What's your most 'unexpected' part find?

[hidden_hunter]

What's the most unexpected thing you've come across when looking for parts?

 

Mine happened recently, when I found (on ebay) a NOS Delco coil resistance unit that was specific to 2 years of Cadillac only (1921 and 1922)... Mine had been resolded at some point and someone just happened to be selling a NOS one, what are the chances!

 

 

[Restorer32]

After 37 years of looking I found a pair of obviously rare external horns for a '32 Packard Lite 8 on an online auction. Fully restored.

[Mark Gregory]

I found a Remy Model 18C Horn brand new for my 1931 Reo Royale . I was thinking I would have to try and rebuild a pile of scrap to make one . I just found 2 Excelsior Trunk Latches in close to NOS condition for a trunk I have to build on the back of my Reo Royale .

 

I think this is an excellent Topic by the way .

Edited September 11, 2018 by Mark Gregory (see edit history)

[Restorer32]

Friend of mine needed a right side hood side for a 740 Packard. He had several rental properties and purchased another. In the attic was a 740 Packard right side hood side. Only car part in the building.

[8E45E]

12 minutes ago, Mark Gregory said:

I think this is an excellent Topic by the way .

If enough respond, it will keep one's hopes up.

 

I found a NOS Bendix Hydrovac unit; the heavy-duty one meant for big rigs a couple of years ago which is difficult to find.   A number of years previous, I found a hood ornament for a 1964-6 Studebaker in 'good used' condition for $5.00.

 

Craig

[Friartuck]

At Hershey in 2017, I found a SETH THOMAS Electric clock that was used for for 18 months; mid 1929 through 1930 on Lincolns. Customers complained that the electric clock would run down the battery if the car was not used often enough, so Lincoln turned back to a Waltham wind up clock in subsequent years. Finding one is tough.  My Hershey purchase: $30, Thrill of finding one: Priceless!

[Harold]

After several years of searching, I found a good, reasonably-priced used rear bumper for my '66 Fury.  It was located in Pennsylvania about 100 miles from home.   The interesting part is that my work address is 42 Cindy Lane and the seller's address was 1742 Cindy Lane.

[Walt G]

A part (actually a whole pile of them) I was told about about 6 or 7  years ago happened via a lead from a member of our local historical society. I am the appointed historian for the village I live in and my family had settled in in 1925, twenty  or so years ago I started the local historical society . One of our members I am friendly with told me that his sister in law passed away and they were settling her estate and clearing out the house she lived in since the 1960s. He said there were some car signals in the loft of the garage, was I interested?  He told me that they had been in the garage since his wife's family bought the house , placed there by the original owner and nothing ever done with them ( ie thrown away) because it was to much trouble and the cartons they were in had decades of dirt on them . It was a totally dry area so the dirt was more like decades of dust.

 

So I went to look ( this was in about February of the year, ice ,  cold rain etc. weather wise)  the house was to be sold so they were clearing everything out.

Well, they were clamp on ( to the windshield post)  , hand operated metal flag type turn signals. I did some research and they were made in Ohio in the 1923-29 era. the owner of the house in that era became a dealer in them and with my doing some local research, I found  had a store in the town I lived in. These were left over , unsold, still in the sealed original boxes, All were in their shipping cartons at about 8 boxes or so per carton, and there were a total of nearly 200 of them. There was even a decal on one of the signal side stating what they were and the local location, the individual box each was packed in had an instruction label on how to install them on an open or enclosed  body style. they would have worked on a car of the era they were made but nothing past 1930 when the body styles became to rounded.

 

Well I was interested, but ALL had to be bought! and then removed within about 10 days. So after finding the $ to buy them ( price was reasonable but multiply that by the 100+ amount and considerable funds had to be found) . With a lot of scrambling and the help of my 16 or so year old son we got them all down and loaded ( took two trips) into our SUV and brought back to our house and piled the cartons around the old cars sitting there. All this done during a freezing rain storm that started half way through the loading/ unloading  all the while trying not to get the cartons wet to ruin the original boxes. They went to our spot in the Red field at Hershey about 7 months later and were sold. I did save a few and have one still in its original unopened box .  One I mounted on a cut down parts windshield from a 1920s era car to so it would function and be a nice display (I lettered it up to look like a display from the era ) .  All I sold went to very happy people, but a few I did not sell to some who asked me to open the original sealed box to make sure that they were indeed NOS and prove they were in good shape. I told those skeptical people to forego buying one so they would not be disappointed and I would not  open up a box sealed 80+ years previously just to prove to them they were real and in good condition so they could decide to see if they were maybe still interested in one and then "make an offer" as to what they wanted to pay.

[Mark Wetherbee]

About 35 years ago I had a friend with a 1915 Model T Ford Centerdoor, a very scarce style. It sadly had the gas tank under the rear seat which exacerbated the fuel flow issues that the T was famous for. There was a special intake manifold that Ford made in 1915 which was 2” longer to alleviate any complaints and they were only sent to areas that were very hilly or mountainous, a very RARE (and I don’t use that word lightly) item! I was at a tiny car flea in Connecticut where I found a NOS one for $2.00 - a holy grail for the friend who had the car who was so pleased he traded me two beautiful porcelain signs for it and still gave me the $2.00. I felt very guilty but he never failed to mention how much of a difference it made with his car.

[46 woodie]

Well, it wasn't me, it was my wife and son and it isn't car related but it was at HERSHEY, so I hope this counts. In the mid 70's we were walking the aisles in the flea market and my wife and son stopped to look at something. I kept walking and stopped at the end of the aisle. A few minutes later they came walking down the row with a 2'x2'x2' cardboard box in our wagon. When I asked what they purchased they answered "baseball and football cards". We took the box back to the car and didn't look thru it until we got home. When we went thru the box I was stunned to see the cards they purchased. Literally thousands of cards from the '40s, '50s and '60s. It took months to sort thru the cards and I can not tell you how much the box was worth. All for a $15 investment.

[michel88]

I was at fall Carlisle with my wife about 15 years ago.  I had a '60 Mercury Montclaire that had a script chrome piece that said "Montclaire"on the rear quarter.  This is fairly low production car and I thought it would be hard to find.  My wife has a good eye for finding parts at Hershey and Carlisle, so I got her to look at the script when we left in the morning.  She found it in a pile of many pieces of trim on a tarp within the first hour.

[keiser31]

Cruising the aisles at Hershey with my Dad around 1967 (I was 15 years old), I came across two radiator shells at a booth. At the time, I had a 1931 Dodge coupe and a 1929 Franklin 135 six wire wheel sedan. Both needed parts. At the booth were two n.o.s. radiator shells for $35.00 each. One was for a 1931 Dodge and the other was for a 1929 Franklin. I had to go all of the way back to my Dad's car to get his checkbook, but I ended up with them. Still waiting to install the 1931 shell on my car....

[keiser31]

Cruising Death Valley up near Panamint City, I came across two radiator shells. One for a 1926 Chrysler and one for a 1931 Dodge. There were NO OTHER parts for those cars in sight. At the time, I had a 1926 Chrysler Model 58 and my 1931 Dodge coupe. What are the odds?

[J.H.Boland]

I attended a small rural estate sale some years ago.Small items were boxed and placed on a hay wagon.While the wagon was being emptied,I prowled around the old,leaning garage.There was a box that had been missed high up on a shelf.I pulled it down and first saw a universal spare tire cover.Under it was a nice  pair of clamp on wind wings,complete with beveled glass. I handed it to the auctioneer's assistant on the wagon.

When it came time to sell the box,the assistant threw a pair of wood splitting wedges in on top ! All the junk boxes had been going for about 25 cents.I had to pay $1.50 for that one.Turns out the guy I was bidding against wanted the wedges.I sold them to him for a dollar The wedges fortunately didn't crack the wind wings.

Edited September 14, 2018 by J.H.Boland (see edit history)

[SC38dls]

The wood main rear seal for the 38 Studebaker 6 

[George Smolinski]

Most unexpected: I was looking on line for a floor shift steering column for a '66 Impala & ran across an ad for a Chevy column. I called the seller & he wasn't sure if it was Impala or Chevelle, but I told him I'd buy it anyway. I then asked if he had anything else. He said he had a few small pieces, mostly mirrors, so I bought them. I think the column was $100 & the box was $25. Turns out 1 of the mirriors was a driver's side remote for a 1964 Impala & in darn near NOS condition. Very scarce part to find. I didn't need it so it went on Ebay where it went to around $300 with a few days left. I thought I was doing pretty good. The last day it jumped to $600 just before I went to bed. I looked in the morning to see where it ended & was blown away. Slightly over $1000. Nice return on $25.

Best parts find: I owned a '66 Biscayne L72. Those have a 1 year only dual snorkel aircleaner, again a very scarce piece. I was surfing Ebay & spotted a '66 plain Impala with an L72 that had an NOS aircleaner for it in the original box sitting in the trunk. Back then you could get phone numbers of sellers or give yours out. I did so with the seller & convinced him to sell me the aircleaner for $600. I ended up selling the car w/o the aircleaner on it, and put the a/c on Ebay. Ended up getting $4500 for it.

 

[Terry Bond]

Every year at Hershey produces some kind of great discovery, whether it's a much needed part for one of our projects, a rare spark plug,  or a great piece of automobilia.  My best finds however have to be some bits and pieces for my 1912 Triumph Motorcycle.  I bought it in Scotland as a true "basket case" and began assembling all the correct parts for it while still living there in the early 80s (before the internet, evil-bay, etc).  While at a small swap meet in the north of England (Hartlepool) I came across a small tin tobacco box full of odd nuts and bolts. I've always been the type to rummage through boxes of stuff, and in this case was just looking for some knurled thumbnuts for old spark plugs, when I happened to scrape into the lower level of things and noticed a small nickel plated oiler.  It was NOS Triumph!  It was the correct oiler for the front fork on my motorcycle and it was absolutely PRISTINE!   At that point, I dumped the contents out and began to sort through them.  I realized then that about 90%of the contents was NOS Triumph Motorcycle including crank-case nuts and bolts, hub oilers, assorted clips and fasteners, oil and gas tank caps, etc.  It was all perfect and all correct for my 1912.  What a gold mine!  I still have that box and it still contains duplicates of all the extra little goodies I didn't use. 

 

One of the last pieces I did find at Hershey a few years ago - the correct little curly-horn!  It's virtually unobtainable and the last one I tried to buy was via an overseas auction on-line a few years ago.  It was in bad condition and still sold for an astronomical amount, well beyond my reach.   At Hershey, as I was walking around a corner very close to my own spaces, I looked into a small showcase with some brass speedos, clocks and other misc stuff in there.  In that case was a small nickel plated horn that looked close enough that I asked to see it close up.  The vendor pulled It from his cabinet and put it into my hands.  At first, I noticed the price tag hanging from it -$75!  My heart skipped a beat, but I quickly noticed it wasn't quite correct.  The bracket was all wrong for it.  The vendor then announced - "for a hundred bucks I'll toss this one in too" and he reached into a cardboard box under the table and pulled out the CORRECT horn!  I nearly ripped my pants getting my wallet out!

Terry

[JustDave]

About 2 or 3 years after I purchased my first devaux I stopped to look at a 31 Studebaker sedan,I was talking to the old man

 and I told him I had a 31 Devaux Coupe,he said wait a moment jumped up and went in the house about 2 minutes later came back and handed me an original owners manual,he said here take this I’ll never own another devaux,after that webacame good friends I’d stop and see him every couple of months,one time he told me he was moving to Oregon and while cleaning up he found a 19 inch devaux wheel and hubcap,said he needed 25.00 for them,I couldn’t get the money. Out of my pocket fast enough,    Dave

[nickelroadster]

Several years ago I found an NOS (still in the box) replacement Nagel ammeter to replace a non functioning one in my 1927 Marmon.  Actually I have found that most things can be found if you look hard enough.  The harder something is to find , the more satisfaction you get when you find it.

[lump]

I'll never be able to choose just one, or to decide which was my "best." But here is an interesting one: 

 

About 20 years ago I bought a hunting property WAY out in the sticks of extreme southern Ohio,  with several old cabins and barns on it. The aging owners had been "back-to-nature" survivalists since the 1950's. They told me stories of riding around on old motorcycles, husband and wife, on those pot-holed rough old dirt roads back when that was the only transportation they had. ANYWAY, one day I was poking around in the crawl space under one of the rougher cabins, when I spied HALF of a flathead Ford V8 intake manifold. I wondered why someone would cut it in two, so I started digging it out of the packed mud under the cabin. It came slowly, and I soon realized it was attached to a rough-sawn board, about 3 feet long. As I continued to pull, I found that there were wires attached. After digging them out of the dirt, I finally realized what it was! The old guy had made himself a battery charger, by fastening the intake section to a board, and mounting a Ford generator on it. Then he had added an old electric motor from some old appliance. The belt was still lying there... He must have plugged in the electric motor, which spun the generator, which charged a battery! But two smaller wires attached to it had their other ends still buried in the mud. I kept digging and pulling until a dash gauge popped out. I wiped away the hardened mud, until I could eventually read the logo...it was Harley Davidson! After washing away the dirt and drying the gauge, I tested it with a six volt battery, and it WORKED! The glass lens was gone, there were cracks in the housing, and the needle was bent...but it worked!

 

I researched it for several days, before I finally learned that the gauge belonged to a 1929 Harley Davidson "VL" model. It brought several hundred dollars on eBay.

 

You never know what you'll dig up from the mud!! 

[skyler]

in 2007 at a car show a guy comes up to my 54 Windsor and says he has a brand new carb. in his garage for that car. how much? he says give me $20. i still have that carb. on the car. i still need universals. they have not proved to be a lucky find, or any kind of find at all.still looking.    dennis

[caddyshack]

Back in the mid 1990's I went to an estate sale with the intention of finding a nice extension ladder that was posted on the local posting. They were allowing 10 people in at a time, and I was in the second group of 10. Well, when I entered the home two ladies were looking at two brass lamps on the fireplace mantle and they were discussing whether or not they were railroad related. When they concluded that they were, and put them back on the mantle, I grabbed both of them and could not believe the attached price $25 each.

Long story short, 1904 era, bail handled, all brass, cowl lights in perfect shape. Looked for 20 years for something to put on the 1904 Cadillac.

[mercer09]

great thread!

 

love reading about everyones "finds".

 

not car related- I bought an old pay phone for 2. bucs when I was 12 yrs old. somehow forgot about it and still have it out in the shed.......... Guy says to me, what you want for it? I say 75. and he walks away.

 

I go on ebay and find out it is worth around 8500. and am in total shock. Thank God he didnt buy it.

 

earliest known Grey Station pay phone- older then the example in the Smithsonian.

[cessna195]

After about 35 years of looking for a set of 52 MM Rudge wheels I found a set which included hubs, wheels, lock rings and knock offs for my race car at a swap meet at a very reasonable price. There were two guys behind me that were hoping I would not buy them. I had to stay with the set of wheels while my brother went and got me the money required for the wheels. I was at the right place at the right time.

[JV Puleo]

When I was about 18 or 19 and looking for old cars I once stopped at a farm in Exeter RI. The Joslyn Farm was on one side of the road and across the street was what was probably the original farmhouse, built about 1800 and literally falling down. In fact, the front had literally rotted off and you could see that the rooms inside were still partly furnished. On the ground, beside the ditch on the side of the road was a rusted engine with a rod poking through the crankcase.

 

Fast forward about 5 years and I was trying to restore my 1910 REO. One of my problems was the timing gears which were worn beyond belief. The gear teeth were literally worn to points. I priced having gears made but that was far beyond my means. Then I remembered that rusty engine so my friend David and I, with his fathers Volkswagon camper van, went back to look. We found the farm and Mr. Joslyn (who was 97 years old at the time). He let us look around and, sure enough, it was a REO engine, a little later than mine but very similar. After some hemming & hawing, Mr. Joslyn allowed as we could buy it for $10. Needless to say, getting it out of the ground and into that van was the hard part but with some borrowed planks and youthful energy we managed it. Mr. Joslyn told me it had thrown a rod back in "25 when his hired hand tried racing someone back from church. It had been on the ground in the same spot for more than 50 years. Despite that, the gears were in excellent shape and were in the car when I sold it.

[Buffalowed Bill]

I freely admit that I am not really built for swap meets. I am not an early riser and get bored quickly pawing through seemingly endless piles of parts, most of which I can't identify and most of what I can ID, I don't need. The usual scenario would see me bring home more stuff to add to the clutter. 

 

Thirty years ago I changed my MO to better adjust my swap meeting to better suite my proclivity to late rising. After a good breakfast I would walk into the meet at mid-day and chat with old friends. Sunday became my favorite day, the crowds were down and it was just generally more relaxed, and I stopped digging too deeply into the stuff.

 

One late Sunday afternoon as I strolled down the isles of stuff, that was now being boxed and loaded, I heard my name called.  I turned to see a friend who was a regular seller. He said Bill come over here I want you to look at this. I couldn't believe what I saw. There in front of me were two beautiful 1934-35 Pierce Arrow side mount covers. They had magically survived the whole meet and were still available, at a price of $75. At the time I owned one of the two surviving 1934, 840A Club Broughams known to exist. The side mt. covers were one of the last things that I was missing for the car. More then ten years of searching had been fruitless, but here they were. The ripping the pants picture fits my hast at getting my wallet out of my pocket. The kicker was that my friend Bob indicated that just an hour before there had been original tires, wheels, with hubcaps, that someone had bought, but had ignored the side mt. covers. Go figure! Sometime later I began to wonder what the history of the parts was, and whether thy might have been stolen. Still wonder, but that was thirty years ago and the car is long gone, sold at time of a divorce. 

 

As an aside anyone recognize the car's description? I have been told that it might now live in Colorado. If it does and you have any contact info. I think that it might be fun to make contact, just for fun.-Bill

 

 

[1937hd45]

I've found some great stuff over the years, last Hershey was a really good find, a Type 57 Bugatti oil sump,  the seller priced it but had no idea what it fit. ?

 

 

Bob 

[Terry Bond]

Back to the 1912 Triumph Motorcycle - one of the most difficult challenges I had was with the rear hub and free-wheeling gear.  The Triumph gets started while on the kick-stand.  You go through a little ritual, priming the carb, adjusting spark, throttle, air, etc then "pedal furiously."  Once the engine fires, the machine is ready to go and the free-wheeling gear allows the pedal mechanism to disengage.  The gear assembly is a bit complex, and to make things worse, is threaded internally, reverse thread of Triumph's own pattern, to screw onto a hub that has a bearing surface for the outer rear wheel bearing.  An old motorcycle restorer there in Scotland suggested I try to reach an old retired machinist at a company in Birmingham England (T.D. Cross and Sons).  That company had at one time even produced their own brand of motorcycle in the mid teens. They had been in business over 100 years and were at that time making industrial drive and transmission components.    I was told he might be able to rummage around in their engineering department to find something I could adapt.  I was told they never threw anything away.    Eventually I was able to contact the guy, who had long ago retired, but worked there occasional evenings sweeping the floors and tinkering.  I sent him a detailed sketch and held my breath.  I heard nothing and could not get an answer to my numerous phone calls.   About 3 weeks later, an unexpected package arrived in the mail.  Inside, packed in straw was an old steel free wheeling gear assembly.  I was excited to have something I could at least modify somehow to use.  I measured it - correct!  I counted the teeth on the gear  - perfect!  I then mic'd the inside diameter - no, it couldn't possibly be that close!  Checked again and then noted it was reverse thread!  Tried to screw it on to the original hub and it screwed right on smoothly. Checking the original parts catalog I had - there was the stamped name of the company and the serial number - no, it COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE!!! Pinch me - it was the absolute correct 1912 Triumph free wheeling gear made by the same company that made the originals. All I needed to do was get it nickle plated.  Sadly though, I later learned the guy who had been my miracle worker in Birmingham had passed away.  I've told this story many times to those who will listen.  If you want a wee dram of good scotch, there are a few more too.

Terry

Edited September 12, 2018 by Terry Bond (see edit history)

[lump]

2 hours ago, Terry Bond said:

Back to the 1912 Triumph Motorcycle - one of the most difficult challenges I had was with the rear hub and free-wheeling gear.  The Triumph gets started while on the kick-stand.  You go through a little ritual, priming the carb, adjusting spark, throttle, air, etc then "pedal furiously."  Once the engine fires, the machine is ready to go and the free-wheeling gear allows the pedal mechanism to disengage.  The gear assembly is a bit complex, and to make things worse, is threaded internally, reverse thread of Triumph's own pattern, to screw onto a hub that has a bearing surface for the outer rear wheel bearing.  An old motorcycle restorer there in Scotland suggested I try to reach an old retired machinist at a company in Birmingham England (T.D. Cross and Sons).  That company had at one time even produced their own brand of motorcycle in the mid teens. They had been in business over 100 years and were at that time making industrial drive and transmission components.    I was told he might be able to rummage around in their engineering department to find something I could adapt.  I was told they never threw anything away.    Eventually I was able to contact the guy, who had long ago retired, but worked there occasional evenings sweeping the floors and tinkering.  I sent him a detailed sketch and held my breath.  I heard nothing and could not get an answer to my numerous phone calls.   About 3 weeks later, an unexpected package arrived in the mail.  Inside, packed in straw was an old steel free wheeling gear assembly.  I was excited to have something I could at least modify somehow to use.  I measured it - correct!  I counted the teeth on the gear  - perfect!  I then mic'd the inside diameter - no, it couldn't possibly be that close!  Checked again and then noted it was reverse thread!  Tried to screw it on to the original hub and it screwed right on smoothly. Checking the original parts catalog I had - there was the stamped name of the company and the serial number - no, it COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE!!! Pinch me - it was the absolute correct 1912 Triumph free wheeling gear made by the same company that made the originals. All I needed to do was get it nickle plated.  Sadly though, I later learned the guy who had been my miracle worker in Birmingham had passed away.  I've told this story many times to those who will listen.  If you want a wee dram of good scotch, there are a few more too.

Terry

 

Wow, Terry! AWESOME story, and AWESOME bike. WAY cool. I absolutely LOVE it!!! 

[Robert G. Smits]

A few years ago at Hershey I stopped to buy several pieces of Auto related music advertising from Terry Bond.  I then stopped at a vendor two or three spaces down and didn't find anything that turned me on so I asked the vendor "what are you hiding under the table?"  This is a common practice in the art glass world where dealers will hold special pieces back to show certain customers before offering them to the public.  The dealer told me that  there was an abandoned one stall fire station that had not been used for 30 Years that was being torn down  One of the fireman decided to explore the attic and came across two prints, 20X30 inches, advertising a fire school in 1918 still in there original tubes.  He agreed to sell one for $200 but wanted to keep the other one.  After purchasing the first one I offered him $400 for the second one and he agreed.  These were original  8 stones (colors) in pristine shape.  Google Stone Lithography and you will understand how rare these were.  After framing and matting I sold one for $8500 and still have the other one.  This is probably the only trip to Hershey that I broke even.

 

Auto related again at Hershey in the mid 80"s I was sorting through a table filled with non brand specific parts and spied a pair of NOS flat head water pumps.  I asked the dearer what the were for and he didn't have any idea but thought they could be Ford.  He had purchased the whole table of parts at an estate sale.  We finally settled on $35 for what turned out to be a right and left 38-40 Cadillac V16 water pumps still in their original packing.  I have owned two of these cars since 1981 and have never seen a single NOS water pump for sale again.

 

I would agree with Terry.  If you have been at it with multiple hobby interests you collect a bunch of these stories over your life time.  My dad used to say "Even a blind sow finds an acorn once in a while"  Bob Smits

[edinmass]

In 2001 I purchased a 1937 Pierce Arrow from 1800 miles away, while in storage for a week before I went to pick it up, some jerk stole the VIN plate..........It was on it in the photos a week before. I asked the storage guy what happened to it and he played dumb........instead of the thief that he was. He also stole the hubcaps. Seven years later I saw them for sale on eBay in another state 1000 miles away from where they were stolen. I got the caps and vin tag for 175 bucks. I later learned the guy I bought them from was the jerks brother in law.........and I’m pretty sure he was in on it also. 

[1937hd45]

Ed, Nice Pierce Arrow story with a happy ending, reminds me of an eBay listing years ago. Every once in a while I'll do an eBay search for 1912 Ford or 1950 Glidden Tour, my 192 T was on the tour and some day some one will list a Tour Badge. There was a batch of photos listed from the 1950 Tour and my T was in then along side the Battle of Bennington Monument. They were listed, I forgot to bid, they got relisted and like an idiot I forgot to bit again. They didn't sell but were not resisted for a third time. I sent a PN to the seller only to find out he had sold them at a local swap meet, gone forever. A month or so went by and I was at the local Sunday flea market going through a stack of magazines and sales brochures...…….and there they were. I was building a stack of literature for a bulk buy and they got added right away. I didn't quibble over the price the seller gave me, just paid him. I had to ask him were the Glidden photos came from, and they were from the swap meet up in Mass. Bob 

[8E45E]

12 hours ago, Terry Bond said:

 Sadly though, I later learned the guy who had been my miracle worker in Birmingham had passed away.  I've told this story many times to those who will listen.  If you want a wee dram of good scotch, there are a few more too.

Terry

 

 

Its been said before: When someone like that passes away, you've lost a full set of encyclopaedia's worth of knowledge.

 

Craig

[cricket-ny]

My best find was a pair of NOS king pins for my 1929 Essex That I had been searching for, for 35 years. Found them on ebay, purchased from 1937hd45!!!

[Mike36]

In 1957 I purchased my first tool. I was 11 years old. It was a screwdriver with different size bits that were stored in the handle. A common thing today, but unusual at that time. The body was plastic with a curved smooth panel on all 4 sides. With the point of my Boy Scout pocket knife, I scratched my initials in each panel. Somewhere along the way I lost the screwdriver, no idea when or where. As time passed I forgot all about it. Many years later I was at a salvage yard looking for a part for my car. When I located a model car similar to mine, I went over and opened the door. Surprise! Lying on the floor was a screwdriver identical to the one I had purchased with my paper route money many years before, and then lost. I picked it up and surprise again! There were my initials carved in 4 sides of the handle! I lived in a small farming community where you knew everyone, and what car they drove. As I stood there looking at the car, I realized I did not know who had owned it, or how my screwdriver had gotten in it.

[Bill Harmatuk]

How about a mint, Holly 3 barrel carburetor sitting on top of the metal dumpster at the recycle convienance center. I kept it as a wall hanger for a few years and sold it for 250.00.

With the crazy prices of MOPAR muscle cars its probably worth 3 times that.

3 barrel Holleys are hemi and 427 Chevrolet specific.

 

Bill H

[Bill Harmatuk]

Was wasting time one day waiting on my wife to go out to eat.

I loged on to E-Pay and typed 1930 Chrysler.

Instead of starting with page 1, I scrolled to page 20 something. BAM.! !

 

My spedo is frozen. Pot metal swelling.

My coil is all to pieces.

Etc, Etc.

I made an offer. No bids with 2 days left.

The next morning I hit BUY NOW.

Plug and play. Complete panel for a 1930 Chrysler CJ-6.

 

 

[CHuDWah]

On 9/10/2018 at 11:48 PM, hidden_hunter said:

What's the most unexpected thing you've come across when looking for parts?

 

Mine happened recently, when I found (on ebay) a NOS Delco coil resistance unit that was specific to 2 years of Cadillac only (1921 and 1922)... Mine had been resolded at some point and someone just happened to be selling a NOS one, what are the chances!

 

 

 

 

The one I didn't buy.  ?  In the late-60s, a guy had a NOS 53 Merc flathead long block (last year of production) and a McCulloch supercharger that had been used, but very little.  He wanted $400 for everything - about $2500 to $3000 now but still not a bad deal.  At the time, I had no use for it so I passed - dumb!

[keiser31]

Years ago while back in Cheboygan, Michigan and visiting my late brother, we decided at the last minute to duck into a little second hand store to check it out. Almost didn't go in. We strolled in and as we wandered through the place, the proprietor asked if there was anything I was looking for in particular. I said that I am looking for old car stuff. He said he only had one old car part and he had it for a long time. He brought it out and I had to have it. He practically gave it to me, so now it is in my display case waiting for the right owner to show up for it. It is a new old stock piece that has never been mounted on a radiator....

[carbking]

Very first Chickasha, Oklahoma "early cars" swap meet.

 

We set up at the meet, which was grossly over-hyped. Turned out to be a glorified Ford Model A and Model T meet.

 

Didn't sell a solitary item; but:

 

Walking around, found an older gentleman (older then, probably younger than I am now  ) with two tables of "rebuilt" Ford carburetors. 'Nuff said about his rebuilding skills, but there were two new old stock "odd" to him carbs setting by themselves. Each was tagged "non-Ford, $1. One was a Marvel for a 1930 Pontiac (I was carburetion tech advisor for POCI at the time). The other was a Zenith 105DC (Stutz). Needless to say I did not try to haggle the price!

 

Jon.