Price gougers study

[gkent]

If you're happy getting 5 bucks for something I know I can get 20 for, what's the problem ?!?!?

 

[gkent]

After finally capturing the GTX I chased for over 50 years, I drove it to Carlisle for the Chrysler Nationals. Got a serious offer from a high end collector that was nearly twice the already serious price I paid for it last fall. It would have been the best return on an "investment" I ever made in my life. My wife told me not to sell it, but she emphasized that she has never considered the cars to be an investment, just a socially acceptable vice.

I've owned my RR for 50 years. But I'm not so attached to it or dumb enough to turn down a good offer if it came along.

FWIW, I'm facing heart surgery in the next couple of weeks. Regardless of the high success rate it has me thinking about life and what's precious. Not a single material thing is on that list !!

 

[padam]

Remember we are talking about a hobby here.
No one is going to starve to death because the prices are too high on the proper horn buttons for their concourse resto.

Shipping prices are outrageous in the US also. I sent my son a 2lb box from Ohio to Colorado. He’s up on a mountain so usps won’t deliver. Fed ex and ups were both around $25

 

[eldubb440]

this is what supply and demand looks like, it is what it is..........free market capitalism

 

[chargervert]

this is what supply and demand looks like, it is what it is..........free market capitalism

It's become free market violation! When I see some of the prices people are asking for parts and cars,I have to decide whether I want to be able to sit down ever again after buying it!

 

[chargervert]

I've owned my RR for 50 years. But I'm not so attached to it or dumb enough to turn down a good offer if it came along.

FWIW, I'm facing heart surgery in the next couple of weeks. Regardless of the high success rate it has me thinking about life and what's precious. Not a single material thing is on that list !!

I went in for a heart procedure about 5 years ago, and I told my son,if this goes bad,don't give my stuff away,it's worth more than what it looks like and your moms going to need every dime you can get for all of it!

 

[eldubb440]

It's become free market violation! When I see some of the prices people are asking for parts and cars,I have to decide whether I want to be able to sit down ever again after buying it!

I remember in the 80's, boats were unaffordable to the average guy; now it's muscle cars. They aren't making any more of them, and the demand is still there.

I build the stuff myself, and I still can't afford it......WTF

 

[chargervert]

No doubt Mr Dubb!

 

[#41]

Asking price is not sold price. Most of the ridiculously priced stuff does not sell. As they maintain their sale ads month after month, haul the same crap to the swap met and back 35 times..... ultimately the joke is on these sellers.

 

[chargervert]

Asking price is not sold price. Most of the ridiculously priced stuff does not sell. As they maintain their sale ads month after month, haul the same crap to the swap met and back 35 times..... ultimately the joke is on these sellers.

There has been some ridiculously priced parts on here recently, like the 6 grand air grabber hood, or the 6 grand 71 Charger R/T doors. I am glad I wasn't in the market for those things! Sixpack setups are going crazy,like Dana rear axles and 18 spline Hemi 4 speed transmissions!

 

[toolmanmike]

Asking price is not sold price. Most of the ridiculously priced stuff does not sell. As they maintain their sale ads month after month, haul the same crap to the swap met and back 35 times..... ultimately the joke is on these sellers.

^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^

 

[poopdeckpappy]

I would honestly just suggest everyone ignore the uncontrollable increase in pricing for parts and these cars, and try to enjoy them as much and as long as you can. The Regulators are coming, sure as ****, and when they roll into town, your car will officially be a museum piece. Enjoy your freedom and car while you can, and be damned the rest.

 

[Nxcoupe]

I have been going to the mopar nationals in cbus, st louis, indianapolis, etc since its inception, but skipped most of the 2000s. I would look around at parts and nos stuff always caught my eye. One guy had 2 quarters, can't remember for what, but they were new and would help save a car as this was before repop sheet metal for the most part. I saw them the next year at a different vendor's spot, but for more money, then the year after that at a different vendor's spot, year after that another, etc. The price had practically doubled after several years and were still sitting at a vendor spot when I stopped going. That's the stuff that chaps my butt.

 

[33 IMP]

I lost a lot of respect for a well-known Mopar racer/parts dealer many years back. I saw him wheedle and whine and beg a guy to lower his already reasonable price for a very, very rare Mopar part. When the guy finally lowered his price, just to get rid of him, our mopar racer paid him, carried the part to his swap stall and posted a price on it that was TRIPLE what the original owner wanted. Okay, maybe it is worth triple, probably was, but then WHY BEAT THE GUY DOWN ON THE PRICE FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF? Just pay the man.

Edit: Just for reference: the part was a one piece chrome air cleaner.... for a cross ram hemi. Only one I've ever seen in person.

 

[padam]

I have been going to the mopar nationals in cbus, st louis, indianapolis, etc since its inception, but skipped most of the 2000s. I would look around at parts and nos stuff always caught my eye. One guy had 2 quarters, can't remember for what, but they were new and would help save a car as this was before repop sheet metal for the most part. I saw them the next year at a different vendor's spot, but for more money, then the year after that at a different vendor's spot, year after that another, etc. The price had practically doubled after several years and were still sitting at a vendor spot when I stopped going. That's the stuff that chaps my butt.

But you were free to buy them at any time if you wanted, and done what you wished with them.

I don’t see the issue.

 

[Hey-O]

I buy what I need when I need it. I've never had to think about the cost for what i really needed. When my son started his car journey, it was g- body chevy. They were cheap and we could buy several part cars and it was fun for him because the price was right. If you sell a 5 dollar piece for 20 that great, I'm a capitalist, but then, we can't complain about shipping cost, the $1.89 red pepper I bought last week or the doubling of the cost at the lumber store.

 

[coronet68mx]

This cars ( b bodies) especially 2nd gen nowadays are commanding a lot of money, no matter the condition; therefore the price parts and greedy sellers is not a surprise, just check other treads and be surprised for how much a 2nd gen charger are for sale.
Chargers for sale by crack addicts

 

[davek]

to me its sad,If Im not using it I see it cheap to help the other guy who needs it. Some people here charger an arm and a leg for parts. I DONT have money but I love my Mopar and like to get to close as factory as I can. We do have some brothers on here that give great deals and I thank them for that.

 

[Detective D]

This question pertains to the majority of the US economy, and how people generate wealth in the modern day.
If you are over 40 years old, you will not relate to this, not 100%, because things were not as over the top as they are now.
The divide between people that have not enough, and the people that have just enough, is not that wide. The divide between people with just enough, and people with GONZO dollars, is huge.
The issue is, the way to get GONZO dollars is almost absolute in that it is done on the backs of your fellow man. Money doesn't fall from the sky, and honest "common" work does not pay enough to go anywhere past "just enough." Not anymore. Not for the last 20 years.
So you get "flippers" and middle men brokering things that shouldn't be, because the law says they can. That is the biggest thing, the "rule of law" that gets screeched about so much, is simply that laws are made to make exploitation legal to protect the filthy rich from reprecussions from their actions. This has seeped into everything from education to commercial(retail) to real estate. Old car "flippers" have always been around. Exploitation has never been absent from car markets, even for new cars. Everyone has heard a story of "found it in a barn, widow sold it for $5" or similar. Everyone has heard a story about how someone told the widow it was worth $5,000 and gave it to her instead. The first story is a lot more common then the second.
Nowdays, it is most of the story to see people that don't work(so they have time) "making a living" by running around trying to smooth talk people out of their stuff cheap so they can flip it to get enough money to keep the lifestyle up. And so we see posts like OP, so disgusted with the state of our hobby he made a post about it to vent and look for support. Think I am off base? Have you watched youtube lately? People have made careers out of old car flipping and boast about it online now, and get praised for it, and then youtube PAYS them for posting it!

Hard work used to let Americans at least try to realize their dreams. Now, hard work forces you to wait until you are about dead to try to do it, and that is only if you lucked out and avoided financial ruin through our medical system. So, people look for shortcuts.
There are no shortcuts to be made that don't walk on your neighbors to get there. Someone is going to lose out so you can gain. This can be as small as kissing the boss' rear end to get the promotion or get an undeserved raise, not being honest when the checkout kid at the grocer missed you bucket of ice cream so you just leave with it, to as big as hostile aquisitions and flipping for things as expensive as real estate. It has permeated every aspect of society in our modern "me first" world, and "old school" people are ill to the gut when they think about it too long.
Greed has taken over, "me first, sucks to be you stranger."
People try to justify the little stuff to themselves, but it's all the same. In our hobby, I couldn't think of a better example then the M1 EFI manifold for the Magnum small blocks. I would like one, started looking recently. People will say supply and demand, but in reality when someone sells one at a "normal" price, greed kicks in and flippers that have all the time in the world because they don;t do honest work in their life will snap it up and resell it, hoping someone that does do honest work will pay for it. And in the end, someone else that walked on their neighbors to get GONZO money probably will. OS the rest of the "just enough" will continue to wait until they are dead to try to realize their dreams.

It is all related, and it has gotten out of hand. I agree with OP's sentiment. It makes me ill thinking about how people are so eager to screw each other over for something as plain as money.

 

[1STMP]

If cost were a consideration for our
hobbies, there wouldn't be any. We all
are guilty of paying inflated prices
to keep the forward momentum of
the build, wether it be in the form of
availability or convenience.
Of course we all bitch about it, but
hey, it's almost done!