Recycling OEM Parts/Parts You Unwittingly Discarded Back In The Day

Discussion in 'The Bench' started by Brett Slater, Nov 3, 2018.

  1. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    Having been back in "the game" for close to a couple of years, the reality that you can't go to your local Buick dealer and order parts has more than set in. :D

    I've spent a good amount of time (and money) tracking down correct, original odds and ends in an effort to make Lord Vader appear as correct as I can.

    The amount of stuff (and costs) I've acquired over the last 20 months has definitely been an eye opener and it's also got me thinking: how much of this stuff did I discard in my 30 plus years involved with Buicks? Stuff I'm now buying back at prices we could never have imagined.

    Yeah, I get the whole supply and demand thing and and well aware that hindsight is 20/20 but really - take a second to think about that bracket you tossed or that radiator overflow clip you discarded during a radiator swap; that B4B or Stinger S-4 you sold on the cheap. It's kinda mind blowing.

    When I sold my old '72 Stage 1 4-speed on eBay to that Sawzall guy down in Long Island back in 2011, I loaded up the car with just about all of my 25 year collection of parts. More so to give my father back his basement and shed. The car was so full the rusted out back window popped out.

    Never again...

    That said, what have you folks discarded?

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  2. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    I bought a busted 72 GS grill in BG last week. Needed a couple repairs. Got me thinking though. 25 years ago, I would of thrown this grill in the trash and not have given it a second thought. Now, the parts that we used to throw away, were fixing and reusing
     
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  3. punk55

    punk55 West Texas Buicks

    I tossed out a 70 console shifter wood look handle in all because I kept kicking it around the shop probably in the early 90’s
     
  4. 2001ws6

    2001ws6 last of the v8 interceptors

    Frames, rear ends, engines, transmissions. Its crazy the stuff I scraped. Now I regret it. :(
     
  5. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    Or buying back at way more than we'd have paid back in the day.
     
  6. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    That NOS 70 4 speed choke cost me $225 last week.
     
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  7. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    Considering how many poor widows you've pillaged over the years, serves you right. :D:D:D
     
    BYoung and tdacton like this.
  8. bignastyGS

    bignastyGS Maggot pilot

    I am still tossing things..My last bad thing was I had to buy a set of drum spindles to install my Wilwood front brakes..Threw over 20 sets out over the years. I am trying to rid my 350 items but no one seems to want the things..
     
  9. 436'd Skylark

    436'd Skylark Sweet Fancy Moses!!!!!

    I laugh about this. The very first night I drove my skylark back in 03 it was raining. The car had registration stickers from 89 on it. The wipers sucked. My brother and I stopped at a carquest and bought new wipers. We tossed the original stainless units in the trash can by the door........
     
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  10. ajesh35

    ajesh35 Well-Known Member

    I think since most of us have thrown away parts which we would considered disposable,those are the parts we search for today.
    Lesson: Don't discard anything
     
    turbotimmer and Brett Slater like this.
  11. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

  12. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    There's a fine between saving stuff and being a hoarder. I think I may have crossed that line a while back. Not sure though....
     
    GSST1, Dano, Bill Nuttle and 2 others like this.
  13. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    You're too far gone at this point.
     
  14. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    12 bolt Chevy rears, 8.5 rears from Skylarks, a '73 455 complete I was gonna transplant into my GS, disassembled it then decided "naaaahh" took it back to work and dumped it.
     
  15. Dano

    Dano Platinum Level Contributor

    That's funny (not laughing) - I need a pair now just to be able to roll around on temporarily and probably also tossed 20 sets back in the day.
     
  16. 1972Mach1

    1972Mach1 Just some M.M.O.G. guy.....

    Out on our family farm, we had a wrecked '69 Impala 396, a '67 327 Impala that had tipped on it's side but today would be totally restoreable, a mint '64 Tempest wagon with a 326 that just the trans went out of, a few 30s-40s coupes and sedans, and a bunch of classic trucks. We popped all the emblems off them and shot the windows out as kids (idiots). We also tossed the hubcaps off my Dad's first car '66 GTO, threw away a couple 348 W head Chevy engines out of grain trucks, and countless other bad things that looking back I kick myself over (my Dad and uncle were hot rodders back in the 60s and 70s). Some of the 30s-70s cars and trucks we treated just as junk would be great restos or rat rods today. The Tempest wagon particularly stings me, it was my Dad's work car, and would've been killer with a 421, 428, or 455 swapped in.
     
  17. 71stagegs

    71stagegs bpg member #1417

    Know one has thrown more out than the KING ask him sometime
     
  18. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    My God....the dumpsters full blocks, heads, etc.... Ive heard the stories
     
  19. WQ59B

    WQ59B Well-Known Member

    A little different story: Saw an ad in the paper for Pontiac Tri-Power carbs a few days later. Called and the guy said they had just been picked up in the garbage. Found out where the trucks dumped, went to the dump and asked someone where that morning's trash was dumped. Was told 'over there, and down about 3-4 feet'. This was the late '80s. At least I tried.
     
  20. 71stagegs

    71stagegs bpg member #1417

    Jason u get your conv
     

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