family and really didn't have a lot of spare cash, he was always willing to help me, he passed away several years ago and the roadster is gone.

Deuce parts have always been pricey but original grilles & shell prices have skyrocketed in the years since I gave one away, bottom line I don't regret at all. HRP

 

When I got out of the navy I purchased a 1960 Corvette and removed the fuel injection unit in favor of a 4 barrel. I can't recall what I even did with it. Those fuel injection units are selling for HUGE money. DIMB STUPID ASS KID!!!

 

I guess I've never had the luxury of actually giving parts away but I have sold friends parts for what I paid or on occasion less.
The neat thing about having certain parts is their "trading value", meaning if you know someone with a part but he isn't willing to sell it, he may be open to trade for parts he needs.
In regards to one project in particular which was started in 1983; parts were becoming hard to find even back then primarily because production of OEM replacement parts had stopped so they had to be sourced from individuals with "investor" interest more than on an enthusiast basis.
Many times I thought I was crazy for paying what I did but compared to current prices EVERYTHING was a bargain. The thing about hard to find parts; it's not the price but the fact that you finally found it at any price.

 

Half a dozen original 57 Chevy floor jacks.in the dump.

 

gave away a Schwinn Stingray to my buddies little cousin when I was 17 or so. they are worth a few bucks these days.

no car parts

 

Traded my cousin, my 1951 Cushman Eagle for an 8 tack tape deck, back in 67.



Bones

 

Gave away my O.T. 68 Road Runner for $1.00 because I lived in California and it had a cracked block and was in Michigan.

 

I sure hope it didn't have a HEMI!

 

My first car was a 57 Bel Air Sport Coupe. I had it for several years and decided to go drag racing and at that time it was believed that a 2 door sedan being more rigid than a hardtop, was a better choice. I bought a 56 Del Ray 210 sedan and took the drive train out of the 57 for the 56.

I gave the hardtop in 1974 to two brothers who were and still are friends of mine. They had just purchased a rust free 57 210 Handyman wagon shell and needed parts.

I guess it worked out for the best. The Handyman has never been put together and recently they agreed to sell me the Handyman and all the parts.

 

My uncle gave me a couple neat magnesium wheels that had four slots in them instead of five. Sold them at a swap meet for somewhere around a hundred bucks. I miss those wheels...
r


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I sold an extra '36 Ford 3w coupe trunk lid that needed a lot of work for $100. A few weeks later I see one for sale for $1400 that was worse than the one I sold. No matter - you can't always score and I've had more than my share of bargains.

 

I read your post and couldn't help but tell my story.I was on the receiving end of a similar situation. A friend of mine bought a 60 fuelie vette that ran poorly and the fact that no one in our area had a clue about how to diagnose and repair the Rochester FI he removed it and installed a four barrel. The complete FI unit sat under his workbench for a couple of years before he decided that he was going to "Toss the piece of crap out" I told him that I'd take it and it ended up in my parents cellar for many years and was totally forgotten. My father finally got tired of seeing his cellar littered with my old car parts and asked get rid of the junk. I won't tell you how much I got for the unit but it definitely put a smile on my face.

 

When I was in high school/college in the late '60's I was into English sports cars. I had a MGTD with a flathead 60 with a 3 speed Ford trans and a narrowed closed drive shaft rear end which I removed for a MGA driveline. It was in the garage when I got drafted in 1971. While I was gone my dad had someone take everything to the dump.

 

OEM '63 409 Chevy air cleaner.

 

Dana, based on the thread title, you had me scared for a second.
I had a Schlitz handle like that on my Hurst shifted T-10 in my 57 Chevy about 1971.
It really never was comfortable but it was more about being underage with a beer tap handle.
I probably sold it for the price of the Hurst T-handle that replaced it.

 

Had a 58 Impala 3 speed on the column with a 348 and factory 3x2's with stock air cleaner. First thing I did was replace the stock air cleaner with 3 chrome pots. Can't remember what I did with the original air cleaner but it would be worth a pretty penny right now.

 

Years ago, shopping at a swap meet on setup day, I'm dickering with a vendor over a cool oil seal cabinet I wanted for my garage. I'm at $10, he's stuck at $20. I look at his jumbled pile of stuff and say, "throw in that old steering wheel and I'll give you the $20." Deal!

I take everything back to our booth, stow my cool cabinet and throw the old steering wheel on a table. Guy comes along and asks what I want for the wheel, I say $20. He buys it, we're both happy. After he leaves, my buddy comes over. "Well, that went fast. What'd you get?"

And that's when I learned exactly what a Ford banjo steering wheel is supposed to sell for.

Oh well, easy come, easy go. And I still think it's funny that two guys managed to grossly undersell that wheel in the span of half an hour.

 

When I was a teenager I had a Sunbeam Tiger. The starter went so I sold it for 300 bucks. Didn't have the brains or the money to buy a new starter and replace it.

 

Long time ago when the grass was green I was given an original Mustang Rally Pack. I cleaned it and took it to the Lincoln swap meet where I sold it for $125.......I forgot to do my research......

 

Around a decade ago I gave the brother of a friend a sweet deal on a set of cast iron long tube Ford 427 headers. I wonder if he ever got them installed on his Galaxie? Oh well, sometimes I wish I still had them but I'm probably not going to build another FE.
-Dave

 

Back in mid '70s I was building a 427 FE HR for a friend to go in his '66 F'lane..Had all the right parts for a dependable 600hp build..He got married and lost interest so it sat only needing a valve job..I got tired of looking at it so I called him and said what ya gonna do? He said if I wanted it I could have it..I told him to sell it so he did..I guess I gave that 427 away..

 

In high school I helped at least 4 friends pull running 283’s out of their cars in favor of 350’s. I should have kept those motors.

One guy pulled the “funny-looking Chevy” and HEAVY automatic out of his 56 GMC in favor of a 350/TH350. I don’t remember but I’m guessing it was a Pontiac/Hydro combo.

This was the late 80’s, early 90’s.

 

Sometimes it's what you miss out on. Back in the mid 70's my buddy and I loaded up my 57 Chevy panel truck with parts and headed to the Pate Museum swap meet when it was still at he Museum. We wheeled in, paid for our space and pulled in and started unloading. I hadn't paid much attention to what he had loaded and as I am pulling parts out he pulls out an anvil that weighs somewhere between 50 and 100 lbs and before he could set it on the ground some guy asks "how much for the Anvil" he says 25.00 and that was when they were going for a buck a pound and the guy rips his pocket off getting the money out. If I had known what he wanted for it it would never have come out of the truck.
I bought a 59 Covette steering wheel for my 48 for 10.00 from a buddy who was using the body of the ragged out Vette for an altered he was building. Sold it for 30 or 35 to some Corvette guy a few years later right out of the truck. Still kick my butt on that one even though the screws that held the horn assembly down were broken and it was going to be a pain to fix.
A few years ago I gave a kid down the road a pair of factory tinted GMC 5 window quarter windows for the truck he was working on as I didn't have a need for them and those things bring real money now.

 

Just gave a 350/4l60 away. Taking up space. Two 472 Cads. A good low mile 352. Can’t keep stuff forever.


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I had a 66 Mustang fastback, 289/4 speed transmission but it had a cracked block

I didn't exactly give it away but I sold it dirt cheap, Our twin girls were born just a few days before I sold the car because I needed the money to get my 1956 Harley Davidson transmission out of the repair shop, I sold the car for 250.00 bucks, what a idiot. HRP

 

Ok. It was rough, and I sold it an hour after I bought it to a good friend for $100., a 1940 Harley Knucklehead powered Midget Race car. This was around 1975, American Pickers bought a running restored one for $32,000. early this year. Lessons learned, NEVER sell a race car without researching its history, NEVER sell old Harley parts without doing research. I don't have any regrets, it was a good deal at the time. I picked up this photo of the car turned into a hat pin a few years ago. Bob