Hot Rods Parts In The Trunk

Have you purchased a car with only a deposit after a test drive? You inspected it closely inside, outside, under the vehicle, under the hood and inside the trunk and everything was clean and unobstructed? You go back and pick it up and when you get it home and open the trunk it is loaded with extra parts? The owner didn't want the burden of storing the extra parts and passed them off to you?

I have had that happen numerous times over the years, some of the parts were part of the deal, some a total surprise. Most of the extra parts had no value at the time, but some did. I always put the extra parts on a shelve and then sold the car. After about 40 years of this I got to the point of knowing I would never need any more of them but guess what? ALL OF THOSE PARTS HAD VALUE when the time came to sell them. I sold most of them on ebay and was always pleased with the price they brought. After all, it was all profit.
I will give you an example. I purchased my avatar, a 1933 Essex Terraplane convertible in 1968 for $875.00 needing a restoration. The 354 Cadillac V-8 had to be rebuilt too. In a box of extra parts I never used when I sold it in 2009 was Stewart Warner winged speedometer, cable drive tachometer and oil pressure gauge. I listed them as a set on ebay and guess what? They brought exactly the $875.00 I paid for the car 41 years earlier.

 

Went I bought the car it my avatar, it came with the trunk full of spare parts and 1/2 my van. The dude wanted out!



Bones

 

Oh this is gonna be good!

 

Mine have always came with parts, but they have always been worn out rusted junk that somebody threw in to get rid of it. Never ran across anything worth saving or selling.
Have kept stuff I took off and changed myself though. Usually ends up going in the scrap pile because I can’t give it away.

 

Junk in the trunk would have been an old girlfriend....

 

A disassembled max wedge with the cross ram in the trunk of a 4sp hemi body that was drug home....other then that some bones found in a 53 Merc that passed thru a few hands I know of....kinda looked like a cat......

 

I bought an OT 71 Charger RT with a 440 for $150(It sat outside for years and the guy was moving). It was an automatic but I found an A833 four speed with the pistol grip shifter out of an E body on the rear floor and a bunch of parts in the trunk. Made a ton of money on that car during the early Mopar craze. I sold the RT tail lights for $750 alone. One of the rare times I came out ahead.

 

All I ever find in trunks are usually dead animal skeletons......go figure.

 

I found a mummified beaver carcass in the trunk of an early Fairlane parts car I bought.

 

I bought a 62 Nova ragtop a couple years ago, there's a thread on here somewhere about it. In the trunk was 2 nice 63 falcon grilles, a nice gen and reg, a bunch of stainless trim and some air deflectors for a nova 4 door or wagon that I still own BTW. The junk in the trunk paid for the new seat covers.

Want some air deflectors? NOS.

 

Does it count if the parts were not in the trunk (I don't have one, its a wagon)? I found my 56 Handyman wagon online and a couple of states away. When I got there , we closed the deal and loaded the car on the trailer. Just about ready to leave and the seller says wait a minute. He disappears into the garage and comes back out a few minutes later and says you might as well take these too. It's a pair of rust free 55 Chevy fenders.

 

When I bought my last 55 Buick Special I saw some nice looking chrome parts in the back seat, both bumpers some grille parts etc. The guy told me the po had bought some extra chrome that he got with the car. He was not a car guy, his kids bought it for him as a retirement project. All he wanted to do was sell it to a Buick guy, me! When I got it home and opened the trunk it was full of NOS chrome parts, almost every chrome piece on the car! First time I ever got that lucky

 

Picked up a 63 Belair which sat under a tree for many years. Looked under the hood-no mill!. It was all in the trunk, disassembled. Bought the car cheap, and checked out the motor when I got home. Nothing wrong or badly worn.
1 gasket set and 24 hours later, car was going, cleaned up & cruising.

 

You guys are slipping Come on, a mummified beaver and no wise assed comments?

 

Almost 900 clams for a speedo, tach and an oil gauge.............you certainly travel in different circles than I do.

 

I sold a 51 ford once and the spare parts that went with the car filled up the inside of the car, the trunk, and the bed of my pickup truck
Chappy

 

Mummified Beaver.......,Could it be as early as the Egyptians?! ( Oak Island narrator voice)

 

In the early 70's I had an ex wife with Mummified Beaver and Lock Jaw, she was later found in a trunk..

 

I've purposely thrown in extra parts after the deal was made (related, decent, extra, bonus type) but not mentioned prior.

I've been on the receiving end before, and it's a pleasant surprise when it happens to you.

 

Just showing a little respect.....I did not know he had passed.

 

I bought a 56 Victoria and found some fun items amidst a lot of junk...
mummified cat (best cat I've ever owned, very well mannered)
Mt Airy tag topper
cool novelty plate from the Mt Airy Autumn Leaves Festival

 

What about that heart of gold guy that towed it home for you? ...oooops, forgot about the tag topper.

 

Do you guys remember that Tempest swiss cheese car that was auctioned off on ebay, the guy selling it didn't know what it was, he was selling it as a junk car, an old bracket car. At the time you could follow the sale on ebay and people would ask questions, they got to the point pretty quick after he took a closeup pic of the Iskendarian Cam Tag riveted to the firewall, the trunk was locked and he didn't have a key. By then the Vin # had been confirm it was one of 6 factory race cars, he took a crowbar and opened the trunk to find a mess of stuff including the original cast aluminum headers! There's a thread on here about the restoration of that car. I'd have dropped to my knees to open the trunk and find those headers, they are priceless.

 

When I got my ‘40 I made the deal on a Sunday then came back the following day after work with cash and a trailer. The PO told me as I was loading it up he had put some parts in the trunk for me. He also told me he had another flathead that was in his way I could have if I came back and picked it up another day. It was getting dark and I didn’t bother looking in the trunk until I got off work the next day. There was easily $1000 worth of replacement parts in there. New chrome, wiring, dash pieces, etc. About a month after I bought it I went back to pick up the extra flathead, it was an 8BA complete minus oil pan and with an extra set of heads. The 8BA turns over freely and has no obvious cracks. Needless to say I’m pretty happy with the trunk parts score and the extra engine that we’re not expected when I made the deal.

When I was in high school I bought a ‘62 Buick Skylark. The PO said he had lost the trunk key years ago. So after I got it I lifted the back seat cushion out and shimmied through the small opening into the trunk with a flashlight and some tools. I managed to unbolt the trunk latch and get the trunk open. I didn’t find anything really cool but the inside of the trunk was mint. It looked like the trunk would have looked inside in ‘62.

 

I remember that story. Seems the car had been in a mini-storage unit when the owner died and the storage owner took possession due to past due bills and the story mushroomed from there. It was the greatest "guess what turned up at the storage sale" I have heard of.

 

Yep the story is on here somewhere. Nice headers BUT only for limited use. If you tried running them on the street (too hot) they MELTED LOL.

 

Wait....if he only asked "under the hood" I've had you guys beat with 5 dead possums in my paper route 1955 Stude Commander !

 

All 5 together? Critter cult......mass suicide.......turf war?

 

I knew my 56 needed shocks when I bought it over the internet, when it got here there was a set of shocks, front and rear, fender skirts (the full bubble type), and the center pieces from the lancer hub caps in the trunk.

 

OT bracket car, came with a 150 nitrous kit and bottle new in the box, sitting in the trunk. The car already had a 250 kit installed.