Boneyard find

[OffThaHorse]

my brother notified me of a 79 fiat in a junkyard. They wont let you buy the whole car unfortunately, but you can take whatever you want off of them

Im heading out there tomorrow and would like to know what the most coveted items are. What items should i not pass up even if i feel i dont need them.

What item would come in handy later even if my like item is good for now?


thanks in advance

[narfire]

Rear lights and circuit board. Carefull though as the studs are usually rusted and can break off easily making the lenses next to useless.
Top frame especially the front header bow...rust free. Consols lower and upper if not cracked. Same with the door cards...clean and not cracked,bent,ripped. Perhaps a crack free dash?

Edit... a couple more things.... the electric distibutor and coil is a sought after upgrade on the older cars.

Another is some will change the old rod mechanisim for pedal to the carb for the one from the 79's cable set up. Going to need the pedal for that as well though., and the intake valve cover.

[manoa matt]

Alternator, radiatior, throttle linkage and clips, transmission, muffler if good, gauges, etc. etc.

Pretty much anything you can take they won't charge you and arm and a leg for. Having spares of everything is good. You never know when something will break or if some other car bumps into you or you bump into them. Misc nuts and bolts come in handy too.

[spidernut]

Anything plastic or rubber. Anything electrical. Door handles, side mirror mechanism also.

[124cso]

my brother notified me of a 79 fiat in a junkyard. They wont let you buy the whole car unfortunately,

Oh yes they will. You just need to wave a big enough bunch of notes in front of them ! They will just be working on a theory that it is worth less as a one off sale, than "the sum of it's parts"

If they are like that, it is unlikely that parts will be for cheap anyway.

[RRoller123]

Those small rubber doohickies that hold the windshield cowl grille down are made of unobtanium, if you can get them out without breaking them they are sure valuable. The plastic cowl grilles too if they aren't broken.

[maytag]

Oh yes they will. You just need to wave a big enough bunch of notes in front of them ! They will just be working on a theory that it is worth less as a one off sale, than "the sum of it's parts"

If they are like that, it is unlikely that parts will be for cheap anyway.

well, actually, it IS worth a lot less as a one-off sale. that's the whole point behind a wrecking-yard. (at least from the wreckers' point of view) And many / most of those cars end-up there with a "not-to-be-rebuilt" title, meaning they legally cannot sell it as a car.
Allthough they could theoretically sell you the entire lot of parts.... and you could roll it out of there. But there would be no VIN associated with it.

I have noticed a trend over the last decade though, when it comes to wrecking yards.
It used to be that a guy could go buy a used part from a wrecking yard for 25-50% of it's new-price. Now that seems to be closer to about 75-80%! What's that about?
Plus, in today's pick-n-pull world, I have to pull it myself?

I've more-or-less sworn-off wrecking yards.

[124cso]

Oh yes they will. You just need to wave a big enough bunch of notes in front of them ! They will just be working on a theory that it is worth less as a one off sale, than "the sum of it's parts"

If they are like that, it is unlikely that parts will be for cheap anyway.

well, actually, it IS worth a lot less as a one-off sale. that's the whole point behind a wrecking-yard.

That's what I said - "worth less as a one off sale than the sum of it's parts"- worth less as a whole than lots of smaller sales.