[android 211]

Long time ago I bought a '69 GTO standard engine distributor for my car. Recently I sent it out for a rebuild and the rebuilder called me to tell it was junk and he couldn't do anything with it. He said the shaft was galled and someone had to know it and had just jammed it back together. Another time I bought some door seals which turned out to be for the uncommon post model with a window frame and useless to me. Not disclosed in the ad. I did sell them with correct description. I have other makes. Bought some '500' cylinder head gaskets for a 500 Cadillac powered car I own: turned out to be for a 425 Cadillac and not usable. Not cheap either. Before you buy a carburetor make sure it has the rare and unique throttle arm attached that your car might need. Been there too.
Another thing is before you buy some 'new not used' parts someone 'doesn't need' check the Summit or Jegs price with free shipping. Many people sell stuff here for more than Summit asks and expect you to pay shipping too which can be quite a few dollars.
A lot of us are getting up in years. Look at who's showing their cars. If you're sitting on a gold mine of hoarded parts consider reducing inventory to help some one finish their project. I don't know if the hoarders and speculators hurt or help the hobby but they sure make it more expensive.

[gtohunter]

Got ripped off once...a set of A pillars and vent windows for a 68 GTO off ebay, and the selled claimed he removed them from a 68 GTO coupe. I bought them and then took them to Pauls plating and after $600 in plating, went to install and found out they were for a 4 Dr A body...1/2" taller!! My fault for not checking the p/n's on the parts beforehand, so now I have a nice show chromed A pillars for a 4dr A body that no one wants!

[Chief of the 60's]

It also is up to the buyer to know what they are buying.

[carbking]

It is easy to jump to conclusions, and sometimes the jump is accurate, however:

I don't rebuild distributors.

I can see a situation where someone took a distributor apart, found damaged parts, put it back together, and placed it in a pile of "parts" items (maybe the case was good???). The individual in question passed, and his parts cache was sold to another car enthusiast, who later sold the distributor in good faith, not having disassembled it first, thus not knowing of the damage.

I used to restore carburetors (I no longer due, as the demand for our rebuilding kits is great).

Over the years, we restored MANY carburetors that competitors told our customers were not rebuildable. We sent them back to the customers with our 1 year/5 year warranty, and had happy customers.

And yes, there are dishonest people; but not everyone is dishonest.

As to the folks selling above Summit's prices:

40 years ago we had warehouse distributor status with a number of carburetor companies, including Carter. We sold a lot of Carter carburetors, some to folks that grumbled about the price, but bought from us because of the tech support. Finally, one regular customer of other of out products told us our new Carter prices were significantly higher than those of P.A.W. (sometimes wonder what happened to them). After doing some investigation, found that Carter (other companies have the same policy) has another discount above WD for customers that bought a minimum of 150 carburetors of the same number at the same time. I could literally buy certain POPULAR (certainly not all numbers) Carter performance carburetors RETAIL from P.A.W. CHEAPER than I could purchase them directly from Carter with my WD discount. Prior to this, I had no idea that this was happening (and long before the internet).

We started sending prospective customers to P.A.W. for these units. And still sold a few to folks that were willing to pay extra for the tech support (totally unavailable from P.A.W.).

Verbose post (apologies), but sometimes there is more to a story than what is obvious.

Jon.

[68lemans462]

Originally Posted by android 211

A lot of us are getting up in years. Look at who's showing their cars. If you're sitting on a gold mine of hoarded parts consider reducing inventory to help some one finish their project. I don't know if the hoarders and speculators hurt or help the hobby but they sure make it more expensive.

I have trouble feeling sorry for you or even understanding the intent of this post. Telling Pontiac guys not to "hoard" parts is like telling an crack head not to smoke crack. Perhaps if you planned better and did more research with your shopping and parts acquisitions you would not be here posting this nonsense. In the car hobby we all get burned occasionally. Maybe you should part your car out so others can benefit from it? We live in a capitalist society here in AMERICA. If folks can sell parts for more than Summit Racing, more power to 'em.

[Lee]

Dave Ray has the distributor shafts hard-chromed, to bring them back into spec.

[dataway]

Keep in mind, most of the parts being sold by the average guy are rejects or junk that did not pass muster for their own project. They will be sold, and resold until someone finally throws it in the garbage.

I stick with forum members that sell parts as part of their income, so they have a reputation and a customer base to protect.

And .... the average guy that's not in the parts business may not even know his part is junk before he sells it.

[Greg Reid]

I bought a vinyl top from a guy on ebay years before I actually needed it. That's where the mistake is made many times. By the time I got around to using it, it was too late to even remember who I got it from.
It was about two feet too short for my car. Don't know what it was originally made for but it wasn't a '68 A body.

[Goatracer1]

I feel bad for you but sometimes it happens. Sometimes the seller doesn't know it's bad/wrong. Sometimes he's a crook. Years ago someone called me and asked if the 1965 Bonneville that I was parting had a master cylinder. I told him yes and that it was in working condition. He said he didn't care if it worked just that it fit. I sent it to him and shortly after got a nasty call saying I screwed him. I asked how. He said it was not a factory original. Well he never asked if it was! If he had asked I would have told him that I didn't know what an original master cylinder even looked like. Funny thing when I offered him his money back he said he would keep it.