A few years ago, when 3D printers really started to become a thing, I figured we were on the verge of a revolution in the availability of old car parts. It would no longer require investing in an expensive mold to produce a low-volume interior trim piece. Simply scan an original and print out copies as needed.
For whatever reason, the anticipated revolution hasn’t happened, and the value of original parts continues to climb. Maybe technology will come to the rescue yet, but its clearly further away than once thought.
Some advice for you guys wanting market value for your parts and are not needing the $$$ within 7-10 days (speaking of ebay here). List your parts on a site like this and spend ample time looking up the factory part number, casting number, every conceivable name it could be called (think like an aussie) and some good pics. You must post your ph# and or an email for those finding you via search engine will not be able to contact you if they are not a member of the forum. It may take a year or more but one day someone will turn their red 67 ps xr7 arm rest over and type the number on the backside into google and you will be the only guy their to help. Several years ago we had a local farmer come in and want cash for a 1964 Galaxie Toploader 4spd out of a 427 car he wrecked in the 70’s. It was not what I usually buy so I could not give “Cougar” money for it but he was happy with less than wholesale. It took 3 years but one day a guy calls almost breathless asking me if I would hold it until his check could get here. He had been looking for that trans with that date code for over a decade. I actually listed it on ebay once and got no action…
As manufacturing processes become more advanced, smaller runs of parts become more cost efficient to do. Just the other day we had a new worlds record broken as an early Cougar traded hands privately at $375k.
Welcome back Al. As long as we are making fun of you, I always wondered: with 6 cool cars in your signature line, why is it that the 7th (and decidedly uncoolest) car is your daily driver?
Late last summer I picked up my third cougar (67 xr7). My first was the body of a 67 gt in 84. Finding parts back then for me was waiting for a couple swap meets each year. Or a friend that knew about one being parted out before going to the scrap yard. My second was a 77 xr7 that my dad had bought new. Don’t get me wrong I liked it but it was nothing special to me. But the internet still hadn’t taken off yet so only up until a couple few cars ago finding parts was a once or twice a year kinda thing. I only found this site and WCCC at the end of last year. I grew up (and still live) in Dearborn and all my friends like me lived the Ford kinda life. So drive train parts where free for the most part. A friend gave me gt heads for my 390 one night with just a quick call on the “telephone”. Now those same head on ebay are priced higher than my first car. Ebay is kinda killing my hobby.
I got a 3D printer a couple months ago and have already printed a new face for the center console and I’m looking into other parts I can produce. My next part is just an oval grommet for the firewall. And I was just thinking of the center AC face for the dash. I have mine but if it’s a can’t find part that would do in a pinch, something like that could be cheap. Also something to replace the fragile plastic studs behind the dash.
Really with all the different types of filament out there, there’s lots that can be repopped fairly cheap.