Opinions/thoughts/comments
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 673
Likes: 2
From: Melbourne Victoria
Corvette tax is right and shipping (to Australia) for the smallest item is outrageous.
Luckily (here in Aussieland) we had a few Chev powered
local cars & engine parts for these are still cheap.
I discovered that these cars had the some of the
same basic parts as the Vettes (steering even dash parts- vent ***** & *****).
I try to deal with places that let me compare parts (most will).
So any Aussie 70's era Vette owners out there,
check out Holden HT HQ HZ parts,
You'd be surprised what'll fit. For bearings, I go to a local
bearing store....saved BIG dollars there too. My motorcycle needed wheel
bearings and OEM were $47 each, bearings shop $11 for heavy duty
and they were the same make as OEM .
cheers,
Gav
Luckily (here in Aussieland) we had a few Chev powered
local cars & engine parts for these are still cheap.
I discovered that these cars had the some of the
same basic parts as the Vettes (steering even dash parts- vent ***** & *****).
I try to deal with places that let me compare parts (most will).
So any Aussie 70's era Vette owners out there,
check out Holden HT HQ HZ parts,
You'd be surprised what'll fit. For bearings, I go to a local
bearing store....saved BIG dollars there too. My motorcycle needed wheel
bearings and OEM were $47 each, bearings shop $11 for heavy duty
and they were the same make as OEM .
cheers,
Gav
Last edited by thegavel; Jun 2, 2012 at 10:36 PM.
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 948
Likes: 1
From: pensacola fl
LemansBlue68 reminded me of a friend in 1972 bought a pretty roughed up 58 Vette. He spent over 2 years calling junk yards across the US for parts. This was a time when there were no computers or parts houses and long distance phone calls were considered expensive. To this day, the Vette has been sitting in the garage of his parents home covered up and gets driven around the block about twice each year. I have tried to buy this car from him several times but he always says someday he wants to do something with it. Go figure.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 5,948
Likes: 72
From: Oxford MA-----You just lost the game!!!!
The reason vendors charge $49.95 for a cloth air cleaner cover with a logo is because there's people willing to pay $49.95 for them. Otherwise, they'd charge less or not bother selling them at all.
Same rules apply to fancy bottles of imported spring water when the stuff coming out of the tap for free is just as thirst quenching.
It's all called capitalism, a concept we all embrace when it works to our advantage but hate when it doesn't.
Same rules apply to fancy bottles of imported spring water when the stuff coming out of the tap for free is just as thirst quenching.
It's all called capitalism, a concept we all embrace when it works to our advantage but hate when it doesn't.
Capitalism rule #1: Charge what the market will bear.
I have friends who complain about how much a ticket costs to go see the Red Sox at Fenway, and then have to pay 9 bucks for a beer, or however much a beer costs at Fenway. I say, "The reason they charge so much, is because knuckleheads like you are willing to pay it!"
And that is also why that air cleaner cover costs 49.95. I can't say I haven't done the same exact thing with something that I really wanted. Oh, well, it's only money. Dirty, filthy, money.
Keep the shiny side up!
Scott
Instructor
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 109
Likes: 0
I can buy any car audio item from the States and have it shipped here for less than the cost of buying in Australia. For instance, I had an amplifier shipped from Alaska of all places and it cost me $250 postage. I looked at having it shipped to Colorado from Queensland for when I move to the US and the cheapest price I could find was $400.
Fedex is usually quite good for their prices and delivery times. They got a 10kg package from Ohio to LA to Sydney in 4 days. It took Auspost another 11 days to get it to Gladstone....
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 2,200
Likes: 3
From: Lehigh county Pennsylvania
javaman, did you ever think that other folks are getting ripped off worse than you? Check out the price for this half ounce piece of formed plastic. http://shop.corvettecentral.com/1968...-p8577477.html
It is not an original GM part...it is a repo. Corvette Central, and all the other vendors who are asking the same price can watch them collect dust before I pay such an inflated price. But that's just me. Instead I tig welded a piece of scrap aluminum diamond plate and spritzed it with rattle can black. Probably cost 5 cents for electricity and 5 cents for argon shielding gas.
Instead of whining about the high cost of Vette parts on this forum, I found a DIY solution on the cheap. It may look Bubba-ish but it served the purpose to fill the radio delete hole.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 14,852
Likes: 3,306
From: NYC NY
What a coincidence! People say the same thing about Yankee Stadium. 
Lets face it you pay for brand recognition.
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 15,892
Likes: 42
1) you guys didn't invent it
2) you guys didn't perfect it
3) you guys are not the only ones practising it
This comes into play when shopping at Wally World and NOTHING is marked Made in USA. If you object to this- get mad at your fellow shoppers, not the foreign manufacturers.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 3,399
Likes: 278
From: Olmsted Falls, Ohio
It's not just Corvettes. Try purchasing parts for any 60's muscle car, forget about OEM, just find "made to look like OEM". All collector car parts are getting expensive. The market is set by the age of vehicle and therefore the older the car the more expensive.
Now, if what you want to do is hot-rod and dress-up an old muscle car without any need for OEM or "made to look like OEM" then there are more cost effective options.
Cost of transportation for your parts goes up every day. The thing that irks me the most is not so much shipping but HANDLING. Any decent large mail-order parts house uses computers to track inventory, create pull lists for the warehouse, and set up shipping invoices. That doesn't cost the outrageous charge some places are using. I refuse to deal with them because of that practice.
Now, if what you want to do is hot-rod and dress-up an old muscle car without any need for OEM or "made to look like OEM" then there are more cost effective options.
Cost of transportation for your parts goes up every day. The thing that irks me the most is not so much shipping but HANDLING. Any decent large mail-order parts house uses computers to track inventory, create pull lists for the warehouse, and set up shipping invoices. That doesn't cost the outrageous charge some places are using. I refuse to deal with them because of that practice.
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Administrator
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 53,920
Likes: 6,178
From: About 1100 miles from where I call home.
Since you say it happened to you, who am I to question it. What kind of air cleaner did it have? I don't think I've ever seen a Chevy air cleaner that was concave on top. If it just reflected sunlight, it shouldn't have generated any more heat than what direct sunlight would do on the 'outside' of the hood. Curious...
It was a blistering July day at a show. The car had just been judged and did very well on paint. I walked over to it awhile later and I saw that the sun was hitting the AC and reflecting on the underside of the hood with an intense "dot" like a magnifying glass. I could see a slight mark in the black. I touched the underside and it was hot... looked at the top of the hood and it looked like someone had left a smoldering cigar on the middle of my hood... dark brown, burnt paint about 5 inches long.... I assume this was the line the sun was tracking.
I'm like you, I did not believe the stories either, but I saw it happen and it ruined my paint. And matching Sebring Silver is a bad project, too. I always use an air cleaner cover at an outdoor show when Im exposed to bright sunlight now. I dont think I spent $50 on it, but it was worth what I paid.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 5,948
Likes: 72
From: Oxford MA-----You just lost the game!!!!
Concentrated sunlight can do some weird things. There is a certain spot in my brother's driveway, that, during a certain part of the summer, at a certain time of day, the sunlight will bounce off one of his house's windows, and generate intense heat. We learned this when it burned a stripe across his motorcycle seat one day. Once we figured out what was happening, we learned that we could stick our hands into the beam, and the heat would actually be very uncomfortable after only a few seconds. Weird, huh?
Keep the shiny side up! (But maybe cover it with something if the sun is bright!)
Scott
Keep the shiny side up! (But maybe cover it with something if the sun is bright!)
Scott
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 15,892
Likes: 42
