Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

OK...not to start a rant or throw anyone under the bus, but I've been in the hobby a long time want to share my sentiment on classic car parts and the flat out greed of many pickers and parts re-sellers.

I'll start by saying that not many years ago, I completed 2 frame off restorations where a lot of rare and original OEM parts were bought through this forum, T/C, and from other like minded collectors. Sure the rarer the part or the better the condition, the higher the price realized, but what's with this trend of flat out greed the last couple of years (especially through eBay)? Almost every GM part you see listed or described has a reference to Z/28, Copo, Yenko, LS6, L78, L88, NOS or "Survivor" to simply justify the asinine pricing attached to the item? I mean are anchored bolt sets really worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars, is a used plastic grill really worth 3K, is an old worn out shifter worth $1200, is a used gear set worth thousands of dollars, is a script top cap worth $800, and who in their right mind can ask several thousand dollars for a block without it actually being magged, machined and cleaned prior to demonstrating its absurd price?

Suffice to say the asking price of certain items or date stamped parts have far exceeded the values of the cars they once belonged to. One case in point is an item I had been watching the forum classifieds for, and one day it surfaces. As often occurs, it was a collector passing a nice item along and it was priced quite fairly (as often happens between collectors). The down side is that I saw the ad one hour after it was posted and it had already been spoken for and purchased by a known re-seller. That same re-seller listed the part elsewhere within hours for double the price, and one that far exceeded it's actual market value by 40% to 50%.

What's really disturbing is that too many people (in my mind) are now overpaying for these items rather than sitting on their wallets and saying screw that (i'm not paying an absurd price for that item no matter how bad I want it). I agree that many in the car hobby want the best of the best, the rarer or actual NOS parts for their special car, but in my mind it really is getting completely out of hand. I mean it's like every half decent part that is now listed has an asking price like it belongs to the only known survivor car from its class? In fact, if most of us bought a car missing many of its original numbers correct parts today and wanted to restore it to stock, the sum of the costs for its parts would put the price of the finished car well over the cars actual market value. In actuality, the cars have not increased in their base values based on anything near to the increase in the parts so sooner or later one thing has to gotta go pop.

Either people will get tired of the asking price for some of the parts and there will be a serious correction factor, or the price of the cars the parts belong to will increase in value where buying the overpriced parts is simply more justified. I don't see that happening anytime soon and figure that sooner or later people will simply get tired of seeing some of the ridiculous asking prices for parts. And this isn't just the really rare stuff, but much of the common line part numbers which cross over as well. To me it also fuels the requirement for the repop parts, and thankfully there are some good parts coming out now that have far exceeded the OEM quality with prices being 75% less than what some pirates in the hobby are asking for stuff. (not intended as a comment to upset the purists, but it is getting better on many of the parts being controlled through reputable parts houses)

Again...this post is not intended to insult or throw anyone in particular under the bus. My intention here is to discuss the increasingly alarming price of parts versus the values of the actual cars they go onto. The last point I would make to this discussion is this simple analogy; If a numbers matching car was to actually follow and increase with the value of its parts today, a common 69 Z/28 would then be worth 150K. They are now selling between 55K and 75K on average with the finer specimens achieving 100K. What would you say if in 2 years from now, the prices of a given Z/28 rose to 150K? Would you buy one if the market went that way or all sellers started asking those kind of numbers? Or would you simply say not in this lifetime? Maybe change you focus to another genre or another model and blame it on greed?

Appreciate you thoughts on feedback on the trend of late? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/Can-I-Have-It.gif[/img]

Re: Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

I completely understand your thoughts but keep in mind the Muscle cars have all gone up in prices on average too and the parts follow this trend too.

Most people that own these cars have multiple cars and deep pockets and will pay for real NOS or good Used parts they want. IMO
Yes it is sad that the average Joe can not even afford these parts or good quality muscle cars but it is what it is.

Then there are guys that are lucky they have had there cars for a very long time and paid next to nothing but they don't complain when they cash out and get big money in return. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] Good topic lets see what everyone else says.

Re: Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

I have noticed the same trend, original GM parts at ridiculous asking prices. I would focus on what the parts are selling for. Since 2003, when I began purchasing these parts, there has always been a premium on rare NOS, or excellent condition take off parts or parts from HP cars, especially solid lifter varieties. I do have an issue with parts hoarders purchasing these parts at reasonable prices with the intention of re-selling them at double, triple, or more just to make money, as I think it dirties up the hobby for the everyday restorer who can't afford these insane prices, who actually have the car for these parts. With that being said, I have purchased rare parts at good prices just to stash away, knowing I will probably need them later, but not to sell. Some of this craziness may be due to trying to obtain a 1000pt restoration for the car show circuit and the owner is willing to pay whatever it takes to have the car win. Anyway, I love the hobby, just not the prices of the parts.

my $.02

Paul

Re: Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

Lot of parts aren't reproduced, and some that are reproduced, are clearly reproductions when put side by side with an original piece. I prefer original parts when putting a car together, especially if it's a survivor. Finding nice survivor parts always will always command a premium. Remember, the stuff isn't out there like it used to be 20 or even 10 years ago. The guys that do parts full time are out there every day finding stuff buried in garages or rifling through parts showing up at swap meets, going to estate sales or auctions, and driving all over the country to find stuff to make available to the public to help finish a restoration. That time and effort has to be worth something. If you're so concerned about &quot;ridiculous asking prices&quot;, then I suggest you get out there and find the parts yourself and buy low.

Re: Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

Been to the supermarket lately? See the price increases? Hell, I went to Subway with my son this week and we had two foot-longs and two pops (no chips) and it was $23.

Re: Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

I agree prices have shockingly risen,but probably because the original parts are drying up.
15 years ago,I had 6 auto junk yards local to me that I could visit and still find those old 1960's/70's parts.When the price of scrap metal took a sudden increase upward in the late 2000's,that all changed and all 6 yards started crushing &amp; sold their land almost overnight,as they were tired of sitting on those rusting relics that we all took for granted...Me being 1 of them.
All are now trucking depots or landfill.There isn't 1 lb. of metal belonging to car on them today.As if the hand of God came down and wiped em clean.All 6 owners sold out and retired after sitting on those yards for some 40-50+ years.
I should've seen the writing on the wall,as the last time &amp; visited some of them their employees shouted,&quot;better take something off that car while you still can.&quot; [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img]

When I go to a substantial swapmeet today,I'm walking out within an hour,as all I see are 1980 &amp; up plastic car parts.
The desire for these old cars &amp; trucks is still there &amp; stronger then ever,but the individual parts sure aren't.

Re: Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

The fact is that a lot of these people are receiving their asking price so as long as that continues to happen you will have to pay up for the parts. I buy a ton of parts and rarely if ever sell any. Because I am using these on customer restorations I like to make a little on the sell (maybe 10%) when I add them to the restoration to cover my search, emails, shipping, etc costs but that rarely happens any more. As long as there is someone willing to pay more for the part then you are we are screwed. I have come to terms with that part of it. What I cannot come to terms with is guys (and even fellow hobbiests) that demand maximum dollars from me when I purchase their parts but then those same people want FREE help with technical information when restoring their cars or when they call me wanting to buy some of my parts. Never seems to be a two way street. However and thankfully that is a very small percentage of the people I buy from.

Re: Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

all part of the game..if i dont like it i dont buy...

Re: Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

Yeah I totally get that some parts are not repro'd, and that others are simply rare and command top value. I do get out there myself to pound the pavement and hit Hershey and Portland swap meets as well as local scouring but they too are seeing crazy high prices. We all know how to find a lot of the parts, but half the battle now is that everyone is seeing what prices are being commanded from a lot of online sellers, and that is helping to drive this craze. What's challenging is that the price of a correctly restored car is often not realizing the price of its restoration where a lot of the correct dated parts are being bought or even restored to complete it. Maybe when more of those currently restoring number cars can come out of them relatively clean it will not look so outpaced, but right now parts are driving a guy to be upside down in ways that are incomprehensible.

I just bought another rare intake for a future project. I snagged a nice one at a price where many actually sell, but one guy lists one weeks later for a grand more because he has one and suddenly everyone has one for that new &quot;high&quot; price. That my friend I simply tag as greed, and it really does seem to be <span style="font-weight: bold">more rampant lately</span>. I have fairly deep pockets for the rare original stuff that I just need to have, but still struggle with the greed factor I am seeing lately and that's exactly my point. A big challenge are those who have the 980+ point cars who are looking to fix certain items to get that concourse tag. That in itself will always be a factor, but the guys with the multi million dollar collection will often overspend on a part just to get it or a spare and that's also contributing to the recent hikes. I have a friend who spends infinite amounts on parts and I cannot talk any sense into him because he doesn't care what it costs him, and that feeds the issue even more.

Rare stuff has always been rare stuff, and the stuff that's not repopped will always command, but I am starting to turn off when I see door switches listed for $150, a common plastic check valve for $175, and just about every item GM carried until just 5 years ago being listed as NOS survivor parts for 20x their original jobber rate from the parts counter. So why are so many high dollar cars still struggling to break the 100K mark if all these parts are so rare and valuable now? Seriously...I have a low mile 68 car that is beautiful in so many regards and has a ton of mint original NOS part put into it 20 years ago. Today that car is worth X on the market, but knowing how many mint original or NOS parts I could pull from it, I'd bet I could easily pull far more money out of it in parts than I could if I were to sell it.

That in itself is sad, but very true. It's an interesting discussion and I do appreciate hearing other views.

Re: Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?
 

It is the ironclad law of supply and demand.