I've got three sheds full of stuff that I have to go through when I get my shop up and sealed in.. Some of that stuff in one I hauled from Texas in 1977 tucked in a corner of the U haul trailer behind my 48 even though I left a small shed full of parts there for the new owner of the house to sell off or give away. If you lived in Central Texas in 1977 and got some AD truck rear fenders from a guy who lived on Bowie street in McGregor you know where they came from now. When the shop gets done there will be a shelf and a cabinet for each current ongoing project in it. All the designated parts go in the proper place and all of the "some day" stuff gets sorted because "some day" has arrived. I'll haul what might sell to two area swap meets and then after the second one straight over the scales. The old grain shed a lot of stuff is in is starting to fall apart and might be better off taken apart and advertised as "rustic barn wood" one of the other sheds is supposed to be the wood shed to store firewood in and after a new roof will do just that.
If you got the room and no problems from the authorities and the wife don't care. Why not? My hoard is not a problem to me. And I simply don't care about the opinions & wishes and wants of those who have ought naught to do with it.
I’ll admit that I too have made a few trips to the scrap yard. However; if it is car parts it has to be something from the smog years and later. There has been the occasional tri5 Chevy part but it’s when they are not worth saving. Oh and automatics, automatic go to the scrap!! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I make my living buying and selling old car stuff, so I really do appreciate the guys who saved stuff for all those years, if it weren't for them, there'd be very little left for us builders to play with. I will say, people tend to save a lot of common, worthless shit, and throw away or scrap a lot of really valuable stuff. A few minutes of internet searching before you dump something is a great idea, you'd be surprised at what is valuable (and you'll feel better junking shit when you know it's worth little or nothing). The hard reality is, though, that selling stuff requires the seller to make it super convenient for the buyer. Easy payment methods, delivery to their door, having things available for a long time until a buyer comes around needing that part. VERY few buyers will travel more than 45 minutes to pick things up in person, or buy things they don't immediately need. Adding that convenience/instant gratification to a part has made me a lot of money.
I saw an old (early 60s?) Thunder bird headed to the scrap yard today. It was under a pre war complete rolling Chevy chassis with a 275 gallon oil tank on top. Going to Reeds on 82 if anyone wants it. It will be fresh in the morning
Back in the 70's my dad got tired of my extra parts taking up a section of the garage storage cabinets. He loaded them into his pickup one morning and drove off to our property that was several miles away. He used his D6 Allis-Chalmers he kept there to bury them. A few months later he flattened an OT wagon I kept over there that I stripped of everything. My dad had the biggest grin while drove over that car with the tractor. He also buried it with the same tractor. All that stuff is still buried there.
One time I needed a rear glass for a 55 chevy wagon. I remembered where a wagon was at. I had spotted it when I was buying a horse. So I went there. The old guy remembered me from when I bought his sons horse. Where the wagon had been setting the trees had been bulldozed and a new pond built. I asked about the wagon. The guy stated that people had been stealing parts from it. So after they bulldozed and piled the trees he had the dozer man push the 55 up on top of the pile. Then burned the pile and buried the stumps and what was left of the 55. The old geezer gleefully stated they wont steal any more parts from it now!
I make a valiant effort to find someone to give a good part (s) to. I hate to junk stuff if someone can use it. I also hate to sell to someone who I know will just resell them Jim
How come? I ask because this is essentially what I do for a living. I want to make it clear that all the people I'm buying from know that I buy to resell (no sob stories about really needing this or that) and I have met many people who feel the same way as you. And I mean that not in a judgemental way, I'm genuinely curious.
back in the late 90's after building a '54 Chevy with my son, we had to get rid of the old drive train, 6 cyl. with 3 speed and rear axle. I loaded it up in the back of my '46 international and took it all to a Chevy car show. I don't know how many '53-'54 Chevys were all in a row but I asked each one if they needed any parts or the whole load. Only one guy said he would take the motor .... if I delivered it to his place. So I agreed and we exchanged numbers. Turns out that now I needed to come up with a way to remove it from the truck..... Now I thought it was asking too much for me to load up a hoist also, so I said we could just push it off onto a tire or two. ..... No good! ended up at the scrap yard.
Tried to figure out a way to thank you publicly for the 215 and I think this is the best way. When my 21 year old grandson and I came to pick up the motor and tranny, you were gracious enough to answer his questions and show us your projects. In doing so, you made him interested enough in what we do that he and I had the first really good conversation in a long time on the way home. I can use that 215 to show him how engines work and how all the driveline interacts. If he is interested enough, and he seems to be, we'll look for something that he might want to use it in. In that case, he will be able to say, when it's done, " My Grandpa and I built that ". So, thank you for this opportunity. It's greatly appreciated.
I never understood that thought process. If I want to get rid of something and someone wants it, God Bless em if they make a couple bucks.
Yes I am the same. I like to be able to buy stuff at a good enough bargain that I can sell to the next guy and he gets a good enough deal that if he desires he can sell at a fair profit. My hoard is my retirement. others have a 401 K or a pension. Ive got stuff? I get most of my stuff from estate auctions. After I sell something its no longer mine the new owner has my blessing to do whatever they want.
Earlier this Fall I started purging all my stuff(junk) so that I can sheet & heat my garage. We have been in this house for 20+ years, the garage is 18 years old & was never finished. I was blown away by the amount of stuff(junk) that I have accumulated(been back in the hobby for about 8 years). My good friends were the recipient of any of the usable stuff that I didn't need. The rest of my stuff was stored in Rubbermaid totes. Now that the shop nears completion I will have to go through the totes & do a final purge. I am going to start on my Shoebox project & I fear that I will fill the garage back up. Sure hope I didn't give anything away that I am going to need.
I am in the middle of a new project using scrape parts. Had two later model f-100 31 spline axels that I advertised for over a year for $50. with no offers. Have a belt sander and bench grinder sitting on my work bench taking up space so decided to bolt the axels to a pair of ford rims , weld ford flathead flywheels nobody wanted to the bottom of the rims for weight, and weld steel pads on top to mount the belt sander on one and bench grinder on the other. Now I can store them against the wall and roll them out when I need to use them.
Hey you So Cal guys, you know that good 60" wide rear end you have in your shop that you've been saving but you're tired of tripping over and will probably never use? Yeah, well let me know when you're ready to scrap it and I'll be over with a little cash and some beer. 8", 9", 10-bolt, I ain't picky. Whatcha got?
What I do not like is when someone tells me they really need the part so I sell it for sometimes less then I have in it and then they sell it and I end up needing it the next week.
Where t-f- is 'Menifee'??? I had a drill instructor that told us (a whole USMC company) that we were 'shitbirds from' Menifee', or was it...'Yamisee'?) You must be near Paso Robles. Which sax? I play Alto & Soprano...
To be honest,my yearly scrap run consists of broken parts and the common roughage that really only has scrap value. I trade it in at a junkyard for cool stuff. A load of cast iron brake drums,non-overdrive transmissions,70's-80's water pumps and intakes will get me a 3-4 old dash clusters from the 50's and a few carburetors. Stuff I can't sell for items that do sell.
Oh that’s funny man! Menifee is in Riverside county. Quite a ways from Paso Robles. Cool, I had no idea you were a horn player too. I play Tenor and Alto. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Took me 3 hrs to load, travel, unload get paid and travel back. Paid 85.00 but cost me $120 not doing something else. That's $35 in the hole then there's truck trailer and fuel. It don't pay to scrap stuff
Occasionally we have school fund raiser scrap drives, which is a good opportunity to get rid of some junk. At the last one near me an older fellow drove up in a Toyota pickup and started unloading old Jaguar aluminum six cylinder engine parts, happily of no interest to me. If you see something you want in their pile, they are fine with you taking it for a reasonable cash donation as well.
man. i have to go thru all this stuff. (and also a packed garage.) hopefully sell most but it’s all gotta go.
I saved an entire roof from a 49-52 Plymouth Suburban shell I parted out...tried to give it away, nobody wanted it. I ended up scrapping it and felt guilty doing so.
Can't get myself to trash anything. Can hardly walk through my shop (4000 sq ft). Just got four sections of pallet racks; still sitting on my trailer while I try to figure out how to clear enough space to erect them. Saving all kinds of stuff I might need for Project No. 53 (+/-). Have boxes on shelves with labels like "Tubing Too Short to Use", "Bent Push Rods", "Leaky Water Pumps", "Bolts with Stripped Threads".
A funny story from a friend of mine. He had cleaned up his shop, and as he was sorting he would put obvious useless bits of metal like a foot of bent fuel line, damaged bolts and the like in the trunk of a car that was going to the junk. Several times over the next couple weeks as he was working on stuff he needed a bit of material or what not, and he remembered there being just the thing to use, which he retrieved from the pile of utterly useless junk in the scrap car.
Like Squirrel. a few years back I tossed around 12 tons of scrap..maybe 1/2 was automobile related. I still have more to toss (mostly scrap). I don't miss one part..I do miss some of the iron I tossed tho. So if you need a few FH stock intakes, etc..or some FE brackets, etc, or?...best PM me and save them...then YOU can trip over them for the next 20 years. Heck, with the price of scrap..some stuff even goes in the garbage can on Monday night.
I have tried to save or rehome parts, but ultimately, one mans treasure tends to be,or revert back to another mans junk.
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