have you ever passed up on a parts deal and regretted it later?

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
have you ever passed up on a parts deal and regretted it later? I doubt you could have been in this hobby very long and find that was not the case!
I've been looking for a long list of various used, components , that are in good condition, That,, I'll need to do various projects ,at a decent price point for several years.
I've found a couple, of them, but I'm rather amazed at the number of used parts or things I thought would be rather easily found, used at decent prices, that now seem to be rare or almost always priced near or sometimes absurdly more than they cost brand new from several places like summit or jegs.
yes I must be living in the past, mentally at times, but I remember going to local car show swap meets and almost without question, you could find bargains on for example a used 4 barrel intake manifold, or a tunnel ram intake manifold ,for various engines, transmission yokes, or rebuildable engine or transmissiopn cores from salvage yard wrecks.
You would certainly see a wide selection of, used Holley carb cores, or lets say a hood or trunk lid, or fenders, or a set of name brand, traction bars, used headers, or a used dana, or ford 9" rear differential.......or common stuff like accessory brackets, valve covers and oil pans, maybe flex-plates, and yes obviously ypou need to know exactly what your looking at and what to look for if its worn or broken or may not match your particular car, or engine, yes there was a few rather expensive and maybe exotic things like a older, hilborn, or crower fuel injection set-up now those things were never cheap, but if a product or component can be purchased rather easily new for a certain price, I think you might need to think through your priorities if you find someone selling the used part for more than it currently sells for new, and you still buy is thinking it was a bargain, only to check later and find youve been scammed rather than , doing your research first and knowing exactly what the current price might be!
obviously it helps to do your homework and price out what the current cost of parts are now, but I get sticker shock, when a brand new part from jegs or summit or the local chevy dealership costs less than some guys asking on craigs list or at the local swap meets.
now obviously if somethings rather rare and no longer in production, the price is what ever your willing to pay vs what the current owners willing to part with it for.


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