According To You: Automotive Products That Are Worth Every Penny

Brandan Gillogly

Last week we asked the Hagerty Community about products they believed were worth every penny that was required to purchase them. I suggested that gasoline was one such product, but you chose items that weren’t low-hanging fruit. And I thank you for that, as your additions were indeed priceless. Perhaps that suggests these are priceless automotive products, as they keep our passion for motoring alive and well.

What did you come up with? Have a look below and chime in with more suggestions in the comments!

Replacement Parts That Aren’t Junk

A factory part coming in an Autozone box? Nice…right?Sajeev Mehta

Jeepcj5: Electrical parts (ignition coils, starter solenoids, pickup coils, points) that actually work. Too many are bad right out of the box these days.

Gary B: OEM or aftermarket parts at least as good if not better than the original. Finding parts that are lesser than the original is all too common these days.

Isaiah: I’m so happy if a part fits right and works well just by bolting it on. Heading into the garage to try to spend hours fixing a bolt-on part: rumble seat hinges, as either the trunk deck mounts are off, or the Vintique holes and angle are off. Either way, I can’t get all the screws in and they are hanging down into the trunk at a weird angle.

Marketplace

Buy and sell classics with confidence

Browse Marketplace
Browse Marketplace

Tires

2024 Nissan Z NISMO wheel brake detail tire dunlop
Nissan

DUB6: Years ago, I remember being pretty happy if I got 30,000 miles out of a set. Recently, I replaced a set with just over 60,000. For “miles-per-dollar spent”, I view tires as worth every penny. Yeah, I know that the type of tire, type of vehicle, and type of driving will affect the math, but I also think that tire compounds and designs have improved hugely in the last 40 years to where it’s fairly easy to get twice the life out of them than we used to.

hyperv6: I agree on tires. Many people today don’t understand that you used to get several flats on a trip out of state. This is why some cars had more than one spare. 10k miles were great. Today with computer designs and up to three compounds on a tread face they are very advanced. Yet today they are still assembled by hand, each and every one.

Another is the metals used. Piston rings and bearings were 30k miles in the 30’s. The metals in the cars to make them stronger but add less weight. These materials are very advanced.

Aftermarket Fuel Injection

Holley Sniper EFI small bore kit
Holley

David C: About a dozen years ago, I updated my BMW 2002 with electronic fuel injection using Megasquirt as engine management. It’s probably the best modification I have ever done. It’s made the car more usable and efficient in all weather. It’s not for everyone, but for me, it’s been worth every penny.

Battery Jump Pack

jump pack for toolkit
Kyle Smith

Carol S: A battery-powered jump starter.

Kyle Smith: I’ll admit I didn’t understand how handy battery jump packs are until I bought one. Now I make sure it moves to whatever car I’m driving regularly. They are very handy.

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Comments

    I own a ‘95 Lexus SC300 and I absolutely love the car but finding parts, even crap parts, is becoming increasingly difficult! Control arms, steering racks, MAF sensors, fuel ECU etc. are near impossible to find, likely just due to supply and demand. Lexus engineered a ton of modules/relays/ECU’s into these cars which were cutting edge at the time but not so much now, and aftermarket manufacturers largely ignore them. Point being, if you are lucky enough to find ANY parts for your car, consider it a blessing, and it they’re quality even more so. Those of us with early electronics (leaking capacitors) incorporated into our machines are likely screwed. And with few and fewer donor parts out there, quality rebuilt items (ex: steering racks) are a treasure hunt. And people know it because they are often priced ridiculously high.

    Kids, if it’s a publicly traded company, guess where their first loyalties lie? Maybe their second concern is quality.

    It used to be that you could go down to the dealer and buy parts for a 10-15 old car, with no problems. That is no longer the case. It’s becoming a problem on my 2010 Mustang GT as many of the parts are now aftermarket. I do find Porsche the exception but damn you pay for that original part. That said they do fit and work well. One other thing I have noticed is Rock Auto seems to have more “factory original parts” that the other big name jobbers.

    I like the stick on deer whistles that you mount on your front bumper or fender. They work great unless they get clogged with deer meat then you know they are not working.

    I always bought my distributor caps, rotors and points from the Jeep Dealers because they ALWAYS worked!

    Anybody ever notice with the replacement headlight and tail light assemblies, that you can stare at them for 20 minutes and they look like a dead match for the originals, until you go to install them? There’s always one screw hole that never lines up. Every time.

    If you are in an area that gets lots of snow, a snow broom like the “Snow Joe” foam type works great to clear off deep snow quickly. Car dealers use them to uncover inventory on their lots. Can be purchased for around $20 and last for years if not abused.

    I have mostly GM powered vehicles, daily drivers and toys. I used to get my parts from the big name parts stores (NAPA, AutoZone, etc), but I had enough problems over the years with both fit and performance, that I stopped an only by GM or Delco part number parts for maintaining my cars. They fit correctly and they are reliable. I refuse to use non-brand name parts. I spend more money initially, but less over the long term.
    I also have 3 “hot rods”, one of which I built up using “reproduction” parts because I couldn’t find NOS or good old parts. I hate them. Nothing aligns with any of the mounting points. The worst thing tho’ is “universal” fit parts. What that means is that they universally don’t fit anything.

    Approximately 20 years ago I had a bad experience with a new part from autozone went through 4 of them before I got a good one but in the last 5 years since I’ve been working part time in a shop that only uses them I’ve seen a big improvement with fit and longevity

    When i go on ebay i always put OEM in the parts description …toyota parts can come from all over the world but just so they are OEM and in the original box or plastic wrapper with the toyota parts number and sticker all is good, also watch out for Cheap convertible tops on ebay, some come directly from China with Chinese materials and threads that do not last..

    While many auto manufacturers abandon their customers when their cars get 7-8 years old, a few–and I don’t mean just Rolls-Royce and Bentley–have an amazing assortment of parts for their cars that are 35, 40 even 50+ years old.

    I’m constantly amazed at the assortment of parts BMW still stocks for my ’69 2002–including sheet metal like doors, fenders, hoods etc. In 2005 BMW built a brand new 1973 2002tii from parts available through BMW Classic. They did find an unused body shell at a German dealership, then built a new car around it. I drove the car so can attest that it was a brand new 2002–in 2006!

    BMW has even redesigned some items that weren’t so good the first time around–door check straps, for example. About 5 or so years ago BMW started supplying a completely different check strap for 2002s–and they (1) actually hold the door open and (2) don’t break after 4-5 years use like the original ones did.

    Mercedes-Benz and Porsche also supply parts for their older cars….do you sense a trend here? Any US, Japanese or Korean makers on the list?

    I was a front end mechanic in the 70’s. I worked on everything with wheels on it. A car was lucky to get 70,000 miles on it before every bushing in it was gone. The change that they made to the rubber bushing in the 80’s was awesome. And they’ve only gotten better as time goes by. I have no idea what it cost but it’s worth every penny because it has changed the life expectancy of a car.

    If you own an older vehicle that you plan on working on yourself a factory service manual is the best money you’ll ever spend! Even if you don’t plan on doing the work yourself get one. When you send the car to a shop send the manual with it! I did that when having some transmission work done on a 63 Rambler with original auto trans (Borg-Warner). The shop said they were familiar with them and wouldn’t need it, but I left the manual in the car anyway. when I came back for the car 2-3 days later the tech told me he was glad I left it. Their reference material didn’t go back that far (only to 1970) and there were some spec changes between the 63 and 70 versions of the light duty Borg Warner auto. For one thing the 63 used a TV cable, after 66 Borg Warner switched to a vacuum modulator.

    Best up grade I have done to my 68 Firebird and 69 Lemans is Holley Sniper EFI. Kit comes with most everything you need and can be installed with common shop tools.
    Best thing about it is how efficient the system works. Electronic fuel injection is constantly making corrections to air and fuel mixture to cause engine to run smoothly and efficiently in all types of driving situations and weather conditions.
    Just a note about electronic fuel injection. It does not correct existing engine problems. If engine is currently in good shape, EFI will make it better.

    Stay away from Mallory they went totally JUNK. Still have the electronic conversion on the 70 GTO from 35 years ago but put a new one on dads 74 Dodge pickup and it ran 5 minutes and died. Got another one and it did the same. Went back to the original Ignition. I dont think they make coils or wires anymore. Used to be the best. NOT ANYMORE.

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