65GS.com - Buick Gran Sport Enthusiasts!
General Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: 35chevcoupe on April 28, 2015, 11:36:23 PM
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Is it just me or does it seem like some of the parts for these cars ( not just 65 gs,s ) are really getting up there !
I see a 65 dual quad air cleaner just sold for 1025.00 .
I was also looking for back up lights for my 59 invicta and see there is a set on e bay for 500.00 . OUCH !!! :dontknow:
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All I can say is " They aren't making new ones"
Loren
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Very true Loren ,
I sometimes forget how rare some of the parts are for theses cars.
I heard of an air cleaner for an oldsmobile that is worth 8,000.00 .
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I heard of an air cleaner for an oldsmobile that is worth 8,000.00 .
And I thought Buick parts were getting crazy. LOL
I remember when I had my '64 Fury. A front fender was more then I paid for the car.
Loren
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I know some of you guys here know who my friend Jody is. He has had original GM trunk weatherstrips for 1st gen Camaro's that he sold for over $1000 each!
Mark
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Mark , the Jody your referencing to , is that Jody Olson that is in charge of the National Impala club ?
I know him also , Great guy .
He,s bought stuff from me and he helped me out back when I was doing my 1964 Impalas .
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John - Jody Anderson!
If you were doing 64 Impalas, there is no one better to know. He's also a great friend.
Mark
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:BangHead: Sorry Mark , thats correct it is Anderson .
I know too many people and get my names crossed up .
( I think I better get back on my memory meds ) lol
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Loren ,
The air cleaner for the olds I was talking about is for a 1966 442 w30 car . ( option code L69 ) It was a ram air with dual inlets with hoses that ran down to the front bumper with scoops attached to them .
Biggest reason for being so much $$$$$ is part of the VIN was stamped into it , and they only made 54 of them .
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Dear John, Loren, Mark, and mid-60s Buick fans,
Is it just me or does it seem like some of the parts for these cars ( not just 65 gs,s ) are really getting up there !
There is nothing crazy about it. This is a situation were the mechanisms of the free market operate as naturally as they can. Scarcity drives prices up in a non-linear way. The scarcer the item the higher the potential value to someone who absolutely needs it. Since there are some collectors with lots of cash out there, we are going to be pushed out.
That's why we are really should act as a community to encourage the production as many reproduction parts as possible. When people compete with one another for parts, we drive up the price of parts and that will eventually come back to bite us. There is a reason why most guys restore Fords and Chevys, we need to do everything we can to get reasonably priced parts produced for our Buicks. If we don't, ultimately we will be forced to look elsewhere while the big-bucks collectors will become the only folks left with the means to take care of the mid-60s Buicks and cars with we might have poured our hearts into will end up as parts cars for those big-wigs.
Edouard
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It's seems like a double edged sword.....if we push for repo items our cars actually have less value eventually. How many guys out there with original 69 z28 cross Rams were happy to see them reproduced?
I wouldn't want to see too much repo craze on the Buicks. They are one of the only muscle cars that will hold their value in a repop market. So are the Oldsmobiles that were rare twenty years ago. My friend has restored a couple Cords in the last several years and they too have held excellent value because of their rarity. If you need a part....put it out there. One of us should have it. I try to put extra pieces to good use for someone who can use them. I think everyone has been quite fair that I have met. It's these little rarities that get you in the squeamish position......Hood ornaments,door panel emblems,and all that small stuff that adds up. The consolette rings have me in an endless search, but they are out there....I think.....anyone? somebody? I know it's not the right place to post it,but I had to try.
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Dear schlepcar and mid-60s investors!?!? :icon_scratch:
It's seems like a double edged sword.....if we push for repo items our cars actually have less value eventually. How many guys out there with original 69 z28 cross Rams were happy to see them reproduced?
Honestly, do you really think the most import aspect of these cars is the value as investments? If you want a good investment, buy mutual funds. You'll get a much better return for your money and you won't have to get your hands all greasy to have your investment appreciate. There is only one reason to own these cars, because you really love them. If they aren't that interested, move on to something else.
If you need a part....put it out there. One of us should have it. I try to put extra pieces to good use for someone who can use them. I think everyone has been quite fair that I have met. It's these little rarities that get you in the squeamish position......Hood ornaments,door panel emblems,and all that small stuff that adds up. The consolette rings have me in an endless search, but they are out there....I think.....anyone? somebody? I know it's not the right place to post it,but I had to try.
Honestly, I think this really naive. It isn't like Buick's are going to ever attract the interest to the reproduction market like the Ford Mustang or Chevy Camaro. There is absolutely no chance that every part you might need to restore your Buick will ever be manufactured. So this "old boy" network of original parts will always be needed and like it or not, the parts are getting harder and harder to come by. I needed a tailgate part for my wagon and it took me several months to find it. Fortunately, it was a universal A-body wagon part, so a Chevy wagon part finally solved my problem. Still, a single part like this can put your whole project into crisis. How can you call a station wagon complete if the tailgate doesn't work?
If you aren't doing this as a labor of love, you should really quit. Keeping these old cars running is a black hole of money spent and time wasted. I dare you clock the hours you spend on your restorations and then compute the labor costs based on your day-job. No fooling, you aren't making a penny on these cars.
Edouard
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I definitely agree it's a labor of love, but I do not agree that it costs me a dime. I think some people just restore something that everybody can easily obtain and that takes away from its overall value. Workmanship,rare options,and overall quality can make or break a so-called "investment". I hear people all the time say....You can buy that car done cheaper than you can build it. I will pick on a car I saw pictured on this site (dsags). That car is ridiculously nice (and so is your wagon,by the way), and you CANNOT buy that type of quality for the 20 k that some people compare other like model cars for. It is comparing apples to oranges. In fact,the last 65 GTO four speed convertible that was comparable to dsags Buick brought $250,000 at an RM auction right here in rust belt Michigan. My dad was sitting next to Kid Rock and a few people were laughing when the purchaser pulled up a rusty dodge truck and loaded it on his old trailer. Rather or not the buyer of the car was naive will be an issue for future generations to see. I am going to have to agree with you partially, but Monopoly money can bring people to jump out of thirty story windows,as it did in 1929. I just don' t like the idea of everyone turning nice original rarities into repop mass production. Technically speaking,we all die pennyless, so drive something no one else has.
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I can see both sides to this . I play around with old cars because I do really like them . I Love the body lines and the fact that you could order them the way you wanted , ( via factory options ) .
As far as reproduction parts I think there ok too for certain circumstances , like if someone really wants an old car but can,t really afford to spend big bucks for NOS or OEM parts , they opt out for repops .
And for those who want their car above average or EXTREMELY NICE theres nos or restored factory parts .
By my first reply I was,t complaining about the price , was just amazed because that was the highest I had seen one of those air cleaners go for .
I love the free market . Sometimes you just get lucky . I did !!! I sold an NOS part just recently that I had picked up at a swapmeet for 25.00 , put on E-bay and had 2 guys that REALLY wanted it and got 800.00 for it .
non the less I was a HAPPY CAMPER . :sunny:
And sometimes you have no option but reproductions.
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I didn't really mean anything bad about repops in general. I think we ALL have used this or that sometimes rather we want to or not. I guess my phobia would be overproduction of junk like we see for the chevelles because it takes away from the rarity of these cars. Everyone is watching too much TV and they think they can build a nice car in three days. IF and WHEN one decides to do a nice car,they are always better off sticking with an oddball project. I don't really mind guys asking good money for hard to find stuff because the end user is probably putting it on a out of the norm car. I bet the guy who found the Olds air cleaner was a happy camper just to find it. We might be a civilized culture,but we were hunters and gatherers. I still think the hunt is fun, and flicking through a catalogue just isn't the same. Look what happened to the 64-5 mustangs, a guy would have to be in crazy love to build one instead of buying one. They definitely turned those into a catalogue car. I think we are all in the clear on our Buicks because there are not enough of them left to justify making too many pieces.
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Dear schlepcar, John and fans of mid-60s Buicks,
I didn't really mean anything bad about repops in general. I think we ALL have used this or that sometimes rather we want to or not. I guess my phobia would be overproduction of junk like we see for the chevelles because it takes away from the rarity of these cars.
Okay, now I get what you were concerned about by all means I agree with you. I have a friend who doing a mild resto-mod of a 1971 Chevelle and he had a lot problems finding decent quality reproductions not matter how much he was willing to pay for them.
We might have better luck than the Chevy crowd though. Many Chevy resto-mod types are strapped for cash and the companies catering to them are forced to keep the price down as much as possible. Because Buicks were luxury cars from the moment they were built in the factory, there are higher expectations. The reproduction parts manufacturers must be aware of that. In addition, the people who restore Buicks must be a more choosy lot. Anyone who is willing to endure the additional effort to restore these cars has to be willing to working harder and pay more if necessary. So the reproduction parts manufacturers can hope to make a greater profit for a high-quality part. I have bought some reproduction chrome trim from OPGI and at least for my needs it looked authentic. OPGI recently introduced the 1965 Special front fender script emblem. That certainly would have been great to have back in 2011 when I needed to replace both of those after an auto accident.
Honestly, all that can be hoped for is a slow and modest increase in reproduction parts. There isn't that big a market for them. However, I do get a feeling that the mid-60s Buicks are getting more interests from collectors and restorers. Those who have gotten tired of the later Buick muscle cars are looking for something new to do, and it is a natural shift to work on the older versions of the cars they are familiar with. So there is some hope that we can get a modest increase in the sort of parts that really make or break the appearance of the car and are very difficult to restore.
Cheers, Edouard
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Some of that sheet metal for chevelles is decent and some of it was terrible. We now have complete 57 Chevy bodies,69 camaros,and I am not sure how complete a chevelle can be bought. I know there are getting to be quite a few of them that you can buy or make from nothing. I think it would still take a bottomless purse to build a car in this fashion,and we would be back to the hours and dollars talk. I also think we will see titling issues. An original car will always hold more value than an assembled, and we are even seeing "rebuilt salvage" on a lot of our older cars now. My guess is that it would definitely take away from its overall value with an assembled or brand on the title. I am kinda on the whole "investment" joke end of it anyway. I know I can make more money doing something else, but I think if we stick with quality instead of quantity, our cars are always worth more than we think. I'll get bobbybuick to comment on this one. He had a pontiac that he said that he would never get back what he had put into it......He apparently was just talking because if he wasn't I would own that car........lol