Hot Rods Have you been guilty of buying parts for a car you hope to build someday?

"Parts for *a* car" , what's this "a" car you speak of? ???? Been doing that for ~ 7 cars for more than a few years. Buy what I can, w/what little I have, when I can find it. Kinda lots of storage, & keeping the piles from deteriorating. & keeping track of what parts go to what project. Now iffen I could only find a money tree, or a money shrubbery, or, wth, even a money plant, it'd help. + I keep thinking about really neat ways to do these, & other, projects. Looks like I may have to sell some, as I'm not going to live long enough to complete them. Unless I find (or better yet, duplicate) the $$$ George Poteet has. & then maybe.
If you don't have enough projects, I may be able to solve your problem... !
Marcus...

 

Nope. I don't. I live in a city. Space costs money. I save money, and buy everything when I am ready to build.

More importantly, buying "maybe someday" parts takes them out of the market, and prevents others from using them.

It artificially throttles supply, causing prices to rise, which outright prevents new builds.

I have seen more than a dozen collections of parts get sold for scrap, by disinterested heirs, in the last decade. That creates a permanent supply deficit, of parts that will never be reproduced.

We are no "spreading the gospel" by preventing builds from being started, or completed. We are killing our own hobby.

Please don't scratch your head about why the younger folks build a 500-hp Honda daily driver for $10k, and a 1200-hp Honda drag car, for $15k. $25k, 2-cars, combined 1700-hp, both quicker and more drivable than anything we could hope to build, and for less money.

You see it in the complaint threads: Part prices are too high, can't find certain parts, cars are not selling for the prices that people think they should sell for. Car selling prices are often set by buyers based on what they put into the car. If someone had to put $30,000 into a Model A, to make a perfect period-correct pre-war hot rod build, they are going to be pretty pissed that they are not likely to see anything near $20k for an offer.

I know guys right now that are pissed that people are reproducing 4-71 intake manifolds for the SBC. Their "perceived value" of the 1-2-5-7 that they are holding on to has dropped by 66%. The dirty secret is that what they were holding had negative value, because they paid for it (unless they got it for free, in which case, zero value). No value can be established until a sale has been made.

Of course I should note, these people are not as much into hot rodding, as they are into Capitalism. When the latter comes at the expense of the former, our hobby is harmed. Left unchecked for too long, it's doomed.

You even see guys gloating that they have 5-10-30 of a part that someone is struggling to find, at any price, and that they will never sell, citing that nobody can tell them what to do with their stuff. Those people don't care about hot rodding. By their actions, it would appear that they are actually against it, for everyone but themselves.

 

You need to start a new thread.

 

Nah, nobody is listening to me. Why add more to ignore?

 

So I`m a nobody.

 

Besides you, silly.

 

^^^^^^^^^
preaching to the choir here, brother Gimpy. 5-7-10 projects= no done projects. In the old days we called 'em junk yards.

 

Yep, bought more than I'll ever need and always regret selling anything but in recent years realize not too many more projects will be completed by me.

 

Nope, not any more, I'm too old for that.
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Well, there was that Mallory "flattop" (with a genuine "Voltmaster" coil) for an early hemi last week that was priced to low to pass up.

 

That was a great thing to do Danny. Keep it in the family, and get some new blood in this hobby of ours

 

If you’ve got the room, You’re better off looking at it than looking for it.

 

The 4 -16" wheels with rotten whitewalls that I purchased were destined for the scrap yard, If I don't use them they will end up back in circulation.

I have always been on the lookout for hot rod parts & piece and if they were affordable I have bought them, I have used many of these parts over the years and feel like I have saved a lot of them for myself and others, I have also used parts to help get others on the road, both old friends and young guys.

As I stated earlier, I gave my old '65 Ford truck to my grandson recently and I gave his best friend a 289 for his 60 Ford pickup, There are still some younger guys that want to build older cars and like me when I was that age, my dreams were bigger than my wallet.

My old barn is full of parts, some desirable and others that are not but as long as someone is saving this stuff someone else will benefit from it in the future. HRP.

 

I am always Buying Old Car Parts, if the Price is write especially for
My 50 Merc.
I have bought mostly NOS parts for these Cars for the Last 60 Years
I also buy old car Parts at Yard Sales if the Price is rite.!
Some of my NOS Merc Parts are worth a Small Fortune
Thats what I have been told by a Reliable Sourse

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

Riffing on what GimpysHotRods post.
Been buying and selling parts for a looooong time and have a couple thoughts on the subject.
The age range on parts buyers goes up yearly. Mostly to gray hairs like me. A lot of swap meet "buyers" are just car guys who show up to socialize. They already have a lot of stuff and with the younger buyers in their late 30's-early 40's the common items are slow movers.
Parts stashes are becoming more available but caution is the word. As mentioned, a shed full of common stuff(used window regulators,leaf springs,interior and exterior bits and pieces) can be a money pit if excitement clouds vision. Just because it's for a extinct 1920's or 1930's car brand and rare doesn't equate to valuable. The buyers for the common stuff for say a REO are becoming extinct themselves and serious REO owners have their own stashes.
I'm seeing quite a drop on the memorabilia side of the market as well. I could be wrong but sales have dipped quite a bit on the aftermarket items that buyers wanted to fill space in a garage or have just because it looked cool. The folks that remembered those things when they were new have slowed way up on buying items for nostalgia sake.
This thread as well as comments in similar threads have comments stating folks have collections of parts and are thinking of selling them off not to burden family or just to tidy up. Keep in mind the market...in my opinion...is shrinking and values may not be what they were years ago. Think of it as a bell curve. A part may have been inexpensive 30 years ago then got hot 20 years ago and now may be sliding downhill as either reproduction parts are readily available or market demand has dropped.
Large swaps such as Carlisle,Hershey,Pomona will still have the most serious buyers but I wold like to ask vendors at those events if they have seen a drop in common parts sales. At local swaps Im seeing parts that 10 years ago brought $15-20 now on the $1 table. My own experience on that big auction site is that a 1 or 2 barrel carb from a 1950's car that once brought $20 is now a $10 carb. Supply and demand economics.
Do I still buy parts stashes and do cleanouts? Absolutely. I still find it exciting to look for the hidden treasures and finding new homes for parts. It's my contribution to the hobby and I do it as a hobby.
Rare parts like Pine winterfronts ,anything '32 Ford as well as vintage speed items still do quite well. Pristine tail lights and badges/emblems also. Pitted emblems or faded plastic lenses not so much.
Enough of my long windedness. I could be way off base on my comments but this is my viewpoint.

 

I’m pleading the 5th...

 

You make sense to me!! My thinking when i buy parts i don't need is that somebody i know might need them. I hoard nothing, it's either got a destination or one of my buddies might need it, and when they tell me they already found one, i throw it in the car and lay it in front of my car at the shows for sale, but I've gave away more than I've sold, or trade it for some good conversation. but i can see where you're going, preach it brother!

 

You and me both brother, I rarely walk away from a '32 Ford part, they have always been desirable to deuce guys and I thought as we aged there would be less people interested but I suppose the parts will be in demand for years to come. HRP

 

I don't Buy Parts to resale I only Buy to Keep for my Own
cars as I Just Sold My Lincoln Mark 3 & with the Car all the
Parts that I bought thru the years.

The only reason I was saying about the Parts I have for the
Mercury I Bought them NOS Parts about 60 years ago, and was
talking to a Friend about them who is a Reliable Parts Guy on
Mercury Parts 49-51

It seems that anytime I sell a Part Thats when I need it for My Car!
so I try very Hard Not To Sell the Parts I Have.

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

i recall an influential piece in "hot rod" or "street rodder" 40-something years ago about building a flathead. one line hit home: "don't have a car for a flathead? build one anyway; you can always get a car..." you wouldn't believe how cheap flathead parts were back in those days!

 

I have a huge collection of parts for the next T, I have been hauling off tons of T parts over the last 60 years and most of them were free.

 

Yes I`m guilty. I have 3 cars I plan to build, so I have been gathering parts. Plus other parts that interest me. They are priced affordably so I buy. When you need something, you can`t find it and it costs lots more. So buy it when you can. But if someone who needs it(and won`t sell it to make a buck), I sell it to them if I`m not going to use it.

 

I’m like Johnny Cash 1 piece at a time


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Got drill bits?

 

You only need a half the bolts the factory used


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^^^^^ True, but they have to go thru something!

 

Don’t buy a lot of extra parts, but I have some unique steering wheels and instrument panels ready for an early hot rod, and a set of 49-51 Mercury/ Lincoln wheels. ... and most everything needed to build a 1929 Ford highboy 392 hemi powered coupe.

 

Danny, what about that roadster body Vince has?

 

If you are going to build that special car then you need to start collecting those special parts. I don't know how someone would start a build and then expect to find the right parts right away by making a few phone calls or searching websites. To get the right parts, it takes time, sometimes a lot of time, or even years if you are looking for that particular part that is next to being unobtainable. If that particular part shows up at a swap meet, an auction site or where ever, then you had better jump on it, because another one might not surface for a very long time.

Everyone in this hobby collects parts. It's part of what this hobby is all about. Going to a swap meet and looking through all the available parts is a lot of fun and even more so when that right part is obtained. I remember Wayne Carini's statement on "Chasing Classic Cars" that "the fun is in the hunt". Getting that car built with all those parts you have collected is a very rewarding and satisfying achievement.

 

My problem has been coming home from a swap meet with loads of parts, for future builds, but none of them are for the car that I'm currently working on.