Folks Of Interest Inventory

As I was reading the thread of getting rid of stuff. I thought I am a gatherer. As being a business owner, I buy all the time. Parts, supplies and hardware. Swapmeets, garage sales, estate sales or in the classifieds. If the price is right, I`m on it. Spending time and money looking for something I need now is a cost factor. Tools is the same way. If I see something that will speed up the time it takes to do a job, I`ll buy it. Is everybody purging or are they in the buy category. This week I bought 20 totes with lids for $2 a piece. I have a couple projects I am gathering parts for as well. When an item comes up for sale, I`m on it.

 

Well if you are younger and either in business or have a few projects going having an inventory of parts you picked up along the way makes sense if you use them.

As for me being 74 and being one of the guys who is looking over his current projects and thinning the herd or at least contemplating it along with sorting out the parts stash and separating parts designated for individual projects and putting them with the stash for parts for that project and maybe making an inventory list of those parts. Then going though the "I might use that someday" stuff and either putting those in the swap meet stuff spot or putting them up for ale. With that I may even make a package deal to some younger guy who wants to build his inventory.

I was making a mental list of stuff that I could sell the other day to put a bit of money in the 48's build kitty. Engines that I most likely will never build, Parts that I bought for projects I no longer have. Parts I bought at swap meets or yard sales years ago that I have absolutely no use for now. Duplicate tools way beyond what I need in my tool boxes. Many being wrenches and sockets left from sets that I bought years ago and end up being the 7th or 8th one of that size. Wheels I bought for the Model A Vicky that I no longer have and most likely won't use on what ever I put the flathead in. I won't even get started on AD truck body parts.

 

I believe the discussions you are referring too have more to do with what your survivors may have to deal with when you are gone. Many of us have spent time over the years doing as you have but after all that time we have accumulated a large inventory of tools, parts, collectibles, etc. and our children may have no interest or knowledge in any of it. So we consider it may be time to downsize. I have some long time friends that are aware of my literature and petroliana collection and give stuff to me. I can't turn the stuff down, especially service manuals and parts books that go back to the 30's. So at times I seem to be going backwards. Plus it is very difficult to walk past a great deal at a swap meet. But I still have a goal of getting rid of stuff in the near future. But in the meantime, I tag all my car parts as to the application, etc. in case I get run over tomorrow and my survivors are stuck with trying to sell the stuff. Drop by and I will give you some deals!

 

I just recently moved, and got rid of about 75% of the extra stuff I had laying around, most of it was a good deal opportunity that I never used.

As long as you continue to be in a situation where you can use stuff eventually, then it's a good idea to collect it..although you need to look a the cost of storing and maintaining all that stuff. There are a lot of guys who have so much crap laying around that was a great deal, that they can never find what they need, and have to go buy it new anyways...and it makes a hell of a mess for whoever has to clean up after them, when they die.

 

Mr48chev : X2!!! Finally admitted to myself(THAT'S the hardest part!! LOL!) that I'm a hoarder, & that I would REALLY like to prove that the floor of my garage really is concrete by selling off enough of my "stuff" to see it clearly!

 

I have a two car garage with both my own an my Son's hot rods in it an some parts,but my other older one car garage with just parts;
I'm a bit afraid of cleaning my one car small garage with all the car parts stuff,I'm sure there is a hole Gremlins Nation living under my stuff !!!! that would be let out on the world,so I'm saving all of you!!!! By not cleaning !

 

You’ve described me from tools. Parts, pipe fittings, etc. I’m giving a commuter car to a buddy in need, his payment is to do the majority of the cleanup around here. One less car in the driveway and getting the property somewhat cleared out. Triple win as I see it.

 

Inevitable as a "builder" of Hot Rod/s there will be accumulations of parts..comes with the territory.
As knowledge of parts increases, so does recognition of a "good deal" when one pops up..so naturally you have to jump on it..right?
The optimistic attitude of, "I'm sure I'll use it on a future build, if nothing else I can sell it and make a little on it" (somehow the selling part doesn't always pan out), and the hoarding starts.
We are limited to space, and dollars..probably a good thing.

 

I'm buying and on the constant look out for my next hoard acquisition. Sell me your stuff!!

 

I do think it has to do with age and projects lined up. I'm a buyer of parts, equipment, tools and hardware......as long as it's cheap and fixable (hardware is because I work on my stuff after stores are closed, so I like to have things in stock). Going to swapmeets, antique malls.....to find stuff as money and space permits. I do have a shed garden in the back yard to store things. I look at it a different way then some, I see it as if I don't "save" these things from the scrapper, they'll be gone forever (not always really going to the scrapper though). I also seem to buy stuff from either someone who doesn't know what they have (or care after I try to tell them) or someone who really wants to get the things to someone who cares. The stuff I do buy to eventually resell (some right away and some I don't end up using), I do good on parts (not cars) and use the funds to buy more stuff I might use.

This isn't a business to me, I don't count my time or gas to get said stuff, I just make it a fun trip for me and my girl (see old places or eat at old restaurants). People close to me know me and enjoy my compulsion for anything old......albeit on a smaller scale .

I bet if any kid out there now likes things that are older then them from say the 90's, as they get older so will their taste in vintage.

 

Some times when you see a good deal, you have to pass. You think to yourself you don`t need it and you will never use it. Let the next guy buy it, store it, work on it and then sell it cheap just to get rid of it. I often see people with cars all fixed up. With not but a couple cans of bolts and a tool box with tools. I often wonder what these people do. I guess they would be tinkerers. For people who actually build and fix things, you need a bit more stuff. Unless you like running to the hardware or parts store for all your needs.

 

Ten years or so ago, I cleaned out my back yard (4 acres). Hauled about 50,000 lbs of stuff to the scrap yard.

Not long after, a friend asked if I had a 28 spline open 9" differential, just the differential. I knew I had scrapped several of them, and I looked and I had not saved any. boy did I feel foolish! but hey...my yard was clean, and I had about $6k or so in my pocket, so after reflecting, I didn't feel so foolish. I just told him sorry, I don't have that.

There's a fine line between having not enough stuff, just the right amount, and too much. The problem is that even if you have too much, you still won't have everything you'll ever need.

 

My go to welder guy came by and asked if I had a driveshaft. I had one a guy gave to me 7 years earlier. He took it and it fit perfectly in his 40 Ford pickup project. No altering what so ever. I said it`s yours, I got it for free so it`s yours for free. It`s also good to have a bit of lumber around since the prices have risen so much. But it`s no good to anybody if it doesn`t get used. It will get used.

 

I have a vision problem.......

I see stuff and have a vision of what I could do with it or need it for.

I have finally started to talk myself out of looking so much and for sure buying stuff for later. I've also starting getting rid of stuff I'll never use. I've decided, for now anyway, that I need to finish what I have before I even look for something else. So, you know how that goes, when you aren't looking, something will pop up you want.

 

Basically I purchase a lot of stuff as the price is at scrap price with hope of using or selling at a small profit to fund my projects. Saw an Estate sale for this weekend on line with pictures that I went to today - guy had lots of projects - he choice stuff was picked and purchased pretty early put I guess the motors that he had rebuilt (gaskets were the tell tale) were passed over. Picked them up for scrap price - maybe I'll use them or pass them on or scrap them like most of the deceased guys stuff will be.

 

I've been trying to get rid of 2 things I might need, and only buying 1 thing I don't need. So far its working pretty well.

 

You aren`t getting your deck lid back.

 

Lol ^^^

 

I'm done with MoPars , do you need any Kaiser Fraizer lug nut?

 

That`s because my buddy bought them all.

 

Not all I still have one

 

In my teens, I bought a couple of old Dyke's Automotive and Gasoline Engine Encyclopedias. Covered 1920's and 1930's cars. Never owned an unmodified car that old. Almost 60 years later, I met a guy driving a 1933 Pierce Arrow. He was trying to diagnose a charging problem in the stock 6 Volt system. I gave him the manuals.

 

I thin the accumulation out by selling at swap meets and have an unwritten rule while there. I don't buy anything except maybe an egg and bacon roll for breakfast and even then I sometimes take my own and cook it in between customers.

 

Buying things because they are a good deal, even though you have no immediate use for them is a slippery slope to becoming a hoarder.

Really, 20 totes? You’re going to be tripping on them for years, and it’s something they make more of every day. I have three tubs of leftover plumbing elbows and unions taking maybe six feet of shelf space. Maybe a trip to Habitat is in order.

At some point, things you aren’t using in an active project become a liability.

 

I live 45 miles from all the big box stores. The closest Wally World(a smaller one) is 30 miles away. That puts things in perspective on how far I need to travel to obtain items. We do have 2 hardware stores along with 2 lumber yards and 3 parts stores along with a farm supply store. When working on older automobiles, that clip or that special bolt is not availabe so then you gotta hunt for it, order it and hope it`s the right one. All the while stalling a project. That`s why I have thousands in stock. All organized and easily found. If you can`t find it in 5 minutes and can`t remember if you have it, it`s no good to anybody.

 

I have a customer with A Pierce Arrow I will be working on in the next year or so.

 

I was working on a 69 Olds 442 for a guy at his house 30 miles away. Needed the retaining strip that goes along the windshield to hold the headliner in place. After 3 trips, (thinking he has the right piece)he finds the right piece in his stash he keeps 20 miles away. The next trip to the swapmeet, I find a pile of trim for those era of cars. I get like 15 pieces for like $30 dollars. Value if bought new $500 I have used more than a couple pieces from that buy.

 

Just bought over 100 interior door handles and window cranks at a swapmeet last week. The price was right and the one I needed for a customers car was in their.