Stencils

[Mike K]

I went to the Pakenham swap today, nothing military there except a steel 1943 GMH ammo box for something ?

Found the set of 3" stencils , the alphabet and the numerals , made from metal which is handy . I have seen this style of font on WW2 vehicles .

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Mike,

Nice find anyway. Was going to go to it but had other commitments yesterday.
Is it just me or are fewer items for all types of vehicles changing hands at swap meets? Even less for MV's?

As I walk to the car park on departure from swaps empty handed in most cases I notice almost everyone else is doing the same. I see the odd bar mirror or sign, even potted plants, but no car parts in hands.

Guess EBay and on-line selling is killing it off a bit.

Last week I wanted to get some rubber automotive components at Scotts Old Rubber Co. shop at Oakleigh only to find the shop is now on-line only. Luckily I did Google it first otherwise it would have been a wasted trip.
Shops cost too much to man and keep open but nothing beats seeing and touching an item before buying it. It also prevents receiving an item that does not in anyway resemble the picture posted in the on-line catalogue as many of us have done.

"Lest we forget". ANZAC day is today for our overseas friends on MLU.

Cheers,

[Mike K]

hi Jacques

Yes , swap meets these days generally cater for the guys with EH Holdens ,XK Falcons and later vehicles . What annoys me is, the tables loaded with plants, clocks and pots and pans for sale. Some organizers will not allow this kind of stuff but some of it creeps through despite the rules.

At the Pakenham swap, I don't think I spotted any parts at all for pre 1950 vehicles . Nothing

I did buy a few things from a certain vendor who always has some good stuff, like some new Norton grinding Alox. 7" wheels $5 each , he also had the stencils . He seems to attend most of the swaps around Melbourne.

[jack neville]

How can you expect the 'old' stuff to keep turning up? It can't happen. I agree though that ebay and other 'on line' in slowly killing the swap meets. How often do you try and haggle only to get the response "that's the price mate. I can get better on eBay".

[Mike K]

I think that the car restoration scene has changed radically since the 1980's . These days a whole new younger generation are rebuilding the types of cars that most of us can remember being new in the showrooms - stuff made in the 1970's for example . Try buying a XB Falcon coupe these days , $30K or more for a decent one , or a HK Monaro , our generation just didn't see it coming , the fact that these cars are now worth a lot more than genuine vintage cars . This may be one of the reasons why the earlier parts are not showing up at swap meets. To me, an old car is a 1925 Chev , not a 1979 Holden but young people are restoring 1979 Holdens now and Holden parts are being reproduced by RARE SPARES - and the prices of the repro Holden parts are incredibly high . The market is driven by demand , the oldies like us are falling off the perch and the swap meet market is driven by younger guys who don't want slow old bangers from the pre 1960's .

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I think that the car restoration scene has changed radically since the 1980's . These days a whole new younger generation are rebuilding the types of cars that most of us can remember being ........

...found at the local tip!

I ran my cars in the late 80's and 90's from serviceable parts scrounged from cars dumped at the local tip. In fact, my current supply of auto electrical parts are still from those days (headlights, coils, globes, relays, fuses, etc..). But it was also possible to get an inexhaustible supply of batteries, brakes, tyres and even fuel. Sounds Cheap Charlie, I know, but why spend $50 (in 1980's dollars!) on a battery when there's cars full of them about to be buried.

Nowadays, safety ( ) prevents anyone from spending an hour at the tip and filling the trailer with recovered parts, parts in years gone by that would have wound up at Swap Meets. If older vehicle parts are not turning up at Swap Meets, I don't think that it's the changing market, I think that the sources are drying up for the "bloke on the street". Someone today is not going to buy an EJ Holden for $8,000 and part out the old red engine for $100 and gearbox for $50. When "back in the day" you could spend an hour at the tip and fill the trailer with 2 engines, 3 gearboxes, a diff, a carburettor, a bench seat, 2 steering wheels, and an old Victa lawn mower and head off to the Swap and make $500 (been there, done that).

We might be again heading for another mining boom, but it won't be minerals, it will be the tons of valuable vintage car parts buried in landfill.

[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by jack neville

. How often do you try and haggle only to get the response "that's the price mate. I can get better on eBay".

Hi Neville,

And my reply is "Good, stick it on EBay and you wil lose at least 15% of the price, including postage, to EBay and PayPal fees anyway". EBay is littered with bad feedbacks of car parts sellers too.

Another factor is unrealistic prices people ask for their items.

I recently contacted a Gumtree seller of a NOS oil filter canister for a Ford Flathead 8BA to make an offer. He had it for $75 and got no response for over a month so he said he tossed it into the scrap bin during a cleanout but hadn't got around to taking the ad off Gumtree.
If he had put it on for $25 or even $40 he probably would have sold it the same day the ad went on. Now it does no one any good except the scrap metal merchant who took away the skip.

You only have to see the CMP paddock dwellers on Ebay or Gumtree stripped of almost everything worthwhile but priced in the $3000+ range to imagine that well-intentioned, but unknowledgeable friends have been advising them what they think it is worth.

Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Sorry Jack,

My salutation in previous post was wrong!

I guess "Reed" could be a first name too but I don't know of any.

Cheers,