chip-powell

If I only knew 30 years ago when I was working in my Dad's garage on these cars, how expensive each and every little part would become, we would not have scrapped or gave away half of what we did when he passed.

We used to have boxes of chrome body emblems that we took off for one reason or another. We had to have had at least 500 of them. Now I see them online for $50 a piece.

Wheel well trim...scores of it.
Rally wheels w/ rings and hubs...dozens.
grills...pick a make.

and it goes on, and on, and on.

Oh well. We live and learn.

MDchanic

At flea markets, we used to force people to take NOS 1950s F_rd trim parts, in the boxes, for free, when they bought other parts from us, because we couldn't get rid of them, and because nobody was ever going to collect those big, crappy 50s cars anyway.

- Eric

brddg

Hindsight is a real pita. I can't remember (thankfully) every part I have offloaded into a commercial dumpster over the years. Motors, trannys, heads, dash trim, windows, rear window defroster out of my drag car (OK that one sticks out). Well there are cars like that at the junkyards now and many of those rare parts will go to the crusher while we let them. Oh well.

chip-powell

I don't think that any of us (of a certain age) ever thought that there would come a day when we couldn't just walk into any junk yard and get a (insert part here) for our 1960-1972 Olds, Ford or Chevy.

MDchanic

+1. It was unimaginable.

- Eric

Sampson

X3. I had a mental image of junk yards all around the area and where I could find this or that. Some of the cars in these yards had been in the same place for 30 years. Imagine my surprise when I went scrounging a couple of years ago and most of the yards were gone and the ones that still existed had an assembly line crusher in place and the oldest car in the yard was about 10 years old.

1968_Post

I was a GM parts guy in the late 60's and 70's. GM used to allow us to earn 3% of our stock order purchases to be used to scrap parts that hadn't sold in a year. Over the years I threw out 1/4 panels, hoods, fenders and all the interior and exterior trim you could imagine, not to mention all the mechanical stuff.

I also stood by and watched when our GM Service rep would take a sledge hammer to warrantied engine blocks...everything from DZ302's and 427/435 horse big blocks to W-30 and W-31's.

I would guess over the course of time I probably pitched or helped destroy at least a quarter million worth of stuff... talk about hindsight being 20/20! It never occurred to me that this stuff would be worth so much in the future...

oldcutlass

<sigh>*

m371961

Think anyone will be having this discussion in 30-40 years about cars from 2000 and up?

brddg

I know they will. The irocs and 5.0's await.

MDchanic

Sadly, yes, but a lot of the discussion will be about restoring the electronics, and back-programming control systems to earlier pre-update versions.

- Eric

oldcutlass

Todays cars are not built like yesterdays cars, way more plastic and electronics. I don't know if they will survive 40 years from now. Look at the cars from the late 70's till now and see what the survival and collectability rates are.

MDchanic

I will say that I drive a '98 BMW 318ti hatchback, and my teenager just got a 2000 Cherokee, and both of these vehicles are well made and have begun to develop "followings" of fans, so I suspect these, at least, will become collectible.

- Eric

chip-powell

If Gremlins and Pacers can have followings...any car can.