I hope that title got your attention.
My first car ('83 320i) suffered from a major case of rust, so I parted it out and sent it to the crusher. I liked that car, wasn't too attached, but it wasn't doing me any good rusting away. I felt a little bad about getting rid of it but it wasn't worth saving.
So while doing my weekly Facebook marketplace search, I found an 83 RX7 for cheap just a few miles down the road...a miracle! Listing says "for repair", but I intend to just part it out. But planning to buy it solely to gut it for spares seems almost blasphemous. If it is still there, it is in reasonable condition, and my wife says okay, I think I'm going to do it.
Now, the question: How do you feel about parting out cars? Sending them to the crusher? Doing stuff that otherwise renders a car unusable or unrepairable?
I'm not asking you to change my mind, just a thought that came to mind.
Depends on the car. At least in my experience.
I bought my 1800ES with the intention of parting it out. Then as I tore it down, it became clear to me the car could be saved. Not easily, mind you - it'll still need a butt-load of work and money - but it's not so far gone that it needs to be crushed. Mainly because it's straight (never been hit) which can be a death-sentence to the uni-body 1800 as so many have been poorly repaired after accidents.
Plus, when so many of these cars are kept in original condition and being someone who prefers modifying, having a car that needs a significant amount of work gives me (in my opinion) free reign to modify it as I see fit.
You buy the car, it's yours to do whatever with.
It'd have to be something with some pretty significant history or other car-community-worthwhile-ness before I'd say you're right or wrong doing whatever with it.
Here's how I see it: Parting it out not only helps keep other examples on the road, but it's also preferable to being scrapped outright.
It's a machine, it's a collection of parts already, just assembled into a currently usable form. Shuffling those parts off to be used on other machines is fine. I do feel bad parting out a nice looking un-wrecked car, but it's still an option and there's nothing ethically wrong with it. If it's wrecked or rusty, a part-out is a far better fate than just going straight to the scrapper.
I have made the call to advertise a car for sale at a price that I would accept instead of parting it out, if it's a really nice car. Both times, it sold complete. Hopefully they're still on the road. If it hadn't sold for a good enough price - it would have gone under the wrench.
A very thorough part out, that includes a shell, is very ethical.
Just pulling the engine and throwing the rest away is a waste.
The middle ground lies between the two.
Opinions may vary.
If you do part it out, comfort yourself knowing that car died so that others could live.
I sold my 83 RX7 to an Air Force guy.
Two years later I came across it in LKQ.
I would have rather seen it parted out.
The only parting-out practice I have a problem with is sending usable and valuable stuff to a landfill or crusher, like reasonably repairable frames that someone other than a metal scrapper might pay for - don't do that.
I was buying parts for my old dirt bikes from a guy on Ebay who dismantled running bikes in good condition. On the one hand those bikes were removed from the market, but on the other hand I liked the idea of buying old parts that I knew were in good condition, and they have helped to keep my 1988 KX and my son's 1981 KDX ripping through the bush.
Depends on the car.
Im considering it now with a car that's been sitting for a long time, could be saved, but I dont want to go through it and, well, it's sat for 7 years on a major road with no takers so I dont think anyone else wants to, either.
Also - parting ONE out could save DOZENS.
Toyman! said:
I sold my 83 RX7 to an Air Force guy.
Two years later I came across it in LKQ.
I would have rather seen it parted out.
Isn't it being parted out?
SV reX
MegaDork
7/28/22 1:10 p.m.
Depends on life.
There comes a time when parting out a car takes so much time and energy that the real ethical question becomes which is better...
Waste countless hours scrounging pieces off a worthless hulk for very little money just to feel good about not "wasting it",
or...
Throw the damned thing away and invest the time and energy in my family and the people around me I love.
Sometimes the ethics is crystal clear to me.
Buying something for X, processing it into something that has more market value, and selling for 1.5 (or more) X is a Free Market way of making a living.
There are entire websites devoted to selling parted out vehicles.
The only ethical problem I see comes with the high end stuff... remember a few years back when there were 3 or 4 Ferraris running around with the same VIN number? The car was wrecked and parted out. One of the re-created cars came from the engine, another from the gearbox, and so on.
I believe parting out a non rusty shell is a huge automotive sin. Especially after the stupid stuff that nobody buys like door cards is kept, and all the hard to find things like weird trim screw covers are thrown out because it is too much bother to catalog and list five hundred things worth a dollar each.
It's just stuff.
I see no reason to judge what other people do with material things.
docwyte
PowerDork
7/28/22 1:51 p.m.
I don't see an issue with it. I've parted out a few sciroccos and recently a corrado. I'm sure all of them could've been brought back but all would've taken more time and money than the cars were worth. I got parts I needed, the people who bought parts from me got stuff they needed and I threw out the rest.
I don't see the need to "comprehensively" strip a car, if all you want/need is the engine, take that and toss the rest. It's your car, do with it as you please. It's a huge endeavor to part out a car, let alone do it "comprehensively"
In reply to spitfirebill :
Buried in the back of the LKQ yard in Charleston SC, it probably went to the crusher.
NickD
MegaDork
7/28/22 2:38 p.m.
Parting out nice, clean, running cars bothers me. I see that a lot in the Miata groups where it seems like a minor scuff on the bumper, a tear in the top, or a little hail damage to the hood and decklid is enough to make them immediately tear their car apart and sell it off. If it's been wrecked or has serious rust, I'm okay with it, but I hate seeing things that having nothing wrong with them get stripped.
SV reX said:
Depends on life.
There comes a time when parting out a car takes so much time and energy that the real ethical question becomes which is better...
Waste countless hours scrounging pieces off a worthless hulk for very little money just to feel good about not "wasting it",
or...
Throw the damned thing away and invest the time and energy in my family and the people around me I love.
Sometimes the ethics is crystal clear to me.
Sure, everyone's idea of "very little money" is different, but every part-out I've done has cleared over $8000 so far. That to me is not "very little money." Also, most of us go to work so we're trading family time for money every day.
Also also, this is not a valid comparison as he's talking about buying a vehicle specifically to part it out, not handling something he already owns.
NickD said:
Parting out nice, clean, running cars bothers me. I see that a lot in the Miata groups where it seems like a minor scuff on the bumper, a tear in the top, or a little hail damage to the hood and decklid is enough to make them immediately tear their car apart and sell it off. If it's been wrecked or has serious rust, I'm okay with it, but I hate seeing things that having nothing wrong with them get stripped.
This is about where I'm at. There's kind of a sliding scale, but it always kills me to see something that would only take a weekend of effort to be a perfectly good example get parted out.
Obviously if it is something genuinely rare or valuable my attitude changes a bit. I'm not going to be particularly upset if someone parts out a scruffy but saveable NA Miata. Watching a solid E24 M6 with rolling restoration potential get scuttled makes me hurt inside.
Yeah I've seen a lot of otherwise fine cars get advertised on Facebook groups for part out for no apparent reason. Some of them do it if they can't find anyone to pay what they think it's worth. To me, I feel like an enthusiast car is worth more than the sum of its parts and blasting it all apart to try to make just a bit more money seems kind of scummy. Especially when there are other enthusiasts who would be dieing to get their hands on one.
hybridmomentspass said:
Depends on the car.
Im considering it now with a car that's been sitting for a long time, could be saved, but I dont want to go through it and, well, it's sat for 7 years on a major road with no takers so I dont think anyone else wants to, either.
Also - parting ONE out could save DOZENS.
What car? Anything cool you could flip to one of us for a quick buck and let it be saved whole?
As far as partout: just because its cool doesn't mean anyone actually wants it. Im ok with partout of fairly common cars. I mean, i parted out four neons to save mine, an few gmt400 to save mine, a miata or two, a few dusters, etc. Im ok with it, as they were commercial at the time and the example wasn't especially awesome in any way.
SV reX
MegaDork
7/28/22 4:08 p.m.
In reply to dculberson :
I have no problem with your business.
I have a problem with MYSELF and the countless hours I have spent salvaging stupid E36 M3 of little value off a worthless car when I could have been spending more time with my kids.
And I know I'm not alone.