85vette
New member
Made a young man quite happy last Saturday. After owning it for the past 14 years and with the parts for it becoming more scarce every day, I made the decision to let it go. It being a rare, first year car (only 2461 units made in 2004) the aftermarket suppliers didn't really jump on the bandwagon to fill the gaps. When I bought this car in 2010 I had bookmarked a GM dealer in Texas that gave me 40% off list price on parts and their online parts catalog had many offerings for it.
Not so today. So rather than paint myself into a corner I decided to move it before something broke. Otherwise I could see myself spending upwards of $20K in the future, if I could find whatever parts it may need. For example, a company called Creative Steel makes a drop in replacement rear diff (made from a Ford 8.8) for about $6000 plus labor to install. 6 speed Tremec's run about $3000-$4000. I put a lot of miles on it and enjoyed the car immensely, but with 211K miles on the odometer it was time.
Now I can stay focused on house renovations and look around after that and see what kind of a fun toy I can get. I'm really thinking something from the 60's or 70's. Pre-computer would be nice but maybe with fuel injection.
I know the manufacturers have less and less parts available now because I needed an antilock brake part for my 2011 F350 and it was no longer in manufacture. The Ford dealer had to buy a used part to fix my truck! And with my trucks model being made from 2011 to 2016, you would think there would be a demand, right?
Anyway, that's just how it is I guess.
Not so today. So rather than paint myself into a corner I decided to move it before something broke. Otherwise I could see myself spending upwards of $20K in the future, if I could find whatever parts it may need. For example, a company called Creative Steel makes a drop in replacement rear diff (made from a Ford 8.8) for about $6000 plus labor to install. 6 speed Tremec's run about $3000-$4000. I put a lot of miles on it and enjoyed the car immensely, but with 211K miles on the odometer it was time.
Now I can stay focused on house renovations and look around after that and see what kind of a fun toy I can get. I'm really thinking something from the 60's or 70's. Pre-computer would be nice but maybe with fuel injection.
I know the manufacturers have less and less parts available now because I needed an antilock brake part for my 2011 F350 and it was no longer in manufacture. The Ford dealer had to buy a used part to fix my truck! And with my trucks model being made from 2011 to 2016, you would think there would be a demand, right?
Anyway, that's just how it is I guess.