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Joined
May 28, 2011
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Location
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My Car
'73 mustang convt.
Finding parts for our Mustangs isn't easy. I can tell you it used to be a lot harder. The number of vendors was smaller and there was no internet searching or EBay. Local papers and Hemmings is how you found most parts (used) and I always had a collection of some of the mustang vendors catalogs. Most of the time you would see a part listed in a catalog and it would include everything upto 1970. There are still all kinds of stuff you can't get.

Of course, since our production runs were less the used part availability is also limited. Oh, and the 73 has different front fenders to boot.

I searched for years for a tilt steering column. I must have followed up on several dozen leads until I found a guy in Florida who had a collection of used parts including the column. I also had a heck of a time finding the protection molding and the rocker molding (I have a set of NOS but now they are repo'd).

Ebay came along and that made it a lot easier.

So how long have you been doing this? For me it's been 30 years. What part did you find that you were most excited about?

 
i can say without the internet and Ebay all the work i did on my car would of been impossible.

i've only been with this hobby since 2005.

 
I've been into the car thing since the mid 70s. Parts for these cars is easy now days. Back then I had a '64 GTO, one year only for most body parts. A ton of junkyard scrounging. One time I bought a complete car just for a hood.

Things are easier today.

 
One time I bought a complete car just for a hood.
That's funny! I could imagine doing that. I found my NASA hood local, it had a dent and wasn't cheap but I finally had one.

I was looking at some of the vendor sites and it reminded me of the time I picked up a new horn switch (the part inside the steering wheel) from a local ford dealer. I grabbed a bigger front sway bar from them too.

One time, in a quest to find a tilt steering I went and checked out a parting out cougar. It had a brown steering console (they were colored matched) and I thought it was broken because I didn't understand how the tilt worked....

 
I have been chasing Mustang parts since 1983, the internet makes things much easier. It was nice back in the day when you could still find these cars in the junk yards.

That's a good point. I bet they just don't show up there anymore. I went to a lot of bone yards looking for parts.

It's easier now but I remember the absolute excitement when you finally did chase down a part. I suppose it is the same now except it's for the more rare stuff and, of course, lots of other people find out about it at the same time.

When I unwrapped my used tilt column it was one of my happiest mustang memories. (I have a few ;) )

 
I spent a lot of time in the junk yards around Columbus, OH in the late 70's, early 80's looking for options for my 73 Mach 1 that I bought in high school. I paid $2300 for it in 1977. It had only 33,000 miles and was in great shape but it was a plain jane to be sure. Its only option was A/C. I remember finding a 73 Mach 1 in the junkyard that had the full gauge package. I thought I had struck the mother lode! $50 later, that tach/speedometer and the 3 gauge cluster with all the wiring was mine. I stayed up until 4:00 am installing that stuff. I still remember firing the car up after all was installed and seeing that tach needle sitting there at 625 RPM, fully illuminated. All gauges worked. I took it out for a spin around the block. Those were good times! Me and that Mach parted ways in Southern California in 1985 - where are you now 3F05H253351?

 
Finding parts for our Mustangs isn't easy. I can tell you it used to be a lot harder. The number of vendors was smaller and there was no internet searching or EBay. Local papers and Hemmings is how you found most parts (used) and I always had a collection of some of the mustang vendors catalogs. Most of the time you would see a part listed in a catalog and it would include everything upto 1970. There are still all kinds of stuff you can't get.

Of course, since our production runs were less the used part availability is also limited. Oh, and the 73 has different front fenders to boot.

I searched for years for a tilt steering column. I must have followed up on several dozen leads until I found a guy in Florida who had a collection of used parts including the column. I also had a heck of a time finding the protection molding and the rocker molding (I have a set of NOS but now they are repo'd).

Ebay came along and that made it a lot easier.

So how long have you been doing this? For me it's been 30 years. What part did you find that you were most excited about?
Hi,

locating parts was even harder for us enthusiasts over here in Europe. One of the very view sources of information were the mustang magazines, and communication with parts vendors was mostly by FAX and very expensive trans atlantic phone bills. I had stacked up quite a pile of catalogs, but there were also vendors that didn't send parts overseas.

The most exiting part I found back then was my '71 Mach 1 (if that counts ;-)

- Manfred

 
I don't know if I could do it without the Internet...just don't have the time to search out the parts like that anymore.

 
I started searching junkyards about 30 years for parts for my 67 Mustang....ditched that car after I started finding out how rotted it was with rust...but I remember finding the Cougar sequential still in the trunk of a 67 pulled them out for $25 what a great find that was.

 
I got into Mustangs in the early 80's and there were several junkyards I was able to pick through. On the weekends I watched the classifieds. Back then I bought several cars for parts paying $35 for a '69 Fastback (some parts missing already), $50 for a '66 Coupe (no doors, but otherwise complete) and a few others. I even knew where a tilt column was for a 71-73. As I didn't own a big body then I didn't buy it, but seriously considered it to re-sell. I went looking for it several years ago, but the owner of the yard had died and we couldn't go in. It looked like it had changed too much anyway.

Parts were cheaper and plentiful back then, but obscure stuff is easier to find now. Add to that the plethora of quality reproductions and the good advice/experience on the internet!

 
I have been doing this since 1985 when I bought my first Mach 1 it was a 72 Green w/silver accents under the red primer, my car had a baby blue 73 front end on it so I had to primer it..

I bought all the parts off a complete 73 Mach 1 back then for $100.00 which included nasa hood,grille,all wiring for tach conversion front to back w/convenience group,console,folddown,rear spoiler and rimblow wheel.

I used to scour the junkyards just about every weekend with my friends. But yes the internet has been good for finding the more obscure stuff.

 
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No doubt, the internet has changed things, but the hunt for parts still goes on. Yes, it was great when good cars and rare parts could be found in junk yards, they were still there because the yard served a local market. Once the internet and cheap shipping came into play, the junk yards were picked clean and parts sent coast to coast. Now we spend hours sitting in front of a screen with a CC at the ready, rather than driving around the country side and hiking through junkyards with a wad of cash stuffed in jeans pocket.

The good news is that there are still good finds right around the corner. Within the last 5 years, I found my cars less a hundred miles from my house, and they were not on EBAY or advertised outside the local area. So, don't stop searching the local swap sheet, or talking to people you meet, because you never know what's hidden away in your town.

 
I didn't start chasing parts for 71-73s until I bought my first one when I was reassigned back to the US in 1976. It was salvage yards, ads, and word of mouth then. I started the quest for "go fast" parts in 1971 when I bought a 1966 Mercury Cyclone GT. Hard to say what my best find was. Finding N case diffs is always a thrill. Finding good FE parts is also a hoot. Best recent find was a 72 4 bolt, standard bore short block as a "just in case" spare. Searching salvage yards used to be recreational activity for me. They have all dried up in my area (OKC).

Chuck

 
I've had my 73 Convertible since 1974, but really never needed any hard to find parts. I do remember when junk yards had some kind of squak box hooked up to many other junk yards and would could always hear someone over the speaker asking for a part; kind of a primitive internet!

The annual swap meets at Carlise PA was always and still is a good place to go and find parts. I remember going there back in the 80's and selling a lot of MG, Triumph, and Jaguar parts that I salvage from going to a dumpster when the British Leyland dealership I worked at went out of business. I filled up a Dodge 300 Maxivan with parts from there. Still got some left in the basement.

 
I don't know if I could do it without the Internet...just don't have the time to search out the parts like that anymore.
Well - I found this license plate on Ebay for $10. I've been on Ebay since Oct 1998 - dang - that's almost 13 years.

000plate.jpg

 
I did a lot of 65/66 cars in the late 70's. I knew very yard owner on a first name basis, I knew every mustang they had and a lot of them would call me whenever they got one in. But it was way different then because there were probably 75 65/66 Mustangs in yards within 50 miles of my house.

 
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