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people over pricing stuff

It's sad this is all true . I needed drip rail moldings for my 72 charger and the only one I could find was $400.00 plus $80 to ship it.I needed I but didn't want to pay but knew if someone else bought it I'd be screwed. So some times you got to bite the bullet and pay up for the parts.
I try and help people out with prices as long as I know there actually going to use the parts not resale it. Had a guy beg me for months to sell him an extra set of r/t tail lights from a 71 charger I knew I could probably get $600-$700 for them but he said he really needed them so I sold them to him for $300 he turned around and threw them on eBay for $1200 when I confronted him he said he sold the car and didn't need the tail lights anymore. I said that's fine I'll give you your $300 back and I'll save them for later he wouldn't answer my calls anymore. Some people are out to just gouge use because they know we need the parts .
 
I really get peeved at the guys who have nothing for parts, a junk car, and the attitude everything should be cheap because they've decided to rebuild one. Want original parts? Someone has had to save and store them for 30-50+ years. That mirror made have been 5 bucks, 40 years ago.....but how much was a new car? Either buy a repop, or buy a complete car if ya don't like what vintage stuff costs. A person can also buy a parts car, and either become "rich" from your trouble....or give stuff away and be "philanthropist". I'm currently 59, and have parts I've saved from when I was 16. I'm moved and stored that stuff at least 6 times.
 
^^^Same here. That's why the majority of my stuff is NOT for sale. Too damn expensive to replace, if I were to sell something and need it later.
 
Or headight suround trim for a 67 coronet....
 
IMO,
this whole thread emphasizes the importance of assessing and budgeting for..... "missing parts" that must be acquired when contemplating a restoration project ?
It can get VERY expensive !
 
Most people don't think that far ahead.
 
I have been in the "Mopar" hobby for over 30 years. Use to be you would connect with other collectors and hobbist and buy and trade parts, or spend hours going through Hemmings to find what I needed.


I recall buying My 70 RR (about 1991) and it was just a whole bunch of parts stuffed inside, a lot of them were not even for the car. One of my buddies started checking part numbers and said "thats a 1971 Hemi distributor" he had a 71 Hemi RR and needed it & he had a complete pistol grip 4 speed shifter for a B body, we just traded parts. Now i'm sure that distributor is worth a fortune & the shifter is worth 300 bucks, but I still have no regrets, as I know he used it for his restoration.
Another time I traded a set of leaf springs for a 1970 23 spline 4 speed trans & still have it sitting around, so that was a good long term trade.

As for searching for original parts, lately I've just gave up on trying to find them & went with reproduction parts, the look & fit fine, are readily available & can be at my door in a few days. I'm not doing a 100 % resto, so this works great.
 
In 1984 I traded a set of 68' disc brake rotors for a set 1968 340 exhaust manifolds. I still have them now, and really am happy that I do. .
 
My experience has been that with very rare exception, there are no one-of-one parts out there. If there's one of something for sale, over time there will be a dozen of them. It's not so much a matter of price but of patience. I've found the parts I've wanted at the price I wanted within hours, and sometimes three months, but I always end up finding them if I look hard enough and am patient. As for selling, I've quit selling parts. I only trade now. Price values are dropping, but needs stay the same, so I've found I can get more for my parts by trading them to someone who really needs them. Best of all, if they don't have something I need, they'll go looking for something I tell them I'm looking for and they may turn one up for me. :)

I would also suggest that guys using ebay always do searches using the Time: Newly Listed display rather than the Best Match display, which is the default. When you use Best Match a lot of the best deals are long gone and you never see them. By using Time: Newly Listed you see the items that were just listed recently. I saw dozens of consoles selling for $300 when I was looking using Best Match, but when I used Time: Newly Listed I saw one pop up, buy it now, for $50, and it's now in my car. :)
 
So how about this.. should I sell to a guy that has no FBBO history (brand new account, 0 posts) and offers no information about himself or what he wants the part for? It's a bellhousing that I've now got priced $100+ below what Brewers is selling it for. I was wanting to help out someone in the hobby without getting too gouged. I wonder if this guy will turn around and put it on ebay. Should I care?...
 
If you get what you want for it....it's better than sitting on it or worrying about what others do. I couldn't care less, what people do with stuff I part with. Once I've got what I want...it's theirs to destroy if they like.
 
I's pretty impressive to see just how much money has twisted this hobby up. I remember the good old days in the early 1980s when we swapped and traded for parts we needed, and if someone needed something we didn't need we just gave it away. We valued space in the garage more than sitting on a horde of parts. All that's changed now and not only do we obsess over the value of our parts but we obsess even more about someone else getting more for them than we do! That's just sad.

When I replaced a bunch of parts on my 74 Roadrunner, like interior panels, seats, rear bumper, etc., I just gave them away to a guy I met who was broke and trying to get a 73 Roadrunner back on the road up in GA. I looked at the bottom line and saw it made no sense to sell them. I list the bumper on ebay, it sells for $75 or so, I then have to run around to find and buy packaging to stick it in, more time to pack it up, figure a way to get it over to UPS, pay more than anticipated for shipping, and then run the risk of the buyer saying "it wasn't as advertised" and wanting his money back because he was expecting a like-new look from a used part. Screw that... my time can be better spent than wasting it to get a couple of bucks. I would rather have the room in the garage for parts I do need, and time to get them installed, then running around trying to make a couple bucks selling parts I don't need.

As for hoarding parts, I guess that makes sense if you "know" you're going to be working on multiple projects over the coming years. Most likely though, you just "think" you're going to be working on multiple projects and all you really have is a garage that's slammed full of parts you'll never use and a hoarding fixation. Nothing makes a garage harder to work in than that dreaded "someday I'm going to..." syndrome. :) What's sad is after you kick the bucket after never getting around to all those "someday..." projects, your heirs see all that "crap" in the garage, have no idea what it is, and have it taken to the scrapper or dump.
 
I still do that with newer stuff......just like 30 years ago. The old stuff is just that, and most of it isn't laying around anymore. I have an attic full of 80's vintage stuff that nobody gives a second look at. It isn't worth hauling it around for the effort involved to give stuff away. When ya just want what it costs to ship stuff...people get all bent outta shape about that....like we have any control over shipping costs. It's not 30 years ago, and people seem to think everything should be free. The whole nature of people has changed. I've given parts to people who said they could use them, and 50% of the time I've found they sold them. **** that, I'll sell them.
 
The irony in all of this is that sometimes you actually come out ahead. A few years ago, I needed a grille for my '65, but they were pricey on eBay ($600 restored). I saw one on eBay that included the upper support and both headlamp bezels, but missing the emblem. I already had the upper support, and two sets of headlamp bezels, but I bid on it anyway. The grille was straight, no damage, just showed its age. I was going to be out of town for the ending, so I decided $75 was my top bid, and away I went.

When I came back, I had forgotten about the grille and was sure I would have been outbid anyway. Checking my email, I saw that I had won the auction - for $47.50! How was that even possible? I told a friend about it and he offered me $40 for the bezels - - sold! My net price on the grille and support was $7.50.

The next week, a straight grille (without emblem) that needed to be anodized went for $300. Go figure. This is that grille (with some mods to it).
grille.jpg
 
I was over at my upholstery shop the other day and saw a sweet Fury III that I was interested in, really solid complete car but you could tell the last paint job was half assed meaning it needed stripped. He priced it at $12,500, yeah right!
 
Wow! I like that "Belvedere II" emblem - very cool!
 
This thread just proves what I've been telling friends for quite a while. If you are looking to buy a car for a project, it better be a damn near complete car or the little bits and pieces that you are going to kill your bank account. I don't blame the sellers, it's their stuff and it's a free market. They can ask whatever they want for their parts and it's your option to either buy or not.
On the repop side, some production runs of parts are so small that the individual parts have to be priced accordingly or it just doesn't pay to do the setup and keep the inventory around. It's just the way it is.
 
Moparsmitty said:
This thread just proves what I've been telling friends for quite a while. If you are looking to buy a car for a project, it better be a damn near complete car or the little bits and pieces that you are going to kill your bank account. I don't blame the sellers, it's their stuff and it's a free market. They can ask whatever they want for their parts and it's your option to either buy or not.
On the repop side, some production runs of parts are so small that the individual parts have to be priced accordingly or it just doesn't pay to do the setup and keep the inventory around. It's just the way it is.
Click to expand...

Well put. When someone is considering a car and their comments are, "just needs a bumper, door handles, windshield and any other trim item, all I see is dollar signs. They do not anticipate the cost. Especially for a grille or hood...listed on FBBO. Not always, but often a small fortune for a rusted out hood shown pictured in the mud somewhere.
 
Moparsmitty said:
This thread just proves what I've been telling friends for quite a while. If you are looking to buy a car for a project, it better be a damn near complete car or the little bits and pieces that you are going to kill your bank account.
Click to expand...

I've also told people this, but I will also remind them that they've taken a while to find that car, and they may need to take some time to find the parts. Never pay top $$$ for parts when the same part will likely be found for $ if they keep looking. Patience is the best way to keep costs down in this hobby.
 
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