One of the problems with age I'm 75 is people ask about a part and you say that should not be to hard to find. We need to remember it has been almost 20 years sence a small block chevy,ford or mopar has been a production car or truck. Chevy produced millions of the 235 family but the last one in a pickup 1963 , FE ford 76 first generation GM V8s ended around 65. Time gets away. Hamb cars are at least 56 yr. old. I remember looking for model T parts in the 60s when they were only 40 yr. old.
Lol Very true , I was looking for a distributor cap for a forklift with a 4.3 had the old style cap, went into a parts place asking for it and got a “ Good luck” gm hasent used that since 1994 !
I can relate to that. You would think that something that was as common as a plain standard Chevrolet steel wheel would be easy to find. But not around here. I looked for months for them. Most of what I could find were pickup truck wheels. If you have any, hold on to them, they are getting scarce.
56Don, I was just thinking about that yesterday on the wheels!! I was about to get rid of some 14 in chevy wheels and thought, better not! The older chevy 15's are real hard to find here. Lippy
Last time I went to the local pick a part, thought I would just dash in with my sidecutters and nip off a wire connector from some simple Mopar ballast resistor and came away empty handed. It's that Rip Van Winkle syndrome.
Last time I went to the local pick a part, thought I would just dash in with my sidecutters and nip off a wire connector from some simple Mopar ballast resistor and came away empty handed. It's that Rip Van Winkle syndrome.
Future plans call for a C4 transmission, so I've been halfway looking at pullapart listings, craigslist, fb. Nothing. Talked to a guy a bit younger yesterday about the 69 Pontiac he just bought. I told him it's funny and sad that a car that age doesn't seem that old to me.... until I do the math.. Damn, I'm getting old.
It's a big part of why I get excited to find a certain part I'd been hunting for. The next on my list is a decent (better than I have) 1931 A grill shell. They're "rare" compared to 1930 shells with only 600-or-so thousand made. I missed out on a superb one, yesterday, for peanuts but I don't get down. Rather, it just amps up excitement when I get a lead on the next one.
Just think.... a 1970 vehicle is 50 years old now. Let that sink in. Wow..... that means I have a 50 year class reunion coming up next year. But, I will miss it like all the others. Too far to drive from Texas to SoCal for a 3 hr dinner party..... LOL
I recently cleaned out a rental unit and found 6 - 14" rally wheels, They need sandblasting and painting but I figure someone might want them so I didn't take them to the scrapper. HRP
Naw, you should go. I had a better time with those old folks than I did when I was in high school. Had my 50th high school and 30th vet school reunion the same year, but, curiously, my 50th college reunion isn't until next year. The worst reunion story I know of is my college's class before me-the Class of 1970. In 1970, their graduation was cancelled because of the unrest after Kent State occurred. In 2020, their 50th reunion was cancelled because of Covid-19. Tough times.
I was looking for an original engine turned Stewart Warner straight five panel for about a year before I found one. Everyone I talked to said "that shouldn't be hard to find," but nobody actually had one. Finally found one from a boat guy.
I can't believe how hard it is to find a matching set of stock Mopar steel wheels! Or when I had to wait a couple of days for Napa to have a small block Mopar fuel pump delivered from a store in Seattle to NW Oregon. The times, they are a changing!
I can remember you used to see Pintos, Vegas and VWs everywhere in the '70s. In the '80s it was Escorts, Cavaliers, and K-cars. In the '90s it was minivans. They made millions of these cars, but you don't see any of them now. Kind of the automotive version of the theory of evolution.
I`d trade a nice set of 15s for a nice set of 14s, but todays shipping would be a killer. Recently was told my 2000 gmc fuel pump was not offered anymore...bs
Ha! I ran into this 20 years ago, my son started on his '54 chevy and started looking for a cheap small block, thought it would be easy... no so easy. mind you, he was 15 at the time and we did not want to spend much. It worked out though, we found one for $150 or so and he drove it up until about two years ago. Time for a rebuild.
When you walk through a junk yard and see nothing relevant to what you’re looking for and an old car there is from 1995. Realize things such as 200r4 trans was last made in 1987, 33 years ago. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I still think a 90’s car is “new”. When I built the suspension for my ‘36 I had everything setup for 5 x 4.5BP wheels. Like a few posts here have mentioned, you’re not tripping over them anymore I think of all the engines I’ve scrapped over the years because good runners were cheap and plentiful. Can’t even stub my toe on them now days. The time are not “a changing”. They’ve changed.
funny how time works. bought a 1949 Chevrolet in 1976. it was an old car then, but I used to still see them on the road as regular cars, the car was only 27 years old at the time.... not even allowed in NSRA shows. funny how I never considered the 27 year old S-10 I just retired with 200 K an old car. maybe some 16 year old might.
well, in a few years cow farts and automobiles will be banned. lets just have fun while we still can.
look around at the stop light , you won't even see a car with a steel bumper anymore. Much less 14 inch tires
Ha ha. As I shop teacher, I get tickled when one of my students gets excited about finding an old ride. Like a fox body or square body. One was excited about driving his old truck, an early 90s 1500. I guess it’s just how it is. I remember my uncle in 1989 trying to explain to a teenage me that his 67 f100 wasn’t an “old truck” And yep, pickins is slim in the junk yard. The local parts place just ordered me a fuel pump for an SBC. That’s funny.
I needed 15 inch.....(hen's teeth). But I modified my car so that the wheels I got would fit so I no longer need any.
You want to add insult to injury? You got 14 inch wheels? TRY BUYING TIRES FOR THEM! I've stopped building, because it is just getting too hard to find stuff, got a junkyard near you? Treasure it, because they don't exist two hours from me, want a rad hose? Every parts store had two hundred hanging from the ceiling, go in a parts store now and you won't find one, never mind two hundred that used to be there. Parts I don't think are old are in fact, ancient, I have to replace the front bushings in my rear leaf springs on my 36, they are 77 pinto, tomorrow I'm going to run to the coast to a plastics place that had to make me a 3" diameter by 12 inch long 90 durometer plastic rod so I can machine the bushings that I can't find anywhere. $150, and two and a half hour drive each way to get it. It is literally becoming too tough to find regular hot rod parts, small block chev's, rad hoses, rear ends, simple three speed auto trannies, simple 4 gear trannies, wheels, tires, even steel is getting expensive, nobody has stuff laying around anymore in our "recyclable" society. Even us guys that hoard stuff won't let it go, I got quite a selection of wheels, but where do I find them if I sell mine? I'm not ranting, even though it sounds like it, I just think the days of us rod builders who build from junkyards, our days are numbered.
When i was in high school i had a 69 camaro, it was an old classic car, my work truck is older now than the camaro was then.
Try getting simple work done anymore. This summer i needed some rotors turned and bearings pressed on axles. I called all the local places but no one could do the work. I finally found a place 45 minutes away and paid way more than i thought it would cost.
Ok not part related but tool related. I needed a drill with a 1/2” chuck and corded ( drilling hard steel 15/16 bit so need some oomph. fastenal, ,brafasco , granger and a local place try hard ..... nothing Home Depot had only ryobi and some other junk. 1/2 a day ended up a a local private builder supply and found a dewalt contractor grade drill. really?!?! An electric drill is a rare item ?!?!?
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