Another Reminder of Why You Don't Need All Those Spares.

My name is Tom and I shall rescue orphan car parts.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

I was happy to have a huge hoard of calipers for my rx7 because I needed to go through six different calipers to get a pair with bleeders that opened and pistons that weren't corroded.

You only don't need it until you do, and throwing money at the problem won't help if new or reman parts are not available at any price.

 

That's where I am with C900 stuff. Some parts for the earlier cars have been gone for years, so I have a few parts cars (and the remnants of a few part outs) to keep my fleet on the road for the rest of my life. Enough is enough though, so when someone needs parts, they usually get them cheap or free so I can keep more of these things on the road.

Tom1200 said:

My name is Tom and I shall rescue orphan car parts.

That's more like it. I was beginning to feel un-enabled. 

My name is Larry. I have a lot of spares . . . but it is not a problem.

A quick plug that eBay is an amazing solution to this problem. I am a long way from being "fixed", but I made a Tupperware box with spares I would realistically need for fdat (what would I be fixing at the track, and what would I actually carry to the track). Then I started listing and selling the rest. Then I grabbed a few other parts hanging around my shop I know I'll never use, and listed those too.

I'm up $1000+ since October and this is all stuff I was never going to use. I'll tell you what I will use - $1000!

Next I'll have to do the same process for red the x1/9, as I currently have WAY too many x1/9 "spares".

have a guy coming to buy 90% of my europa parts this weekend, feels like I'm transferring a curse from me to him 

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

I refer to this as "storing parts on eBay," as in the money you make selling the parts can just be turned back into parts far more readily than the parts are turned into money. If you're not using it now, turn it into money, money will always buy parts later.

VERY few of us actually own cars rare enough for that not to work. Maybe johnnybquick with his Mosler would have trouble with it, but not most of the rest of us.

dculberson said:

VERY few of us actually own cars rare enough for that not to work. Maybe johnnybquick with his Mosler would have trouble with it, but not most of the rest of us.

I don't think it's that rare, I think for most cars from the early '90s and before the money would not buy parts later...or not in the same amount, at best.

That said I don't think I have more than one set of spares of anything, and there are very few things I would have any interest in keeping more than one set of.

For the 1200 I have a extra set of fenders, doors and a hood. I also have an extra set of wheels because it's a race car. If I wasn't racing it I would not have that stuff.

I've sold a lot on eBay and Craigslist- it just tires me out with the process.  I sold a 5-speed Datsun trans - I made a wooden box - these days if it doesn't easily sell I give it to the scrap guy.  
 

I had four Datsun Kangaroo WW bags and one was in mint condition- three had electric pumps so I tell my wife I'll do well with these.  After shipping and commissions and fees I netted $10.  Whoo hoo.  

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

Anymore if it doesn't clear $100 I will give it away.

I have reached a point in life where I no longer need to scratch together an extra $200 dollars to afford racing.

I now have more budget then races I can attend.

GameboyRMH said:

dculberson said:

VERY few of us actually own cars rare enough for that not to work. Maybe johnnybquick with his Mosler would have trouble with it, but not most of the rest of us.

I don't think it's that rare, I think for most cars from the early '90s and before the money would not buy parts later...or not in the same amount, at best.

That said I don't think I have more than one set of spares of anything, and there are very few things I would have any interest in keeping more than one set of.

Yeah of course it's not 100% efficient, but all storage has a cost. 

Many parts have a shelf life too, like anything with rubber involved. So sometimes selling now and buying back in 10 years when you need it means you don't waste time installing a clutch master cylinder that has sat on the bench too long and no longer works.

I really like the "eBay storage" idea. That mindset also helps me let go of stuff that "I could use but am not planning to immediately".

dculberson said:

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

I refer to this as "storing parts on eBay," as in the money you make selling the parts can just be turned back into parts far more readily than the parts are turned into money. If you're not using it now, turn it into money, money will always buy parts later.

VERY few of us actually own cars rare enough for that not to work. Maybe johnnybquick with his Mosler would have trouble with it, but not most of the rest of us.

Hi I have a series two S60R and I need a steering rack and a SUM and a DEM and a trailer lights module and it'd be nice to find a stock torque converter...

None of this is easily found... there are some SUMs but they are all rusty so no guarantee that they are any good.

In hindsight, literally all of my cars are made of very difficult to find parts.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Parts availability is 90% of the reason I am buying a Foxbody Mustang.

There will be no need to keep parts on hand.

Tom1200 said:

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Parts availability is 90% of the reason I am buying a Foxbody Mustang.

There will be no need to keep parts on hand.

I tell myself I should get something common and less than ten years old.

A month or so ago I was about to pull the trigger on a three year old Mazda.... a rare turbo all wheel drive Mazda 3.  There was one for sale at a dealership only 50 miles away.

You can take the guy out of the unicorn but he jumps right into another one I guess.

"I can't throw this away. Someone might need it someday."

Sooooooo bringing this back because I was organizing the trailer and cleaning the garage.

I had a draw full of radiator hose remnants for those just in case moments. While pulling things out of the van to put in the trailer I found a brand new set of houses........I dumped the contents of the draw in the bin.

I now have a near place for my bicycle spares that were previously in a bag hanging on the wall.

I also pitched several other parts from the spares cabinet; B level stuff from the F500. 

I now have my Yeti cooler and a small space heater in the cabinetvwhich frees up even more space.

I know longer need to shuffle past the back of the Datsun.

The only task left now is the 3 shoebox size containers full of miscellaneous nuts and bolts.

That will free up another two drawers which will clear up the last of the counter space.

I pitched the perfectly good X5 headlights and xenon things attached to them last night.   There are still two driveshafts in my garage, 08GT with 28k miles on it, but I did scrap the complete suspension that also had 28k on it.   I have a whole shelf of mufflers and exhaust parts.   My next goal is a wooden box on top of the steelcase cabinet, it has to go.

Who needs an aluminum aftermarket round port Lima intake?

Good work, let's keep this motivation going.

A few years ago, during the pandemic, I gave a bunch of wishbone Honda parts to a friend. It hurt a little but freeing up space (physical and mental) was worth it. 

akylekoz said:

Who needs an aluminum aftermarket round port Lima intake?

No thanks I still have 4 of them. Plus I think I have a Racer Walsh 2 or 4 barrel adapter and the offenhauser 4bbl intake and 390cfm carb....

In reply to Ranger50 :

I have some parts hanging on the wall because they are cool to look at.

I couldn't bear to throw them out, since I viewed them as works of art I simply put them on display. 

It depends on the car somewhat too I think, I know someone who likes MK2 Volkswagens and I kept telling him to hoard the parts from the numerous GTIs Jetta GLIs, etc that were always in the junkyard, now the parts are gone and it's insanely expensive to even get basic trim pieces that aren't broken.

In reply to Ranger50 :

Did you get those from me?

In reply to akylekoz :

No I did not. 😊

Reviving this thread....

So we are going through our house, cleaning up a little and simplifying.  Much after dealing with parents...

In the process in seeing how to dispose of stuff, we have figured out that most of our "collectibles" are pretty worthless.  I had a baseball card collection from ~1990- called a local card seller, and he wasn't interested in any of them.  I suppose I could have sold them on e-bay, but that's just a pain.

Then we looked into our car books.  Thankfully, the "collection" was to just enjoy them, as looking into to selling them gives us the exact same answer- they are generally worthless.  So they are going to be given away.

The point being- people collect stuff, and then think they will make a mint in the future with their stuff.  Thanks to shows on TV and whatnot, we keep this grand idea.  For almost all stuff, it's not true.  If you think it's worth something, look into selling it, especially to people who sell the same stuff- if they are not willing to buy it, what makes you think someone else will be willing to pay more for it?

Anyway, better now than when we die and someone else has to deal with it with a massive garbage bin.

In reply to alfadriver :

I think this thread should be revived about every 6 months because as a group we need to be reminded.

We are redoing the kitchen and I was going to use a couple of the old cabinets in the garage. I only used one. I've cleared out so much stuff I no longer need all that cabinet space.