A lot of parts cars out there, what do i do? Options

[Bruce Edge]

A lot of information lately about the new appreciation for the 914. I am so very happy about it because I dearly love these cars. In this area a lot of people know this and call me regularly about parts cars. Here in the South there is a lot of rusty 914, a lot are very restorable. So, what I'm saying, there is a lot of used parts. What is the future for these parts, with shipping being expensive, hackers, and the abundance of parts, are they worth buying up for future resale? I came from the 356 area and those parts are like gold
. because they made few cars. It just hard to walk away from Porsche parts, trying to get a handle on investing in the future of our hobby. Going to look at four cars tomorrow for probably under $2000. Let me know what you think, I probably to old to be contemplating this...

[GeorgeKopf]

I think the real cost to stockpiling parts is space. If you have the space to store them and the time to resell them it could be a nice little side business. I've been seeing whole chassis for unremarkable 4 cylinders for between $1500 and $2000.

Good Luck.

[914Sixer]

Storage is the key factor. Big problem is knowing what to keep. No need to keep the disposable stuff, springs, shocks, rotors, brake parts, etc. Lots of parts are being reproduced now so you would need to know about that stuff too. You will need to know how to balance all that out.

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

We would buy and store every parts 914 we could get our hands on (had quite. colleciton of 145 of them) but there are two limiting factors:

cost of transportation to deliver the cars
place under cover to store them

A lot of information lately about the new appreciation for the 914. I am so very happy about it because I dearly love these cars. In this area a lot of people know this and call me regularly about parts cars. Here in the South there is a lot of rusty 914, a lot are very restorable. So, what I'm saying, there is a lot of used parts. What is the future for these parts, with shipping being expensive, hackers, and the abundance of parts, are they worth buying up for future resale? I came from the 356 area and those parts are like gold
. because they made few cars. It just hard to walk away from Porsche parts, trying to get a handle on investing in the future of our hobby. Going to look at four cars tomorrow for probably under $2000. Let me know what you think, I probably to old to be contemplating this...

[larryM]

escalating shipping costs for ANY big or heavy items is a major deterrent to "going into the parts biz"

china re-pro stuff with free eBay shipping has killed our used oem parts market

new & shiny is more important to the "restoration" crowd today

storage space is ancillary

[mepstein]

There are guys with big 914 part stashes who have sold for pennies on the dollar to get rid of them because storage cost so much.
We are buying another big 911 parts haul and figured out that any more than 35% of sale price isn’t worth the trouble.
My friend Rob owns dc auto. 145k square feet indoors. He told me selling anything less than $50 costs him money.

[Bruce Edge]

There are guys with big 914 part stashes who have sold for pennies on the dollar to get rid of them because storage cost so much.
We are buying another big 911 parts haul and figured out that any more than 35% of sale price isn’t worth the trouble.
My friend Rob owns dc auto. 145k square feet indoors. He told me selling anything less than $50 costs him money.

Thank everyone for the good common since advise. Reality is difficult sometimes when you have a passion for Porsche ..I know it's about the number of cars produced. Being old school, I am haunted by what my Dad said when I asked him,T where the parts cars behind his shop were(356's coupes and speedster), "I had the junk man haul that stuff off".. That was about 1980 when 356's were starting to really increase in value.

It is surely a different and unpredictable world we are living in.
I hope the best for cars and hobby.

[Unobtanium-inc]

The problem with parts cars is that good parts come from good cars, so you have to have a really nice car to part out to make any money. The hard parts, engines, gearboxes, suspension is hard to sell, the stuff people want is good glass, nice trim, switches, interior bits, chrome parts, etc, the stuff that is usually crap on a car that's been sitting outside for 10 years as a parts car.
Also, people have been parting 914's for decades and accumulating parts, so now there are probably far more parts out there then cars.
Saving cars is a noble effort, but not always a profitable one.

[914werke]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)
There is the myth: 914's are rare so parts are valuable.
IMO 914's aren't rare, There are still lots of them around.
NICE 914's are whats rare..

[larryM]

'yup - the days when we all were buying $500 914s & looking for used parts to "improve" them are long gone;

times past you could find 4 or more fresh ones in any pick-u-part yard every week with plenty of usable stuff on 'em plus engines & trans & alloys

[Bruce Edge]

'yup - the days when we all were buying $500 914s & looking for used parts to "improve" them are long gone;

times past you could find 4 or more fresh ones in any pick-u-part yard every week with plenty of usable stuff on 'em plus engines & trans & alloys

Thanks again guys, I’ll just walk away from this dream as reality sets in.
Between Facebook market place, Craig’s list and word of mouth, I count 8 parts cars with in a 100 miles of me at this time. Some with clear titles, so I can hope that some young energetic people will take one on as a restoration project.

[SirAndy]

If you own the property where you store the shells and parts then storage cost isn't that much of a concern. As long as things are stored dry and out of the weather.

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[Unobtanium-inc]

If you own the property where you store the shells and parts then storage cost isn't that much of a concern. As long as things are stored dry and out of the weather.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

Sometimes that math works, sometimes it doesn't. When we moved our shop over 12 years ago the market for turd early 911's had gone to the toilet, so we stuffed the old building with everything that was in the yard, locked the door and moved on. The building was paid for, so it didn't cost anything. We then waited. Then 2015 came and long hoods were white hot, we sold all of them for good money. But can this idea apply to turd 914's? Several problems arise:
1. Average 914's have never been white hot. Nice examples continue to climb at nice rates, very well done custom cars at about the same pace. But your average 914, no one is driving 8 states to be the first to buy it, or shipping them across the world for the privildge.
2. So thinking of them as sources for parts. This too is problematic. When Parts Heaven closed down they packed a shipping container with parts and sent it to AA in Atlanta. I bet George paid for the container, and not much more. So there are huge parts stashes, from places that have sold parts for decades, so some of this stuff just doesn't sell, ever, and never will. Who is going to pay big money for core seats, or cracked dashes, or lump 1.7 motors, and don't get me started on gearboxes.

Hoarding 914's that you drive around 3-4 states to get would be a fun adventure, but a money losing one. There are too many decent 914's left to make the turd ones super valuable and the parts are not in short supply. It's like collecting 924/944/928's, there are far more off the road then on, so parts are plentiful.

[Root_Werks]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)
There is the myth: 914's are rare so parts are valuable.
IMO 914's aren't rare, There are still lots of them around.
NICE 914's are whats rare..

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

Yes, NICE 914's are rare these days. I can find project and parts 914's, but much harder to find a 914 that really doesn't need anything.