For the love of God! So I went to eBay and typed TROG into the search engine. So clean Guide headlights are bringing big bucks now. Found a complete 40’ Banjo on Craigslist for only 500$. Are the parts drying up? Can decent Ford parts still be found at a respectable price? It’s been about 8 years for me. I thought I would sell my T that has a very nice tradition chassis to fund a new build but now I’m thinking about using what I have to build something new. Thoughts???? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The parts are still out there, sometime you just have to dig. I found a lot of really good deals and a couple swap meets. I have a couple of 39/40 banjos that I bought for peanuts. Just picked up a 1925 T touring for next to nothing. And I found it on Craiglist. Sometime patience is key too. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Everything costs about 2x what I think it should cost, unless its mine and I'm trying to sell it, then its worth about 1/2 what I think the value should be. I've come to expect this as a normal condition. Gene
I find a lot of the parts advertised on the big auction sites and buy-sell websites to be over-priced. Just my opinion but I have had better luck at swap meets where I can touch and feel the merchandise.
I visit scrap yards Picked up a rough but has usable parts banjo rear for $15 They gave me a starter for a flathead last week I also do side work and trade labor for parts. Helped install a big block in a friends OT muscle car for a front and rear axle from a 33 plus a bunch of other parts Local face book have some good deals as well. I love the fact that most guys here hate FB. I bought a complete 283 with pp heads, finned valve covers and edelbrock intake for $100 The price you pay for something usually reflects how fast you need it
The people who use Keyword function to overprice their parts is why you saw the $$$ guides! Keywords like SCTA, Salt, you name the scam.. Guides? Shit, I find them on old trucks & old whatevers...and at swaps, tractor show/swaps...cheap.. Same with all old ford stuff...there is so much out there "just out of sight" as you drove by the last 10 years! not anything you need, but I found this, only because I saw three guys working out back on several old chevy pickups.. I drove right in with my daily driver 32..made sorta friends in a half hour..that was there as a kid he said.. it was his family/patents home..he is 65-70! ..parked forever there, just feet from a main state road, 4 minutes from my place. Point is, knowing LOTS of people in your area can find what you need cheap one guy just posted to use a Facebook ad site...YES.. that works for the younger guys out here...I never have tried it, as I don't need anything now.. .
Rat rod guys like to use S10 frames The RR FB pages usually have some good original chassis for sale And when you search sites use generic terms like “rat rod”. People that generally sell parts on sites like CL are not the experts we are (ha ha). And use that RR term for any old rusty part. The people that use spacifics on adds know what they have and what they are worth
This is a solid quote and very true. My shop sells old used parts and the thing about the use of keywords in a search is very true, stuff brings the most when it gets seen by the most buyers, the deals are not going to pop up in an eBay search without some digging. Also, keep in mind, if you're trying to figure out market price on eBay, you need to be searching only for sold items, not currently available and not ended listings. Lots of shit is overpriced on there but it doesn't sell and is not a good reflection of the market price. I'm saving up parts for a '34 and I've actually found some really great deals but only at swap meets, some auctions, and some Facebook buy/sell ads, plus word-of-mouth to my friends who seem to know where everything is. However I was able to pick up an original '34 grille in rough but fixable (to me at least) conditon off of eBay for just under $200 including shipping. I waited months for the right one to come along, did constant searches, and had to bid on an auction to get it. There absolutely are good deals on eBay for those who can wait and also know how to search properly. It really pays off in the long run to save parts for a build well in advance of starting, and also to buy and resell good deals on stuff you can't use to offset the cost of the stuff you're going to have to pay up for.
The good stuff is still out there. Yesterday I picked up a ‘46 open drive banjo, 2 complete sets of square-back spindles (with brakes) and several ‘46 1/2 ton clutch/brake pedal assemblies, all for a song. The street-rodders are still about throwing the stuff away. The rat-rod guys around here don’t seem to have a clue about the early suspension stuff. As long as you know what you’re looking at and what you’re looking for, there are still deals to be made. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
recently there was a good size swap meet in Sacramento. sellers yes but, as for buyers was a ghost town by 10AM - people get in the let your fingers do the walking mode instead of using their feet.
I will also mention last year I went to a pretty active scrapyard and had to drive around the big pile to get back on the scale and noticed a big FWD boom truck in the yard that I never would have given a second glance to, but it had a pair of the Guide headlights with the little marker lights on top and also a cable drive SW tach and some other goodies on it, I bought those plus some '53 Chevy grille teeth and other small bits all for $50, the studs on those headlights were so clean I was able to unbolt them from the truck with a pair of pliers, I hadn't brought any tools. It pays to look in the unlikely places, is my point.
Went to Jefferson last Friday and found the few items I went for and same for friends, one scored big on an OD Plymouth tranny he was wanting. Take a ride up in fall, (2X year spring/fall), check it out, might find what you are looking for, huge swap meet, also big car coral, saw a few cars that I thought were priced right, we also have a big deal coming up in Iola July, huge swap meet. My only comment on the car hobby from my experience is, Always cost more, More work/time, never made any $$$ but never a big loss (exception involved in open wheel racing for years, high speed spend, memories priceless,) my hobby/passion, a man needs something to do, all my life, car hobby.
My opinion of the auction site-- it's the vintage parts catalog for professional builders that don't have the time to wait or search for parts they need for the customers car with the open checkbook. You rarely see auctions starting at a buck anymore it's mostly BIN with a over priced tag attached. I still love the swaps but here in northeast it's a seasonal thing and the local swaps are few and far between. The large swaps get too expensive when you add hotel,gas,meals, and stuff. I hope I didn't get too far off track here just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
It helps to know people. But the price of everything has gone up. Here is an example. '40 Ford brakes are higher than a cats back, and don't even think about '40 wheels today (good originals are unobtainium). My young friend, the kid that now owns my A sedan needed both. Turns out that he happened onto both for a song because he knew people who had the parts. Make friends and alliances, its all about networking.
As mentioned, you'll usually pay top buck searching ebay because most of the choice parts are listed by dealers and flippers. You're also bid competing with buyers who either need or want the parts now without having to do any waiting or leg work. There's a cost to keyboard shopping. Yep, good deals on parts take WORK, which means getting your ass out of bed at 3:AM for a swap meet, networking, horse trading and buying/selling parts (that you don't need) to others to raise cash toward your parts purchases. To me, that's part of the fun of building out a project. Knowing what you're looking for and sometimes taking years to accumulate the parts.
personal networking has always worked best for me. go to cruise nights and car shows... talk to the people, bring up your needs. Most of those folks have it or know someone that has it....
Stuff is around you just have to wait and dig. This T bed fell in to my lap yesterday from a over a year old facebook post for 50usd from a retired streetrodder
Lots of over priced stuff on eBay and the HAMB. Also some good deals. I have a hand full of buyers on eBay I usually look to first for stuff I need. I have actually had good luck putting up want adds here. You get some high ball offers but I usually get one or two good ones. I also have a few HAMB and Ford Barn regulars I email directly if I need something and think they may have it in their stash. I would say 75% of the parts for my 28 roadster build have come from here. The rest from Craig’s list and ePay. —louis PS: one trick I have learned on eBay is to try to think of different ways of calling the same item and searching. Sometimes you stumble across gems that way that no one else has noticed.
i find guide, & king bee lights at auctions. The last pair of king bees i found, had already been bought up by the scrapper. He had already purchased a quarter of a million dollars worth of tractor scrap at a farm auction. I saw the bees in the pile, & he said $10 for the pair. The last great craigslist deal... a pair of old chrome ford backing plates, with wheel cyls., & brakes already installed. The guy said they were old heavy ford truck in the ad, they were actually 41-48 passenger car pieces
take a road trip and travel around in the country and see what you find. try to travel around old farm settings. depending on what you see that catches your attention, I sometimes go home and come back in my rusted out jeep and see if the items and vehicles are available. I rarely pull up in my roadster or one of my toys or even my new pickup because I learned the prices go up then if they think you have money but when I show up in my rusted out jeep the prices seem more reasonable like they feel sorry for me driving such a beater. Go to lots of farm and estate auctions. it is amazing what shows up at them that are not advertised and quite often at a farm auction the selling prices are cheap on old car parts. storage auctions are another good deal at times seeing they are getting back to normal prices again after so many got burnt by watching those shows and realized it isn't as easy as they make it look on tv. the crazy high bidders seem to be gone for now. bad part is you do need to gamble a little on what else is in the unit when you see that old radiator grill in the corner but not knowing what else is in there but hey for $50 I spent more than that at the casino and came home empty handed but here you have a whole unit to clean out and the grill was worth it alone already, so why not? if you are patience, yes you can watch ebay. you need to catch the items at the right time though. it is usually good place to sell the stuff you don't need that you get at farm or storage auction and then you will have the extra funds for higher price goods if you are in a hurry. farm auction last fall I was the only bidder on a '35 ford spare tire ring and got it for the opening bid of $5 (not advertised) and sold it on ebay for nice money after the auction ended on it. didn't need it and no one else wanted it at the farm auction so why not invest the $5 into it? I have multiple cars being built at once but only because I am cheap myself at buying parts I need for them. So many will build one car at a time and will spend big bucks to get certain pieces NOW so they can keep moving on the project and before they know it have a small or large fortune in it. But with multiple builds going I wait til I get the parts at my price and just move around on the different projects. con is I never am sure what project is going to get done first because I never know when I will stumble on the right parts to finish them, some might never get done because I will run out of time myself and you need the extra space to have many projects going. but the bright side is I always do have something done and different to drive, never get bored with a project because I can move to another and I have less in my cars than a lot of people have in one car because they wanted that car done now. Already mentioned clist is good to but you need the cash and act fast because good deals don't sit very long on there. You don't have time to go to the bank in the morning, sometimes very good deals only last a few minutes before they are gone. might get lucky and see it still listed a few hours later. but if you only look once a week I can see why people will think only overpriced cars and parts get listed over and over again and think there are no deals on there. the good stuff was gone 15 minutes after being posted so you need to search multiples times every day. actually that is true for any website you want to search on, the deals are not going to wait for just you. ok, enough rambling off to look at stuff I don't need.
I posted this on the swap meet topic, but came across this grill on CL yesterday for what I considered a screaming deal, a older not Drake but well built repro grill for $100. It was badly listed and I found the ad just after it was posted
I have always tracked actual costs on my builds for the last 35 years or so. Not too much different than it's always been. Everything costs more than you think it should and money doesn't go as far as you think it should either. Still find good stuff on CL, I quit using EPAY years ago. Swap meets around here are getting thinner and prices higher. It's honestly almost to the point of just buying new and not spending the time and money running around looking. When you can order a complete 1955 Chevy from Danchuk, and every part to go on it, why should I go to swap meets and pick thru rusty junk so I can spend more on repairs to use it. Stuff is there, it's just getting tighter. I'm to the point in life I can't (won't) spend year after year shopping for that elusive part to do a build. I've survived cancer, heart issues and 40 years of marriage. Now I just order what I want when I can find it. Old is cool, and sometimes it's absolutely needed for the build and then I'll shop. Otherwise, I've become a catalog/internet buyer for my cars. Swap meets are mostly for friendship these days, CL gives me something to do when I'm bored. SPark
I have a big 'ol manila envelope with almost all my parts receipts in it. But there ain't now way I'm going to look at them and total them up until the entire build is done. And Mrs Rocky doesn't need to see them either! I buy a lot of parts from the HAMB classifieds, some from Craigs list and with Speedway motors only 48 miles from me I use them too, along with Summit and occasionally, Jegs.. I even save my receipts for welding gas, metal, etc etc.
When I built my '32 coupe in the early '80s the local swap meets were the place to find needed parts. Pomona and Long Beach always had a great selection of early Ford sheet metal and parts. Things have changed since then. I recently went to both the Pomona and Long Beach events and although there were some deals most parts were way over priced. 9" rear axles were ridiculously priced, may as well buy a new unit from Quick Time. Also the amount of junk far outnumbered the good stuff. It's evolution, things change.
Ebay is the easy way out, expect to pay more if thats where your shopping to build your hot rod. It takes a bit of patience, being resourceful, searching and networking but parts can still be had at decent prices if you stay looking and stay ready to buy em when you see em. Sent from my SM-J727T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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