New Item on Never Do Again List: Car Parting!

[Bruzilla]

So I buy a 73 Chrysler Town & Country station wagon for the drive train, and I get that out easy enough. Then I start talking to C-body guys, and they're whining about "unobtainium", which is their name for parts that are impossible to find because no one reproduces them and there are very few cars left to be parted out. And what's one of the biggest unobtanium sources? Station wagon parts. So rather than just junk the wagon after getting all the good mechanical stuff off, I spend three weekends getting all the wagon-unique parts off.

This should make a lot of folks happy right? Nope. All I'm hearing is gripes about "you're asking B/E money for those parts!" I guess they've forgotten that these parts aren't sitting on a shelf or a box somewhere, and if I gotta go spend two or three hours twisting, grinding, cutting, sawing, and banging to get a part off, you ain't gonna get it for $20! And a lot of this crap is big and heavy. A tailgate hinge and shims weighs close to what an 8.75 center weighs, so it isn't shipping anywhere for ten bucks.

I guess they think we B/E body guys are all the guy from the Monopoly box walking around in our tux and top hat with $100 bills falling out of our pockets. I know if someone came up to us and said "Hey, I bought a Hemi car because I needed some body panels, and I don't need the engine and trans, so I'll sell them to you for $200", even if we were dirt broke, we would find $200 somewhere because that deal ain't coming around again, ever. And none of this even factors in the hassles of finding boxes for all this crap, packing it, standing in line at the post office, etc.

So this will definitely be the last car I ever part out. From now on, if you can't get in your car, drive here, and take the crap off yourself, you can do without.

 

[Brandy]

Hear,Hear

 

[Richard Cranium]

Smash the items and take pictures, then send them to the offending cheapskates just to piss them off.

 

[Bruzilla]

I'm about ready to just stuff everything into the car and send it off. It's just not worth the hassle.

 

[GTX MATT]

Then those same C body guys will try to sell those cars for B/E body money, give me a break

 

[69Bee]

Tell them that you will sell the part for $10, but the labor to remove the part and get it ready to ship is $1000

 

[RT K_line]

It's the same across the board. nobody wants to pay for the removal part of the deal. Those parts don't just fall off after 40 or 50 years.

 

[Dako]

Personally, when I list a used part for sale, I don't add in cost for my labor it took to remove the part...I list it at a reasonable price, with the assumption I am helping out a fellow car enthusiast. I like a good deal as much as the next person. I try and keep that in mind when selling something as well.

 

[moparnation74]

It's the same across the board. nobody wants to pay for the removal part of the deal. Those parts don't just fall off after 40 or 50 years.

Exactly!!!

The idea is your selling the part and I need it! They believe you need the money and I can ask for whatever I want to pay. Why should you be mad they believe your selling it, so you don't need it. A very twisted way of thinking buyers have today.

 

[Bruzilla]

I was showing the car to my neighbor on Saturday, and he was saying how I should take off this, and that, and the other thing. Then I showed him the fold-down third seat, which looks like it's never been sat on, and he said "man, someone will sure want that!", and my response was by the time I get it out of there, and find a way to ship it, it's just not worth what someone will want to pay, so why bother? I told him if there's anything in/on the car he can use for his Challenger, he's welcome to it if he wants to pull it off, but I'm ready to get my spot in the driveway back and start working on the Roadrunner again.

 

[69roadr]

i got fed up of people not wanting to pay for shipping. i told them "keep in mind, i have to package it, get in the car and drive 5 miles 1-way to the post office, wait in a 30 min. line, turn around and drive back home". just aint worth it.

 

[Cranky]

Personally, when I list a used part for sale, I don't add in cost for my labor it took to remove the part...I list it at a reasonable price, with the assumption I am helping out a fellow car enthusiast. I like a good deal as much as the next person. I try and keep that in mind when selling something as well.

I used to do that too but it takes not only time to remove some items, it also costs money for the materials used to remove those items. Yeah, it doesn't cost much to cut off a panel with a plasma cutter but my PC cost me 1500 bucks. Sure I get to use it for other projects too but it does use up the the consumables related to the torch etc and they're not free. My main gripe is spending several hours in labor then packaging the item and shipping costs and then the buyer gripes about the price when I'm just barely breaking even. It's bad enough that I will sit on the parts if I can and advertise locally. Just the other day I sold some parts that were advertised all over the net including FaceBook for over a year and they were dirt cheap. Maybe that was the problem?

 

[moparnation74]

i got fed up of people not wanting to pay for shipping. i told them "keep in mind, i have to package it, get in the car and drive 5 miles 1-way to the post office, wait in a 30 min. line, turn around and drive back home". just aint worth it.

Nailed it. That's never a factor in their mind.

 

[69a100]

Have you discussed this with anybody over on FCBO? What the consensuses and attitude over there on this subject? You might be putting your cart before the horse. Plus, what do you think the demand is for something like a tailgate for a 73 T&C? I bet it's lower than looking for a set of points! Don't forget that times are tough all over, you should see some of the super lowball numbers that get thrown to me for some of the stuff I have listed on the fleabag. It's like they want you to pay them to take it off your hands.

 

[Moparsmitty]

I totally understand where you're coming from Bru. I rarely list parts on Ebay or Craigslist anymore. It's just not worth the hassle. I occasionally sell stuff by word of mouth but that's about it. A guy I know that owns a wrecking yard tells me he runs into the same thing every day. People think if something's coming off a car that's being parted out that you should just give it to them. They don't think about the cost and time involved.

 

[BeatersRus]

exactly...it even happens here as well.
tried to buy some parts,
got the worlds biggest runaround on prices or even just gettin details.
soon as i went to sell something tho,omg will u take ten times less and also ship it too?

 

[MJF_]

I could use tail lights, drivers side is broken in my TC...

 

[Kern Dog]

Personally, when I list a used part for sale, I don't add in cost for my labor it took to remove the part...I list it at a reasonable price, with the assumption I am helping out a fellow car enthusiast. I like a good deal as much as the next person. I try and keep that in mind when selling something as well.

Ahhh.... working on the cars is fun a lot of the time.
Last year I bought a 67 Chrysler 300 that had sat in a field since 1989. I had to dig it out since squirrels had tunneled in around the car, effectively building dirt nests under the car. I hooked the car up to my 75 440 Power Wagon and towed it home. I made more money on that car than any other car I parted out. The engine turned out to be from a 68 Coronet R/T. The car had a 3.23 SG. The bucket seats and console were still nice. Parts of that car went coast to coast including Canada. I made almost $2500 on the car. I felt good knowing that I helped out some people that otherwise had no options.

 

[patrick66]

Bru, where have you been advertising these wagon parts??? Have you tried the two C-body forums? Have you tried www.stationwagonforums.com ??? You have to advertise them on the places where C-body and station wagon guys are at! I'm on both, and can not recall seeing you advertise any wagon parts in these three forums! Won't do you any good to piss and moan on the B-body forum about it, this is not your target audience for these parts, am I right?

Guess what??? This forum is not known for its "bargains", either. Keep that in mind. This is not at all a "C-body only" phenomenon.

 

[petieg383]

This idea just popped into my head. It's insane, but what the Hell.

Why not have a 'Parting Out' party/yard sale/garage sale. Put an ad on Craiglist or wherever that states you have the Wagon and it's going to be parted out. The catch is that the buyer needs to come to remove the part. That way you can just charge for the part and not factor in the labor or shipping. Kind of like a junkyard but for just 1 car. Who cares if people aren't super gentle with other parts, you were already going to toss the car already. Maybe do the 'sale' somewhere that's not at your house, a neutral site possibly?

You guys are smart, think about it as a concept. Maybe it can work? Would this be something that you can do at a Carlisle or the like? I don't think there are rules at the shows that say you can't work on things. Are there?