Jump to content

rare parts only we can identify-that we have -what happens after we pass on


arcticbuicks

Recommended Posts

I was wondering how many of us have a stash of rare nice parts etc ? which is all good but what happens to all the stuff when we die ? I have seen where people come to buy and grab the mint best car at say an estate sale..........and wondered how the family cleaned up the rest ?

 

Do clubs actually get estate donations ? or is that more myth ?

Edited by arcticbuicks (see edit history)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I keep trying to bang it into the Missus's head that there is serious value in "that rubbish". She's under strict instructions to donate them to the appropriate club as the spares are organized by make and model so she would have to go pretty bloody senile not to follow through. If she wanted to sell the stuff then Australian buyers at a fair price would be thin on the ground as most of it is "niche market" and from experience here if someone is after something 9 out of 10 will want it free "coz you're not using it". It appears that my place is a bit of a treasure house for Model R Hupp odds and ends because if someone is throwing them out, I grab them tout suite. I am slowly realizing what I will never use and offloading it but I'm sure she will grumble about what's left.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately a lot of that stuff gets thrown into a dumpster.  I recently bought a car that I do not need only because the car and a ton of extra parts did not get thrown in the dumpster and to the crusher. (1928 Dodge)  Unfortunately this is what happens when there are no "car people" around after the collector passes. 

 

PS: If anyone knows of someone wants to buy a project Dodge touring with literally a ton of parts, please send them my way.  I can send pictures.

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like your way of talking "Fordy"

and so true i think about things getting scrapped,should we all take a little time and get some tags with wire or paint marker and at least label things,for example i have a stack of perfect 54 bel-air HT stainless.......few would recognize if i didnt tell them.and family wouldnt know how to advertise it to get any kind of money.

I just visited a place and the guy had sheds full,i opened one door and the shed has around 400 open touring complete windshields with posts,very hard to identify i would think.

but i guess also......the more disappears .......the more rare the stuff thats left becomes

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its the heavy and bulky items that are the difficult items which are hard to pass along to someone.  Heavy items including engines, transmissions, rear axles, etc., take up a lot of space and aren't exactly portable.  Another item I like to save that does take up space are good, useable seats, even though the cover may be worn through or hopelessly faded.  The covering and top layer of padding may be worn, but the springs and second layer of padding are still in excellent shape and have never been wet, or infested by rodents, etc.  I'm noticing original upholstery is getting hard to find, and because of their vulnerability to dampness and rodent infestation, I keep them in a corner of the basement.  I know I may not need it, but someone restoring a similar car to original might.  Many find old, original seats and hardware more difficult to justify keeping than mechanical components.

 

Craig

Edited by 8E45E (see edit history)
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife has strict instructions as to who among my car friends to call in the event she needs to dispose of my stuff. A couple of those contacts are somewhat younger than I am to ensure that there will be someone left to call. 😉

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Start labeling everything that is “rare” and has value NOW!  Put a price of how much you paid for the item and when!  You (and I!) could be dead tomorrow!  Don’t leave a mess for your heirs to clean up.  Spend time and get your affairs in order now…

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Larry Schramm said:

Unfortunately a lot of that stuff gets thrown into a dumpster.  I recently bought a car that I do not need only because the car and a ton of extra parts did not get thrown in the dumpster and to the crusher. (1928 Dodge)  Unfortunately this is what happens when there are no "car people" around after the collector passes. 

 

PS: If anyone knows of someone wants to buy a project Dodge touring with literally a ton of parts, please send them my way.  I can send pictures.

Hi, Larry!  Where is the Dodge located?  Greg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dont worry about it and assume everything is going to the scrap heap! Otherwise, clean up and get rid of what you wont be using in the next six months right now. 

I am a pack rat, my wife is the opposite. If she hasnt used something within the past 2 months she gets rid of it. We are converting our dining room to a den and she is getting rid of everything, even china she has had since she was a kid. He reply was we dont use it we dont need it. I envy her attitude to a great degree. I see something rather big and clunky or as minimal as a small cardboard box and think 'How can I use this?'

I have started cleaning stuff out and throwing more away than usual and when the next day comes I dont miss it.

 

My next door neighbor died suddenly a few years back. He was a Pontiac guy. Had a couple of car shells in his shop and more tools and 'stuff' than can be imagined. Well, YOU guys can imagine! Shortly after his demise I told his wife before someone came and took everything to let me know as he had some valuable stuff. I know he had a few Super Duty parts which are the holy grail to Pontiac guys. Fast forward a couple of years and she was selling her place. The large shop was still full. She told me to take a look, take what I wanted, make an offer etc. He had literally pallet fulls of heads, maybe a hundred pair. Not one was super duty. There were at least 15 blocks, again the super duty was gone. She told me right after he died a couple of his friends came and got what parts belonged to them!  He had a lot of good stuff and enough parts to build a dozen good motors, a 12 x 12 room full of wheel trim rings, chrome galore, etc. etc. etc. She had an auctioneer come and haul it all away. I would guess she got pennies on the dollar and a lot went to the scrap yard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I moved 10 years ago and still haven't gone through all the boxes. Its not junk but if I don't have a use for it I try to find a good home for it. the house we sold was technical and complicated. My wife made a manual for everything. Luckily an engineer bought the place. It did take a while to clean up the junkyard. We moved 600 miles away so I could not take everything with me. My wife was thrilled! I guess I am a scrounge extraordinaire.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Find some kid with the bug and offload it on them.. they'll save plenty of time accruing thier own stash of junk if they can start off with someone else's. I tell the older guys when this discussion comes up that, God willing, I got 50+ good years left.. would prefer to spend it working on stuff than hunting for stuff to work on.

 

I think someone will realistically get their hands on whatever has value, financial or otherwise. What really scares me are the old guys that leave stuff to rot or rust away in a yard.. if you have a shed full of prewar dodge stuff, someone will drag it out if your spouse or whoever puts an ad up. That's not the case if it's all been sitting outside for half a century and there's nothing left to actually save..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've told my wife the two auction houses to call - one for the really good stuff, the other for everything else.  For the most part everything is labeled or identified as to what it is.  As to value, it is what the next person is willing to pay and will all be money in the bank down the road for somebody.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A friend of mine was asked to come help clean out a house. A friend of his parents had passed. As you can guess it was time to get all the junk out of the house so the house could be sold. The older gentleman who had passed had gone to swap meets and garage sales for years. It looked like a hoarder situation. Some rooms were completely full. After carrying boxes to the curb for trash pickup for a while my friend decided to look in one. It was full of old lunch boxes. You know the plastic ones with the thermos. Dukes of Hazzard, Star Wars, A-Team, etc... So, my friend opened another box. Old G.I. Joe and Star Wars action figures. He carried the boxes back to the family and said I will give you $100 for each of these boxes. They of course wanted to know what was in them. when they saw they said no. The first boxes they had opened were filled with old newspapers and empty butter containers. All of the boxes were taped shut. They just assumed that they were all filled with junk. They had been throwing out boxes for 3 weeks before my friend was asked to help. They began putting things on E-bay and selling them. Short story long the house sold for around $85,000 this was a few years back. The collection of "junk" inside sold for over double that. 

 

Tell your family what you have. Tell your kids and grandkids.  Explain it to them. Tell them what to do with it. Let them know they can keep what they want and sell the rest. Label things. We all know what a 1937 Cord 812 ashtray looks like, but they do not.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, 63RedBrier said:

 Put a price of how much you paid for the item and when!

This has always been a fear that my wife would sell the stuff for what told her I paid for it. But after I am gone it doesn't really matter as long as it doesn't end up in some dumpster.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

FYI:

 

I've helped liquidate 3 large estates with 165+ vehicles total.  The hoarding mentality of the owners left behind countless unidentified parts.

 

In one case I simply opened the doors and lets people scrounge through the parts and make offers without care of ID or valuation.  Some people get some screaming deals, and the hoard of parts were liquidated in a weekend.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Close to 80 years old and being active in the car hobby for over 53 years involved mostly with Cords and Cord parts, I’ve sold Everything within the last 6 months probably at 50% of actual value in order to sell everything. No one is promised tomorrow and I didn’t want to leave a burden to my kids to try and get rid of everything. Do I miss not being able to drive a Cord……..absolutely. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites


I often get calls to clean up a big mess of cars and parts. I have seen “family friends” pick the parts collection clean of all the good stuff for free. It’s best to deal with it at a 50 percent discount while your alive. The kids will just dumpster everything when they learn how much work it is to sell everything individually. 

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

last summer i was out back in my compound .....where i had brought some cars home maybe 15 years ago.......i sat in one car i never sat in and then started looking in trunk etc,and was like "wow this is cool" and finding things.........then i thought OH NO ! ....im in my own yard excited like finding a place with cars to explore......I have a problem I then thought !

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday I started going through car emblems I got from a deceased relative's garage ten years ago.  Some are missing a few mounting pins or posts, and some have deep pitting.  I cleaned all of these damaged emblems and started identifying the few I didn't recognize by typing in the casting numbers on Ebay.  Then I started bagging the items and identified what cars they go to.  I've seen crazy asking prices on Ebay for some emblems that are missing mounting pins or posts, but don't think these are worth much.   Opinions, please?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, old car fan said:

Pictures?Some are worth quite a bit. 

They are mostly common FoMoCo products: 

 

'55 Montclair gold dash emblem (missing 2" on left side and only 1 mounting pin is intact)

'60 Lincoln Continental Mark V dash emblem (1 of 2 mounting pins is missing)

'63 Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe trunk lid script (1 of 5 mounting pins is missing)

'64 Ford Custom quarter panel script (3 of 5 mounting pins are missing)

'65-'66 Mustang block letter front fender emblem (all mounting pins missing)

'65-'66 Mustang 2+2 block letter front fender emblem (3 of 4 mounting pins are missing)

'64-'68 Park Lane front fender emblems (red plastic damaged around posts)

'65-'66 Mustang GT front fender emblem (red plastic damaged around posts)

'66 Montclair quarter panel block-letter emblem (2 of 5 mounting pins are missing)

'66 Thunderbird roof sail panel bird (2 of 3 mounting pins are missing)

'66 Thunderbird quarter panel Thunderbird script (2 of 6 mounting pins are missing)

'68 Cougar GT-E front fender emblem (2 of 4 mounting pins broken off), walking Cougar grille emblem (heavy pitting), Mercury nose emblem (heavy pitting)

'69-'70 Mach 1 dash emblem (1 of 2 mounting pins is missing)

 

and a few more I haven't identified yet 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The whole situation of matching up pre 1930 parts with the people who need them is a huge can of worms.  The parts are often very rare, but only a handfull of people need them once you get away from the most common 5 makes or so. And North America's huge geography really works against us. 

  In an ideal world it would all end up a giant version of Hershey each year, roughly in the geographic center of the continent.  And everyone looking for parts would attend . But due to the vast distances and travel costs this will never happen. So every year tons of rare parts that someone someware would almost kill for end up as scrap.

 The U.K. is so much more fortunate. The Beaulieu Autojumble is huge. And the U.K. is small enough that almost anyone can travel to it.

 Really no good answser for a place as big as North America. 

 The internet is no big help either. The parts needs to be identified, described, listed , priced. And it has to be posted somewhere where someone who needs it will see it. 99% of the time this does not work. Just too many moving parts to the process.

 Easier to just make what you need rather than spending decades fruitlessly looking.

 Would love to make it to Hershey one year, but just the trip alone is a few thousand dollars. And then if I do find something I am in a pickle getting it home. 

 I would have to fly from the Pacific North West , and then have everything shipped by a freight forwarder to Canada..Serious costs at every turn.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yes same situation for me in northern manitoba..........the Canadian prairies are still a gold mine of old cars,barn finds ,farm finds, and parts...I too would love to go to Hershey,i did do Pomona right before covid,the shipping between Canada and USA is crazy

Edited by arcticbuicks (see edit history)
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, arcticbuicks said:

I was wondering how many of us have a stash of rare nice parts etc ? which is all good but what happens to all the stuff when we die ? I have seen where people come to buy and grab the mint best car at say an estate sale..........and wondered how the family cleaned up the rest ?

 

Do clubs actually get estate donations ? or is that more myth ?

That is how I got a good deal of the parts I have, death and moving into retirement housing are the greatest parts movers. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Jim Skelly said:

Yesterday I started going through car emblems I got from a deceased relative's garage ten years ago.  Some are missing a few mounting pins or posts, and some have deep pitting.  I cleaned all of these damaged emblems and started identifying the few I didn't recognize by typing in the casting numbers on Ebay.  Then I started bagging the items and identified what cars they go to.  I've seen crazy asking prices on Ebay for some emblems that are missing mounting pins or posts, but don't think these are worth much.   Opinions, please?

If you are walking down the street and spot a ten dollar bill on the sidewalk do you consider it litter or pick it up? 

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, arcticbuicks said:

yes same situation for me in northern manitoba..........the Canadian prairies are still a gold mine of old cars,barn finds ,farm finds, and parts...I too would love to go to Hershey,i did do Pomona right before covid,the shipping between Canada and USA is crazy

 

It all depends on what you are looking for. I agree there are still lots of  " old cars / trucks " on the prairies.  But most of them are quite ordinary vehicles that don't appeal to many besides street rodders.  Transportation costs doom most of them to a date with the scrapper eventually.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i disagree,my bud just found a auburn boat tail in amazing condition,i recently got a 57 lincoln all original paint with AC,my bud has a 426 hemi cuda a farmer bought new.....maybe not as much as the US but still amazing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...