Our Two Cents: Our Best Vehicular Find
It takes a special person to own a car after the 10 year period its manufacturer (often) commits to supply the parts needed to keep it running. While some of us own a vehicle with a significant following in the aftermarket, with pages upon pages of support from catalogs, others are in a constant state of searching for something on our ride.
But my strongly held belief is: Diligence pays off, and if you search long enough, you will find a solution. So we asked the folks behind Hagerty Media about their best stories of finding something, anything for their vehicle, and this is what they came up with!
A Replacement Engine
“Spend enough time in this hobby, and you’ll eventually know a guy who knows a guy for just about anything. My cousin needed an engine for his ’79 Dodge W150, so I asked several racing buddies if they knew of any leads. Sure enough, someone who raced a few times on our endurance racing team had several older Dodge pickups sitting around his place in upstate New York. We settled on a good price, and that old 360 has been powering memory-making between my cousin and his son for the last couple of years.” —Eddy Eckart
Steelies For A Steal
“Black stealies steelies! Estate sales are gold mines for great buys. While they don’t hit often for automotive-related purchases, when they do, scores can be significant.
I found a set of black steel wheels that fit my 5-lug Tacoma well; a few cans of fresh paint and 75 bucks later, my gamble had paid off and had made the cost of tires less painful. It was a real Cinderella-slipper moment.” —Bryan Gerould
Fueling Victory
“Last summer, I needed to drain a fuel tank. One morning while out on a walk around the neighborhood, I passed an estate sale, where I spotted four old fuel cans for $3 apiece. They were exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed them.
Bonus: Some lady who bought several crates of DVDs somehow forgot to close the slider on her minivan and they all fell out as she drove away, which was amusing.” —Stefan Lombard
A Guiding Ligh….Button?
I previously mentioned how difficult it is to find parts for the 1988-94 “Essex” Lincoln Continental. This example might not be my best find, but it’s one of the more recent ones. And it wasn’t just good for me, either.
Out of dumb luck, I found another Essex Continental a year after that article, and it was mint. I looked at its overhead console, and was rewarded with the fact it had the optional compass with intact “compass” lettering on the button. Most of them have been wiped away by harsh cleaning agents over time.
This is one of the finishing touches I’ve wanted for my car, so I ripped the junker Continental’s tan overhead console from its surprisingly nice cabin. Once home and binge watching some terrible show on TV, I transferred the perfect compass module into my car’s blue console. Perfection!
It worked great, especially since I gave my old compass unit to a fellow Essex Continental owner looking for an upgrade to their compass-free interior. I also chucked in a spare hood ornament so they can truly feel ‘what a luxury car should be.’ It feels good to share the joy with others, too!” —Sajeev Mehta
3D Print Me a Dream
“This wasn’t a junkyard find, but I did find someone within the Montero community who 3D-printed a two-piece cupholder contraption that you could screw right into the bottom of the center console ashtray. Now, I don’t have to worry about water bottles banging around the seats and the footwells as I turn this tippy rig on generic 90-degree city corners. Money well spent!” —Nathan Petroelje
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The S&S header on my 1969 VW Dormobile camper comes to mind. S&S has been out of business for decades now, but back in the day they were the best of the best. Sadly, that exhaust system is not long for this world, just about at the end of its life. Even more sadly, I found a complete duplicate system years ago but decided to sell it cuz I was tired of dodging it in the shop. Now I’m looking at spending close to two grand to replace it with a comparable quality new part.
One way I stay active in the classic VW community is by finding old stashes of parts and selling at shows/swaps in central CA. It’s a great way to support others in the hobby and stay connected. So many folks at my booth happy to find that difficult part! While there is no swap at the Concours D’Lemons Seaside (Monterey), it’s the next stop for the bus on the show schedule. Come say hi.
Any chance you can locate a set of rear brake caliper boots for a 70’s KarmenGia? Or square back Type 3. Trying to help out a friend who is building a dune buggy in my garage.
Both the Ghia and Squareback would have come stock with rear drum brakes, so either I’m not clear on what you need, or your buddy’s buggy has aftermarket brakes. I did just acquire a couple boxes of brake rebuild parts recently, but not a single disc brake part in the lot, all drum. Imagecraft64 at gmail dot com.
I have a 1940 Indian 4 motorcycle, one of the hardest accessories to find in Massachusetts is a year of manufacture license plate. First off most prewar plates were melted down for the war effort, secondly to use the plate legally, the digits can not be in use on any car, truck or cycle. I found my plate in FL, I smile every time see it.
NCRS meet. Georgia brutal heat and afternoon downpour. Wife has gone back to the car because “Your nuts”. I find the one year only part for my 63. I arrive back at the car dripping wet holding the wet, rusty, muddy bracket with a dumb smile on my face, jubilant at my find. The part was great but her look was even better. She wouldn’t let me in the car for 30 minutes.
Many years ago my son bought a ’69 Firebird convertable. It was in decent shape except for the convertable top frame which had a tree bend it all up.
At a high school swim meet I noticed a man walking around with a Firebird club shirt on. I took a chance and asked him if he knew where I might find one. He did. It was in an old junk yard that he knew about not far away. I gave him my phone number so that he could give the number of the man who owned the yard.
Long story short, a few days later, I was in the old junk yard in 4 inches of snow pulling a convertable top frame that was in good shape, all for $25.
You should have seen his face Christmas morning when he finally opened the box with the frame in it. Priceless. To this day he has no idea how I scored that frame.
About ten years ago I was looking for some unique taillights for my chopped ’33 5-Window Hiboy coupe. Everybody does the teardrops from a ’38/9 Ford, or the chevrons from a ’40, or the rocketship stuff from fifties Cadillacs. I wanted something different – didn’t know what it was, but knew I would know it when I found them…
Looked at every swap meet I could attend for over a year, but never found a thing. Then one day, while looking for a tool in a box under my workbench, I found the perfect solution. The old Lollipop turn signals I had removed from my Sportster years earlier in favor of a set of small bullet lights with LEDs. I acquired some smoked grey lenses to replace the stock yellow ones and found some round panels that fit inside and featured 48 red LEDs each (MORE than ample to shine brightly through the grey lenses, even in the daytime). I did a bit of fabbing to make all the pieces work together and mounted them on either side of the frame rails out back. Perfect, unique, and the price was certainly right!
1979. Went to a local wrecking yard during my lunch hour. Took a close look at a greasy old long block chevy motor. Asked the owner, “Mr. Milam, What’s that motor over there.” His response, ‘Junk”. My question, “How much do you want for it.” His reply, “Ten dollars.” I gave him $10 and told him I would be back on Saturday to pick it up. I came back after work with some borrowed tools and took the heads. They were double hump and they were what I was after. I was afraid someone else would get them. We still have that motor. Numbers told me it’s was a ’64, 327.
Ported the heads and rebuild the motor and our son Robert drove the car with this motor to high school when he was a Senior; his daily driver. He’s 56 now. We’ve had the motor a long time and the car since 1972;
$600 for a not running 56 Nomad.
Did something really, really stupid 7 years ago when I decided to build the car again, frame off, after it set in his back yard for maybe 25 years. Rebuilt the $10 motor. Wagon is 75% finished. Don’t know if I will finish it. Real tired of doing the Builder’s Dance; 3 steps forward, 4 steps back. Someone will finish it.
Years ago there was an ad for Corvair parts – estate sale. I called and the fellow said they belonged to his Dad who passed away. I went to the house and found a long neglected pile of parts. I made an offer for what I wanted and the fellow said – “You are the only one who called and showed up, take it all!” As I filled the bed of my pickup truck he motioned to the garage rafters and there was a set of NOS dual exhaust pipes and mufflers with the dealer tags on them!! I also found a set of NOS pistons and cylinders! What a find that was. I asked the fellow if he wanted more money as I felt I was getting too good a deal, but he said “No, I was going to throw it all out next week if nobody showed, but you did”.
Mid to late 1990s, scrap prices fairly low, prowling through a private lot of a guy who tows cars as a sideline I ran up on some ’60s cars which had been there for quite a long time. Some had clutch and brake pedal assemblies intact. Guy priced them at $15 each. I bought six assemblies one of which was from a “64 Galaxie 500 XL convertible which was a factory 406 4 speed. Homemade scatter shield indicated that it might have been used for drag racing. Very little wear on the stainless part of the brake pedal was only noticeable blemish. $20 for all three pedals. I had visited this yard many times and bought numerous items in the past. I didn’t pay attention to the Fords because I was looking for Camaro parts. I was taken aback at the final Ebay bid. Needless to say I was quite pleased. Now I try to look at everything.
In the mid 1990’s I went to look at a performance VW engine that was for sale. The guy told me his dad had it in a bus years ago, but sold the bus with a stock engine. His dad had passed, they had no idea what was in the engine. It looked clean, had some ported head and an 8 dowel crank. I gave the guy $250 for it. As I’m about to leave, the guy asks if I know anything about these carburetors that were sitting in a box next to the engine. He says you can have them for $50. They were a pair of Weber 48 IDS’s complete with manifolds!
Oh, btw, the engine wound up being a 2180 with an SPG roller crankshaft! That day was a double score!
I so badly wanted a 4 speed, 4.37 differential transaxle to replace the 3 speed, 4.71 original in my Renault 4CV so it wouldn’t kill itself at 70 mph going back and forth between my Florida home and college in North Carolina (this was 1963). I found one in a backwoods NC junkyard, unfortunately still attached to the donor Dauphine Gordini. At least the engine was out…Two hours later, despite mud and snow flurries, I had my prize–for $20. Still have both car and tranny…but I’ve often wondered whatever became of the intact Kaiser Virginian in that yard…
My ’72 Mini estate was missing one of the rear door brackets that attach the door limit arm to the door. After years of searching for the NLA part to no avail, I finally made a crude but mostly functional replacement by bending a piece of 1/8″ aluminum bar stock. Eventually, I made a 3D CAD model resembling the original part and 3D printed it out of carbon fiber reinforced nylon. That part served well for two years until someone recently broke it while trying to open the door past the limit (the carbon fiber nylon isn’t as strong as the original cast steel). I just finished redesigning the part for strength rather than originality, reprinting it, and reinstalling it. We’ll see how long it lasts this time!
About 1995 I found a 1970 Challenger convertible! It was a AC car with the 4 speed pistol grip. The rest was base model it needed an engine as the 318 blew up on me. Plus 4 drum brakes. I was talking to someone about finding parts for it and he knew a guy that raced E bodies. So I called him and he said he had a 73 RS with no motor and for $750 he would tow it to my house and I could have anything off of it! Then he would come back and take the carcas back. It had everything to upgrade my car!! The Rally hood with script, Duel exhaust with factory chrome tips the rear valence, front disc brakes, Rally steering wheel new center console, Sway bars, stiffer front torsion bars! I found a correct year 340 and rebuilt it and put it in. That car was mint after the Plumb Crazy paint job. I had less than $10,000 in it. Including the new top. Some one kept offering me more money on it I got $20,000. I never should have sold it.
On day in 1978 I was in a hurry so stupidly pulled my Boss 302 out in front of a car and got t-boned. The body shop was able to put the car together using parts from a doner car but finding the Magnum 500 wheel that was bent was put on my shoulders. The aftermarket Magnums at the time weren’t quite exact and junk yards (they weren’t automotive recycling centers then) didn’t have any used ones. But driving down a nearby street I saw an older rusted out Mercury parked in a yard with Magnum 500s on the rear. The owner said he would sell only the wheels but only if I bought both of them and brought wheels to replace them. It didn’t take very long to take that offer so a bit of sweat and $25 later I had my wheel. As most of you know, these wheels in various forms were factory wheels for many makes as well as aftermarket. Their appearance without the beauty rings was the Ford factory look and I was extremely pleased when they were the correct 15×7 and on the inside lip I saw the stamped factory Ford part number.
This looks like a good place to find old parts. I hope some one see’s my post and has some 1999 Ford lariat parts. I would be very interested. Thank You.