Pre War parts are drying up...

[Graham Man]

20 years ago when I started looking for Graham parts they were rare...but now they don't seem to exist, my best source is other Graham collectors but they are now starting to hoard the spares they have.  Anybody else notice the same problem?

[keiser31]

Seems like just the opposite with my 1931 Dodge Brothers parts. 20 years ago I had so much trouble finding stuff. Now, with Ebay and other sources, the parts seem to be coming out of the woodwork. I guess if you can't identify the part, you just call it a 1931 Dodge part and put it on Ebay. NOT so many are actually for a 1931 Dodge, but it HAS become slightly easier to find parts for me.

[Graham Man]

I have noticed the lack of knowledge is a problem.  I was a local swap meet, I was going thru a box of pre war headlight bulbs, the guy asked me if I knew what they were for, I said yes, he said great you can have them, you are the only person to look at them all day.

[Terry Bond]

It's my observation that pre-war stuff is now coming out of storage and long term collections.  This past Hershey I saw more good stuff that had not seen light of day in a long time.  One vendor I purchased a lot from had brought his fathers Hershey stuff out for the first time in more than 20 years.  Still had old price tags on them and took big cuts off of those just to move it along. 
There are a lot of factors involved - old timers not wanting to pack and unload parts at the swap meets anymore seems to be a big one.  I know I've long ago stopped setting up at small swap meets and now only take stuff to Hershey and our own local club event (coming up in March).  Believe it or not, there are also a lot of older folks who are not computer savy and don't, can't or won't sell on evilbay or other on-line resources.

I wouldn't take the leap to "pre-war parts are drying up" just because you can't find specific items for your Graham. 

Terry

[John Kelso]

I agree with Keiser31, going back a bit further I grew up in the "its not for sale, I'm gonna restore it some day" era, 60's and 70's.

Most of those cars have since rusted into the ground, friend called to offer me a 15 Ford in pieces said he had waited to long did I want it?

I see people who have been hoarding for a long time and now reality has finally hit, trouble is no one wants project cars apart these days and

we are loosing that part of our hobby willing to take something apart to see how it works.

There are some really great project cars and lots of parts coming out of the old shed because the kids don't want it, yes I'm a bottom feeder

and dumpster diver.

John

[TerryB]

I’ve said they are drying up and was told otherwise yet I sold two parts though this form that thee buyers said the big MoPar parts guys were unable to supply.  I’m working down through three document boxes of parts that might be of service to others.  If I have the only stash of something, that does not give me warm and fuzzy feelings for future needs.

[Mark Gregory]

Try looking for Reo Royale parts.

Best bet is finding a Reo Member with a parts car and hope he has the part.

I agree with JAK a lot of people are finally realizing they will never do anything with their project cars.

The people who want the old cars are getting too old to do anything with them.

[Gunsmoke]

I agree with K31, using ebay, kijiji, AACA forums and other internet options makes the search much easier, especially for rare stuff.

 

Couple of examples: I've been looking for a correct speedometer, interior door pulls and stop/tail light for my '31 Chrysler CD8 Roadster since fall of 2014 when I pulled it from a barn missing all it's gauges and brightwork. A 1 year only car, about 1600 produced, maybe 30 survivors, so parts are naturally going to be scarce.

 

3 years ago I found an ad on Ebay offering a "1930's era Buick speedometer"!. "Buy it Now" price was $100, of course it is a correct one for my Chrysler so I bought it. Haven't seen one listed since. This week I bought these even rarer interior CD8 Roadster door pulls from a member on here,  scarce as hen's teeth, but he had listed them on AACA forum. Otherwise I would still be looking for next 10 years likely, have never seen any offered anywhere. (pic of door is off internet). 

 

Finally I continue to look for a decent CD8 Tail/Stop light and stanchion, am told there are some around at high prices, will have to wait and see if something reasonable shows up (this one is left side mounted, originals were right side only).

[zepher]

Parts for my Rickenbacker have always been almost nonexistent and it has gotten a little worse in the past 10 years.

Yes, some things do occasionally pop up on eBay, like a pair of logo'd headlight lenses that were scooped up about 7 years ago, but all in all there just aren't any parts left out there.

With fewer than 40 known survivors from all production years, and with '26 and '27 being different in almost every way from '22 to '25, it is tough to locate parts.

 

And I have seen the lack of knowledge mentioned above.

At a swap meet and walked up to a guy with all sorts of rusty parts spread out, asked him if he anything for a Rickenbacker.

His response? 'Is that American or foreign?'

 

[Billy Kingsley]

I have to be honest, I've been a car nut my entire life and I don't think I could ID a Rickenbacker. I'd probably be able to ID Eddie Rickenbacker but not the car.

[1937hd45]

My favorite Rickenbacker. 

[Matt Harwood]

I think the problem (and the largest threat to the continuing maintenance of old cars) is that collectors amass stashes of parts "just in case." Then they die. Their families not only have no idea what the parts are, but they don't even have a clue what to do with the stuff or where to turn to get rid of it. Then Mom sells the house and all that "junk" needs to go so they throw it in the dumpster in order to vacate the house. And then it's all gone forever. I see it happen over and over and over. I am guilty of gathering unneeded parts myself and while my wife is far more learned and experienced in the hobby than most spouses, I guarantee she will just dumpster all of it, too. It's just too much work to deal with on top of everything else that comes with a dead person.

 

If you're old, sell your stash NOW while someone can still use it. It's not only selfish to force your family to deal with your junk but it's irresponsible towards the hobby to just assume someone will show up to help. Nobody cares, nobody will help, and the only guys who show up are going to be vultures who will make your widow's life a living hell--do you really want that? She honestly hasn't been paying attention all these years when you've been explaining the difference between a model 32-035263 and a 32-0356248 horn button. It's just junk and she (and likely your kids) don't know, don't have any way to find out, and don't care enough to do anything but dump it for whatever scrap value is. And then it's all gone forever.

 

If it's valuable to you, sell it now while it has value to someone and can be correctly identified and marketed, because I guarantee your family doesn't want to deal with it no matter how much you think it's worth.

[Mike Dube]

There used to be a Hupp Graham parts depot in Auburn Indiana, a little south of the museum, before the RR tracks, a remnant of the A-C-D Auto museum's former life.

I was in the place a few times in the last 30 years.  I believe it was about 10 years ago that the business finally closed up.  Would like to think those parts (they still had a building full) ended up somewhere.  Perhaps others in the Graham ranks will know something.  Good luck.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Mike Dube
clarity (see edit history)

[zepher]

To add to Matt's point above.

If you have parts you have stashed away, or dare I say, hoarded, make sure they are clearly identified.

Buy some of those tags with wire and clearly indicate what car they belong to and even what the part is if it is not really obvious like a generator or starter.

At least that way if an estate sale happens the parts can have hope of getting into the hands of someone that needs them.

Edited February 13, 2020 by zepher (see edit history)

[Walt G]

there are hoards of parts owned by people who  perhaps saw their father buy and hoard stuff ( it will be just so valuable some day - worth its weight in gold) perhaps for a car ( or cars) he had ( which never did see the road) and they are doing the same. One particular make of pre war car has at least two people who seek, buy and  hoard.. One collection is known as being in 'the black hole in West Virginia". How many existing cars really need just a few parts to get them on the road and can not , due to the hoarders! Sad commentary on some peoples "right to own" what they do. Over the decades I have given away things or sold them for what I had in them or perhaps a bit more just to see a car go back on the road.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Hoarding is a tough call.  I have a pal who has owned his 68 mustang since age 14, almost 45 years ago.  He worked at a Ford dealership in the 80s, and used his discount to buy a ton of parts for it.  This past November, car and parts were shipped off to a resto shop.  Labor will be $$, but at least he is providing his own stash of nos parts.  A rare case of "I am going to restore it someday" coming true.

[Bloo]

The trouble is you have to buy parts when they are available, not when you want them.

[Ron Green]

2 hours ago, zepher said:

To add to Matt's point above.

If you have parts you have stashed away, or dare I say, hoarded, make sure they are clearly identified.

Buy some of those tags with wire and clearly indicate what car they belong to and even what the part is if it is not really obvious like a generator or starter.

At least that way if an estate sale happens the parts can have hope of getting into the hands of someone that needs them.

To add to the above. Put the smaller parts in boxes by vehicle with a label on the outside indicating what parts are inside the box. Walk the wife around or a few family members showing them what you did. Also tell them what is more valuable and ballpark the price if you have some rare stuff. Just went through this with the wife last month and told her not to throw parts out or let some of it go for nothing. Donate it to the vehicles marque club if necessary.  

[zepher]

10 minutes ago, Ron Green said:

Donate it to the vehicles marque club if necessary.

 

This is a fantastic idea, right here.

[zepher]

3 hours ago, Billy Kingsley said:

I have to be honest, I've been a car nut my entire life and I don't think I could ID a Rickenbacker. I'd probably be able to ID Eddie Rickenbacker but not the car.

 

This is my '26 Rickenbacker E6 Brougham.

 

[TerryB]

When I sold my 1937 Dodge pickup I threw in all the parts stash I had for it.  They nearly filled the bed of the truck.  Sometimes you don’t realize how many spare parts you have amassed until you go digging and find you have more than you remember.  

[GARY F]

Just to throw this out here.  I found NOS pistons for my 37 Olds 8 cyl.  from Mobile parts. His name is Craig. 516-485-1935. Great guy to deal with. Also got rings from him.

[J.H.Boland]

I have two friends that are getting up in age (they're older than me). One has been a swap meet vendor for decades but his health is slipping. He has scrapped a lot of stuff because it's just too heavy to truck around ,He hates the internet and won't use it.

The other fellow has been a one marque collector for years and has tons of parts for them. He does sell stuff to those who need it. The problem is that no-one but him knows what the parts fit. His family doesn't share his enthusiasm and i fear someday the whole lot will end up scrapped.

I'm as guilty as anyone snapping up rare parts when they surface,whether I have a need for them or not. I made room for all the drive train components of a low mileage '29 Buick Master a couple of years ago,because parts for it just aren't around any more.My son (and future executor) is already asking me to start downsizing.I know it will be a race between the undertaker and the auctioneer when I pass !

Edited February 13, 2020 by J.H.Boland (see edit history)

[Walt G]

Gary, I know the Craig you had dealings with, his family( going back generations)  had one of the oldest parts houses here on long island, were always great to deal with and really knowledgeable as to what fit what.

[John_S_in_Penna]

2 hours ago, Ben P. said:

Label everything guys. Don’t make it overwhelming. Roll of masking tape, a sharpie...

 

I always think long-term.  Whether it's for your own use

decades from now, or for other family members, use means

that will still be there.

 

I'd recommend NOT using masking tape.  Tape, and

rubber bands, deteriorate over the years.  The tape will

become brittle and maybe even fall off.  Tags on wires,

as someone else suggested, should work fine.  Containers

that are accurately labeled are good too, as long as the

things stay in the containers.  And don't use a pen whose

ink will fade!

[Buffalowed Bill]

Redundant maybe, but pertinent nonetheless. Forty years ago my 16yo nephew's friend surreptitiously, loaded a one car garage at a rental house that I own, with car parts. He informed me, after the fact of course that I wasn't going to be able to use the garage for a while, but it would be temporary. Thirty eight years later the parts were still there and the garage needed attention. The garage needed to be emptied, and the perpetrator was no where to be found. Most of the parts were not pre-war, but the process would have been the same regardless. I'm no longer young and my Sweetie has limited vision, but we had to get it done. Called a scrapper with a dump truck. How we culled for that first run is somewhat of a mystery, but at some point the saver in me began segregating stuff. The vast majority was simply unrecognizable to me, but if it looked interesting it went into a pile for another look. I called my car guy nephew to get his a.. over here and help identify the stuff. After all it was his stuff! He dutifully complied, identified much of it, but promptly conferred the title of junk to all of it. Not so fast, I wasn't ready to give up that easily. The world had changed in almost forty years, and someone may by need some of this. 

 

The parts were an array of Japanese, German, English and American-from Honda 600, Honda CVCC, Morris Minor, and 3/4 of a cut up body of a rare Opel Manta Rallye (not an inclusive list but you can see what we were up against). Mary is a car gal and more then joined in the process, she led it. She did most of the networking. She joined the Honda 600 forum, I joined the Morris forum and she made friends with an AACA forum member from southern Oregon, who was instrumental in parts identification. If I couldn't identify a part she would email a picture to her friend in Oregon. He seldom misidentified anything!  Every step of the way she was told to toss a particular part, but she didn't give in. She used Craigslist and eBay and the networking did the rest. She loves the process, all of it-I wouldn't have had the patience, but she never gave up. It didn't make any difference if the part was rare $400 part or a $15 switch, it was all treated with the same diligence. Just over two years later we have moved all but a handful of what we had, but it's not over until everything finds a new home. 

 

Bill

[JFranklin]

An auctioneer would have cleared that garage in a couple of days, and with the proper advertisement it would go to people wanting it.

[TerryB]

11 minutes ago, JFranklin said:

An auctioneer would have cleared that garage in a couple of days, and with the proper advertisement it would go to people wanting it.

A lot of our local auctioneers only want better stuff if they are not going to auction the real estate too.  When my wife and I called an auctioneer for a similar clean out we were told what they wanted and what they didn’t want and the didn’t want pile was a whole lot bigger!  We did as Bill did and handled it ourselves.

[Matt Harwood]

29 minutes ago, JFranklin said:

An auctioneer would have cleared that garage in a couple of days, and with the proper advertisement it would go to people wanting it.

 

A parts auction is virtually impossible unless the stuff is already labeled and cataloged somehow. A few years ago, I was called by a guy whose father died and left a big pile of stuff on a farm just south of our shop. You know when you see a hundred cars sitting in a field with trees growing through them? Yeah, that kind of thing. There were two large, dilapidated barns with leaky roofs filled to the rafters with car parts he'd collected. There were more cars buried under the parts but even his kids had no idea what they were and we could only see bumpers and hubcaps to get a guess. It was surely hundreds of thousands of parts, maybe even millions. 60 years of hoarding--the son said his dad had a big box truck and he would come home every weekend from some swap meet with it FULL--that guy wasn't selling, he was buying. Some parts were boxed, some had labels, but a vast majority were just in piles or on rickety shelves. Wheels, carburetors, generators, seat cushions, a mountain of spark plug boxes ten feet high and twenty feet across with the cardboard all moldering to leave it an illegible wad of metal, porcelain, and mush. The cars outside were mostly '60s 4-door sedans and trucks and vans, not much interesting and all pretty well ruined by decades in Ohio weather. The parts were probably for those cars, but who knows?

So what do you do with all that? They needed to sell the farm, but no way was someone going to buy it will hundreds of tons of scrap to dispose of first. The son was convinced there was a lot of money there, he just didn't know anything about cars and figured we would be able to figure it out. He generously offered to split the profits with me 50/50.

 

So I called a friend who owns an auction company to join me and he was just flabbergasted by the scope of the thing. How do you identify the stuff, let alone sell it? It would take an army of experts months to catalog it, tag it, and value it. Who's paying for that when the parts are only worth a few dollars each at best? We discussed selling it by the pound or putting batches of parts in boxes and letting people bid on "mystery boxes" or even letting people come in and pick their parts and charge them as they left like at a junkyard, but who will pay for all that time and effort--just the staff to manage such a thing would be quite significant? How would we possibly attract enough people on a day or a weekend to clear it all out in one shot? How do we even move all those cars buried up to their rockers in dirt and some with 12-inch trees growing through them? Ebay? LOL, who has time to manage that? There wouldn't be enough return to make it worth anyone's time even if we staffed it with volunteers willing to work every weekend for a year. It was a deep, dark hole of despair that absolutely nobody was willing to climb into.

I know some of you will cry that we should have tried or that we missed a golden opportunity or that we were stupid for not getting involved for the sake of the hobby. You may even think we didn't have any vision and that a few Saturdays with a parts book would be all it would take to get that all sorted out and turned into a big pile of cash. You are sooooo wrong. Was there useful stuff there? Absolutely. Was it valuable? Maybe some of it. Was it worth figuring out and selling? Oh hell no.

 

I don't know what became of it, but my friend and I couldn't run away fast enough, I don't care how much money we could have made. Some dollars just aren't green enough.

[edinmass]

Hoarding is fine.....if the stuff goes back into the hobby after the guy croaks. Most all my stuff is marked with year and model info. As far as price after I am dead.........I won’t worry about it. The 30 Pierce Arrow engines in the shop? They make me sleep well at night.

[1937hd45]

Just last month I sold a 30-31 Model A Roadster deck lid, one I'd kept for 52 years, decided I didn't need an extra, and made a profit. I need to label the parts for all the projects, getting everything in one place per project would be great. There ae parts here on the desk, by the file cabinet and other open storage spots, I think I know were everything is, someone else would wonder. Sad quote from the guy cleaning out a house up the street "Everyone's life winds up in a dumpster". Bob 

[SC38dls]

There is a fellow in KY with two 40’ semi trailers full of Studebaker parts his father purchased when they closed the plant in South Bend. He says he is going to go thru them and sell them as soon as he can find room to organize all of it. I talked with him three years ago. He has yet to open the trailers. 
What  a shame he doesn’t realize what these parts could do for many collectors/restorers and he is a car guy!  He owns a successful body shop, so has some idea of what parts mean to someone. 
just part of a crazy hobby I guess. 
Dave S 

[JFranklin]

We have pretty good luck with auto parts auctions in Oregon, they are put on pallets and boxes and sold as lots, I don't remember everything labeled unless it was a car or something obvious. You bid on a box of plugs or a box of filters, and etc. It is too bad the auction scene is getting so picky!

[trimacar]

A good friend of mine just bought a huge collection of pre-war car parts.  Tons of parts. Problem is few are labeled so he has a lot of stuff that’s hard to sell, unless you know what it is.  I’m going to look at the stuff in a few days, I recognize some parts, but it’s going to be an uphill battle to identify..

[Billy Kingsley]

It seems to me an enterprising and smart individual could become sort of a parts hub, connecting people with parts and parts with people. Unfortunately I'm not smart enough or physically able enough to do that, but somebody could. Advertising in various local newspapers or getting the word out on Facebook could bring all kinds of stuff out of the woodwork. 

 

There's lots of companies that specialize in reproduction parts but I don't think I've seen anyone who specializes in finding, IDing and rehoming people's leftovers or even just helping people figure out what they have. 

[Joe in Canada]

When I am at Hershey looking around at all the parts there makes me wonder how many of the parts there will never find a car to be used on. Many of the cars being restored today are older restorations that are basically complete cars but needing mainly mechanical parts. The tougher cars that are not highly desirable will most likely become rat rods, parts cars or scrap metal.  The cost also is a big deterrent of restoring an antique car taking away from the parts business. 

So is this going to effect the parts prices if the demand is not there.

Edited February 14, 2020 by Joe in Canada (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

Quote

 

Look at all the DOLLAR piles at Hershey, TONS of stuff that a sane person would take home and drop off at the scrap yard. One swap meet here in Connecticut has two roll off dumpsters that vendors can drop unsalable metal. Club makes a few bucks on the scrap. Bob 

[JustDave]

Hello all.     Try looking for devaux parts,a lot of people haven’t even heard of it,in all the years of going to the swap meets I’ve found a couple of hubcaps a no’s coil and that’s it, I have bought some parts from a friend parting one out,I’ve looked for a parts car for years with no luck,    Dave

[JustDave]

Hello all.     Try looking for devaux parts,a lot of people haven’t even heard of it,in all the years of going to the swap meets I’ve found a couple of hubcaps a no’s coil and that’s it, I have bought some parts from a friend parting one out,I’ve looked for a parts car for years with no luck,    Dave

[JustDave]

Hello all.     Try looking for devaux parts,a lot of people haven’t even heard of it,in all the years of going to the swap meets I’ve found a couple of hubcaps a no’s coil and that’s it, I have bought some parts from a friend parting one out,I’ve looked for a parts car for years with no luck,    Dave