Hey guys, Just wanted to share a herd lesson learned. For years and years I have been going to an old guy i know who is a scrap collector, and has a crap load of cars!!! He is just in it for the scrap so what a car or part is means nothing for the value, just what the part is for scrap. He has been VERY good to me over the years and I have gotten many things for a great price. Anyway... I have had plans for the longest time to build a straight axle "gasser" type car, and have been gathering parts. I have known about a Dodge A100 van and an econoline van that have been sitting there ever since I could remember, and have been meaning to get the front axle out of one of them. But the times I have gone out there for other stuff I didn't have the time or the tools to remove them. Soooo.... This weekend I made it a point to go out and rip one of those axles out! I had the tools, the help, and all day. I went out for the Dodge A100 and couldn't find it. I finaly asked were it was, he told me he cut it up for scrap this spring!!!! So I went in search of the econoline. I found it, but it had been moved. When I asked about it he said, a guy had bought it and he pulled it out so he could load it. DAMN IT!!!! I had been walking past these things for years and when I come to get them they're GONE!!!! Sorry about my long rant, but I learned that when you see something cool that you want, GRAB IT!!! GRAB IT NOW!!!! Who cares if the wife will be pissed if you're not home in time!!! She'll get over it and in time and you will still have the cool thing that you wanted!!!! If you dont have the tools, rip it out with your bare hands!!!! Just GET IT NOW!!!!!
Nothing new to me, i have had this happen before. Oh it's been sitting there for years, it's not going anywhere....right Get it NOW, for tomorrow may be too late....aren't those lyrics to a song?
I was a little late to the swap meet today and missed a nice model T gas tank I needed by seconds! Guy probly decided to buy it because I was standing there waiting for him to pass on it. If he hadnt had his hand on it I would have grabbed it and run...
That's why I'm collecting all the project cars I wish to have now, instead of just building one, then moving on to the next. Ya see, in today's day and age, more folks are turning to old iron, and rat rodders are grabbing what's left that the others pass on, so that doesn't leave much left. And what is left, the scrappers are getting it. Everything is disappearing at a faster rate now than it was just a short few years ago. That doesn't mean I'm THAT GUY that will sit on everything until I'm dead, instead when I get to an old enough age, I'll sell what I have to those who truly want it.
Grab it and say sold and offer more than asking price ... ESPEICIALLY IN FRONT OF OTHER CUSTOMERS You always regret the things ya don't get ... The money is not an issue on some things ,,, sometimes ... Good luck and just try and outshop me...
Yea them lessons are "herd" to take. Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today or something like that.
Ok I'm kidding. Everytime I go off half cocked and buy something cause I think it will go away I find a better one for half the price a week later. Lippy
"Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today." -- Benjamin Franklin That's been my email signature for two or three years. One of the best pieces of advice to live by in my opinion
I was riding my pushbike today, and saw a cold chisel lying on the road. Almost kept on going, but something made me go back for a look. Im glad i did. Free tools rock! If your not fast, your last!
OK so I know this is an old post that I started BUT.... I went back to that same junk yard the other weekend and that SAME econoline was still sitting there. I asked the guy about it again, he kinda laughed and said " I pulled that thing out for that guy and he never came, people do that to me all the time" I asked about the axle again. He said go ahead, if he ever comes and asks about it I'll say I don't know what happed to that axle. Well I ripped the thing out of there in 1/2 an hour!!!!! leaf springs brakes wheels and everything!!!! 20 BUCKS!!!!! Just thought I should follow it up. I was pretty happy!!!
Dang Gus, sometimes you win one after all. I've been both ways in my parts hunting, waited too long on too many things and too many cars and then again bought a part at a premium only to find one a bit later at a much better price. Then I passed on a hubcap I needed to complete a set in hope of finding a better deal at Portland one year only to find that same hubcap in another vendor's stall a couple of hours later at double the price.
Had a similar experience. One of the junk yartds by me had a bitchin 59 Tbird brought in. I saw it asked on the price 800. It was a Sat afternoon so my bank was closed. went back Tuesday after work and they had slid a car in next to it with the fork lift opened the whole side up like a can opener to make it worse the sat another car on top of it. I almost cried. It was solid with no rust or dents had the factory sun roof also.
I tried something similar here at a local wrecking yard - I was out looking for some Subaru timing belt idlers for a homemade 2x72 belt sander and noticed a 50 Stude in pieces next to their scrap pile. It had been blasted and primered and was in pieces but all there - they said they couldn't sell it to me because they didn't have a title so I said OK, I want the right front fender, and the left front, etc. I ended up getting the nose bowl, grilles,bullet, some interior trim and the left rear fender in one load in the Tahoe and when I came back to get the rest with a bigger truck the boss said no way - and they crushed it that afternoon.
Found a clamp laying on the pavement at the local high school yesterday. You can NEVER have too many clamps. No really, I mean NEVER.
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