History Have you ever thrown away parts that you thought were worthless?

Nope. Mine are worthless to begin with

 

First divorce, had to clear out garage to move. Threw away complete 400 chevy, 307 chevy, 302 ford, as well as headers
and god only knows what else.
Second one cost me a Lincoln Tombstone, Air compressor and more I cannot remember.
At least this one only asks me to turn off the A/C or heat when I am not in the garage, and to leave enough room
for her Miata in the winter. At last a keeper!

 

I am still kicking myself for throwing away a good 5.5 wide Ford steelie by mistake and keeping the cracked one.

And I sold a couple parts to a project that I soon realized I needed. Sometimes I do dumb things...

 

My problem is I know what it is and try to save it to no avail, before it absolutely goes. Every time someone rants about how valuable Y blocks and 37. LaSalle transmissions are, I cringe.

 

My dad threw out a V860 Tube axle in a construction area... it's now under the Independence Missouri mall.

 

In high school I had a good buiness buying tri 5 chevies and reselling them to a few guys. Every car I could get was sold before I got home. Any 4door got the front clip removed, and the back half sawed off, buyers for those. If it was a seamless frame I took it to a guy and scrapped the rest. Axles, A arms, Frames, Dashboards, Trim, floors, all scrapped and crushed. but a 4door purchased for $100, left me with around 600 profits.

 

I don't like throwing out any part I think is useful but there comes a time you've moved to a dozen times and tripped over it just as many times and it has to go. Guaranteed. the week after you get rid of it someone will come along and post somewhere that they need the part. Just happened to me with a '38 Buick Special. I bought it as a parts car, removed and saved the parts I needed and sold others and was left with a frame and rear axle. Most Buick owners of this vintage want the higher gears of a Century, not the Special. Had the car sitting in the yard for a couple of weeks, even advertised it on a couple of places, no takers so off to the scrap yard. Damned if someone didn't post a week later looking for stock '38 Special gears, his were toast, the ones in the scrapped car were like new.

 

While I was stationed in Germany my dad went on a cleaning spree and threw away several engines including a hipo 289, two 140 hp 4-carb Corvairs, and worst of all a genuine 427 side oiler. All went to the scrap pile.

 

And the beat goes on, The beat goes on
Lets see, over ten years playing with tow trucks Not much real estate to speak of. A penchant for making one car out of two ( tri five Chevs ) Who wants a 283?
I've forgotten more than I think of.... Reading this thread has stirred the brain some.

Had some precious items in boxes by my back door, when I took a beer break while moving.
Enough Beer so who cares....
Somewhere 'round here I got a full sheet of paper I wrote up, titled " Cars I just let go "
Happy to report tho, most were placed into another's hands.
A few tho precious,,, had to go to The Zombie.

 

I bought an old Model A sedan. It had an Olds V8 with an ancient 6 x 2 intake missing one 94 carb. I junked the Olds V8, and gave the intake away at a party where I was required to bring a gag gift.

 

yes , im in the camp of....wtf was i thinking....49 Dodge rust free hood and 3 window trunk lid when relocating ....

 

When I decided to hotrod the '29AA back in '75, I took off the rear axle, engine, front spindles, brakes, wheels, etc. and gave them to a neighborhood welder who also had a '29AA. I regret scrapping the radiator - could have kept the upper and lower tanks and re-cored it back then. I also regret turning loose of the bell housing. Later, I decided to scrap the spare tire carrier, which I could have sold. I also scrapped two FMX transmissions and the fan and water pump pulley for two 351Ws, which I need now. Finally, I wish I had kept the 331 hemi heads, crank and seven good rods from the punctured block that I disassembled before finding the rod and piston that went sideways. I did sell the heads for about what I'd paid for the whole engine, but would have been better off keeping the heads, rods, etc. and finding a good block. Those heads were in excellent condition despite the expired block.

 

I have the ability to save parts for years right up till about a week before I have a use for it and that when the term dumb ass echoes through the night air! lol Larry

 

I rarely scrap anything.

If I am not using it, and it will help someone, I give it away.

Far too many people are hoarding parts, which prevents the joy of others, in the twilight of this hobby.

Don't do that.

 

I have limited storage space. After 3 years, I get rid of stuff. Many times I have had to re-purchase.

 

Reading these posts makes me feel better that I’m NOT the only one.





my kids are just gonna toss it out anyway.

 

Gimpy, I know what you mean. For many years when my shop was active, I was one of those go to guys when someone was looking for parts and a lot of times I would disappear into the back room or a storage building and come out with what they needed. They would often be shocked when I would say, if you can use it its yours, there is 4 more on the back shelf. Many times, they might have been a friend of a friend and I really didn't know them.

 

I have met a far too many people that are sitting on parts, who will angrily shout out that nobody is going to tell them what to do with their parts, or that swear that they (at 85-plus-years-old) that they are going to use them, or that they are leaving their "goldmine" to their heirs.

I have yet to be contacted by any heirs to buy anything in that "goldmine". Far too often I discover that they called a junk hauling service, and paid them to "get rid of all of the junk".

In my general vicinity alone, I have seen what would be a few-million-dollars of vintage parts sent to scrappers. None were saved. None went into any builds, and none ever will. They no longer exist.

This hobby will not exist forever. The clock is ticking.

The more parts out there that could be used in builds that go to scrap just sets up a demented race.

It sets up the end of gasoline production, and and affordable insurance, up against nothing left to build that anyone can afford, leading with vintage parts that people here like.

We have a choice. We can selfishly hoard, lashing out at anyone that suggests that we do otherwise, or we can help facilitate as many road-worthy builds as we can get on the road, while we still can.

I am doing the latter. We are ALL in this together. When those in power make moves to end us, we need this army to be as large as possible.

Gasoline forever.

 

^^^ Gimp > I don't have a lot of extra stuff left anymore. Alot was used over the years or either given away or sold at "passing it on prices" and not the how much can I get price. Most of what's left is designate to the builds I have left. Now that I am retired the plans are to at least assemble them into " I can take it from here projects" that I don't have the time to finish completely. The ones I do finish will either continued to be enjoyed by me or passed on to someone else to enjoy at a price that we both feel is fair. Cars should not be considered investments. They should be considered FUN!!! My nephew work at a major scrap recycling center in the area for a number of years and you would hear about some guy's collection going up for auction, and Jim being a car guy too said it would break his heart to see the stuff that would come across the scales afterwards. And company policy prohibited even the employees from buying anything once it crossed the scales. Sad indeed Larry

 

Hello,

Part or parts? What about a whole pristine car shell? That is/was a good one during the days that followed our accident at Lion’s Dragstrip. On the next day after visiting my brother in the hospital, he asked about the Willys Coupe, again, or what was left of it. When I told him that it was complete, wedged into a chain link fence and looked like it ran into a white snow storm ice wall, he chuckled, as much as he could.

Even though he had 3rd degree burns on 30 % of his body his first words were, “How is the Willys?” but, my description and the worried look on our parents faces were all that it took for him to say, Keep the stuff at Atts Ono’s house until later.” He knew our mom would go bananas worse than she was at the moment. So, afterwards, we took everything we could out of the Willys Coupe, while it was sitting on a flatbed trailer.

Jnaki

To me, everything was worthless unless my brother could still participate. Atts Ono did not want the pristine fenders, hood, grilles, doors or trunk lid. He said it would give him the “shivers” if he reused those parts, even if they are in excellent shape. So, we took apart the whole car on the trailer and towed the empty shell to the local scrapyard.

Since we had the complete 671 SBC motor on an engine stand, it was ready to go in something else. So, there was that option. But, all of the remnants of the Willys we kept was put under a canvas tarp in the sideyard. The motor was placed inside of the garage. The Willys body, we said our goodbyes and left it sitting near the entrance to the scrap yard. To us, it was worthless at this stage of the whole picture.

It all depends on how anyone looks at any situation. Some people will say that was ridiculous to throw away a perfectly good complete 40 Willys Coupe, minus the bent front bumper. But, the family situation called for a new direction. It took almost two years of recovery before everything was gone out of the backyard garage. Two desert racing motorcycles and a couple of longboards had taken up their own specific areas of the workspace.

 

I worked for several different salvage yards through the years but one incident pissed me off entirely. We had a guy bring in the leavings of a small shop and sold it for weight. Among the boxes were dozens of those Dupree fuel pumps, brand damn new with regulators on them. I managed to snatch ONE before the boss saw it. The rest went in the scrap trailer and right off to the smelter. I still have it, along with two others, on the slim hope that I can find rebuild kits for them. They still operate, but the diaphragms are shot.
But as far as lamentable discards, I literally gave away a thirty year collection of Falcon parts when I sold my last one.
and the '60 Galaxie tudor I sold had literally TWO of every piece of trim, taillights, and a rebuilt Y-block in it.....
then there's the 63 1/2 I built back in the early '90's.... '68 390 4v, dual exhaust, c6... power seats and windows, and a duplicate of almost every piece of trim along with a swingaway steering wheel and column in the trunk.... ran like a raped ape. Could not sell that car for even $1800 in those days.... traded it off.
Suffice it to say that I have never been able to profit from this hobby in the least.

 

I rescue as much as I can, but I either use it or try and find it a home. And if it's truly junk I toss it. But it's gotta be real junk. I'm not keeping any of this stuff forever.

 

Hello,

Yes, we have thrown away parts and tools we thought we would never use again. But, down the line, the missing tools were needed and they were long gone. Not to sound like a hoarder, but for the long time, I kept every tool I ever had. They stayed happily in drawers until one day I could not find what I needed. So, a thorough clean out was necessary. When my wife saw what I was doing, she was all smiles.

She has this motto… if you don’t use it for two years, get rid of it. Also, if you need something, then go out and buy a new one. Obviously, the “NEW” one stayed in my consciousness and when I needed something, I went out and bought another newer version. These days, I can see the value in giving away old tools and purchasing what I need for the specific job at hand.

That even goes for small to large parts to finish the projects, too. It is getting to the point of saving those extra screws, nuts/bolts left over from one project in those small drawers is beginning to be useless. There will not be another time when I will use them. Yes, I told myself that, “One day, I will need those parts for a project…”


During our run in the C/Gas class 6761 SBC motor in our 40 Willys Coupe, there were some odd ball times that things went missing. I was also saving some Pink Lodge Plugs we had only used in a warm up session at Lion’s Dragstrip. They could be used on another warm up fire up session somewhere down the line. So, I put them in a separate box for later use.

One day, I was looking around and could not find what I was looking for in another phase of welding or cutting. So, I had to move some boxes to get at the tip used for cutting. Now, since I had a cardboard box with rattling around parts, it was unknown and when I saw what it was, at the time, the plugs looked old and used up. So, out they went.

Then later on, my brother asked where those "once run" Pink Lodge Plugs were that we used for a warm up run at Lions. Well, they were on their way to the Los Angeles area dump. Luckily, he had purchased another set of plugs and we continued on with the warm up and tuning process. Dumb me… once used expensive plugs should have been marked. YRMV

 

I couldn’t agree with Gimpy more. I never thought about the hoarding of parts and cars that nobody will ever do anything with. I never thought about the hoarding until I read Gimpy’s feelings on the subject. I see it a lot now that I realize what’s happening. I don’t have a lot of Hot Rod parts anymore, but I have a lot of Harley parts and I am happy to help out my buddies or anybody else who needs something I’m not using.
I also wholeheartedly agree with Gimpy,
GASOLINE FOREVER!!!

 

I took a diffferent way home from work one day and spotted a pick up truck with a pinball machine and other stuff in the bed -, they were headed to the landfill. I was able to pull up next to the truck and negotiated a deal for the pinball machine , got it for 50$. Played the heck out of it, then sold it and used the money for parts for the car in my avatar, It was a 1963 gottlieb "gi gi"

 

Nearby me, underneath this pile are a 65 Corvette convertible and a 50 Merc. convertible.
When the owner passed away about 5 years ago it still looked like this.
I think most of the stuff got thrown away. Don't know what happened to the cars.
They may still be there.

 

In the late 80's I lived in the country on an acreage and had collected about 50 cars, some 70's stuff but including a 55 Dodge pickup, 54 Lincoln Hardtop, a couple of 55 Chevy moredoors, a Starsky and Hutch clone car and I can't remember what else. The County Fathers sent me a letter giving me little time to clean up an un-permitted salvage yard or face a $100 per day fine. I saved back the Dodge pickup from the crusher but all of the rest went to scrap. Probably $12 a ton.
Well later I picked up a 48 Chevy fastback and was working on it as well as swapping into the Dodge pickup the drive train of the 65 Plymouth Hardtop (that needed a drivers side window)--- (that I forgot to list above. The wife at the time wanted to move to town so there was no place for two cars so we had an auction to sell the other acreage related farm stuff, the cars went for $15 or so each, with titles. I was sick about that for years. Ten years later that wife was gone, I should have sent her to town at stayed on the "farm"

 

Still looking to help out with Harley Parts?

 

What are you looking for, you can PM me.

 

Everytime this thread surfaces I've had time to recall the worth of some part or other on some car that I disposed of and want back.
The problem is that all the un-useable 'crap' we left go of has extreme value because, no one is producing good stuff anymore, at less than rediculous cost