Carlisle-where have all the good parts gone ?

[LUCKTRUCK]

Was it just me or was that the least amount of 67-72 parts you've ever seen at Carlisle Truck? It seems like there was a lot of crappy Ford parts and even Dodge stuff too ? I guess everyone's holding onto their good stuff. I bought some chicken fingers and ice cream, but no truck parts !!

LUCKTRUCK

[67ChevyRedneck]

Supply is drying up...

[special-K]

I saw plenty.Our trucks were the most common ones there,as usual.what I saw were few people willing to pay what the good stuff is worth...or even a bit less.And,that`s what the buzz was all around.There`s always all brands there.It`s just that The off brands are cheaper and Ford and Dodge guys are finally looking back more now.They`re a bit slow compared to us and they ain`t as nice to look back at..

What kind of parts were you hoping to find?And,what day were tou there?I know an original rust free cab,long Fleetside,short Stepside,`67 fender,Suburban 3rd door,lift gate,tailgate,n.o.s. long bedsides,Suburban door,tach gauge face,a sweet restored bucket seat combo,and another nice unrestored combo left unsold.I saw a new take-off stepside fender,radio delete cowl cover ($20),rustfree doors,short floor short steps,Fleetside tailgate,`67 GMC grille,restored blazer frame,K/20,n.o.s. 71/72 grille bowtie,turn signal lenses,and many other parts bought.

[jc]

i agree lucktruck parts wise it was weak in my opinion.

rust free sheet metal was bad
tim nearly named all the good parts

buyers where as cheap as englishtown (i didnt think that was possible.)

[jc]

it just wasnt worth the 6 hour round trip

[rwolf9653]

It all depends on the day, and where you are at. The place is so large that you tend to miss a lot of stuff. I have also noticed less quality parts, but I think part of that is the original supply is drying up in the rust belt.

[Jim_PA]

Just another opinion, but...

I thought this year was better than last. Besides that, for most things, I've given up on buying used, because it's either radically expensive, or junk that's in no better shape than what I already have. There's not enough value to most of these trucks to justify buying $800 NOS tailgates or $3000 bedsides to be left with a truck you'd have problems selling for $5000-$6000. I'll either fix what I have, or buy something reproduced.

Based on my budget, I got into trucks. They are much cheaper to get, and much more plentiful than muscle cars. I think the prices of things are getting out of hand. Thank heavens for the aftermarket, even if it's not perfect.

[LUCKTRUCK]

Don't get me wrong, I love Carlisle, for us east coast guys it's the biggest truck show around. The fun part for me is taking my 71 on the 3 hr trip. I went on Saturday, and yes I saw just about all of the parts Special-K listed, but it's still not like Carlisle of years past. The good rust free stuff and NOS parts are definitely drying up. Maybe my definition of good rust free parts varies from other peoples. There wasn't many of our trucks in the show and yes I did walk the whole place. As for the aftermarket stuff, that's what LMC catalogs are for, a swap meet should be good used parts.

of course thats my opinion and I could be wrong ( I usually am )


Later, LUCKTRUCK

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by LUCKTRUCK

Don't get me wrong, I love Carlisle, for us east coast guys it's the biggest truck show around. The fun part for me is taking my 71 on the 3 hr trip. I went on Saturday, and yes I saw just about all of the parts Special-K listed, but it's still not like Carlisle of years past. The good rust free stuff and NOS parts are definitely drying up. Maybe my definition of good rust free parts varies from other peoples. There wasn't many of our trucks in the show and yes I did walk the whole place. As for the aftermarket stuff, that's what LMC catalogs are for, a swap meet should be good used parts.

of course thats my opinion and I could be wrong ( I usually am )


Later, LUCKTRUCK

No, I know what you mean! My dad and I have been going since 1995. We went 3 years in a row, then I left for college. We finally made it back last year and what I saw was like you described... I remembered OEM parts galore (ESPECIALLY complete beds!) 10-15 years ago. When I went last year, I saw some decent doors, a few good fenders, a bedside or two and a good cab or two... that was really about it. New vendors galore, which is nice for the small stuff and chrome, but after my poopy overpriced doors I'm not too big on the aftermarket stuff. What sucks too is that a lot of vendors only bring their big ticket expensive stuff and they hand you a catalog if you're looking for something else, cause they don't pack it along. I understand they're there to make money and the "big stuff" always sells...

[Jim_PA]

I bet those were good times then. Competition usually brings the prices down. In the current rust-free sheet metal market, I'm just an innocent bystander.

I'd like to buy a bunch of stuff from the western states, rent a u-haul, and drive it all home. I could probably pay for the trip and all my stuff with the profits

[special-K]

I thought the swap meet part sucked when this show began..Bad enough that I never went back after the first few years.I finally went a handful of years ago and was impressed how there were more specialized strictly trucks vendors.Sure,there are less good body parts everywhere.They are installed on all these fine trucks that have been built with the latest popularity these trucks have become.I`ve seen it multiply 20 fold,at least.Just look at this site,magazines,and tv shows.It`s also just a matter of age.The longer a truck sits or is on the road the worse the condition of parts.People don`t part out nice running trucks.Expect it to get worse.In the early`89s I stumbled across a complete original paint`57 Belair front clip with trim laying around.I asked the property owner what he was doing with it and he sold it to me for $100.This was at a car shop.i sold it for $500 and thought I did great.It`s worth 3x that now,if you can find such a thing.Then,there`s this depression we`re in.Kinda have to figure that in.Not many are going to be running rust free part cross country with the high fuel prices just to have people look at them.my riend Dale still does because he`s from western maryland and has a place in Colorado.He travels back and forth a few times a year.He`s the guy behind the grandstand with that mountain of rustfree parts.he hardly had GM stuff because people out west are building trucks,too.He did sell the one `70 Chevy cab in the first few hours of the show.I think it`s a tribute to the love of this hobby that there even is a show with people turning out considering the millions of unemployed and hard times unseen since the great depression.This ain`t no recession.It`s depression #2.We just didn`t have FDIC,and all the social programs in place back in`29.I`ve never seen families losing their homes in the many recessions I`ve pulled through.i`ve never seen a recession that didn`t bounce back to where the economy was after a relatively short burp.I don`t expect much these days and anything show based on what we really don`t need that is continuing is an amazing thing to me.Keep the faith,this hobby`s not going away.

[LUCKTRUCK]

Hey, I found some pictures from the first Carlisle truck show I went to back in 1998. If you look closely in the background, you'll see the Golden State Pick-up Parts tent. This is around the time when Seth Doulton was selling out all of his parts. I remember he had tons of rust free metal and boxes and boxes of NOS hubcaps for all years. I bought 1968 small hubcaps still in GM paper wrappers for $50 for the set of 4. If I only knew back then, what I know now, I would have bought a lot more !

You can see in the pictures below that Carlisle used to actually group the trucks together by year and make. I wish they would do that now, it was cool to see the 67-72's all lined up, I don't like the way it's all mixed up now.

I think next year, we will have to post a reminder a few weeks before about the truck show. I've spoken to a few people and they missed the show because they forgot all about it! It's a great show but we need to get more 67-72 guys to go.

enjoy the vintage pics ! LUCKTRUCK

[special-K]

Great pictures,thanks!! It was better when trucks were organized.I heard the all gM show was that way this year.I remember that year.Seth told me he was selling out and I had a big order 9literally a pickup load placed for that show,as well as had many smaller/light parts shipped the winter and spring prior.Fortunately we had a huge hail storm in nov`94 that required 5,000 houses to have aluminum siding replaced.I was rolling between that,builders,and remodel jobs...not to mention about $500 a week in scrap money.I was still real heavy into restoring up until`99 or so.Yee-up,those were the days(said in an old man`s voice).I have a couple shots of my trucks when it was "organized":