Ever stumble on a good deal for a used part

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coffeedart67

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Want to hear your stories about getting a good deal on a used part?
Heres mine. I was at an auction sale, and on a pallet was power steering pumps, other parts and a used chrysler convertible top pump complete with the hoses and cylinders. They sold the stuff on the pallet by bid and take what part you wanted. I got the high bid(don't remember but it was under $20), so right away I grab the convertible parts. The guy I was bidding against made a beeline over to me,"Do you know what that is?" I answered yes that it was a convertible top pump and cylinders for a mid 60's chrysler product, he was mad becasue he wanted it to open the doors on his gullwing kit car. Haven't had to use any of the parts yet, but had to replace the top cylinders before, at $120 new if these work they will more than pay for themselves.
 
yup. just bid on 7 lots via Ebay, won 6 fe=rom the same seller; all OLD stock MOOG... a pair of inner tie rods for my truck; $9.99 a pair of outers $9.99 3 idler arms (3 seperate "lots" one each for my truck, my Aspen and my late B body Fury) $9.99 each and 2 sets of control arm bushings (enough to do both sides of 1 car) $9.99
all that SHIPPED to my door for $76-something.
 
About 10 years ago I bought a 55 Chevy bare bones roller project. I was sitting at home one day and this local guy pulls into my driveway and knocks on the door. He says I see you're building a 55, do you need any parts for it? I needed almost everything at the time. He says lets go have a look in the back of my truck and see if there's anything you can use. We take all the stuff out and start spreading it out on my front lawn and pretty much everything he has if stuff I need. Dash trim, tail light assys, grill, front signal assys, door and window winders, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember now. I tell him I want it all, how much. He says well, we were cleaning out the body shop I work at so just give me 10 bucks to cover my gas and it's all yours. You never seen anyone get their wallet out faster than me that day. All I had on me at the time was a 20 and I said keep the change, shook his hand, and thanked him very much for the killer deal.8)
 
Got a hit on parts for the '57 finned car I posted about the other day. Guy not too far from here has a complete rolling frame, no holes for $250.

I think the best so far is a set of NOS dog dish cop caps. A local guy used to go the u-pull it here in town and buy tire and wheel combos for the tires. He figured he'd get into the used tire business and scrap the wheels for weight. (Don't worry, they weren't "good" wheels.) He used to come by my shop to shoot the bull and I'd bust his tires for him. Wouldn't charge him a thing. Figured the machine was doing all the work, anyway, and the machine didn't cost me a dime. He kept saying "I owe you one." Okay, not a biggie.

One day he walks in with four small boxes. All the same part number. "Here ya go, Robert. Payday for helping me out." Four brandy spanky new cop dog dishes.

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A couple years ago I bought a 69 bulge hood for the Dart with ok inserts for $200 at a local swap meet. I didn't even see it, my buddy had to point it out. I left it with the seller while we continued to shop. When I came back, he was mad because someone had offered him twice what I paid for it!!

I sold it a year later on Ebay for close to $800.
 
Best deal I turned over. Knew a guy from my town, said he had a shifter for
a mopar. He didn't know what for. I go and look at it. Complete 4 speed
shifter for a 69-69 B body with a console. I asked him what he wanted for it?
He said; how about $20.00. I said sure! I didn't give him any clue on what
it was really worth.
Kept it for about a month and resold it at a show in the sothern part of the
state. Before i could get it out of the box, I had two guys interested.
Sold it for $450.00. I think that was a good profit. I did not rake anyone
over the coals, they were biding against each other. I wasn't going to say
anything.
 
AQ barley used electric choke T-Q (800 cfm) that works wonderful. $20!

I opened this puppy up, noticed the floats looked alllllmost brand spanking new. No fuel level line, no gunk, I was like, YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! Slapped it on and went!
 
got a 67 cuda gascap today $5.00 bucks will put it on the duster

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I picked up a 4bbl weiand intake for $50 one place, A almost brand new Edlebrock carb for $100 (the guy put it on, didn't like it and took it off..), then decided I was going to go a different route and sold it for $175 + a radiator that I needed.

I've gotten a lot of others too, but that is a recent one.
 
About 5 years ago, I had a 73 Cuda that I wanted to restore. I went to talk to a guy that did some body work for me a while before that, to see if he was interested in doing some work. I told him what I had, and he told me that he knew a guy that had some parts for sale. He said that the guy was restoring a 73 Cuda, and that a tree had fallen on it and he got pissed and just wanted to sell the parts. I said I'd go talk with him.

I went to see the guy, and he showed me the car. He had just put a new quarter on it, and it was sitting outside. A storm blew through, and a small tree, about 4 inches in diameter, fell on the car, putting a big crease in the top of the new quarter, and busted the rear window.

He took me into the basement and showed me all of the parts that he wanted to get rid of. Two new fenders, a new hood, new trunk, the other quarter, new front and rear valances, new inner front fenders, a complete perfect grill, a complete, used but new looking interior (seats, door panels, console, everything), all new trim pieces, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

I asked him how much he wanted, and he said $1000 for everything. I told him he had a deal, and gave him the money. The body shop guy already told me that he wanted $1000 for the parts, but he didnt know what all he had, so I came prepared.

Next day I came over with a flatbed trailer because I figured I'd put all of the boxes in my truck bed, and then just put all of the body parts on the trailer and lash them down.

When he saw the trailer, he said, "Why dont you just take that damn car out of here while you're at it!"

I said "Sure. I can use what I need and junk the rest". I had that thing loaded up in record time.

So I got a second numbers matching, running, complete, bone stock Cuda, with buildsheet, fender tag, clear title, and all of the parts to restore it with, for $1000.

Oh, and the floors, trunk, and frame rails were all solid as a rock.
 
My dad was at a friend's house and he had 440 blocks laying around. My dad pointed at one block and said how much his friend said you can have that block for like 40 bucks. My dad took it to the machine shop to get the block bored and the shop guy called him back the block had a set of closed chamber heads attached. Dad still has them to this day and runs them on his 440.
 
Ive bought an a body 8 3/4 housing with sbp axles drilled to 5 on 4.5 for $5 at a swap meet. Bought the finned drums and backing plates for another $10 bucks
 
Pop and drove into a buddy's scrap yard one day and saw a rear end hanging from his lot wrecker. Next to it lay a '68 Dart all rotted out.

"Hey, Jimmy, that rear out of the Dart?"

"Yup." He was going to scrap the rear.

Pop and I took a look: 8 3/4 Sure Grip. 3.23s.

"How much you want for it?"

"I don't know. How's $50 sound."

Pop couldn't get his wallet out fast enough.

Scored a sharktooth from the same guy. He had a second lot he was clearing out so he could sell the land and we were over there checking some things out. At the top of a pile of about six cars we could see the sharktooth grinning at us.

"Hey, Jimmy, how much you want for that grille?"

"If you want to climb that stack of cars and get it, it's yours."

I couldn't climb fast enough.
 
When I worked at a restoration shop, had the Safety Klean guy coming around all the time changing the fluid. I had told him if he ran across any interesting Mopars for sale to let me know. Couple of months later he tells me to contact this guy about 50 miles away as he had a Challenger vert that was in an accident that he wanted $4 or $500 for. So I went to take a look - it was a 70 4 speed B5 convert that had taken a hard hit on the driver's side and bent the frame rail a little, plus it was a bit too close to a fire and sort of melted one of the taillights. The motor and transmission was gone as well as some of the interior parts. He had a 70 hardtop that went through a flood and he was gonna use it for parts. Come to find out he was really into Chevies and lost interest in the Challenger. Out of curiosity I checked the VINs and just about lost it (but not in front of him) - the convert was a 1 of 265 70 340 4 speed convert and the "parts" Challenger was a "V" code 440 6 pack car. When he told me he wanted $300 for both, I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough! When I went to pick the cars up, he told me don't forget the rest of the parts from the convert - the 340, the 4 speed, the shifter, all the front end parts (disc brakes), the 3 speaker AM/FM stereo radio and rear uncut lift cover panels! I did end up parting the convert out and later traded the hardtop for a 69 Dart GT convertible, but that's another story.
 
years ago-- I had a small space at the annual swap meet in wichita ks-- I had some old chevy truck parts---- guy swapped me a 69 gts trunk panel -- for the piece of chevy junk-- key hole had no damage-- it is still with me today!! Lawrence
 
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