Hot Rods 50 Vintage 1, 2, and 4bbl Carbs for $500 - Trash or Treasure?

So I was perusing FBMP this morning and saw and ad for a table full of carbs for $500. Owner is closing his shop and these were carbs that were removed from customer cars and tossed on the shelf. Most are in as-removed condition, but some are rebuilt. I got everything for $500 and he threw in 4 quarts of 0W20 and a few cans of brake cleaner.

I don't think I could p*** up this deal; I need a Holley 4160 for my '69 Bronco, and those are $538 at Summit. Figure I've got one of those in there somewhere. I'm also guessing that I'll find one OEM carb (Q-jet, Carter, Holley, or Autolite) that will be worth what I paid for the lot.

Now I need to spend a few hours unloading and figuring out what I have.

 

And this is how it starts.......

 

Where are the vintage carbs? I see a bunch of shiny aluminum carbs with red Edelbrock tags - definitely not vintage.

Either way, good score and welcome to the Fraternal Brotherhood of Part Hoarders!

 

now that you're in the carb business, i've got a hundred or so that i'll sell you for $250.

 

Weber, Roch quad (and B), Carters (4bbl and single). Good if you can unload some new ones for $500+ and keep the old good ones for yourself .

 

Great buy …… you’ll get your $$$ back in spades!

 

I only hoard original AFB's.

 

Certain Q-Jets are worth pretty good $$. One in particular that was brought to my attention was one off of the high performance 400 Pontiacs. That "number-matching" stuff is too rich for my blood.

Lynn

 

Autolite 4100s that are complete and free moving are getting both rare and pricey, especially the ones with 1.08 cast on the driver side front. Of course, you realize that you will now be labeled one of those evil "parts flippers", and may be brought up on charges.

 

I guess that 60-65 year old Autolite 4 bbls. don't count.

 

Mmmmm
autolite carbs

 

All those AFBs of different varieties are cake to "rebuild", and usually don't require any parts to do so. You can sell those Edelbrocks for $150 each easily once you've cleaned them up.....on the Quadrajets, check the list numbers and do a search, as someone else said the hipo stuff like off Buick GSs, GTOs, and 442s and such bring big money. Ford even used Quadrajets on 429 CJs (not SCJs), and those are quite rare.

 

At first glance I thought ya did bad

but when ya think about, if you know carbs, you should make a few $$$$s

recoup the cash on just a 2-4 of em

 

I would have grabbed that same deal myself. Get my money back, keep what I need, and be "generous" to my friends with the rest.

 

Ok, so I spent the last few hours unboxing, Googling, tagging, re-boxing, etc. As expected, there was one carb that will allow me to recoup much (all?) of my cost - a 7028211 that's correct for a 1968 manual trans 396 or 427 in a Camaro, Chevelle, or Corvette.

Ended up with about 45 carbs:

-11 Edelbrocks - 600, 650, 750 cfm.
-6 Carters - mostly 625 cfm. Nothing special.
-2 Autolite 4100's, one rebuilt. 2 other Autolites.
-2 Motorcraft 4bbl's - nothing special.
-3 Holleys - a 750 dp, a 750 vac sec, and a 650 Street Warrior.
-9 Rochesters, mostly Quadrajets.
-5 Solex/Bocar
-4 Weber/Empi

Figure the value is about $3,600 if I sell one at a time locally and on eBay, but I don't have the time or energy for that. I'll hang on to the 750 dp and giving the 750 vac sec to a buddy. As for the rest, I'll sell the valuable ones separately, package deal the less valuable ones, and likely toss the ones that have little value and don't sell.

 

It’s a sickness, I tell you! A sickness! And it’s incurable! But not fatal, nor even debilitating. But it’s a lifelong illness! You’re not going to get rid of it, and as for those carburetors, good haul.

Now to start your therapy, get out there and clean every single one of those carburetors up! Make them shiny or bronzy or whatever they were originally. Hop to it…

 

Curious why so many Edelbrocks were replaced. Other carbs are better? Maybe they just ran ****py. Or maybe a Hail Mary before the hook hauls it away-
Interesting.

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

I've read that many are 'right' out of the box. I've also read and experienced first hand that they tend too rich out of the box. I don't expect people here to have that be a deal breaker, but if Joe Normal paid full price for one and it fouled the plugs, got poor MPG and wouldn't p*** smog, he might swap for something else rather than invest more money in a strip kit.

 

Those Edelbrocks only last a year or two if you don't run Star-Tron or something in your tank.
It seems ethanol (10%-15%) reacts with the carb's alloys and gums up the low-speed idle circuit in no time...to the point that the air/fuel adjustment screws will adjust nothing.

 

Some people can’t take one out of the box correctly.

 

Dang, that was a good deal. What are you going to ask for the 650 Edelbrocks? I like those.

 

I have a bunch of 600 Edelbrocks but only one 650. If it's in good condition, I'll probably ask $100 or so.