Do You "Save" Parts for a Rainy Day?

[Purdy Swoft]

I put forth the effort and expense to collect and organize my parts. Actually I have given or nearly given away way more parts than I ever sold. There is no shortage of model A's or parts. My cars and parts certainly are self serving. I wanted them and I set forth to get them and will probably get more!!! I use my parts for upkeep and to build more model A's . Most of my life, other than my family, makeing a living, building my house , shop and other buildings has been devoted to model A's. I spend a lot of time typing and offering common sense info in great detail on how I have fixed my cars. I don't feel that I owe anybody a damn thing.There is still some good model A people but they certainly never have all been good. I can remember some of the older guys takeing advantage of me as a kid. I sometimes think about the original wheels that still had the original paint on them that I sold for five dollars each. When I got older and needed wheels, I was lucky to find good wheels for fifty dollars each. People collect all kinds of things, I collect model A's and parts . I gave my daughter the 31 standard coupe that she grew up with. My grand daughter and daughter will be given more, when they need parts I furnish and install them. When I kick the bucket, They can keep or use my stuff, however that they see fit. If it is sold for scrap after I'm gone, it won't bother me a bit. My girls love the model A's like I do and know plenty about them.

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by ken ct

Who in the heck needs 34 [count] fuel pumps as spares,come on Vince let some of them go. ken ct.

Many of us tend to hoard something. It's usually based on something we ether had serious difficulty finding at one time or just something that interests us for some reason that would seem peculiar to others.

Vince said he'd let some go although didn't suggest charity was forthcoming. "Keeping them from the hoarders" is a joke of sorts and in my opinion quite humorous. I can't imagine anyone seeing it any other way.

[HoarseWhisperer]

I'm thinking of hoarding coffee cans for my stash of parts.

[ericr]

what is puzzling about this hoarding is that most non-Model "A" guys I have seriously discussed it with, is that almost invariably, everyone as they age wants a simpler life less encumbered by a morass of personal property collections. Model "A" enthusiasts seem headed in the opposite direction.

[JTW]

Advice to younger guys just starting out - there is no such thing as a too big barn or too meany shelves

[Tom Wesenberg]

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Originally Posted by JTW

Advice to younger guys just starting out - there is no such thing as a too big barn or too meany shelves

That's for sure!
And, before you start filling the building be sure to put up a loft if the ceiling is high enough, and put up lots of shelves.
Don't store things in paper or cardboard boxes, or the mice will destroy the parts.

[John Duden]

[QUOTE=Ken B;476697]That's way too organized for me. In my garage I have a saying, "I know exactly where it might be!"[/QUOTE]

YOU DARN RIGHT!!!!

[Purdy Swoft]

Originally Posted by ericr

what is puzzling about this hoarding is that most non-Model "A" guys I have seriously discussed it with, is that almost invariably, everyone as they age wants a simpler life less encumbered by a morass of personal property collections. Model "A" enthusiasts seem headed in the opposite direction.

I enjoy just handleing and turning the bones, parts, that is. Its good to find stuff that I forgot that I had. If my parts were gone, what else should I do, start gardening??? I'm going to go on living in my model A world as long as I can. Here is a few engines.

[Purdy Swoft]

Vince, I do drink a lot of coffee, probably too much. Deb says that the cup that I use holds 12 ounces, I drink at least four cups a day. The cans make good storage containers. People that visit, always offer to bring me more cans. I've run out of empty shelves and buildings to put them in.

[Purdy Swoft]

Some would say that its a sickness. When we go to swap meets, Deb has to drive back home so that I can ride in the back seat oif the suv and handle the model A parts, all the way home.

[ken ct]

Originally Posted by fordgarage

Well said, Eric.
Original are good, Repro are evil. Sometimes they are a necessary evil.

Also,
In June 2010 I went to an Model T A B cars and parts estate auction in Ohio where everything was good stuff, not junk, went real reasonable, and yet the scrap dealer was the biggest buyer. Not enough buyers or hoarders in attendance.

See the link. I could not buy it all, but I would have if I had the place to store it. The Model B sedan pictured sold for less than $12,000. A great car and deal for someone. All the parts were stored under cover or in old truck/tractor trailer bodies and were in great condition. Also a lot of rare Model TT cabs and parts went to scrap.

June 2010 Ohio Ford Parts Auction on Ford Garage

If you want parts, all you have to do is go get them. They are where you find them.

Ken,
I don't know why you are busting my chops, I'll sell parts to people who need them, just like you. How many carbs and fuel pumps do you have on hand at any given time?

I just went to the Model A National Meet in Oshkosh and sat and sold for five days and sold a considerable amount, (to many fordbarners as well).
I am planning to go to Chicago to Ken Ehrenhofers MAFFI swap meet in a couple weeks with a full van load of nice original and NOS for sale.

Yea im busting your chops for not wanting to sell me 2-3 of your pumps as you have cornered the market on them with the amount. Is it because you know im going to rebuild them and sell them or what. Isn't that what this hobby is about ,making availlible good parts to the buyers who need them.Im sure what you have need rebuilding and are really cores. We met many yrs ago when you were living over seas and thought you were a nice guy [dearborn] but im finding out otherwise. ken ct. Yea i have about as many carbs and fuel pumps as you have BUT i sell them when someone wants or needs one. ken ct.

[dumb person]

Assembled cars take up less space than parts so now you know how to save space!

Originally Posted by Purdy Swoft

If it is sold for scrap after I'm gone, it won't bother me a bit.

That would bother me...

[Brobrian]

The old man I met, Mr. Doyle, who told meto make sure I had wheels, died shortly after we met. I think he knew he didn't have long.
One day I was fixing an exhaust leak and he ran home and got me a manifold from his collection. He showed me how mine may have warped. He once offered to sell me a partial car, but we were just starting our family. I had a one-car garage and no money. He had several partial cars and a ton of parts. I never found out what happened to all his stuff.

I miss his company, advise, and the opportunity to hold parts in my hand side by side to see the differences.
I think it's cool that some of you are still able to do that. I thought Mr. Doyle was the last generous, parts-rich old sage. Mr. Doyle was careful to sell his parts for a price. I once paid a dollar and fixed a curtain rod for some points. I'm sure he was on an ever shrinking fixed income. He saw me as a potential source of cash and I saw him as a wise old parts bank. In the twenty years since, I've never met another. We still have his picture on the dresser.

[FL&WVMIKE]

I have a small hoard of parts, for my personal cars. I HATE to use any reproduction parts, unless I have to.
I have, lately, been selling parts, that do not go to my personal cars.
I, like many others, do not like to sell to others, who are only interested in re-selling them for a profit. I do let friends, have parts, that they personally need.
It took me fifty years, to build my hoard, and I couldn't do it today.
Most of my parts, I bought for a little of nothing, but there are also a lot of "wild goose chases" involved.
MIKE

[Gumpy]

I normally only save parts for a future project....I have a 40 ford frame which was cut up accidentally at my father in laws...I am repairing it(welding) to make a jig for holding future 36-40 car bodies to work on...sometimes I'll sell something ive had 30 yrs to finance a project....ya kinda get attached to stuff hanging around the shop!!

[ericr]

[QUOTE=Marco Tahtaras;477143]
Many of us tend to hoard something. It's usually based on something we ether had serious difficulty finding at one time or just something that interests us for some reason that would seem peculiar to others.

......

That is certainly part of it but not the whole story. How long does the person keep hoarding? Till the hearse pulls up? How much does he hoard?Till it looks like a Ford assembly plant? Does he ever really sell a needed part to a deserving restorer? Some of you graciously have. But by definition, many hoarders wouldn't.

The sale pictures Vince posted seem to show hoarding at its most inane level.

[ericr]

Hoarding has crossed many generations and cultures. Here is a short YouTube clip of German comedians in a World War Two newsreel discussing the hoarding of bread. With English subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VunCD-5G1VA

[Purdy Swoft]

I knew an old black guy that had several acres of old vehicles. He had cars like old mopar hemies, 50s Studabaker V8s Flathead Ford and stove bolt chevies and some model A stuff. He even had an ancient Harley that he rode in his younger days. He was old and white headed when I met him in the early sixties. People that knew him called him Uncle Coot, he could fix anything, even clocks and watches. I easily made friends and learned a lot from him. If I was having problems fixing cars, I could call Coot and he would always help and usually give me whatever parts that I needed , if I would take them off. I moved to another town for a better job at a larger GM dealership in the seventies. When I moved back home in 1980 I found that Coot, already in his ninties had sold off the junk yard to be crushed. The junk yard was out of sight , a ways behind Coots house in an old field, most people didn't even know that it existed.. I had bought a 1942 Ford pickup with a late merc. flathead from Coot for ten dollars in the early seventies and never got around to putting wheels on it and towing it home. The word was that the old truck was bad luck. Several mechanics had owned it and none could keep it running. Coot forgot and the old truck got crushed. HJe just said sorry Timmie, I forgot about that truck. There was no hard feelings from me because it was my own fault for not moveing it when I could have. Lots of good cars and parts have been lost to scrap because people didn't know about them , or couldn't afford them, or was too cheep to pay nearly what they were worth.

The large barn collection that I got in 99 had belonged to a guy that restored model A's. The guy either died or got too old and the collection of model A's and parts were sold to a guy that had a street rod shop. The model A's either got rodded or sold as is. The nice guy with the rod shop was left with the barn full of model A parts. The model A people that knew about the collection would come and pick over the parts.,,and waste the guys time trying to nickle and dime him out of the parts. There was probably several model A's that been dissassembled. There was doors, fenders, body parts, pieces of bodies, 11 engines, frames steering colums,steering wheels 28 dissassembled transmissions, five gallon buckets full of good gears, 30 dissassembled backends, good axles, 3 complete backends, front ends, stacks of wheels, chest high , generators and starters galore,and boxes and boxes full of odd and end model A parts. The guy was more interested in getting rid of the A parts so he could use the barn to store his 350 small blocks and other street rod stuff. He said he would take $750.00 for all of the model A parts. I didn't waste any time reaching for my check book.

Lots of times the model A man in the family either dies or gets old and batty and the family tries and can't sell the collection. Model A people, some of them anyway, are the cheepest people on earth. It is easy to see how the family would sell the collection by the pound. Junk iron prices have really went up, more in many cases than some are willing to pay for parts. Just a fact of life.

[shuttlebuggy]

I am or was a collector of parts (hoarder) now I want to find new homes for everything. Any one in SoCal interested?

[400A-64]

OF COURSE I DO!!!! Then I have trouble finding them when I need them!!!