WADDYA RECKON?
THE GREAT PARTS HUNT
RECENTLY, I’VE BEEN chasing plent y of parts: Finding components for my 1979 V B Commodore SL/E 5.0-litre V8 manual has been particularly challenging. I bought t he car in Queensland years ago and since t hen, I’ve had to track-down prett y much ever y component – from tail lights to door handles to t he dashboard – that have been messed-up by four decades of sunny summers.
Car-nut pages on Facebook are good for f inding parts. A recent score for me was some of t he litt le plastic-chrome trims for my SL/E’s dashboard. These britt le t rims are dif f icult to f ind but a bloke in Melbourne had a set at the right price so I had my mate Matt collect and pay for them on my behalf. Another important score from Facey was t he correct steering wheel: If I remember right, the rim came from Albury and the horn button was posted from Perth !
Plus, of course, I do a bit of greasy-f inger scrounging, too. My terrif ic old-school loca l wrecker, Classic Oz Wreck, has sold me a complete dash/instrument binnacle, plus ot her important components such as arm rests, sun-visors and door handles. Another loca l business, The Commodore Shop, a lso gets plent y of my money! My car-nut mates are a lso a great source of now-scarce parts too… for instance, I bludged a great centre console for my SL/E from Morley’s Project Poo hill-climber Commodore when he stripped the interior.
Not everything I buy is second-hand. For instance, I discovered a bloke who was reproducing Commodore carpets. This Stuart bloke has put in the effort to provide a high-quality factory-style carpet kit and as I want my Commodore to be as awesome as possible, I placed an order for his Ausclassics deep-pile carpet and I’m happy to have paid nearly triple the price of the almost-but-not-quitet he-same $200 stuff. I need new door cards, too and I think I’ve found a company in Sydney that can make accurate re productions.
My V Ws gobble up plenty of time in maintenance and parts, too, but being what they are, the parts I buy are mostly new/reproduction or high performance engine parts. That means simply check ing an on-line cata logue and ordering from a VW specialist eit her here or overseas. Buying brandnew parts is not quite as challenging, rewarding (or risk y!) as t he chase for older, ra rer parts.
And that has had me t hinking… I’ve rea lised I enjoy chasing parts as much as I enjoy being in my workshop, actua lly working on my restorations. I love driv ing my cars… but when I’ve f inished recommissioning or restoring a car I spend as much time thinking about and planning ‘what’s next? ’ as I do enjoy ing t he one I’ve just completed.