...aren't we all here to help one another out?!?!?

all you guys who want parts for cheap get your sorry ass down to the swap meet at 6:00 A.M with your flashlight and go get them.

I don't gather up parts to give people I don't know a deal. some people know how to buy and sell, others just know how to come here and bitch.

 

I have to admit I have only gone over to the classified section on the HAMB a few times. I have never entertained the thought of buying any thing as I like to see and touch what Im buying before I put my $ down.

 

Ha Ha!

Yup! Got up many times at 5:30 in the morning just to be "the early worm that gets the bird"!

This year will be my 31st year going to Carlisle.

 

Well said !

Or you could always buy them off EBAY,.... Let us know how that works out for ya'

 

49ratfink has a good point.Go get what you want yourself.I make my living picking parts for people who either dont want to get their hands dirty,dont have the time or knowledge of where to get something,dont want the hassle of finding it.
I spend a lot of time searching sites online for items I cant get at the local yards.I just got back from pulling parts at a local yard in 3 degree weather.Too many want to ride the sofa and buy it off a computer than dig through a snowbank.
If someone is willing to do the dirty work to get parts thats good.I have taken more than a few local HAMB'ers on parts hunting trips.The restoration shops and sofa riders just want me to do the labor and send the part.I have both bought and sold parts in the HAMB classifieds with both parties being satisfied.I will and do give stuff to close friends but when it's online it's a free market.
Last point.Who is it that decides what a part is worth? Someone reading the ads with no intention of buying a certain part or parts but thinks the prices are too high in his opinion?? I dont think so.We do live in a capitalistic society and anyone has the right to ask what they want.The buyers will ultimately decide the price.

 

its True I don't sell on ebay Stopped about 4 years ago
and I din't sell here
only at Flee Markets Face to Face!
and if you want what I have Great if Not Bye Bye

I will Dicker on Price but thats the Game

 

going through a build myself right now, I have had to pay some top bucks for some stuff cause it,s hard to find and the value is what the market will bear, if I started selling my best seconds for a fraction of the value my wife would tell me to get another hobby such as collecting stamps, stamps do not fascinate me so that is not going to happen.I typically buy local and do not buy long distance unless I am trully stuck, when I can swapmeets are still my favorite.

 

Agreed. A young kid came to buy some O/T muscle car parts from me. I had to talk him out of stuff he didn't really need. Sold him stuff at a discounted price, because this was his first car. Nice to help someone out.

A hamber came to look at my A, but turned it down, almost took my hemi, but passed on that. He ended up with 3 flatties for $60.

And yes, my A might be a higher price than most here would like to spend, but it's priced lower than what I paid for it.

It's a shame some people have champagne tastes, with a beer budget.

 

if you think everyone you deal with will screw you you will never be disapointed when it happens. [that is what my grandfather told me]

 

I don't think your question has a definitive answer. The answer lies in each individuals beliefs as shown in these posts, so this thread can go on forever with no one conclusive answer

 

I didn't think this would start such a big thread...being a "fng," I'm not looking for handouts. I go to the swap meets and flea markets at the ass crack of dawn, and that's part of the fun of it! : ) I was just sitting there this morning looking for a few odds and ends and was just surprised what people are asking that's all.

 

Sometimes stuff can be pricy ,If you cant afford it ,Just move on ,Sometimes people are just plain out of there minds when they price the stuff there selling...

 

What was your address again?

 

Building cars is a hobby that takes an investment of cubic dollars, unless you're smart enough to wheel and deal on every little thing. In the process of 10 years of buying and selling cars and parts I have a '50 Chevy that so far I am ahead money on for keeping it. If you have a knack for selling stuff, then you're good.. if not, then you're at the mercy of the people who are selling the stuff.

The time you spend sitting here crying because someone puts a market or even beyond market price on something, you could be spending either A: Making an offer on said item, or B: getting off your ass and finding those things at the swap meets or in the junkyards. Even just the damn gas to do that isn't cheap anymore, I better make something for my time regardless where I'm selling the item.

And personally, I enjoy making a big profit on a sale. Plus, every dollar I'm ahead is a dollar I can use to go save something else. The one summer we hit a yard that was being scrapped I couldn't sell the cars fast enough to go back and buy more - I started with $600 and two cars and by the time I was done pulled 40 cars and a truckload of parts out of there - and could have easily bought another 40 or 50 of them. I don't know anyone else who's done that, including the big money snobs who enjoy looking down their nose at me. I basically went one at a time - buy what I could afford, sell one, go back, buy as many more as I had money to buy.

Ads here don't seem to do as well as eBay (I just sold a couple things there I posted here for less money) - but they're free to post. So you're going to see a lot of people speculating and putting stuff out there with a number on it that may or may not be in line with reality. Not everyone has to sell their stuff right this instant, and can afford to sit and wait for a guy to make an offer they like.

 

I'm not busting your chops or anything because I agree with you BUT:

Have you bought food at Burger King or Mickey D's lately???

Nothing's cheap anymore!

 

So I spend my time and money pulling something out of a collapsed barn and I'm supposed to "give you a deal"? If I added up all the time spent finding parts and reselling them vs. the profit I made. I would stop selling parts as I would find I had earned 8.00 dollars an hour.

 

Helping each other out is a good thing, tech. tips. how to do articles, a couple hours manual labor (once in a while), etc. BUT when it comes to the dollar thing, ya just have to look for the good deals. With rare parts though either suck it up and pay the price, or make it yourself, or just accept that maybe it's just not worth the price and move on.

 

It boils down to Greed!!! Period!!!

 

I sell a lot of stuff World Wide on the auction site, and list stuff on the HAMB === SO FAR nobody has asked a question about the stuff I've listed here. The HAMB is for help and helping not for selling stuff IMO.

 

I try to not ever sell anything.

So nobody can complain about a price.

And if I overpay for something, thats none of you guys' business...




Now go bitch about me on one of those hoarder Threads...

 

I almost listed something today, but I didn't.
'couldn't think of letting it go for what it's worth, I couldn't afford to replace it
can't bring myself to ask more than it's worth, that's just plain greedy
and no way in hell am I going to sell for any less than it's worth, I aint stupid.

 

I spend thousands of hours looking for parts, i follow every lead i get and ask people all the time if they know where any old iron/tin is. I also have a friend that works at a scrap yard, he pulls items aside as they come into the scrap yard that may be of interest to me. When i do get parts from him i take them home, clean them up if needed and list them here and other places. Some items have a set market value and i'm at that or just below. I do make money for my time, i am also saving parts from the smelter or returning to mother earth and getting them to people who need them.

It is a win win for all

 

My suggestion to those who bitch about the prices for parts they need is do what I do.

Go out and start "pickin'"! Buy parts that you feel are a bargin even though you can't use them and sell 'em for a profit. Take that profit and go buy the parts you do need with the money you made.

 

Yep, or you buy a group of parts for the one part you need then part out the rest.....

 

I've noticed that a lot of the vintage parts seem high, but that's what's so special about using them. They don't make them any more. My car is about 50% vintage according to what I could afford, but I can always go back and replace thing as I can afford to.

 

I am in agreement with Harms Way. I have been doing this stuff since 1962 and it has always been the same. I had a few non driveable cars [or some resemblence] before I was able to acquire the disposable funds to allow better. Some guys gave me stuff, some sold it to me at less than market value, and some wanted more than I could/would pay. Now if I have something I don't need I will give it, or sell for a good price to someone who does. It seems to me we need to pay our dues to appreciate our hobby. The guys that didn't have to don't seem to be around anymore.

 

What are you talking aboot?

 

Here on the HAMB most of us already have a 'bond' because of our mutual love of the hobby, just as locally we have a 'bond' with our buddies for the same reason; both locally and here on the HAMB some of those bonds are stronger. There are 'speculators' everywhere, and that does chap my ass knowing that they artificially drive up the prices of cars and parts, but once those prices are driven up, they are what they are, and aren't going back! The inflated prices you occasionally see here or in your local market mostly reflect that the seller had to pay too much himself, rather than him trying to quadruple his investment. The only way to put speculators out of business is to stop buying from them, no matter how much you want what they're selling. The ideal, helpful environment that chopsdeluxe51 and most of us want DOES exist here, as much sometimes as with our local buddies, but I still don't expect ANYONE to ever again sell me a Deuce 3W for $100, or a complete SBC Hilborn injection unit for $75. just because they did 40 years ago.
I have a local pal that always has to think he's getting the best deal; he and I have been swapping cars and parts back and forth for over 20 years, but you'd never know we were friends the way he 'negotiates' with me! On the other side, I have another pal that gives me cool stuff 'out of the blue,' and I do the same with him with stuff I know he needs. Basically, the 'old days' rarely were as good as you remember them but friendship always will be. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is a concept that never goes out of style.

 

THAT was (and is?) done in person, not over the Internut.

 

I've never been heavy into selling parts. I'm usually a buyer and only buy what I "intend" to use. Ask anyone who knows me, I've got parts that I bought years ago and haven't used, "yet". Some I never will but that's my choice. It doesn't mean I have to sell them or even sell them for what I paid and for some reason that seems to piss some people off. I get guys that know me want something I have and offer what I paid 10-20 years ago and get all pissed off when I counter with a price higher than what I paid.
The older I get the more important it is to me (and a lot more satisfying) is to give a "deal" or out right give a promising younger guy a part and keep track of how he treats the deal. I gave a young guy a perfect trunk lid that he "needed" for his '29 Sport Coupe only to see it for sale at the next swap meet. I walked up and just stood there looking at the lid and not saying anything. He comes over and tries some lame excuse about changing plans. I still don't say anything, turn to walk away and hear in a loud voice " I always thought you were an asshole, now I know why". He only lives a couple of miles from me and he drives by on his way to and from work almost every day. I've been out in front of the place several times and he always turns his head looking the other way when he goes by.

Frank