[1965gp]

I was cleaning up in the loft above my shop and I just don’t have enough storage. I filtered out a lot of what I don’t need, but I still have too much.

Do ya’ll keep everything after a restoration? I have bins and bins of leftover parts from these cars. I still have the cars and don’t want to get rid of anything that could be useful in the future. Still, there is only so much room. I’ve been holding on to old door sill plates, interior pieces, trim pieces, brackets, bumpers, etc. Most of the items have been replaced with reproduction or better replacements.

Do I keep all these items or pass them on? In a perfect world I would keep everything but I also want a clean, usable work space.

[Drag Star Le Mans]

Swap meet.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Paz em on to someone in a resto.

[mgarblik]

Only you know exactly what you have and the condition. If you have parts to service your restoration after an accident, (God forbid), I would try to keep those parts if at all possible. Especially if those parts are in good or better condition. Rare, mechanical parts would be next on my list to keep. Stuff that is still available or parts that would require extensive restoration to use, I would probably scrap or sell. It's a delicate balancing act. Seems every part I get rid of is the EXACT part I desperately need 6 months later. As you know, some unique trim parts can be very expensive when needed.

[unruhjonny]

it’s really easy to hold on to too much;
my opinion is that the swap meet suggestion is a really good one;
just don’t bring the rare stuff that you may not be able to find again - so that you don’t have regrets pf letting it go.

[1965gp]

I have a friend with a resto shop and will probably pass them on to him. He always takes care of me and lets me store my cars there.

Here’s a few examples of the struggle:

Headlight housings for 72 Firebird and 66 GTO. Not hard to find reproductions and obviously weren’t good enough to go back on the car after paint- but they are original GM parts

Seatbelts for a 4th Gen. I have 5 4th gens. Will I ever need seat belts? Probably not. They aren’t hard to find now- but what about in 5 years.

A used wiring harness out of an LT-1 TA. It a mess. However, I have 4 LT-1 cars. Someday I may need some of the factory connections.

Old carburetors. Mostly off of 2nd Gen TA’s. Again- I chose not to use them this time but do I want to chance not being able to get another one?

Factory bumpers that aren’t rusted, just worn. Great cores.

But again- the space this stuff takes up is just too much. It wouldn’t be if I had two cars- but when you have 10, 20, or 30 I wonder if I am better off just paying the price when I need it rather than storing it just in case?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

it’s really easy to hold on to too much;
my opinion is that the swap meet suggestion is a really good one;
just don’t bring the rare stuff that you may not be able to find again - so that you don’t have regrets pf letting it go.

This is what I'm doing: anything rare or difficult to replace stays.

Everything else can go.

K

[fyrffytr1]

I know it won't help much but here is what I did. I kept the old wiring harnesses from my 67 GTO but a lot of the wiring was in poor shape so I cut all the terminals off with about two inches of wire left. They take up a lot less space and I can still color match them to a
harness if need be.

[67drake]

I just dealt with this, as I just moved a couple weeks ago. I ended up moving everything that I just moved 4 years ago. Ugh.
A few things I offered on this site,, and locally, when I moved 4 years back,but no takers on most of the stuff. I’ve been dragging around nice A body 8.5 cores, but nobody wants to travel to pick them up. The piles of carbs (Quadrajets and Holley) a member here did pick up.

[1965gp]

Yea I have tried to sell a lot of this stuff on here and once I get a quote for shipping they back out and I wasted my time boxing it up and getting a quote. My friend has an eBay store- I will let him handle it.

Most of what I am ditching are items that won’t fit in the bins, wheels, tires and body parts

[gtospieg]

The aftermarket 66 GTO headlight bezels don't fit well, save those. No, I don't need them I'm already saving 2 or 3 sets. I actually had one set rechromed. Not cheap, but they fit like they're supposed to.

[1965gp]

I saved the original 66 headlight housings. I checks and they have factory part numbers on them so I saved them.

[dataway]

I'm pretty bad about the opposite ... I toss or giveaway, sometimes sell most of my left over stuff. Only the parts that are hard to find, not reproduced, or unable to function as well as OEM will I keep. I think the only thing I saved from my GTO restoration was a wiper transmission, full set of tinted side window glass, headlight buckets and rings and a bunch of small hardware, fasteners, knobs, cranks, clips, emblems, original brake booster and some lenses.

I don't ever plan on building another 68 GTO .. so unless I think I'll need a replacement part I don't keep the stuff. Figure I'll treat it like a driver from back in the day ... if something breaks I'll buy a part and install it.

[GT182]

Flea market or yard sale would work too. I'm in the same boat... no place left in my garage with all of the "stuff" I've collected. I can get the GTO out ok but it's hard to walk around the rest of the "stuff".

[salem1912]

As a mostly Mopar tech for 40 years you talk about hanging on to stuff! I have stuff for Omni/Horizon,K cars you name it. Just can't seem to get rid of. Like I am going to need new camshafts for a 3.0L caravan? Pistons for a K car. It's a sickness. This is just at home, work is worst. Been there for 24 years lots of Mopar and now Alfa Romeo stuff.
Anyway maybe this winter I can get rid of some.

[unruhjonny]

i wouldn’t do a yard sale for the stuff;
I use the Canadian version of craigslist for selling items - this makes it so most of the respondents are local;
the few who reply asking if I’ll mail, I tell them the conditions.

Weather it be listings here, or craigslist/kijiji, you need to find a box that it will fit in, then use those box dimensions, to get a quote - the online quoting seems pretty decent, but I tend to round up to the next dollar in the hopes of not showing up, and it costing more.

[Bills Auto Works]

My attitude about it was " The stuff doesn't eat much" & isn't costing me anything to keep. However in the last year or so I find my attitude changing. Fortunately or unfortunately I have a really big building with an upstairs storage area, so the "out of sight out of mind" feeling usually takes over!

God Bless & Merry Christmas
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...closed.614419/

[gokitty]

It's not just car parts. It's all kinds of stuff. I threw away a pair of old tennis shoes today. Old enough that they were stamped "Made In USA". Soles had been glued back on from where the adhesive had dried out. Looked at them closely. Hmmm...good shoe strings. Threw the shoes away . Kept the shoe strings

[1965gp]

Out of site out of mind is what got me into this situation. I set about 20 contractor bags out for the trash tomorrow. I have some furniture that I need to get rid of and then I can start going through the parts and tossing some of them.

The goal is a ‘work studio’ that gives me a heated and air conditioned area to work, drink beer, watch auctions, etc. I have a TV in my shop but there isn’t anywhere to sit down and take a break. Ideally I will have a mounted drill press, grinder and sander on a bench- possibly on wheels. I want a smooth floor that makes it easy to sweep up after any projects.

My thought is that when I need an item- say a bracket for whatever. I would like to be able to cut it out, bend it, grind the edges smooth and paint it so that it looks factory and blends in. All done in this work area. As it is now, I would be building this bracket on my work bench next to a car (or two) with very little room to move around and possibly damaging the other cars.

I have considered Craigslist, but to be honest I have been very lucky without anyone breaking into my shop. The last thing I want is local people I don’t know coming to my house and seeing what I have and where for a $20 item they may or may not buy. Sure, I could meet them somewhere but that takes even more time out of my day I’m not willing to give up.

[unruhjonny]

you should be able to not have your address in any listing, and meet in a public place to sell the part.