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Dilemma: parts car


padgett

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Clean it up and sell it to someone who will restore it.

 

I did that many years ago when I bought a '66 Studebaker that was supposed to be a 'parts car'.  I put in a battery and drove it home, when I bought it, and after cleaning out the interior, the floors were much better than average for rust, so I found a buyer for it.   Last I heard, it got restored.

 

Craig

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5 hours ago, padgett said:

What do you do if you buy a parts car that on arrival is too good to be a parts car ? Daily driver maybe ?

 

I'm the poster child for that. On more than one occasion, the "parts car" and the "project car" have swapped places.

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Cut it up.........the market is shifting. The supply of good driviable cars is expanding, and parts cars, project cars, tired cars.........are all looking for homes with almost no buyers. Use it as you see fit. There is no "saving" anything anymore, just delaying the trip to the scrap yard.

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3 hours ago, edinmass said:

Cut it up.........the market is shifting. The supply of good driviable cars is expanding, and parts cars, project cars, tired cars.........are all looking for homes with almost no buyers. Use it as you see fit. There is no "saving" anything anymore, just delaying the trip to the scrap yard.

 

 

I know you are saying things like this with the best intentions Ed. Around here decent collector interest cars are both few in number and to my mind quite high in price. Are they selling ? who knows, but the slightly more reasonably priced ones seem to vanish off the adverts quite quickly. And many of the best still leave the area for the U.S. or overseas . Lots of hobby car interest around here . Mainly rods ,but a very dedicated core of vintage guys as well { see Peter Findlay's cars of British Columbia thread}. I keep hoping local prices will shift to what you are describing, { I still want to buy a upper middle class , late teens - early 1920's car } but I am still not seeing it in this part of the world.

 

Gr

Edited by 1912Staver (see edit history)
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2 hours ago, padgett said:

The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different from anything we can imagine.


As a dinosaur, I resent change. With COVID we are experiencing fifteen years of change in 18 months. It is what it is. I just hope people figure out social media and instant data & news and properly incorporate it in their lives in a sane and healthy way......because it certainly hasn’t happened yet.

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Have to remember that before Disney (announced in 1965), Orange county (2019 pop 2.3 million) was just a wide spot in the groves with a train station (Seaboard Air Line, the FEC went down the coast). Buildings from before W2 are "historical".

 

That said my problem is more current. Have two "parts cars" I bought for pocket change but are too nice both cosmetically and mechanically to part out, a '89 Allante and a '00 SLK230. Trouble is both are taking up garage space and license plates (new plate fee in FL is several Benjamins). Maybe I just need a barn but suspect the HOA would complain, then estate could bill as "barn finds".

 

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In 1957 both Pratt & Whitney and Martin Marietta received 6500 acre grants of land from a state seeking to expand. Pratt's is on SR 710 between West Palm and Okechobee and is known as "the swamp". Martin's in now International Drive.

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Sorry to veer off topic, but my grandparents wintered in Hollywood. I spent many a winter growing up in that area. In the early 70's. It was still a 'small town' at that time. I had a great aunt in Dania which was literally an orange grove.

1 hour ago, edinmass said:

I remember driving to Disney and the road was two lanes surrounded by orange groves for as far as you can see. 

 

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4 hours ago, TAKerry said:

As many as possible!

 

4 hours ago, TAKerry said:

......7 days a week, can divide that into am, pm....................

Well, I guess if one has nothing better to do than spend their days driving 14+ “dailies” all day, every day.

Sure hope my life never becomes that lame or uneventful, but to each his/her own.

 

Edited by TTR (see edit history)
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Have always tried to make the herd as diverse are possible: Have a tow car (only 4 door), a daily driver, American Muscle, hardtop, retractable, and 'vert with hardtop (and a trunk which the retractable lacks). Not sure how the two spares fit in which circles back to the subject.

 

ps "I remember driving to Disney and the road was two lanes " if from the gold coast before the turnpike extension was probably 441.

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 I advertised a 56 Ford as a parts car and when a man showed up, he handed me the money even before I had opened the door to show it to him!

 There must have been some unobtanium in it.

 

 Ps.

I looked up unobtanium in google to make sure that I had spelt it correctly, this is what I found,

 

Unobtanium (pronounced un-ob-tain-ee-um) is a highly valuable mineral found on the moon Pandora. Humans mined unobtanium for energy generation, as the RDA was suppressing the development of alternatives on Earth.

 

Who knew that Google had a sense of humor?😁

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On 1/13/2021 at 2:05 AM, padgett said:

What do you do if you buy a parts car that on arrival is too good to be a parts car ? Daily driver maybe ?

Depends on the value of the parts and the time that you have already invested in finding the parts on the "parts car". The frustration of looking for parts can drive you crazy and push your budget upward. 

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Take the second Allante (please) clear coat shows effect of Texas sun but fixed the ABS issue (relay - $8) and biggest current problem is the radio does not work (Bose amp/speakers, not radio module). Runs and drives nice, Interior VG, AC works, has hardtop, 65k miles - bought mainly because identical to my (nice) 89, has hardtop, clear Florida title, and was delivered. Also was pocket change (inheritance and in worst of downturn, told them they would be better off keeping it). (Annoyance: bank is over 20 miles away & have not been there is since unpleasantness started so paid in $20s). Was able to shoehorn into garage but violates my one-car, one door rule.

So bought cheap enough for parts but really too good to part and so far what I need for the nice one is available. OTOH it ties up a garage space and license plate. Really need a Conex but the HOA would go ballistic. Decisions, decisions and hence the post.

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Without rehashing old issues, I think there's far too much crepe hanging about rehabing project cars. On my local craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, solid, running cars in the $3-6K range are not around for long. I have a half-dozen friends with major projects that require tasks like replacing floors or machining engines underway. Sure, they could save time and money by buying a more finished specimen, but where's the fun in that? They are interested in the process of reconstructing a car to be driven and enjoyed, not a museum piece. I'm afraid I see the parting out of good restorable cars as potentially self destructive. A handful of perfect 1920 Oddmobiles would be rarities but not especially valuable if there's no owner community to appreciate them. I'd say use it or sell it while you wait for a more suitable parts car.

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Will consider options following 2nd shot, just looking for opinions and similar tales. 28 seems to have best idea. Do think FRAC cars ('80s Fiero, Reatta, Allante, Corvette) to be undervalued/great buys at moment and pre-OBD-II is last to be easily maintained.

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On 1/13/2021 at 11:58 AM, padgett said:

Have to remember that before Disney (announced in 1965), Orange county (2019 pop 2.3 million) was just a wide spot in the groves with a train station (Seaboard Air Line, the FEC went down the coast). Buildings from before W2 are "historical".

 

That said my problem is more current. Have two "parts cars" I bought for pocket change but are too nice both cosmetically and mechanically to part out, a '89 Allante and a '00 SLK230. Trouble is both are taking up garage space and license plates (new plate fee in FL is several Benjamins). Maybe I just need a barn but suspect the HOA would complain, then estate could bill as "barn finds".

 

Padgett, 1965 can't be right. My grandparents took me and my cousin across country, deserts included, in their brand new all-black 1959 Ford Galaxie. I remember the trip well. Are you sure about that date? 

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Was talking about Florida. Interstate act was signed in 1956 but it took quite a while, remember drive from San Antonio to eastern shore of Maryland in 1968 had almost no Interstates. "Thickly settled" areas got it first. Florida's turnpike was there first and I-95 south of Ft. Pierce was not completed until 1987 (and today has a 20 mile loop west to the middle of nowhere so I-95 is longer to Miami than the turnpike). Figure the Interstate system was not completed until the '80s with major sections particularly in the south even started until the 70s.

 

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13 hours ago, Roger Walling said:

 I advertised a 56 Ford as a parts car and when a man showed up, he handed me the money even before I had opened the door to show it to him!

 There must have been some unobtanium in it.

 

 Ps.

I looked up unobtanium in google to make sure that I had spelt it correctly, this is what I found,

 

Unobtanium (pronounced un-ob-tain-ee-um) is a highly valuable mineral found on the moon Pandora. Humans mined unobtanium for energy generation, as the RDA was suppressing the development of alternatives on Earth.

 

Who knew that Google had a sense of humor?😁


I really liked that movie, but thought them calling the mineral unobtanium was a little tacky, only because we had been using the word to describe car parts for so long before it came out. 

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On 1/13/2021 at 4:47 AM, edinmass said:

Cut it up.........the market is shifting. The supply of good driviable cars is expanding, and parts cars, project cars, tired cars.........are all looking for homes with almost no buyers. Use it as you see fit. There is no "saving" anything anymore, just delaying the trip to the scrap yard.

I disagree with Ed in one respect. "Cut it up" is a total waste of time. There is simply no market for most parts salvaged from a parts car. Car values are so weak that parts are going begging. Chances are that the parts are already out there anyway. With scrap value hovering around $200 it's scarcely worth the effort. Whether you are able to drive it, or you try to sell it, any value it has is as a complete car. 

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Bill......I agree........depending on year.........many of the parts won’t find good use. That said, the guy bought it for parts, so he must have had good use for it.

Edited by edinmass (see edit history)
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Everything is fixable. Body panels can be hand made, unobtainable parts can be newly machined or cast, and so on. Determining if it is only good for parts or worthy of restoring depends on what value you put on the car. I say you, not the market, because it is your decision what will happen to it. If you inherit your grandfather's first car, and it is entirely rusted out, leaving only the running rear and a few other parts that can be reused, and it is only worth $15,000 to the market when restored, it still may be worth it to you to do a $40,000 restoration so that you can preserve and enjoy a family heirloom. If anyone ever sells it, they will most likely lose money, but that is a possibility that you have to accept if the car is dear to you. On the other hand, if it matters to you that there is no hope of ever breaking even with it, and no one else wants it for their own restoration project, part it out. Parting out one car may help multiple others complete their unfinished projects. Determining if your car is a parts car, driver, or a restoration candidate is up to you.

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I guess my reply is if he bought the car, as a parts car, he must have had a purpose for the parts. He now is faced with a quandary because the car is too good to part out. Either he has another source for the wanted parts, or he is willing to have to search elsewhere for the needed parts, or he has given up on the original project. In any of the three scenarios the utility value is as a complete car, either for his own use, or that of another owner. In my opinion parting out most cars out, today, is a fools errand.

 

One of the last things that I consider is dollar value. I'm just not motivated by the bottomline. Saving something is it's own reward. 

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Remember going to DisneyWorld from Indiana  in 1973 (had an auxiliary gas tank on top of my 72 Wagon just in case but gas was NP)- E ticket was the beans. Don't remember any country roads. The turnpike extension and I-4 was in place then so Disney was a short run west on US 192.

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