Hot Rods Price of original parts, just venting

Oh, now I understand! HRP had me cornfused. Still it's our shit and we can let it rust if we want. As I wrote before some of us have other commitments and not enough money to throw at these hobbys. But that doesn't mean we don't have dreams and want a special car to drive and enjoy. Some of us do keep our shit just for sentimental value. That's better than scrapping it or selling to someone who will screw it up.
As for this statement............. "If you can't afford a top notch 32, and instead build what you can afford, then you're not worthy." WTF? I guess that means the average working stiff is not worthy! I saw some nice looking 32 Fords on some threads that guys could afford yet weren't top notch.
In fact I will go so far as to piss some guys off saying if it's fiberglass it ain't top notch according to the above statement.
This is turning into a pissing match and piss will cause entropy to speed up. All this because of one over priced 32 Ford grille. Or was it really overpriced?

 

A Picasso , hanging on a wall doing nothing ...not forsale or not being sold has no value.... Got it .... Ok now lets say the Picasso in private collection "not for sale " is now stolen .... Still has no value?.... No transaction was made ?

 

No, if it is on display, it has artistic value.

If it is on display in a museum that charges admission, it has quantifiable monetary value.

In a private collection, no value.

A theft is a transaction, albeit forced, but this is a specious example, as no viable economic system is predicated on theft.

 

Thread
Walking and watching the patina grow....

Here is a thread about a local friend of mine with lots of parts and some cars, very reasonable, most stuff 1/3 or less of the going rate. I live in so Oregon so I/he are about in the middle between San Francisco and Portland, approx. 3 1/2 hours, only one person has inquired about the parts and cars?

 

I 'm lost , but I can say I know a lot of guys who rather look at a 32 grill hangin on their wall than a Picasso ...

I like 32-34 stuff , I could never afford anything nice so I fixed every twisted messed up door, grill shell I could afford... And i hunted .... my wages are probably 50% of the people complaining about hoarders and what stuff cost..

It appears there are perfectionist that want nice stuff for scrap price ,like we should have hotrod welfare or something...

Buy what you can afford... If you can't afford lobster on a Burger King budget , learn to cook I guess...?

 

Everything being equal,the Hamb has brought us together,from the old greybeards like myself that have been around the hobby most of our lives to the young gun how is full of enthusiasm but lacks the experience.

What you say about clubs in your area may be true it doesn't reflect the vast majority of the guys here.

I have been a member of the oldest continuous car club in state of South Carolina and will readily admit that our membership is comprised of 50 year and older guys but when we started the club we were in our 20's.

The younger guys are more into the cars that were our daily drivers in the 70's. HRP

 

This thread and these discussions started when one member thought a 32 Ford grill was over priced. Most likely he is right. But not owning a 32 Ford I don't know and don't care. That could all change if a rich uncle leaves me a mint 32 Ford with a missing grille.
The point is it brought us together to discuss the issue in many ways. Who cares who is right or wrong? As far as a Picasso painting, my kids took pictures while doing their museum tour. The nearest I got to a Picasso were the pictures my son sent me. Like the other member I'd rather walk in your house and stare at a 32 Ford grill hanging on the wall. And I could spend all day looking at your garage full of car junk. I've got a 31 Ford grille you can look at.
Several of my old friends have sheds and buildings full of parts they will never use. But everytime I visit we go out and play with the rusty parts.
There is no monitary value on those friends or their car parts. Still it's fun knowing they are all still there.
My young son got a SHARP aluminum flathead two carb intake from one old fart just for crawling under his house to do some work. This was from a guy who won't sell anything. Old guys are strange and unpredicable.

 

Dad had a little 3 wheeled Daihatsu industrial truck, about the size of a Cushman, made around 67. Bought it at a plant closing auction in the early 70's for $50 in road legal and driving condition.

Every so often someone would wander in at out shop wanting to buy it. If he said $500, they'd offer $300 and he'd walk away and leave them standing there. If he said $800, they'd offer $400 with the same results. Eventually he'd just tell anyone who asked that it wasn't for sale.

About 10 yrs ago this guy comes in and asks about it. Wants to know if he can look at it, and Dad says sure, but its not for sale. He comes back in about 10 minutes later and asks if he's sure its not for sale. Dad says yeah, he's sure. So the man hands him his business card and says Well, if you change your mind, and $2000 will buy it, please give me a call.

Dad says Uhhh... do you want to take it with you now or come back and get it later? The man breaks into a big grin and says he'll have to come back the next day with his rollback and get it, but he's got the money in his pocket and will pay for it now. Dad tells him he's got the title for it at his house, and will bring it to the shop the next day.

When he returned to get the truck, he brought along several pics of other industrial trucks he'd bought and restored for his collection. He said he'd heard a rumor about 5 years earlier that there was a Daihatsu somewhere in the part of town where our shop is located, and that he'd probably stopped at 50 different places in the area during that time to see if he might find it. Nothing past our front gate is visible from the road, and he'd just driven in that day to ask, assuming it would be another dead end.

I'd suspect that there's more than a few others around with the same attitude as my Dad. Don't need the money, and get tired of wasting time with lowballers, so they eventually just tell anyone who asks that it ain't for sale. But that doesn't mean that an attractive offer won't get their attention if its something they really don't have any plans to use.

 

a huge part of the pricing problem is the so called "value" of currency...

If you find a pre-1965 US silver dime under the back seat of your old car....it's wholesale value in modern US currency is $ 1 . 50 . Now grab a modern dime to see that is looks the same....

So, you have two US dimes, one is backed by something that has real value, and one is worth almost nothing.


no sense in trading in your spare parts for fake value, unless you need the money right now.
.

 

Didn't mean to turn this into a pissing match. No right or wrong on this topic..as I said only venting.

 

C'mon out to SoCal, and you will definitely find a fair share of clubs like I mentioned. Being a Southerner, 'twas quite a shock. But I ain't tryin to get into the finer points of being Southern

I love hanging out with old timers. The person I hang out with most and go out and cause trouble is a rodder twice my age!

I've come to look at this thread as a "public service announcement".

 

For me...back to the op, complaining about the cost of parts and building, I realised years ago that a 32 or a 33-34 was out of my league. So...I just finished a 28 Chrysler three window, put it on a 28 chev truck frame, made all the crossmembers, mounts and related items out of steel stock, all the patch panels from sheet metal stock, used a new So-Cal axle and spring, junkyard vega box, a 10 bolt rear from a 66 chevelle, a junk 350-350 combo, that actually runs pretty nice, don't smoke, and best of all don't got a lot of money in it.
I think the young guys of today have forgotten the meaning of hot rodding, its not about having the period model a, or a 32, its about......run what ya brung. If you can't find what you need, learn how to make it.

 

Some of us have been pissing and moaning but overall we've had some fun, killed some time, voiced our opinions, and maybe learned a thing or three.

 

It's OK. Lots of venting going on and I've got plenty of popcorn.

 

Now I'm really pissed. You didn't share it! I'm keeping my beer.

 

He would probably want more than market value for it, anyway! [emoji23]

 

yep, just like the movies, $10 for $1 worth of popcorn. Any takers??

 

Now I'm getting hungry. Good thing you can't pipe the smell thru our monitors like the theaters do.

 

Yeah, now I really feel like some popcorn, the old fashioned way, shaking a pot on the stove.

 

Just get to know the heirs and either be at the estate auction ot be the guy who buys the contents of the barn and cleans it out. Even if you have to hire help to get it done.

My $40 pile also has a Hurst Chevy saddle mount in it. I see one of those sold for $90 on eBay recently.

 

He has none that I am aware of.

 

If you have a Picasso hanging on your wall, it likely is appreciating. Or increasing in value. Much like tech stocks and San Francisco real estate. Old car parts may do the same. Old car guys, however, are not becoming more valuable. Ask me.

 

It's been fun watching the show and one hell of a lot cheaper than the movies!

 

In other news, I drove my '47 a couple hundred miles yesterday, joining 30 other gearheads from at least four states on the inaugural Blacktop 150 hosted by the Rollin' Relics of Northwest Arkansas. Nobody asked anyone else how much they paid for their car, or how much they paid for parts, or looked down on anyone for any reason. Just a bunch of people who love driving their hot rods and customs. The smoked ribs at the end of the run were awesome, too.

 

YES - they are horded away.....in several large warehouses.

- $1800 is cheap, last one I saw sold for $2500....and it was only 10 years ago that I walked
past nice ones for $600 and passed them up at swap meets.

As others have said...., I have walked through rainstorms, hail, mud, the dark , the cold and fog at 5AM, traveled across this country to obscure and large swap meets to find the parts I have collected. There is a price to pay for everything. I have left a swap at 11 AM, (after being there for hours) and I have seen the hordes of people coming in at that time. I have often wondered , "what the hell they think they are going to find at that time of the day."

 

Well, if they're anything like me, they roll in on the last day of the show, final hours, and get some great deals. I got a one year only 53 merc cast bell housing with a t5 mod plate already fitted for $30....or the perfect T hood marked down to $20 from $200!