classic car part prices

[Guest greg walsh]

I got a Porsche for Father's day a few year's ago. It's my first Porsche and I can't believe what some people want to sell their parts for. I mean $400 for a horn button and $100 for an ashtray? I was just curious as to some other outlandish prices people ask or pay for parts. I paid $40 for a cigar lighter for my 35 Buick about 30 years ago and my friend thought I was nuts.Also some real good deals would be interesting to share. Thanks.

[Rusty_OToole]

There are some good Porsche supply places on the internet. I know I should't advertise them here but Stoddard's in Ohio and Autohaus in Arizona have been good to me.

Back in the 70s I saw a flea market vendor with some 1931 Chevrolet tail light lenses for sale for $100 apiece. I said it seemed an awful lot of money and he agreed. But, he said he hunted 10 years for a NOS set for his car before he found them, and then he found half a dozen sets in an old Chev dealership. So maybe they were rarer and more valuable than we thought.

[joe_padavano]

I got a Porsche for Father's day a few year's ago. It's my first Porsche and I can't believe what some people want to sell their parts for. I mean $400 for a horn button and $100 for an ashtray? I was just curious as to some other outlandish prices people ask or pay for parts. I paid $40 for a cigar lighter for my 35 Buick about 30 years ago and my friend thought I was nuts.Also some real good deals would be interesting to share. Thanks.

I really don't get worked up about asking prices. I like to periodically check the completed auctions for my 442s on ebay and the overpriced cars and parts never sell. The seller gets the privledge of paying the listing fees.

This only becomes a problem when Craigslist sellers use ebay ASKING prices as justification for his overpriced junk. Oh, well.

[Guest Tishabet]

Ah, the P-car tax... I know it well. What kind of Porsche did you get?

I will admit to spending about $200 for a difficult to find piece of trim on my 38 Buick. Ooof.

[Larry Schramm]

The other thing that rivals and will boost the P... car or similar car tax is the Zip code tax.

[Dave B.]

I think that it's the double-edged sword of ebay and all the media attention our hobby has been getting. Information on scarce parts is now easily available and sellers see price gouging as normal.

I still need a few parts to make my '66 Nova SS 'complete'. One of those parts is the carburetor. I see CORES sell on ebay for $1200 - $1500 and complete, rebuilt carbs go for well over $2000. The sellers know that the professional restorers who rebuild these cars for high-rollers will willingly pay their prices rather than spend hours and days searching for the parts.

I guess the good side to all of this is that it's attracted a lot of new people to the hobby, which has resulted in the small specialist companies being able to expand their product lines to cover ever more and more 'obscure' cars - and that helps all of us.

[Guest bofusmosby]

Well, as it is said, an item is worth what a person is willing to pay. Some people have VERY deep pockets.

I remember a while back, I was looking at something for my Pontiac, and the auction was almost over. I can't for the life of me remember what it was now, but the bidding was at $22. Well, in the last seconds, I decided to place a bid so high ($100), I knew that no one would out bid me. Well, I didn't win the item, and when I looked at the winning bid, I couldn't believe it! $265. Geezzz, I can't complete with those that have these deep pockets.

[old car fan]

If you find parts you need,and some cases ,not reproduced,its worth what you want to pay.get online and find something for a grant or rollin.you make your parts ,which is big bucks,or find them.It depends on the car.Buy what you need if it is a rare part.The folks that had the parts,may not be with us,so buy them out, and let others do it.