Results 1 to 6 of 6
  1. #1
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7,183

    Default Sellng old car parts

    Started the horrendous job of cleaning up under the house and after about 10 minutes found an old tatty cardboard fruit box containing carparts, including; parts of a the centre console, a steering wheel, two side mirrors and a windscreen wiper motor. The Toyota badge suggested they belonged to my son when he bought a 1986 Corolla Sprinter about 20 years ago. I called my son and he confirmed they did indeed belong to him. I asked him if he wanted them but he said, chuck them out. I though surely someone can make use of them so I advertised them on Gumtree. Initially I was going to give them away but to reduce the "freebie chaser effect" I advertised them for $50. They sold within 15 minutes of posting the ad and had 3 more phone calls before I managed to pull the add.

    The chap that bought them was Irish and I though he was going to haggle but he said the parts were worth more than $50 and he gave me $80. I noticed he was particularly interested in the badge so was clearly a Sprinter enthusiast. He said he has 7 Toyota Sprinters back in Ireland in various states of restoration and then showed me some photos and I could not believe the extent he was going to to restore what looked to me like rusty hulks well gone, back from the grave. He showed me photos of two of his restos that cost over $100K to restore that had won prizes at car exhibitions. "I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs, so I have to spend my money on something", he said.

    I normally hate selling stuff on gumtree but this was one of the most pleasant selling experiences I have had for a long time. After he left I decided to look upon the prices of some of the parts and realized he did get a bargain as the going price of just the 2 side mirrors was $90.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    moonbi nsw Aus
    Age
    69
    Posts
    364

    Default

    It must be "that time of the year". Yesterday I took my tandem trailer to a mate's place to pick up a load of scrap metal. He is a car mechanic. The trailer is 3m X 1.5m and is full to top of the gunnel. Motor bits 4 X 4 cylinder blocks as well as all sorts of gears and.....junk. Today my back is remembering yesterdays activity and reminding me "we don't do this anymore". On Sunday we are off to deliver it to the Scrappy. (For free....steel prices are way down at the moment)
    Just do it!

    Kind regards Rod

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Toorloo Arm, VIC
    Age
    39
    Posts
    1,270

    Default

    Sprinters have been very collectible for well over 10 years now, so I'd suspect parts have been bloody hard to find for almost that long.

    And the Europeans restore cars we would consider absolutely stuffed as a matter of course. For that matter, their everyday cars are that horrible underneath that they can often struggle to pass our roadworthy. I've had the misfortune to deal with a few UK imported cars and engines, the salt on the roads eats them very fast (at least I assume that's what it is). Not uncommon for half or all of the nuts under the car to just be rusty round domes with no flats, and any powdercoat on suspension parts or subframes lifts up in massive sheets due to rust underneath. Any aluminium parts are usually plastered with white dusty corrosion. The sort of thing that you only normally see in this country if a car has lived right next to the sea its entire life, or been used to launch boats into saltwater constantly.

    It's not uncommon for a less than 20 year old vehicle to need the sills replaced because they've rusted out. Something in this country that would write off a vehicle instantly in most cases (or be ignored until it breaks in half in states without annual roadworthy), but seems to be just par for the course there. Google 'uk mot sill replacement' if you want to be amazed. With that background, restoring vehicles with half the A and B pillars completely absent along with half the floor starts to look less unreasonable, I guess, as you're unlikely to find a much better one to begin with...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Helensburgh
    Posts
    618

    Default

    A very good series on restoring a Lancia Zagato which would have been chopped up in Australia. He did a restoration on his Jaguar XJC as well as a a Rools Royce but the Lancia resto is epic because of the dodgy road worthy repairs that had been done on it previously.

    CHRIS

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2021
    Location
    Adelaide
    Age
    73
    Posts
    117

    Default Selling bike part.

    Unfortunately, selling bike parts isn't as easy. I'm working on a 74 XS650, which are very popular with the classic bikes crowd, I've done a lot of mods so have heaps of stock parts for sale - slow going!

    Alternator, rectifier, relays, battery carriers, carbs, side panels, side covers, wheels, manifolds, +++. I've been trying to sell them for nearly two years. I think I may just have to chuck what I have left. While there is interest, people just don't follow up on their enquiries, and it's not just on bike parts: You get a message 'is it still available'. And you never hear from them again. Frustrating!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    396

    Default

    Re rusted out vehicles.

    I had a test drive in a Toyota sedan in Alberta back in the early 90s, you could see the road thru the floor
    This was from a big dealer in a large country city.
    The salesman said not to worry we sell lots like this. My wife wasn’t keen on wet feet

    Id already bought a ‘K’ car but when I went to register it found it was a repaired write off.
    The private seller refunded my $.

    I finally ended up with a 10 year old V6 Mercury Wagon which had ‘wood’ panelling down the sides.
    Drove it for a year no probs and sold it for more than I paid for it.

    Re researching before advertising.
    I had a stash of new bits I’d bought in 1983 in the US to build a mountain bike.
    They were all new in the box. Never got around to the build, too old now and kids not interested.
    Advertised them and was swamped with offers on a Facebook retro MTB site.
    Could have got multiple $ on what I’d asked but let the first bod have them for a MTB museum he’s setting up.

    H.
    Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)

Similar Threads

  1. Hercus parts prefer swap for Hercus T&C parts.
    By lamestllama in forum METALWORK - Machinery, Equipment, MARKET
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 2nd Aug 2020, 10:13 PM
  2. more new parts
    By allterrain50 in forum THE HERCUS AREA
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 21st Mar 2017, 06:29 PM
  3. X2 Parts????
    By KBs PensNmore in forum METALWORK GENERAL
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 18th May 2015, 09:45 PM
  4. Using used car parts
    By Dave J in forum METALWORK GENERAL
    Replies: 23
    Last Post: 6th Apr 2012, 10:01 PM
  5. parts?
    By eskimo in forum THE HERCUS AREA
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 15th Feb 2011, 06:39 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •