History Old car parts DONT smell like money

a guy in my town had a ad in the paper the other day, said, and I quote,"car and truck parts 1934- 1956 lots of car and truck parts, unused.Starter drives fuel pumps brake partsignitio parts1948-1954. I call him up and go and look at the stuff. Heavy on the small stuff, brake parts starter drives, with 15 fuel pumps, new old stuff, with a emphasis on Ford and Chevy v 8s. New, but, 35-40 years old. to compound it his son in law tells him the fuel pumps are worth 80 bucks each, cos he looked them up on the computer. Well I know the pumps are a good older brand, but not ready for todays's fuel. But you can get a kit to make them suitable. The brake parts,well, I don't know. how many guys are running original brakes.Starter drives? how many guys are running original drivetrains,?
He tells me ole son in law,(who I bet has never seen a 427 ford,or 4 cylinder chevy from the 1964 Chevy 2 line,) says the stuff is worth 800 easy. So I ask why isn't he selling it then. Son in law very busy, just enough time to tell pops what he wants to hear.
Pops calls me and tells me he'd take 300, bottom dollar, and he's just needing the money so he can replace his Buick Limited with a 80s Chevrolet with a V8 and shock absorbers. Tired of hearing the struts pop every time the brakes are touched. And I look again at the parts, hoping to find a way to make $300 out of the stuff. Nice couple, in their 8th decade. I got a room in my shop with this kind of stuff already. Their living in their old neighborhood which is now the "hood", and I am bummed, offer to try and sell it for him for about 15 percent on ebay, but that not really what he wants. Both pop and mom worked their whole lives, made sure the kids have nice homes and here they are, should have retirement and SSi out the wazoo, but the kids are so busy.....

 

Sounds like misinformation giving high expectations.

 

I try and not get emotionally involved. If I cant buy at my price I walk away.

 

Kinda sad huh? You want to help but......
I answered an ad for '59 Corvette hubcaps in a local paper. The gentleman was 80+ and showed me around his shop that he built himself (offering to build one for me). We got to the hubcap collection and it was all late 70s-80s stuff that no one wants - not a Corvette cap in the bunch. He said he used to buy and sell Corvette stuff at every Pomona Swap Meet. I saw a few parts that might have been Corvette but mostly just 70s-80s auto repair shop take-off stuff. He was a real nice guy but confused. My Dad and I talked to him for a while and said our goodbyes.
I drive by the end of his street every time I go to the dump and I wonder if he's still alive and tending his hoard of stuff........

 

OW, that is certainly the best plan, but sometimes the situation just tugs at your heart strings. That may be me one of these days, trying to sell my treasured junk to some younger person who clearly doesn't share my point of view.

 

Those antique shows and auction shows have distorted reality for a lot of folks and it's not just the elderly. They really believe that rust is good as gold.

 

tough call, good karma has almost always worked for me, but help him out now and you might be the guy trying to sell the stuff, in your golden years also.......

 

Well I am not getting any younger and hoping that my hoard is pretty much gone before I get really old.

I am going to say something really hard to hear, but it is the truth none the less, you can't save the world, so the absolute best that you can do is save the part of it that you live in.

If the old guys is anything like anyone else from my generation and the generations before me he is not interested in charity and if you give him more than the value of what he has that is what you are giving him, charity.

 

Randy, pretty much was in the same "wish I could help" deal a few years back. Offered the lady two options. 1-I would help her have a garage sale. Would have been the easiest plan, for me. 2-I would contact her husbands friend that had a junk yard and see if he would buy the stuff. As my luck would have it she chose #2. So I loaded it up and took it to the yard for her. She didn't get a whole lot. But was happy it was gone.

 

Too many "old car expert" sons and daughters who watch too many "picker" shows on TV.
Most of these have never turned a wrench in anger, but all think that Dad's seized, drowned and cracked flathead is worth $1000. (Sadly missing their inheritance).
Unfortunately, Pop knows no better and thinks his money hungry offspring are right!

 

DON'T EVER Offer to eBay something for someone else! Wife of a car club friend wanted me to list some stuff for her, we agreed on what to list the fist few items at to test the water. Got $50.00 over the most any other previous item sold for. Less that a week later she was told by a friend she could have made more. Really?

 

Yes,yes, I don't have satellite, and when I go to a hotel, I'm all happy and giddy that I get to watch some of the "reality shows". A few hours later I am ok with the fact I don't have satellite, and gripe about the lying snots that restore a car in a week or so.
There were 4 sets of kingpin repair kits in the stuff, and I will offer to sell for him again, printed a ad for a new Ford FE fuel pump, rebuildable as in screwed together, for 23.26, 6psi.

 

I sell stuff on ebay as a line of making a little money, with understanding up front. Generally get%15, plus ebayus' %9.5-14.4percent, and I do the shipping. So we're living below poverty level,,,,

 

You got that right. Now everyone thinks their garage collection is worthy of an episode of american peckers

 

American peckers.... LOL. Those shows have screwed up our hobby so much. I can't even count how many swap meet sellers have referred to the shows and/or epay when you try to negotiate a price with them.

 

Thats the truth! Now some of these young guys where I work, think there crap from the 90s is worth lots of money, HAHAHAHA, give me a brake!

 

Yep, reality inter web.
Step right up and get your cauliflower

 

Every time I drag my stuff to a swap meet and get those assholes that tell me they can get it cheaper on craigs or epay I ask them what the hell are you doing at a swap meet and screwing up my day for then. Yes , I piss of some guys but don't figue I need them anyhow. Sometimes when they really start trying to beat me down I just pick up the piece and throw it under the table and tell them it ain't for sale anymore. I had one guy that was wanting to get me down another 5 bucks after I had already come down on the price, he wanted to flip me for it. I told him he watched too many picker shows. I said how about I just kick you in the nuts and give you them damned thing!

 

^^^^Thats funny.I always thought it was rude to ask for a lower price..It seems like no matter how good the price is,people still ask to pay half...

 

I love swap meets where there are pros that do it for a living, Auto Fair, Portland, the big ones. Or antique stores even. But craigslist is mostly overpriced junk, tried to buy a 3.73 ring gear once, but pics left out the misalignment marks on the ring, I mean bad, but hey, still had the new box. Then there are the liars and cheats, maybe I'm getting old and grumpy but I do believe there are too many people out there that are pieces of shit.
So, when I do see a part I want, I ask myself two questions: 1. Do I really need it?, 2. Is it available cheaper elsewhere?
If the answers are yes and no respectively, I buy it with no regrets. I'd rather have what I need than quibble over $5 or something stupid. Also, the end of the day does bring bargains. You know?

 

I know it's traditional and expected but I refuse to haggle. I believe it's unnecessary BS. I have a price in my head that I am comfortable with, if it's less, great. If it's more, I walk, No big.

 

I agree 100% give me a reasonable number and I'll bite.

 

It seems the thing to do.

Offering 1/2 is just fine I guess, but the guy who doubles the price is an asshole.

There are buyers who say they won't haggle - they usually ask as they clearly see the price marked "what's your bottom dollar" sometimes without ever laying eyes on the item in an ad.

I had some wheels for sale, I got a reasonable offer (lower of course) that I accepted provided they picked them up- NOT shipping them. They didn't understand. I actually had to explain the time effort and cost involved with packaging, transporting to the shipper and all that really does cost money, the money they were saving.

 

i alwasy price my stuff higher than i want. then let people talk me down on the price. then everybody is happy

 

how am I going to get rid of all this stuff?

 

^^^ Canfield's coming up!
Stack 'em deep, & sell 'em cheap!

 

Your not. It will sell at your estate auction. And someone else will hoard it for decades. LOL

 

Yeah i agree.I guess if the guy said he would take a reasonable offer i might offer less then the listed price,but i've been dealing with the same hot rodders for a while now and they know im not guna bs them so i usually get a fair price.I really hate it when people ask whats my bottom dollar.I listed the price i wanted.

Strange that people dont get the shipping thing.I think the "free shipping" on ebay messed it up.people just expect it delivered for free.I had a 70cc pit bike for sale last week.A friend said yeah he would take it for $100 and he would be home all day.I was like,can you get a truck and come pick up the thing you bought?Do you call the stater bros and tell them to bring grocerys to your house?Now he doesnt want it..silly.

 

Selling stuff for other people is usually a thankless job and I try to avoid it. Selling at swaps I just price my stuff $5-$10 bucks higher with stuff offered at a reasonable price for what it is worth. They don't have to buy and I don't need to give it away, yet I usually sell most my stuff. It amazes my how people will dtag the same stuff around for years or have boxes of unidentified parts

 

Holy steering wheels batman