NOS Aftermarket Parts

[ducky]

Hey guys. Not sure if this is the best place to put this, as it's half-cool pictures, and half sales. Below is a real quick story of my experience, but if you're interested in purchasing some NOS stuff, or want me to go back and look for more, message me, and I will gladly do so, as I want to go back and take pictures I didn't think about taking.

 

Here in Ohio, I got wind of an old school parts store closing down in the next couple weeks. I was hunting for an old Denso radiator cap, and the Nissan guy told me about them. Said they had a bunch of old Datsun parts. So of course, I called them up and the owner said, "oh yeah, I have tons of Datsun, Nissan, Volkswagen, Toyota, and other import car stuff new in box." I'm like, holy crap, when can I show up? He says he'll stick around after I got off work and I could go through the place.

 

So I get there, and it's just like any old Carquest or NAPA you might run across, but it's one of the 2-story style buildings. He tells me all the old stuff is in the attic (which is always a good sign, I'm finding), and to follow him up. If I go back, I'll take more pictures, but for now, I can only describe it.

 

It was one of those cool places that has the conveyor system and real shallow steps going up to where stock used to be held. Most of the shelves had been cleared out, but on the ends of the aisles are a handful of old bearings and races, etc still in the boxes. There's a full section of shelf dedicated to mostly American car thermostat housings. There's a desk with a six foot or more wide swath of manuals. A box of old vinyl records, from the late 70's to early 80's is sitting on the desk as well. I checked through that. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, a lot of Grease albums, some Michael Jackson, and more.

 

In this narrow, super dimly lit aisle, the guy leads me to the imports section, and I find out... none of it is OEM... Lame. But, I decided to look for anything I would personally be interested in. The more I look, the more I realize while not OEM, this stuff might as well be. Almost everything is made in Japan, and is in pristine condition.

 

SO, below are a LOT of pictures. There's a bunch of stuff likely still there, as this was only two days ago.

 

I'm looking to sell all the voltage regulators but one for my truck, 6 sets of the spark plugs, 2 sets of the brake shoes, and likely the fuel pumps. If you see something you'd like to have in the pictures, let me know, and I'll go back to get stuff. I'll ship wherever if you're ok with paying that shipping. Other brands I saw that were still there were Toyota and Volkswagen, but probably more. I only cared about the 620 stuff.

 

       

 

       

 

    

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

      

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

      

 

       

 

      

 

     

 

      

 

       

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Offer him $500 for all of it. If he's serious, he'll at least make a counter offer.

 

It's not uncommon to find OEM parts repackaged and sold with another brand name on the box. Back in the day, we figured this out for our 510 parts. Tons of OEM stuff was repackaged and sold at our local Monument Car Parts in Pleasant Hill, CA. We just had to know which brand name to get the good stuff, and it was usually less than half the price of the Nissan dealer.

[ducky]

Well I really do want to offer a lump sum and take it all, but I have no idea if anyone will buy any of it. And I don't have anywhere to store anything. Im already overflowing with parts.

[yenpit]

Lots of new parts in the 70's-80's were sold in the "aftermarket" by the ORIGINAL MANUFACTURER.  This happened throughout the domestic & import parts worlds!  I worked in British parts starting in the mid 80's thru the 90's, saw it all the time.  When I moved to wholesale British parts in 1989, I learned about the original manufactures selling their product in the open wholesale market, mostly because the MG Triumph (classic) Jaguar dealer network shut down in the early 80's, thus shifting the demand to "aftermarket" parts stores etc.  Most dealer networks stopped selling parts for cars over 10 years old, Nissan was no exception, so again, the "aftermarket" would pick up the demand & run with it, often making lots of money, as people continued to drive & repair their older cars.  Then years later, the "restoration" parts market builds in the various car categories, but that is usually when the (cheap) reproduction parts come into play & THAT has often been a disaster for shops & classic car owners!  I have seen LOTS of really BAD repop parts over the years in the British market & more recently in the Datsun market.  You simply get what you pay for!

 

I have personally "bought out" a number of parts store inventories over the years & developed a pretty good eBay system of selling, but it really takes experience as a career parts guy, to make it work...............it can be a lucrative side business!  I have ALWAYS been left with "dead inventory" from these buy outs, that simply does not sell or have any value.  I just looked a a big box that I have, full of NOS parts like that!  The common in demand parts always sell well, leaving some NOS parts that I hate to throw away, but that is a reality!  Not every NOS part has value.........

 

My best current example of repop parts, is in the 510 & Z car sheetmetal/panel world.  In the case of both the 510 & the Z cars, we now have kfvintagejdm.com producing panels, which are FAR superior to the past repop panels available on the market!  The Alfa Parts/Wolf Steel panels for the 510 are some of the worst I have ever seen, including my years in British parts.  The panels out of Australia have been decent.  The OEM style panels (never made "patch panels") out of Musclecar GT in Asia (sold by FutoFab & others) have been decent, but they did have their problems.  The biggest problem over the last 2++ years has been availability............FutoFab sells the panels, Musclecar GT makes them when they want to, so FutoFab is often "out of stock", which again, is a manufactures problem!  The past Z car patch panels (usually sold in raw steel, no primer) were also pretty bad, compared to NOS OEM or kfvintagejdm panels.  We will never use those raw steel panels again, unless we have to, but thus far, kfvintagejdm has come thru with 99% of what we need, typically within 2 weeks of ordering.  Gerson truly has a great production system, even though all of the panels are manufactured & shipped from Bogata Columbia!  

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

It's Colombia, not Columbia. My sister lives there and she thrashed me the first time I spelled it wrong.

 

Aftermarket is never my first choice, but often the only choice. As you say about the later repop stuff being garbage, you're absolutely right. I see more and more cars and trucks on the road with crap parts installed on them. Try restoring a classic Jeep CJ. Nothing available is any good. Try restoring a classic Land Cruiser. Not much available at all, not even aftermarket. Same for Datsuns. The aftermarket will catch up eventually, but probably nowhere near the quality of original parts.

[ducky]

6 hours ago, yenpit said:

My best current example of repop parts, is in the 510 & Z car sheetmetal/panel world.  In the case of both the 510 & the Z cars, we now have kfvintagejdm.com producing panels, which are FAR superior to the past repop panels available on the market!  The Alfa Parts/Wolf Steel panels for the 510 are some of the worst I have ever seen, including my years in British parts.  The panels out of Australia have been decent.  The OEM style panels (never made "patch panels") out of Musclecar GT in Asia (sold by FutoFab & others) have been decent, but they did have their problems.  The biggest problem over the last 2++ years has been availability............FutoFab sells the panels, Musclecar GT makes them when they want to, so FutoFab is often "out of stock", which again, is a manufactures problem!  The past Z car patch panels (usually sold in raw steel, no primer) were also pretty bad, compared to NOS OEM or kfvintagejdm panels.  We will never use those raw steel panels again, unless we have to, but thus far, kfvintagejdm has come thru with 99% of what we need, typically within 2 weeks of ordering.  Gerson truly has a great production system, even though all of the panels are manufactured & shipped from Bogata Columbia! 

 

I had completely forgotten about KF for panels. I really need them to make the right hand front bed skirt for my truck. Curious as to why they only do the left.

 

6 hours ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

It's Colombia, not Columbia. My sister lives there and she thrashed me the first time I spelled it wrong.

 

Aftermarket is never my first choice, but often the only choice. As you say about the later repop stuff being garbage, you're absolutely right. I see more and more cars and trucks on the road with crap parts installed on them. Try restoring a classic Jeep CJ. Nothing available is any good. Try restoring a classic Land Cruiser. Not much available at all, not even aftermarket. Same for Datsuns. The aftermarket will catch up eventually, but probably nowhere near the quality of original parts.

 

By the time aftermarket make anything worthwhile, no one has the cars anymore. My newest car is from 2005. I just don't enjoy all the new gadgets and sensors and stuff. My WRX already has a crammed engine bay. I love my Datsun and Mustang because you can just look down and at the ground. I dread the day something breaks and there just isn't a replacement to purchase.

[bilzbobaggins]

I only see one pic

[yenpit]

15 hours ago, ducky said:

 

I had completely forgotten about KF for panels. I really need them to make the right hand front bed skirt for my truck. Curious as to why they only do the left.

 

 

 

KF can hand form any panel, as long as they have something to copy.  Gerson is very careful about making a panel on the opposite side as what they have, cuz sometimes the opposite panel is NOT exactly the same/mirror image!  They might not have the right hand panel to copy............??  Call Gerson or Juan to ask!

 

We have had them HAND FORM (prior to them having a proper stamping mould!) quite a few Z car panels & they have all been excellent. 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

One of my favorite quotes is (ironically) from Jesse James, the motorcycle guy, who is is quite adept at forming sheetmetal. He said once - It's easy to make one side of a gas tank.