Parts Trend - What's with the asinine Pricing?

[John Brown]

There's an old swap meet axiom - "It's always easier to come down on price than it is to go up".


No telling how many of those parts actually sold for less than was originally asked.

[jl8z28]

I go to the swap meets to find parts for my cars I know how hard it is to find certain parts and even if I need them OR not I usally buy them and if I sell them then it will pay for the ones that I need

[ZL1.FUN]

Wow that was a lot of reading. It all Sums up by supply and demand. unfortunately if you want good used,Nos,or just simply non reproduced parts you gota pay to play

[tom406]

It has become much more expensive to acquire nice OEM or NOS parts to restore cars. The desirable cars are more expensive as well. However, this is a supply/demand issue and at the end of the day, my unwillingness or inability to pay to own another "correct" 1969 Z/28 ultimately doesn't keep my from having a good quality of life. It's not food or shelter. If I have to reconfigure my goals to 1979 or 1989 Z/28's, that's a little sad for me, but that's about it. I will add that any of us who are buying parts for "future projects" that may or may not happen in our lifetimes are just as guilty of reducing the supply to people that have projects that need parts right now. Parts are cool but they need a car to go on to be happy. Kind of like those toys in movies that kids never play with-they're just not fulfilling their destiny

[Rumbleguts396]

I myself have no issues with a parts hunter charging what he feels as though the market will bring. The guys that do this full time to make a living have 10's of thousands of dollars in their own overhead. I.E. travel, hotels, fuel cost, having to own a vehicle large enough to haul these parts across country etc. They make connections that turn into parts deals over long periods of time(unpaid time). They find parts for our cars through these connections that maybe lost and out of the market for very long periods of time. They do deserve to be compensated for all these cost. Not to mention the education they have given themselves thru years of searching and I'm sure being burned a few times along the way. I myself am a blue color union worker (no complaints here). I certainly would not begrudge an attorney who charges $1000 per hour. As I know its his education/expertise that I am paying for. I myself truly enjoy still going to swap meets and getting dirty. I have also paid for a professional parts finder for that item that eluded me at the meets. No issues here !!!! My 2 cents have been deposited

[ds1]

I got into that high end stuff for 2 years. What a joke. It is a proven FACT nos parts are not exactly the same as assembly line produced. Many parts you can still get. I'm tired of hearing about supply and damand. I see the same guys carrying the same parts for so long not moving anything. I sell parts at reasonable prices. I sold a Z28 crank 8n the spring for 450 not the overpriced market rate of 650 to 700. I sold a 69 Z28 intake 3 years ago to a very prominent member on here for 300. That is what it was worth. Money on hand and I moved on. I offered a guy with 3 1968 z distributors 750 for one. You would have swore I stabbed him. I told him only so many people need that part and my car will run with a 5 dollar distributor with the wrong number on it. I have gone back to selling common parts an have been making fair money on them. I bought some nos parts for my car I no longer want an will sell them to buy reproduction. Just my 2 cents

[SuperNovaSS]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: NorCam</div><div class="ubbcode-body">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 &quot;Survivor&quot; 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]

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This is an interesting conversation.

NorCam, you say you are not calling anyone out but you mention a $3000 plastic grill and other specific parts that do make it seem like you are calling out specific individuals. If you are going to point fingers, don't side step it.

The prices of parts are expensive, whether it be an LS engine, Subaru STI brakes, vintage 427 block, or factory Hurst shifter. As stated earlier the prices may be high on many parts, that does not mean they are selling, but many are. Yes, in most cases you can part out a car for more than it is worth. This is nothing new. A set of wheels and tires can be stolen off a 10 year old car and in many cases that would total the car. Unless it is extreme example, the sum of the parts is worth more than the whole.

In the 80's, how much would a 1969 Camaro 6 cylinder car cost you in terrible condition? How much would it cost you to go to the GM dealer to buyer fenders, quarters, etc, etc. How much would the car be worth today? How much would it cost you to buy the car today? How much would it cost your to buy the parts today. How much would the car be worth today?

Do you have any interesting parts stashed away? What would you sell them for?

I do agree that part prices are expensive but so is everything else. I grew up in Southern California and used to be able to get a complete paint job done in nice driver condition with standard rust repairs including lower fender and rear window for $2000. That price included paint and materials. What is the cost for that job now.

Median house prices where I live were around 100K in the 90's. Now near a million. Fair? Probably not. But its life.


Jason

[Verne_Frantz]

As far as the resellers are concerned, some of them have no real job. All they do is find parts for resale. They are the first ones on the field at any swap meet and they shop by truck. They don't waste time walking around to afford someone who actually needs the part the time to find it first. They often pay normal retail prices for items because they need it to resell. (at a substantial price increase).
If you're in business to sell bread, you need to have bread on the shelves. Their customers aren't hitting the swap meets at 6am; they're watching the classifieds on forums and ebay and buying their parts with their keyboard. And for that convenience, they're often paying a huge premium.
I will also say that just because a reseller gets $600. for a part that normally changes hands for $300. it doesn't set a new market price for that part. It just means he found someone who wants it now and can afford it. When someone over pays for something, it doesn't mean everyone else should.
That's just my take on it.
Verne

[Charley Lillard]

&quot;As far as the resellers are concerned, some of them have no real job. All they do is find parts for resale&quot;

To some that is their job. I'm too old and cranky to get up early to hit the swap meet and prefer just to buy from the guy that did. Doesn't bother me that he makes a profit.

[69SSZL1]

Just wait 10 years for all of us to age to the point of no longer being able to enjoy these cars. There will be 1000s of musclecars and parts for cheap because no one will want them. The younger folks have no interest at all.