What's your best-ever parts or truck score?

[oem4me]

A great truck or parts score can be the result of smart/diligent searching or just plain luck. Either way, it's a rush when things go your way and a rare or special item lands in your lap for cheap. I though it would be fun to see what some of your all-time best finds/scores are.
Somewhere on my computer I had a screenshot of an Ebay auction for a CORVAIR master cylinder that I won for a measly $5. For a solid week, nobody else noticed that it was actually a one-year-only part for a 1963 CORVETTE, worth about $500 at the time. Needless to say, I was STOKED!
Let's hear about yours, and include a picture if you have one.

[1963c-10]

Ive come across a few, just got a black OEM seatbelt dated 63 made by Irving chute company for chevy for $12 shipped. And in great condition. Hood ornament for $100 was another good score. Clock, grill guard were "steals" in my book, but maybe not in other

I also just completed the install of a Hurst master shift on my borg warner T-16 HD 3 speed. Found a NOS Hurst install kit minus shifter for 67-68 Camaro...hasn't been made since the 60's. All new in the unopened bag and a complete bolt on. No mods required. Paid $200, but easily worth far more to the right person. Had a lot of viewers, but I was the 1st with the cash, so now its going on the 63. The new hurst mastershift lever bolted right on to the factory brackets....score.

[aerotruk63]

My running truck, $800 delivered. $13 in tax and duty to get it across the border including a document stating it required no mechanical inspection as it had been plated in the States.

Then the fun began.

I had talked with a buddy of mine not 20 minutes previous to crossing the border into New York State via the Malone area. I came across a 63 sitting behind an abandoned school house that belonged to the farmer across the street. My buddy told me that if I found a truck with an accessory on it, I was to scan the whole truck as it would be almost impossible for a buyer to order 1 accessory on a truck. I opened the passenger side door and the original CLOCK and Radio were on the floor. The truck was riddled with bullet holes, I guess the school house was to large a target, but the clock and radio were untouched. I walked around the truck for other goodies and saw that the front bumper had a series of equal spaced holes running across the top. Two rods were sticking out of the cutouts in the painted grille. I asked the farmer what had happened to the GRILLE GUARD and he said he had removed it to put on the Dodge but that it was too much work. He had it in the machine shed. While he gave me the CLOCK and Radio because he couldn't believe I wanted them, he did charge me $10 for the grille guard.

A guy I met was training for the Canadian Olympic Cycling team in Texas and came across a Cool Pack A/C unit in a truck. He gave it to me as a gift for helping him with his 63.

My brother moved to Toronto Ontario and was bored. He called around and came across this Body Shop that had the last pair of GM NOS INNER FENDERS in Canada, 1 of 1 written on the tags.

Carlisle Pa car show, the last day we were there, the last row we walked, the last vendor I go to see, an unmarked box. That weekend had been disastrous for me in that I had found nothing after walking all the rows including the dreaded hill. I open the box and found a set of NOS CHROME HUBCAPS. $125 and they were mine. He had a bunch of other stuff that I bought as well but can't remember the items. I did miss out on a NOS SLIDING REAR WINDOW from this vendor. He had sold it the week previous and the purchaser had hung up the phone and driven 12 hours straight to get it.

After 20+ years of looking, an Ebay auction for an original SLIDING REAR WINDOW. Buy it Now feature, but doesn't sell to international buyers. I thought I was going to throw up! Panic , anxiety and phone calls to to fellow gearheads resulted in a Canadian son with an American father with an Ebay account. $175, 2 months waiting for it to come up from Boston after shipping, MINE!


Called this upholstery place, Original Auto Interiors, and was able to purchase the end of the roll of the Deluxe Seat Fabric for Chevrolet Trucks for 1963. The vinyl he said was a finish called Haircell which was the same as the passenger cars and had a lot of that in stock.

A Cab out of the back yard of a row of townhouses in West Vancouver B.C. provided the Easy Eye Glass for the doors to match the existing windshield. Other parts as well $100.

Barrie Automotive Flea market in Orillia Ontario yielded an original Irving Airchute Company model:5000 seatbelt out of an airplane for a buck.


God I could go through every part like this.

[TommyDuncan]

My best truck score was the one I just got
$1000.00

I've spent about $600 for 2 spare motors (that I don't really need), new tank and sending unit, and fluids, filters, etc and it runs great!
The motors came with two Holley 500s. I sold one to pay for the adapter and rebuild kit and used the other. I have buyers lined up for the helper springs and the step bumper. That will cover the price of a stock bumper. Now I need to find some used rear bumper brackets and some driver door trim.
Interior is clean

I got two 16" nub style wheels for free and converted them to work with the clip style caps. Just need to score two more 16"s and start looking for some cheap tires.
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[60-66]

Mine was this ugly 1966 GMC Suburban I picked up earlier this year.


Not only was it fairly loaded PS PB Rear seat heater, automatic, 3 seat truck, previous owner completely rebuilt a 1966 327 top to bottom. But it gets better...............






In 1972 this owner bought these two NOS in the factory crates Right and Left 60-66 Suburban quarter panels ! But wait theres more.... Two NOS GM front fenders and Two NOS GM inner fenders all still in boxes and some miscellaneous extras.

[vin63]

Probably the rear cab molding that I found at the Pomona swap meet several years ago in a pile of other trim pieces for a few bucks.

[TommyDuncan]

My best friend took a carb off of a burnt late 70s Chevy dually at the junk yard and noticed the intake was aftermarket. He scraped off some off the charred junk and saw that the heads were too, and aluminum. Also a Merlin block...
The fire started in the cab but the engine compartment didn't look too burnt. Mostly wiring and hoses. He said he wanted to buy it as a core, hoping he could salvage the crank.
He got it for $250...
He took it to work. Hot tanked it. Checked the aluminum heads for softness. Mic'ed everything.
Now he has a 555 in his 66 El Camino!
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[flashed]

A nice set of BuddyBuckets a couple of years a go for free .They were nice then but they are even nicer now completely restored and ready for a truck.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Interesting stories.

Best recent Truck parts score? A real nice set of Chrome West Coast Mirrors complete with all the Chrome Brackets for my C-30, which were off another C-30, for $20. Also a long sought after set of orginal GMC-Hadley Dual Air Horns, with excellent Chrome (also for my 1-Ton) for $20.

Best all time deal, non-Truck?

A '59 348 Engine, complete less Carb, for $5 (Five Dollars).

A '56 Chevy 2-Dr Sedan Parts Car for $1 (One Dollar).

A '64 Impala Parts Car, 327, Posi Traction Rear, after a trade plus $100 back, cost me $30.

A '66 Bel-Air, 283, totally complete, at auction, $30.

Same day, same auction, I could have bought a '73 Monte Carlo Parts Car for $5.

Bill

[LostMy65]

My 65 (twice)
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[cru_zn_29]

One of my best finds was at our local swap meet about 8 years ago. A man had a milk crate full of old distributors with a sign said two dollars each or take all for ten. I started lifting the first one out when I saw a old chevy distributor with two tack drives. I stood up paid him ten bucks grabbed my milk crate and started walking to my truck. The distributor was for a 1963 corvette fuel injection. unit. I sold the distributor a couple of months later at the Pomona swap meet for 1500.00. Oh by the way I still have the milk crate with 9 old distributors left.

[TJ's Chevy]

My running 64 3/4 ton long bed fleetside the I got for free from an older friend of mine who was moving. He said I could have it if I took it. Couldn't throw that away! Has the same motor as my half and the body is in better shape and the motor has over 50,000 miles less! I took off the hood and put it on the 1/2 ton. Fenders are used and the cab is gonna be also.

[joedoh]

I bought a 63 for 300 bucks complete that came with bright aluminum grille in perfect shape, and when I went to pick it up the guy had put in the bed about 800 bucks worth of new parts from LMC truck including polished bed strips and bolt kit and new mirrors. I still havent stopped using those parts.

[onebad65c10]

Best score on my 65 was a complete front end minus the fenders at my local You pick and pull yard. The whole deal cost me $150.00. The guys at the check out thought they were Floor pans. Minor repair work needed on the inner fenders and hood. Sanded them down and cut them in and they are still on the truck today. Fenders I went after market. Rest of the truck was tras. At least I saved the front end cause that weekend they crushed the truck.
Also another score on the truck were my Rally wheels. Called an add on Craigslist and the guy told me a price without the tires since they were shot. Drove about an hour to get them. When I got there the guy gave them to me for free. Afte some paint and new eBay centers and trim rings and new tires a nice looking set of 6 lug ralley wheels for under 600.00.

[robber grin]

69 C10 short fleet - $40

Spotted it in the woods near my buddy's house and it was his uncles.

The nice man pulled it out of the woods and towed it home for me - no lie.

Dropped a buzz'n half-dozen in it and drove it for 5 years.

Mama nick-named it "Old Paid For"...

Took a brush and roller and painted it with some tan industrial enamel that was donated by another friend and stiched an Army blanket seat cover for it.

Eventually sold it (less the drive-line) to a fellow that wanted to re-do an old truck and I got a 65 long step out of another buddy's yard and kept the motor and trans going another 5 years or so.

LOVED that truck... forty bucks = paid for.
rg

[ready2go69]

010 350 complete 4 bolt main engine 40k miles $100.

[chevyrestoguy]

My '64 truck. C-20, California truck, original paint, factory A/C, underdash ash tray. No motor. $200.

In 1991, I traded a 454 block and steel crank for a complete '67 Nova 2dr hardtop. 283/powerglide, Granada Gold.

I bought a tach cluster for a 1985 Chevy truck for $35 and sold it for $350.

I bought a pair of 15x10 magnesium Halibrand Sprints for $200, ran them for 10 years, and sold them for $900. I also had a pair of 15x10 magnesium Torq-Thrusts that I paid $400 for and sold them for $1000.

I bought a pair of '69 AMX taillights at the local Pick-A-Part for $18, took them home and cleaned them up, put them on ebay and sold them for $320.

I've lost count on how many 400 small blocks I have sold over the years. I used to buy all the shortblocks I could find at the local wrecking yards for anywhere between $60 and $100, and sell them for $350.

In 1987, I bought my '71 Camaro RS for $600. Running and driving. The car was crunched on the driver's fender, but it was a numbers-matching car. After I decoded the car, it turned out to be the 3rd Camaro off the line in 1971 (VIN# 12487L500003). Possibly the first RS made in 1971, but I haven't been able to confirm that. 245 horse 350, th350, A/C, P/S, rally wheels, Code 53 (Placer Gold), Code 777 interior (Sandlewood, standard). The car has been in storage since 1990, awaiting restoration, which will happen as soon as I'm done with my '64. It's going to get a full-blown restoration, down to the grease pencil marks and torque stripe paint.