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Gathering spares, just in case....

Kern Dog

Kern Dog

Life is full of turns. Build your car to handle.
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I'm starting to think that maybe I should start gathering spares of stuff that is getting hard to find.
Some stuff is reproduced for our cars but other stuff is not.
I worry that if my car gets in a front end collision, it might take awhile to gather the parts to put it back together.
I see that Classic Industries has these:

1713248229093.png


These have been available for awhile but I don't know anyone that has bought one. Nice originals could be bought for less, I'm guessing. I haven't actively shopped for a spare grille but I probably should. One bird or tree branch could take out the original one I have in the car...

IMG_E9394.JPG


In 2022, I saw these at Spring Fling....$650 for the black one, $800 for the other. They needed slight repair.

IMG_9328.JPG


I drove the car to the show and couldn't fit a grille in the car without risking damage.
Doors for the '70 interchange with the '69 and with some minor work, a '68 door can be made to work. Quarters are similar.
If you have a car where there are ample used parts still around, good for you! I put together a few Dusters and Darts awhile back and was lucky to have access to body panels, interior stuff, suspension and steering parts too.
If you have the space to store parts, what sort of spares do you think we enthusiasts should stock up on?
 
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I would save anything (Mopar), that I come across, even if it wasn't for my particular vehicle. Junk yards are going away in my area. My older brother used to say that you don't need to stock parts for a GM or Ford, just keep your eyes open and watch the parts fall off of them as they go by, lol!
 
I have been known to keep some spares on the shelf. If you have more than one of the same car,it's almost mandatory to do so. Nothing like having the parts you need on hand ,when building a car,or repairing a car that got damaged, because it does happen.

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As I posted in the "what if" thread earlier, I am lucky to have a spare grille and tail finish panel for my '69 GTX. Grille isn't reproduced, and tail panels haven't been available for awhile. Both are fragile parts, with high risk of damage. The spares I have are pieces that were taken off the car when it was restored - perfect originals with under 5000 miles on them. The previous owner wisely replaced them with restored pieces with minor flaws.

Plastic grilles that are at constant risk of bird damage on a driven car would be my top priority for a spare. On GTXs, tail finish panels are also easily damaged if a car is driven. With stock exhaust tips, cleaning after every drive is a must to avoid pitting from exhaust fumes. On Baby Blue, I wore down the original chrome, and still got some pits in 16 years of ownership.
 
multimopes said:
I would save anything (Mopar), that I come across, even if it wasn't for my particular vehicle. Junk yards are going away in my area. My older brother used to say that you don't need to stock parts for a GM or Ford, just keep your eyes open and watch the parts fall off of them as they go by, lol!
Click to expand...
:rofl:
 
My dad was a hoarder (not of car parts, he had several hobbies he was passionate about and had gathered quite a bit of "stuff" related to them over 60 plus years).
Much of the basement, 2 bedrooms, a lot of the attic of my parents house, and 4 storage units were piled with stuff. It was a heck of burden on the family dealing with the stuff after he passed away. We were fortunate that he had some friends who were knowledgeable about the hobbies and helped a lot on sorting out and finding homes for much of his stuff. With his ham radio gear for example, some of which was vintage radios and morse code keys he'd collected, I might well have tossed rather than try to figure out how to sell, if it wasn't for the friends who helped with it. I had no interest in that and knew nothing about what was valuable and what was just garbage.
We still ended up at one point getting a dumpster put in the driveway and filled it up with stuff, that was then hauled away to the dump.
Like my dad, I have a lot of hobbies and have accumulated a lot of stuff related to them. No where near what my dad had, no storage units for me for example. I don't have a family therefore don't have to worry about burdening them when I head off to the great car show in the sky, but I do subscribe to the idea that I am more a caretaker than an owner of vintage artifacts, and the fact that some things including some very rare valuable Mopar parts would likely end up in a dumpster if someone is disposing of my estate when I'm gone, risking my legacy as being a failed caretaker for historical Mopar artifacts.
So that begs the question when you stash parts on the off chance you'll need them someday, will your survivors be able to properly deal with the stuff and find good homes for them, or will they be wasted by ending up in a garbage dump somewhere?
 
Couple of years ago I did an inventory of about half my NOS parts. Took pictures and a number in the picture. In a book wrote a description and price. Now to do the others that are not big money but go to my Satellite.
 
I'm stockpiling wear items.
Seals. Susp parts etcetera
. And have most all the exterior trim.
That Way. As long as I have it.
I'll most likely never need it
 
Ps. In regards to repop parts if its avail today.
May not be avail tomorrow
 
gtx6970 said:
Ps. In regards to repop parts if its avail today.
May not be avail tomorrow
Click to expand...
Very true there. Some repo items we take for granted and then at some point we find they got discontinued or the source went out of business. Or they only make one run, then don't make any more after the supply runs out.
Same goes for some common service parts. I used to work for a major aftermarket brake parts supplier and took good advantage of my employee discount when I worked there buying parts for both my dailys and my vintage cars. They had a full line of parts for cars going back to the 40s and 50s even.
After I got laid off, they shut down American manufacturing plants and moved that to Asia. Not long after doing that, they started phasing out part numbers that were low volume, which included a lot of parts for older applications.
In recent years, items such as master cylinder kits have pretty much been discontinued altogether.
These are parts you could buy at stores like NAPA for the last 50 or 60 years, now gone.
Despite my not wanting to fill up my house with stuff, I am glad I built up a stash of brake parts when I had the opportunity, and wish I'd bought up more!
 
Why I'll be spending more than a few days out here...
20240410_105004.jpg

Dropped a buggered up starter at our local rebuilder today, that I've used for some 38 years now. His Father first, now Rene Jr that's as old as me. Can no longer get winding end and he just found a source for a few contact plate sections. Guess I'll be seeing how many starters that I can get at on these cars as well..
 
The day is coming when we will see discontinued reproduction parts for NOS prices as supplies start to dry up. Anything that you have been putting off getting for your cars,you should consider getting as soon as possible.
 
I have LOTS of fenders for A body cars. Grilles are reproduced for the Dusters and Darts. Plenty of interior parts are too. Seats, carpets, door panels are easy enough to find.
I have some '70 Charger taillight assemblies. I learned that at some point, the '70 came with a bigger reflector!

70 lens 3.jpg


The '69 and early '70s don't.

Charger butt.JPG
 
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