Grrr "parts unavailable"

[williamp]

Is anyone else getting relaly annoyed about this?

I talk to people about buying their cars, and then I ask about spares. I know with the Aston there were some piece which you simply cnanot get anymore. I read about others, and hear about others too.

Is anyone else finding the same problem?

[NotNormal]

I think pretty much everyone frequenting this section of the forum comes up against the parts problem. As far as i'm aware manafacturers are only "obliged" to keep availability of parts for up to 10 years, after that thier philisophy is by a new car, after all that is their business.

In my experience as cars age and OEM parts vanish the good example cars subsiquently feed off the poor conditioned equivilents which get broken up for spares and/or dedicated owners do some digging to either find the original scource of said parts or have new batches re-made.

IMO everything is available, or able to be replaced.......the main issue though is at what cost!!

[wildoliver]

Not really no, especially with British cars, usually parts are used in another application or at least available in almost identical spec from something else, good example I'm rebuilding an MGC for myself at the moment and converting it to manual and the clutch slave and master are unobtainable, but there are alternatives which are easy and cheap to find.

Any bits your struggling for just ask your car club or even on here, I'm sure collective knowledge will dig you out in the end.

[ARH]

It's always been the same, parts go out of stock for a while but if there is call for them someone will remanufacture. I had a midget in 1985, it was 12 years old and I had to wait 3 months to get a first motion shaft for it. The answer is knowing where to look. I managed the other week to get a new old stock borg and beck clutch kit for a vitesse when everyone was telling me even the pattern parts were unavailable. the guy i bought it from had loads of them in stock.

[shouldbworking]

It's an interesting dilemma when you consider more recent cars say mid 80s onwards will have a lot more parts interchangability with other models, but at the price of less individuality. An acceptable price to pay? I personally don't think so.

[NotNormal]

Another point worth making on this thread is hunting down those hard to get parts is A LOT easier with the invention of the internet and/or e-mail.

To be able to make easy contact with the collective knowledge of owners, enthusiasts, clubs or even the ability to find manafactures or businesses out there that are able to help with the problem encountered, its certainly a big help in this day and age.

[lowdrag]

I remember being shocked when Ford stopped makig some parts for the first Mondeos, and that seemed not too many years after the launch. I have to say though that Mercedes are pretty up with the best as far as I can tell. Someone broke the mirror on my W202 2000 C class, and the dealership had it the next day from stock and already painted. They only needed the VIN number.

[crankedup]

Sometimes its a find of new old stock comes to light, but you need to be careful as some parts will have deteriorated over the course of time sat on a shelf.

[OldSkoolRS]

Having come back to working on cars recently I have to agree with the post about the use of the internet: When I was last into restoring cars over 14 years ago, it was all by magazine adverts, phone calls and even just driving around to breakers yards. At least now I can google for parts/suppliers, then look through their price lists (so no embarassing face to face 'erm I'll think about it' when the price is higher than you expected).

Doing some work to get my 1979 RS2000 back on the road has still meant I've had to do a bit of work to find some items, but I consider myself lucky as I know that owners of the 60s and older classics often have to resort to auto jumbles and sheer ingenuity to fix their cars...much respect.

[Yertis]

williamp said:

Is anyone else getting relaly annoyed about this?

I talk to people about buying their cars, and then I ask about spares. I know with the Aston there were some piece which you simply cnanot get anymore. I read about others, and hear about others too.

Is anyone else finding the same problem?

Triumph TR6 - I can get anything I want, the next day.

Audi Quattro – I can't get anything I want, ever.

Well that's a slight exaggeration, but there are some essential bits which simply cannot be had, although Audi are at last waking up to this and remanufacturing some bits, for example I just bought some sunroof seals which had been unavailable for a while.

I've taken the view that owning these cars is a bit like collecting cigarette cards - half the fun is finding the bits you haven't got. (Also it helps to have two, so you can whip bits off one to keep the other going, in an emergency.)

[Lucas CAV]

Curved screens can be tough to track down -

This sort of thing -

Obviously a new one can be created but presuambly a screen would need to be sacrificed to produce a mould?????

[eccles]

OldSkoolRS said:

Doing some work to get my 1979 RS2000 back on the road has still meant I've had to do a bit of work to find some items, but I consider myself lucky as I know that owners of the 60s and older classics often have to resort to auto jumbles and sheer ingenuity to fix their cars...much respect.

That's just it, a lot of people have been spoilt by dealers having spares in stock and have forgotten that sometimes you have do a bit of work whether it be phoning round in the owners club or trawling through stalls at an autojumble.

When I bought my Ginetta I was told certain parts were hens teeth.....I seem to be really lucky and have picked then up at autojumbles, sometimes from dealers, sometimes from a normal stall. There are bits out there if you are willing to do the legwork!

[mph]

I think the oppposite is true for most of the mainstream classics. Virtually everything is available.

The quality of these parts is another thing though with the standards being grim for many items and the quality contol from some of the major suppliers being non-existent.

[droopsnoot]

I have the same trouble, which has led to me becoming a bit of a "hoarder" of parts for my cars. This is a pity because it means that parts aren't so available for others, but the alternative is being unable to repair my car if it needs it. I like to think that I'd help out a fellow owner if their need was greater than mine, as others have done for me.

And parts availability does have to come into the equation when thinking of buying a classic - I've always wanted an Audi quattro, for example, but I've read of the parts situation and it's put me off, though I am pleased to hear that VAG have finally started to help out. Vauxhall had a short-lived heritage section, unfortunately they closed it down some years ago and moved it to Germany, where it was decided to concentrate only on parts for vehicles that were available across Europe. Luckily the parts were salvaged and are available, but there's loads of stuff that just isn't.

[Hooli]

mph said:

I think the oppposite is true for most of the mainstream classics. Virtually everything is available.

The quality of these parts is another thing though with the standards being grim for many items and the quality contol from some of the major suppliers being non-existent.

That's what I found when I had my Midget, I could get anything but I couldn't get anything to fit!

[lowdrag]

Yet it's strange that one can actually buld an E-type from scratch, even today. Bodyshells readily available, engine supply plentiful, all trim - the works.

[Marky Boy]

Lucas CAV said:

Curved screens can be tough to track down -

This sort of thing -

Obviously a new one can be created but presuambly a screen would need to be sacrificed to produce a mould?????

I was reading recently about the rear screens for Porsche 968s being out of stock now and only produced to special order. They now cost over £4k just for the glass

[Major Fallout]

95% of the time I have to make/have made parts for the cars I work on.

That's why I have a model T racer for myself, as the parts are very easily obtainable.

I would love an aero engined car, but I could see myself spending more time fabricating parts than driving it.

(One day I will have enough time )

[Hooli]

Marky Boy said:

Lucas CAV said:

Curved screens can be tough to track down -

This sort of thing -

Obviously a new one can be created but presuambly a screen would need to be sacrificed to produce a mould?????

I was reading recently about the rear screens for Porsche 968s being out of stock now and only produced to special order. They now cost over £4k just for the glass

I seem to recall hearing the excellent news about Tigras vanishing off the road was due to the £1,200 rear screens.

[OldSkoolRS]

Hooli said:

I seem to recall hearing the excellent news about Tigras vanishing off the road was due to the £1,200 rear screens.

Come back in a few years and I'll bet there'll be someone restoring one.