Looks like prices are rising!

[mannye]

I guess that's good if you want to sell, but maybe bad if you are still trying to find those key NOS parts...

Two of three verts on ebay right now are over 50K asking...so much for finding that NOS wood Grain wheel for under a grand.

 

[Collin]

I have a wood grain steering wheel, needs restoration....

 

[mannye]

Mine is fine, but I want and NOS perfect one. I have been scouring ebay for years but haven't seen one yet.

 

[Roadcuda]

I guess that's good if you want to sell, but maybe bad if you are still trying to find those key NOS parts...

Two of three verts on ebay right now are over 50K asking...so much for finding that NOS wood Grain wheel for under a grand.

I think the key word here is, "asking." They can ask it, but it doesn't mean they will get it. If they sell for this price, and it's not a few guys who have money to burn and don't care what they spend, and how many are really do have it to burn these days, then yeah, maybe the prices are going up.

 

[ACME A12]

Project Six Pack selling for less than $100K earlier this year tells you all you need to know about pricing. :cents:

 

[roadrunnerh]

It makes me recall being at Carlisle and visiting the Big Top - you all know, the NOS guy that has a huge tent you walk in and all the NOS parts on tables separated by body style and year. I truly walk in there as if it's a circus... Those prices are insane! I actually saw an NOS power steering belt on ebay for $350. It's probably still there.
Luckily, I purchased most of my NOS stuff for my '68 back in the mid nineties. I still have NOS headlight bezels, Grill, taillights ($400 for the pair), side view mirror, and much more in the original boxes waiting for the day I get my car painted.

On the subject of Carlisle, don't you laugh inside when you see some of the guys setting up? The ones that literally dump a box of parts on the ground. Or they have a table loaded with rusty bullshit that noone buys, and they cart around to the shows, for years?
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Carlisle and the Nats - you can and I have found deals or run into someone with a few parts they actually want to sell and they are willing to deal.
OK, I'm done. :jester:

 

[Roadcuda]

I LOVE Carlisle and the Nats - you can and I have found deals or run into someone with a few parts they actually want to sell and they are willing to deal.
OK, I'm done. :jester:

That's how I got a complete new grill for RR at Carlisle. It had been redone and looked pretty good, new paint, but still had a few very small dents, but was in much condition then the one that was on my car. He was asking $275, but after some talking and hesitating about it, he let it for for $220. I still think that I got a deal for it. BTY. I won't know for sure until a few days before, but things are now looking good for me to make to Carlise on Saturday. Hope to see some of you there!

 

[mannye]

I guess that's good if you want to sell, but maybe bad if you are still trying to find those key NOS parts...

Two of three verts on ebay right now are over 50K asking...so much for finding that NOS wood Grain wheel for under a grand.

I think the key word here is, "asking." They can ask it, but it doesn't mean they will get it. If they sell for this price, and it's not a few guys who have money to burn and don't care what they spend, and how many are really do have it to burn these days, then yeah, maybe the prices are going up.

That's a good point, and there's no way I would pay that kind of money for either of those two cars. Take a look... there's only three RR verts on ebay right now. One of them is nice, a 4 speed console car (if it's correct) but the other one is way overpriced IMO.

To be honest, were I to be in the market for my own car these days, I doubt I could afford to buy it either. I bought mine back in 2001 before things went crazy and I was just barely able to get it back then!

 

[Basketcase]

don't get me started on NOS prices. I pissed off some people back in the mid '90s voicing my thoughts on that. MCG had run a story on a black AAR. Beautiful car, but when I read where the owner had paid something like $400 for a fan belt, $600 for an oil filter, I wrote MCG my thoughts. Basically, a seller has a right to ask what he want's for something. But it's the people who pay the insane prices that puts these original parts so far out of the reach of the avarage smuck, that we'll never have acess to them. This was right after my youngest had been born four moths premature, and we were traveling to the hospital just about everyday, so I didn't have time for magazines. One day we stopped at a store to grab some groceries on the way back from the hospital in Pittsburgh, I checked out the magazines.They had a copy of the latest MCG. I was flipping pages when I spotted my name. In nice bold letters ws "MR LEWANDOSKI NEEDS TO KEEP HIS OPINIONS TO HIMSELF", and the statement saying I had caused quite an uproar. I didn't have the extra cash to buy it or the time to read it, so I've never actually seen what all was said.
In all truth, I wouldn't use rare NOS stuff on my daily driver. The guys like Bob,Ray, and Big should have these.The cars that are getting the last nut and bolt resto. Not that I don't think my car deserves them, just they won't stay as nice as they should. The same kind of thinking that has me buying a radiator hose at my CarQuest, instead of hunting for an original 1969 date coded hose from Mopar.And that's like the Coyote Duster air cleaner I want. My car isn't supposed to have one, but I want one. But...unless I find a supper deal, it'll wait until I get more important things(like getting the new 1/4s on) are taken care of.
I have spent three days at The Nats going thru the swap meet. I look for parts I can afford. If I see an insanely priced part, I keep looking. And I usually find a better price. And almost without fail, I'll see the overpriced stuff sitting in the same spot the next year, and the next.

 

[mannye]

I hear ya. About the only thing I ever overpaid for was my am/fm thumbwheel radio and it's still sitting there waiting for me to get the energy to fork over another amazing sum of money for the restoration. I swear those radios cost more than some CARS... but, I did see auctions closing on ebay at the same crazy high prices over and over, and I started seeing less and less of them for sale and I folded.

There are key items I would pay for, like the steering wheel, and certain dashboard parts which if I ever wanted to actually do a concourse resto to the car, are always going up and up in price. Mostly I will keep them in storage until the time comes, or re-sell them if the time never comes. Until I can have a second RR to drive, this one is staying a driver.

But I have an NOS starter, the fender bullets with all the wiring and lenses, that radio, a shifter knob, the dimmer switch and other odds and ends waiting. It would be nice to add the steering wheel to that collection, but only when I have some FU money.

The problem is that the higher prices the cars go for, the more we have to shell out for NOS parts. That may be well and good if one plans to sell the car for a profit, but that's not in my plans...

 

[69B5]

I think you guys have hit the nail on the head!
To some who have unlimited budgets and can afford the nos parts, I say good for them.
But most of us can't .
I know at times I go overboard buying parts. And that I shouldn't be putting this money into a driver.
I sometimes agree that some of the parts I've bought should probably go to someone doing a concourse car.
But! I didn't restore any of my cars to please anyone but me. I don't compare my cars to theirs. And I don't give a hoot that anyones "dog is bigger than mine"
I know the feeling well when I need a part and it's way over priced. I don't like it.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that there always seems to be someone better off than me that by demand, keeps the parts I need out of reach. But the fact that I have a 69RR , in any shape, is also being reflected on by the teen next door as something he feels he could never own because he see's the prices too.
My colledge alma mata was "Let each become all he is capible of becomeing". And so it goes.
We all are proud of our cars, and yes we will have to live without some things. But we will keep searching until we find what we need and can afford. I hope the teen next door does the same.
69B5

 

[sam z]

69B5 you couldn't have said it better.

And as far as someone's dog being bigger than mine, its getting to the point where most can't
afford any old dog, let alone the big one.

I've probably said it before, there is a lot about this hobby that is getting ridiculous. Point proven last year when I was bored at night down in Carlisle. I foolishly bought a generic muscle car mag that I hadn't picked up and read in years. Open the cover and there is a full spread on the latest Barrett Jackson auction. Not how to tune a carb, not some reader's ride, not resto advice for a dash board. No, it's who is making a bunch of money on a car. Who cares?

 

[Big John]

Chances are, your dogs aren't bigger then mine... :lmao:

Anyway... I'm not an NOS guy. I like to use parts that work first and look good second. Then again, I don't care about paint blobs and stamps either. I build my cars the way I like and I really don't care what anyone else thinks.

Some NOS prices are crazy. The only good thing about that is if the NOS prices are high enough, someone just may repop that part... which does bring down the NOS price.

The other thing about NOS... Quite often the part isn't really correct for the car! It is, after all, a replacement part and not necessarily the same as the part that got bolted on while going down the assembly line.

 

[mac]

N.O.S.

NASTY OLD SHIT :cents:

 

[Basketcase]

I agree with the radio prices. I remember thinking $200 was sky high for an AM/FM. A seller would spit in your face if you offered that now. A buddy is giving me factory AM, so I'll probably stash a modern one somewhere.
and as far as "someone else having a bigger dog", I always felt a big letdown at Te Nats, after looking at all the show cars, and going out to the pasture my primered no interior car was parked. Then the thought finally came to me, that I was having more fun driving my car, then all the guys with the trailer queens. And especially since I lost that car in the fire, I relized just how quickly you can loose tyour dream, and you only have so many heartbeats. Better enjoy what you have now.

 

[sam z]

Hey Big John you are right about one thing at least, your dog is definitely bigger than
mine. I own a mini dachshund that weighs all of 10 pounds. However, she is probably louder
than yours as most of my neighbors would attest.

 

[glhcarl]

My opinion on NOS parts, for what is worth. I was old enough to have bought a new 1969 Road Runner. When my Goodyear Speedway 2 ply nylon red line tires wore out at 14,000 miles, they were replaced with Atlas tires from the Standard Oil station where my buddy worked, he got them for me at cost. When my lower radiator hose let go I didn't run back to the dealer and buy a replacement, I went to Chief Auto. When the new hose went on the wire coban clamps were thrown in the trash and proper screw type clamps were installed. I had to replace the yellow top battery, again it was replaced with a Atlas battery purchased with a discount.

When I bought my current RR I was given a pile of paperwork with it. In the paperwork was a reciept where the original owner had all the belts and hoses (including heater hoses) changed at 30,000 miles. So should I spend big bucks to get date coded or NOS heater hoses to replace those 35 year old hoses? I don't think so, if one leaks It will be replaced with bulk hose from the local NAPA store.

 

[ACME A12]

My opinion on NOS parts, for what is worth. I was old enough to have bought a new 1969 Road Runner. When my Goodyear Speedway 2 ply nylon red line tires wore out at 14,000 miles, they were replaced with Atlas tires from the Standard Oil station where my buddy worked, he got them for me at cost. When my lower radiator hose let go I didn't run back to the dealer and buy a replacement, I went to Chief Auto. When the new hose went on the wire coban clamps were thrown in the trash and proper screw type clamps were installed. I had to replace the yellow top battery, again it was replaced with a Atlas battery purchased with a discount.

When I bought my current RR I was given a pile of paperwork with it. In the paperwork was a reciept where the original owner had all the belts and hoses (including heater hoses) changed at 30,000 miles. So should I spend big bucks to get date coded or NOS heater hoses to replace those 35 year old hoses? I don't think so, if one leaks It will be replaced with bulk hose from the local NAPA store.

What about the body in the trunk...was that NOS or aftermarket...???!!! :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

:jester:

 

[glhcarl]

What about the body in the trunk...was that NOS or aftermarket...???!!! :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :jester:

Maybe it was the ghost of that guy who changed every belt and hose at 30,000 miles!!! :leg::

 

[mannye]

I guess it depends on what you want to do. Building a 100 pointer is a challenge (an expensive challenge) and has its own point of pride. It's almost like an archaeological project what with the hunting for parts and research, etc.

I think I may one day want to do that with the ragtop, but not until I can have a second one that's a driver. It really can't be so much fun to have a trailer queen you can't drive and even get nervous starting. The reason I am amassing the parts I need to bring her back to concourse condition is that I will kick myself if I get the urge to do it in 10 years and the parts are either gone or way out of reach.

Then again, I wonder if it's worth the effort for a relatively run of the mill 383 console auto ragtop. Since I am pretty sure that once the thrill of getting there wears off, I'm going to want to drive it...and since I can't I'll probably want to sell it!

It always comes down to seeing if the desire to own a "perfect" RR can beat out my love of driving it. My RR isn't an investment. That's what they made the stock market for.