NOS water pump on eBay.

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick parts-hounds,

It certainly isn't difficult to find a reproduction water pump for our Buicks, but an NOS water pump is nonetheless quite rare.  There is one for sale on eBay right now:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186099557311

It will be interesting to see if it sells, and if so, for how much.

Cheers, Edouard

[option B9]

  Hi Edouard and fans of vintage Buicks, I went on Ebay and took a look at that water pump, nothing special ! You can still buy a new one at your hometown auto store. or send yours out to be rebuilt. But lets see how much someone will pay for an NOS one ? Jimbo posted that the NOS hood ornament sold for $695.00 yesterday. A friend of mine was watching an online auction for a nice 65 Buick Riviera GS. I said top price should be $48.000 , he sent me a text last night to say that the Riviera sold for $76,000. Wow !
   The BCA (and other national car clubs) are worried about graying of the hobby, and declining membership. How can you get younger people in the old car hobby when the cars are so expensive. No thanks to the televised auto auctions ! They have inflated the prices of the cars and everything related to them, even evilbay. 
   I'm definitely on the low end of the Buick hobby. And very happy being there. 

      Tony 

[elagache]

Dear Tony and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

I went on Ebay and took a look at that water pump, nothing special ! You can still buy a new one at your hometown auto store. or send yours out to be rebuilt. But lets see how much someone will pay for an NOS one ? Jimbo posted that the NOS hood ornament sold for $695.00 yesterday. A friend of mine was watching an online auction for a nice 65 Buick Riviera GS. I said top price should be $48.000 , he sent me a text last night to say that the Riviera sold for $76,000. Wow !

I'm sure other folks on this board have been aware of this trend much more than I am, but for some time, NOS parts have themselves become collectable with the goal of making money as they become more scarce.  Classic cars are also becoming more expensive.  The economics is unavoidable.  Classic cars in good condition are getting more scarce (even part cars.)  However, COVID (among other factors) greatly increased interest in classic cars among the wealthy.  So there is more money chasing classic cars and related material.

The BCA (and other national car clubs) are worried about graying of the hobby, and declining membership. How can you get younger people in the old car hobby when the cars are so expensive. No thanks to the televised auto auctions ! They have inflated the prices of the cars and everything related to them, even evilbay.

There is no doubt it is difficult to get younger folks interested in classic cars and this trend is most definitely not helping.  Western societies are facing some incredible stressors and we are being asked to undergo some extreme changes.  It is definitely getting harder and harder for the common man to restore, own, and maintain a classic car.

We shall see . . . . .

Edouard 

[schlepcar]

 You guys are killing me?..lol. You do realize that you could buy a Model T for literally several hundred brand new in 1927. Fifty years later you would be paying several hundred for a core engine for the same car. Make no mistake the only thing that has changed is kids are getting lazier,and more demanding. They will not start at the bottom and work their way into anything,especially if it takes more than two or three minutes. We literally have HELP WANTED signs everywhere and no one wants that job because they won?t be able to own the same things you own this week at that wage. Weak men will turn on the printing press and print you right out of your neighborhood before they will ever use the word NO. Sorry but the repair for this problem has ALWAYS been inflation and our generation should have been saying NO instead of listening to people who had never lived through hard times. As far as what is your old car worth? I think you would have to be insane to sell it right now. Every car from ANYONE I have met here is not even close to replaceable by 2020 standards?..roughly 33 trillion dollars that we owe interest on and counting. Don?t put the blame on the guys who are selling?.put it on the guys who have never worked and have nothing to sell?... Also be very careful on these NOS pieces?.they are often not new or dealer returned sub-standard parts.

[elagache]

Dear Dan and mid-60s Buick caregivers who occasionally engage in armchair philosophy,

Don?t put the blame on the guys who are selling?.put it on the guys who have never worked and have nothing to sell?... Also be very careful on these NOS pieces?.they are often not new or dealer returned sub-standard parts.

I agree with you.  I didn't mean to imply that people trying to sell NOS parts for a profit were somehow being immoral in some way.  My point was simply that the economics of scarcity is now at work when it comes to the parts for our cars.  When something becomes more scarce, its value goes up.  That how the free market works.

You guys are killing me?..lol. You do realize that you could buy a Model T for literally several hundred brand new in 1927. Fifty years later you would be paying several hundred for a core engine for the same car. Make no mistake the only thing that has changed is kids are getting lazier,and more demanding.

I don't exactly agree with you, but I have also noticed the trend of decline.  The easiest way to make the point is to note how people of all ages are much more dependent on the health care system than in the past.  It is easy to forget that humans once survived in the wild without any health care support at all.  Science and technology appears to have made our lives much better, but people really don't seem to be much happier because life is no longer nearly as much of a pure struggle to maintain your existence.

There is much about our modern world to puzzle over and I spend a lot of time doing just that.

Edouard

[schlepcar]

       I guess I should define KIDS. There seems to be a lot of 20 and 30 year olds that drive cars that they literally could not pay for a tire repair on. These cars cost more than your first house and are generally required to have full coverage insurance to cover their perceived value with is generally twice what you could sell them for. This is where the conversation was meant as far as inflation. We are being told by everyone that the rate of inflation is about nine percent.
       We know from buying car parts to shingles for the garage that nine percent is simply a pulled out of thin air variable. I suppose the cost of business has always increased as time and banks evolved into whatever they are now. The health care is a good example because sometimes people require specialists that are simply unaffordable. When you receive treatment by these specialists many times they are adding years to our life. I think that is where a lot of this inflation started because what we saw as necessary then and what is necessary now is a much longer list. Life,liberty,and the pursuit of happiness has gotten to be almost guaranteed if you sign up for the right freebie program.  I just think that we are headed towards the centralized bank that any student of history was warned about. This nine percent looks more like fifty to seventy percent in many retail transactions. We lost thousands of small businesses in Michigan and now everywhere you go you get to pay for
something someone else needs. When you figure out why someone with half the education,ambition,or skill is worth the same pay I think we may be able to solve any equation. We will probably have to use new math?.a good example of this is to ask your computer how to make school bus yellow. You will laugh when you see  the answer you will get.
       

[elagache]

Dear Dan and mid-60s Buick caregivers who occasionally engage in armchair philosophy,

I guess I should define KIDS. There seems to be a lot of 20 and 30 year olds that drive cars that they literally could not pay for a tire repair on.
. . .

I really don't disagree with your overall point of view.  There is a huge problem with inflation.  However, the factors that led to it are very complex and most people simply seem incapable to understanding the problems.  Since we are a democracy, we the people ultimately need to understand the reality we are facing so that we can make good choices for our world.  Without that understanding, our situation seems hopeless.

What I have realized for decades is that people haven't understood reality and yet the world has somehow limped along.  When COVID broke out, it was clear to me that science demanded far more drastic action than was happening.  Civilization, if not human existence itself, was in peril.  Yet humanity was apathetic and we let the virus spread.  There was no guarantee that vaccines would arrive in time.  What would have happened if they hadn't?

A forum devoted to mid-60s Buicks isn't the place to discuss deep philosophical questions.  Suffice it to say that the ills facing the human race are much more fundamental than economics and politics.  We owe our existence to processes we do not understand, and some of us at least, will pay dearly for our disinterest.

Edouard

[schlepcar]

Yes?.you?re right about that. What started out as an economics topic gets philosophical and at the end of the day we are probably just bad people with gasoline engines?.lol. I find myself having to defend my polluting ways to young people who don?t understand that I have put about ten gallons of fuel in my car this year.