Should I feel guilt about being a parts vulture?
 

I really, really enjoy my FRS, but I am beginning to feel guilty about being such a parts vulture...

Between cars getting totaled and people addicted to modding their cars, I have made numerous additions to my car for pennies on the dollar. Some of the better deals so far:

TRD USA wheels and new Michelin Pilot Super Sports, mounted, balanced, and with TPMS sensors: $800

TRD lowering springs: $100

TRD cat back exhaust - used only 3 hours: $600

Bespoke stereo with GPS navigation: $235

In all my years of being a car enthusiast, I have never experienced such a great supply of cheap OEM parts!

Yes. You should give all that stuff back.

I'm keeping my BRZ mostly stock for now, but on my other builds I set up a spreadsheet budgeting out the build. I list the parts I need, along with the best prices I can find at the time. Then I watch and wait and collect them over time. Some I find on sale. Some I find used.

I put a brand-new-still-in-the-box header on my Jeep for about $100 less than retail because the guy who had it bought it, never installed it and eventually sold his Jeep. I got a $450 high output alternator for $300 because the guy who had it used it three months and then totaled his vehicle.

I don't see any reason to feel guilty about that. The parts were for sale. I bought them. Would it be better to say, "No, I'm not going to buy your parts because I wouldn't feel right letting you get any of your money back out of them"?

hell no, that is the way to mod your car. Figure out what you want, then beg on the forum or wait for people to sell it used. You save a ton of money that way. It is wonderful when you have such a large community to choose from.

You should feel guilty and everybody is ashamed of you. Now think of how the people who bought the car used/certified and not new off the lot must feel.
We bought the car after it took the huge depreciation hit and reap the benefit of not being the first owner. I know I feel terrible now about it and so should you
for you have dishonored and brought shame to the house of 86!

Well sombody has to buy the parts new or there will be no used ones to get but it doesn't have to be you. Better that the parts from the totalled ones get bought and used again instead of just pushing them into the waste stream.

Buy on guilt free.

I believe the saying is "another man's trash is another man's treasure"

In this case, its not literal trash but yah know where im going with this. :)

REALLY ....... @nextcar ........ :slap:

You should be tarred and feathered ........ and placed in front of a mustang at a cars & coffee ... :mad0260:


humfrz

Oh, ya, I remember this girl back in ......... never mind ..... :(


humfrz

I heart junkyards. I intend to collect a metric shit ton of spare parts.

That's the safest place.

I damn near grew up in the things. In fact our yard probably qualified. How many people get a 1953 Pontiac convertible and a 1944 road grader as a play house? To this day I will go into random junkyards just to wander around and look at cool shit. It is getting harder to find old school yards though since most now bring stuff in and strip it down or crush it pretty quick. Once in a while I find an old one though and have a blast digging through the hulks.

San Diego near the border was a u-pull-it mecca back in the late 80s. We have a few up here. Eagerly waiting for the first twins. It will take many years. :(

Yep, especially the junk yards that were nothing but a field full of junked cars.

My rule of thumb was usually to get two of whatever you needed, then between the part that you had and two other used ones, you could build a good one..... ;)

Just think of the fun the young-ens are missing, by not getting to go out into a muddy field, in the winter, finding the right car, that still had the part you needed, getting the part off and walking back up hill as it started to get dark and started snowing.

Then when you got home, going out into the cold barn, with a dim trouble light, and put the part on your vehicle...... yep, and snow was blowing in through the cracks in the barn siding.

Funny part is, that some of the young-ens are thinking I just made that story up ....... :sigh:


humfrz

Man, I literally got shivers remembering the snow blowing through the cracks in our barn. Brrrr!

I had the very same story probably 50 times (except for the mud in the winter part). You missed a part though. Negotiations.

To the best of my memory after 40 years:
(Alternating me and Bubba)

The 327 in that 67 Parisienne any good?
Yep
Can I hear it run?
Yep
Got a battery?
Over there.

(Later after starting car)

Ok sounds good how much?
You pull?
Ya
50 bucks
No way. Number 7 lifter is clucking like mad and left valve cover gasket is leakiing like hell. 25 tops.
40 then
Pull it over under that tree so I can throw my tackle up and I will do 35.
ok but we close at 5.
Ya cool.
You want the tranny? 10 bucks more.
Sure. Why not.

Some place I still have the bill from the garage that did the swap. Was about $150 with all parts, fluids and labour.

You forgot the part about the replacement part doesn't fit because the donor was not really identical to your car.:(

I managed to get steals on both a TRD steering wheel, and a Sard LSR wing. 50% off retail for what look like brand new items. The wing was on buddy's car for like 2 weeks.

I voted yes cause it was a funny response Yes: you are a bottom feeding parts vulture!

I actually recently wanted to start start a thread asking why so many members on here put in so much money in these cars by going Turbo/Supercharger and than you see them selling the car after 1 year....

Never understood that.

Things have changed a little...
 

I remember this well too... but things have changed around here.

As someone else mentioned, San Diego has a LOT of u-pull junkyards, perhaps due to the border proximity. Pricing is fairly standardized with a set price for item regardless of model - though they do run sales occasionally

Changes for the good: There are any number of guys hanging around the yards that will pull the parts for you very reasonably - I had a transmission pulled for $25. Well worth it to not lie in the gravel, spill fluids, and deal with questionable jacks, tires as jack stands, seized bolts...

Changes for the bad: You now have to sign your life away before entering, and when I was restoring a car with my son I found out they no longer allow anyone under 18 on the lots...

Or the specialized part on a limited run car had already been replaced. I was looking for a transmission once that was only used on one model of Thunderbird for two years... found it in a junk yard and thought I had scored. Paid $25 to have it pulled (see post above) only to find that at some point the car had been serviced and the transmission internals swapped for the standard components...

Isn't it great being a bottom feeding vulture?:clap:

Was Harambe a vulture.

I have some questions:

1. What are you spending all of your saved money on? Cars, girls and booze or more parts?
2. Does your car love you for getting her hand-me-downs?
3. Are vultures bottom feeders?
4. Are you a canny investor and you should start a thread offering the fools with cash advice on how best to invest their money? Which parts new now will be much sought after on second-hand market?

1: All of the above, though my wife is far more expensive than the car...
2: I think my car appreciates the upgrades, but I know for certain not to get my wife "hand-me-downs"!!!:thumbsup:
3: Certainly not, but I thought it sounded more self-insulting than the more technically correct "scavenging vulture" or "bottom feeding crab"... though both of those terms may apply to me ;)
4: Perhaps. Note I bought a used single owner/non-smoker 2013 with 12,500 miles and clean title for $17500, and my personal goal for mods are nothing but OEM options and never pay more than 50 percent of retail. Aftermarket modifications will typically detract from the car's value... I have also been looking for great deals on wear items like floor mats, and have even pondered storing some spare seats (not going to fly with the wife :( )

With few exceptions cars are NOT a wise investment, so getting maximum enjoyment for minimal expense is my new strategy. Don't talk to me about my AMGs.:mad0260:, however my 1969 Mach 1 is a different story!:burnrubber:

'New strategy'? Pre or Post AMGs? Photo of Mach 1 pleeease.

Well, ya ........ but, I will always think it should of fit ...... :(

There was nutten wrong with the fuel on the 1949 ........ why did they change it in 1950 ...... :mad0260:


humfrz

Post AMG. These cars have the dubious honor of having one of the highest depreciation rates of all cars due to the expense of maintenance and lack of rarity.

As requested... I did a full restoration over 4 years!

Same issue with AMGs in the UK, values free fall the moment they leave the forecourt.

I note you bagged yourself a Twins MY17 rear spoiler for your Mach 1:lol:

Well, ya ........ but, I will always think it should of fit ...... :(

There was nutten wrong with the fuel pump on the 1949 ........ why did they change it in 1950 ...... :mad0260:


humfrz

........ too much power .......??


:eyebulge:



humfrz

In the spirit of this thread, let me assure you that I could have bought 10 used 2017 wings for the cost of a used OEM 1969 Boss 302 wing...:eyebulge:

And for you purists: Yes, I have the original wheels for the car, and yes, the 1969 Mach 1 did not come from the factory with a wing, though the Boss 302 did and it was a common mod at the time using OEM parts. My goals for this car were period correct and no mods that could not be easily returned to stock (e.g. the wheels).

I like them because they're a penalty-free way of figuring out how my rig comes apart. I have actually gone to the junk yard to take a Jeep apart, not to get parts, but just to see how it is put together so that I don't break mine when I take it apart. You can also learn a lot about how a car is put together when pieces have been removed and are out of the way so you can see the inside. Exploded views in manuals really only show you so much.

I don't see a reason to feel guilty. We need a parts market. See all the used transmissions for sale.

And I wouldn't feel bad at least for some of these people. Last time I checked on a part out, the owner was asking near new oem pricing for his wrecked stuff. I was sympathetic at first but after realizing how stubborn the guy was I hardly felt bad for him after that.

I have run into this a few times too... I always just wish them luck (sincerely - not sarcastically) and move on. I used to try to convince sellers that "market value" is defined as what the market is willing to pay, but reality is hard to accept some times, and perhaps they will find someone willing to buy a used part with no warranty for nearly the same price as a new, guaranteed item. The classic form of this is the seller that points out that a used item is advertised on ebay for some ridiculously high price - not knowing that the item has been listed for 6 months and no one will ever buy it until the price comes down.

Based upon preliminary results...
 

I have updated my profile!:happyanim:

AMG's are the absolute best buy if you are a mechanic and have no problems with wiring and electronics repairs. You can pick up 500 hp luxobarges for under $10k and look like a king.

You will look like a king to the total non-car person. Mercedes used to run body styles for 20 years which lead to slow depreciation... now there is planned obsolescence with them just like every other car - and your 3 year old car will not impress a valet.

The other "fly in the ointment" is part cost. The ceramic rotors on my AMG were $2500 - and I wore through a set in one day at a race track. Never again! There is a reason why you can pick up a 4 year old car that was over $80K new for less than 10K. Color me a bitter ex-owner... a new Mercedes is a dream, but you wake up pretty quick once the repair bills hit.:mad0260:

By the way, although the twins are not yet showing up in the self-service salvage yards (since they only pay scrap value, and salvage value is still too high for people to accept scrap prices), they ARE showing up in the conventional junk yards that buy newer cars at salvage auctions to harvest parts for insurance repairs. The prices are still pretty high from what I've seen, but just about every price at a junk yard is negotiable. The good news is that you can find most of them on Car-Part.com:

http://www.car-part.com/

Bookmark that and keep an eye on it if you ever need parts. It'll only get better from here as more people wreck their cars.

Yea, I would never buy one new. And I really don't give a crap about impressing valets. But as a performance deal they can't be beat if you can do all the work yourself and understand that maintenance is going to be a bit more expensive.

I would never take them to a track though. Just too heavy.