Posted by s.crum on February 22, 2008 at 06:52:04 from (4.156.228.57):
I got an enlightening phone call this morning from an old friend I've known since the late 70s. He's long retired from a major auto manufacturer and when he was working he was in one of the parts supply departments. I tossed a question to him concerning the future of parts availablity for older machines as he is the type to stay on top of the trends. I asked him this as I've been parting various things out and trying to sell the parts on Fleabay, the most recent and old Lincoln 'Lincwelder 225' engine drive welder. He stated that anyone who can aquire and store parts for even more common machines will likely do ok in the long run. Several factors are at work here that will make many parts nearly impossable to find in the next few years. First is the scrap metals market. People are scrapping anything metal without regard to (or knowledge of) actual worth in the repair market. A quick sale for $.05 on the dollar is apparently worth more than waiting for $.50 worth on the dollar, Hey money's tight right? Large manufacturers are tagged on to this in their obsolete parts inventories, bean counters are ordering whole inventories of NOS parts scrapped to recover what value they can, costs money to have these on the shelf. Another factor is the various enviromental agencys that have outlawed or tightly regulated salvage operations to the point that anything 5 years old or older are fair game for the crusher. A friend of mine who runs a rollback service and salvage operation passed my place of work a few weeks ago with a 93' Sedan DeVille on the back that he had bought at a salvage auction up the road from where I work. I saw him go by but I had to wait until break time to call him. When I finally got the chance, he stammered a little that said 'sorry Steve we picked that off the truck and put it thru the crusher to finish out a load'. I could have really used a few parts off that and would have paid him 2X what he paid plus hauling if he had dumped the car in my door yard, and within the week I would have given him the carcass. The funny part of it is, most people still have the "parts will always be available" mentality. Sorry to say at the rate scrap is leaving the country, "The parts ain't gonna be there" new or used. I had an item close on Fleabay yesterday without selling. It was the copper windings out of the Lincoln welder. A good set of windings with 22 pounds of copper. Didn't even make the starting bid of $20.00. I know there are a lot of these out there yet and I doubt NOS parts are available from Lincoln or most other places. So what is the future of these windings? At least 2 bucks a pound without the 3 dozen emails offering to take these off my hands for nothing. So the future says if you have and older machine you want to keep alive and hold onto, might be a good idea to scarf up the more common parts and clear a shelf in the garage or cellar for them. Those parts will be worth more than money in the bank in a few years,
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