(ET) Used parts - long winded

[Jeff Tickner <JeffT softlanding com>]

I want to offer my opinion on used parts.
This is coming from my experience with air cooled VWs, a much larger market
and better availability of parts.

We need to involve Bill Gunn in the
used parts business, or at least offer him the opportunity. If we develop
our own parts availability then when there's a need for a part that no
one has, will Bill still be around to supply it?

There are three kinds of vintage vehicle
owners: those that keep their vehicles strictly original and pristine and
use them occasionally, mostly for show (trailer queens), those keep their
vehicles original and use them regularly and then there are those that
find this vehicle the best  for their needs but have no problem upgrading
or using non-stock parts because they may be cheaper or better (rarely
are parts both cheaper and better).

There is a limited supply of NOS parts
on Bill's shelves (and other places) and there are certain people that
would prefer the NOS parts, even at a premium. There is also a supply of
good used parts which we don't know the size of and are discussing here
how to quantify. Some folks would be fine with a good used part if they
could find it, like me.

What I'm suggesting is that rather then
just trade these used parts between ourselves, we use Bill as the distributor
for which he makes some income. Then when I call him for a part he can
say "I have an NOS for $XXX, a used refurbished for $XX and a tested
used for $X". 

So how does he get the parts? That's
the sticky part. I would like to think he can offer us a trade-in value
or credit toward future orders for used parts. If I send him 3 frozen mower
motors will this "credit" cover the cost of me shipping them?
It would be a lot of additional work for Bill and may actually reduce his
margin if there isn't a demand for his NOS parts. He would need to come
up with a price list (which many listees have wanted in the past) that
had the New, Used and Trade-in value of the parts...

From my VW perspective, I just watched
one of the more expensive but higher quality VW parts suppliers go bankrupt,
Rocky Mountain Motor Works. Their carcass was bought up by one of the shlock
houses that sells chromed Taiwan manufactured "VW" parts with
tolerance in centimeter range rather then millimeter. If Bill gives up
his hobby and nobody on the list has what I need to repair my tractor then
I guess it will sit until someone sells the parts on eBay? I want to avoid
that since I'm not a machinist or welder or EE and won't be fabbing my
own part in my shop :-)

Jeff Tickner
Technical Support
800-545-9485, Ext 536
SoftLanding Systems