Hi, my name's Mr Asa, and I'm a hoarder

I don't want to be a hoarder.  I don't like it, but its so hard to stop being so once you've started.  (sidenote, Grandpop went through the Great Depression and started hoarding because it was so much easier to repair stuff than build new.  I think that mentality went from him to Dad to me.)

I have roughly 100-200 lbs of aluminum in the form of outboard motor parts from the 1950s.  The best of them are the equivalent of a challenge-ready car and are usually classified in the antique outboard world as a "motor in a bucket" and the worst are just half missing stripped down bits and bobs of motors.

I've tried to sell them at swap meets twice now and had very little success, even if I tell the buyers "a quarter per pound and you tell me how much it weighs."  So I'm forced to the conclusion that these are worthless parts.

Despite this, I am loathe to disassemble these, degrease them, then melt them into ingots for my casting projects.

Am I crazy?  Should I proceed with making ingots?

In reply to Mr_Asa :

To me ingots sounds like a lot more fun that sitting at a swap meet trying to sell worthless stuff.

Once this nonsense dies down and the world returns to normal I'll have to invite you down when we do a pour.

Is there a community of people who appreciate antique outboards? Maybe you'd have better luck there than at a swap meet even if you'd need to ship things.

In reply to white_fly :

Oh big time, worldwide membership actually. I haven't been on recently as the webmaster did a horrible update to the forum and it is almost un-navigable.  I could go through and take pics of everything individually and ask people to pay for shipping. 

The value of specialized stuff like that is directly proportional to how well the seller can identify it. If it's just buckets of odd lots then it is scrap. Yes, you might be melting down some priceless rarity but the world will never know because you and a buyer have no way to connect. 
 

if you have a decent knowledge of what the stuff is then I would try to sell it as parts. You never know who is looking for exactly that bit - if only you have some way to clearly communicate its availability. 
 

Mr_Asa said:

Once this nonsense dies down and the world returns to normal I'll have to invite you down when we do a pour.

I'd love that.  Been intrested in it for a while.

This is the equivalent of my LS truck oil pan collection(and a whole bunch of other E36 M3)

i think i'm going to have a cleanout day soon

I found a suck....umm... fellow neon guy to take most of mine.

Now, the other 90% of crap....

In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :

Sounds like Stampie might be looking for some ingot material in the near future...

Duke said:

The value of specialized stuff like that is directly proportional to how well the seller can identify it. If it's just buckets of odd lots then it is scrap. Yes, you might be melting down some priceless rarity but the world will never know because you and a buyer have no way to connect. 
 

if you have a decent knowledge of what the stuff is then I would try to sell it as parts. You never know who is looking for exactly that bit - if only you have some way to clearly communicate its availability. 
 

I know roughly what its all worth, and with very few exceptions they're not worth much more than scrap.  There are a couple of hoods with ornaments that are fairly rare to find in good condition.  Probably $20 for about an ounce worth of pot metal.  I could remove those and throw them on the forums easily.  The majority of them are all commonplace sub 15HP motor parts; three or four hoods, but mostly middle sections of the motors, the towers, transom clamps, handles, etc.  

Like I said, I can take pics and throw 'em on the forums, but I'm not hopeful.

I actually love being a hoarder, but am unable to do much in our current location. I'd love to have multiple acres in the woods with a 1/4-million sq-ft warehouse in the middle that I could live out my days surrounded by junk. There's not much else that would bring me such joy. 

I'd strip them down a bit  at a time and melt em. 

I just don't collect stuff in the first place. I find that for the money one saved and the time invested it would be just as simple to get a part time job and make the same money.

I just gave away four Datsun short blocks, which was the last of my garage cleanout. 

I just passed by this last week. 
 

Chillicothe, Illinois - Route 29

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

I see a couple Martins, maybe a Water Witch (gorgeous art deco style motor) a couple Sea Kings, and a couple 25-35HP OMC motors.  The rest are fairly common from what I can tell.

The one third from the left, in front, may be an Elto Ace or similar, semi-collectable.

Water Witch.  Some people polish them up a E36 M3load and its pretty, but I like them with the normal nickel plating.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I saved 50 Jaguar V12's for over 15 years.  In the end the ones I had left ( except for 3 ) I took apart and sold for scrap metal. 

Start by asking yourself how much your time is worth, and realize that you will just be giving away a minimum of 2 hours for every one $5 part sold (by the time you clean it up, take pictures, post descriptions, talk to a buyer, find a box, package it up, ship it, drive home, etc.).  So, if you value your time @ even $15/hour, it will cost you $25 to sell that $5 widget.   It'll be less for small junk and more for larger junk.

If your junk is too precious and you prefer not to "think of your time like that!  It's a hobby, not a job!" like a lot of hoarders & junk collectors take offense to, then feel free to just substitute hours of effort for the satisfaction of selling the $5 widget.  Is it worth 2 hours of your life to move that $5 widget out of your garage?

Sounds like you have a lot of junk to me. 

The car part hoarder's dilemma. You have something that someone, somewhere may need. And every once in a while you find a home for a treasure, thus reinforcing your stash. I'm sitting on parts for car's I've never owned, and never will, simply because I have the room.

It doesn't help that "Gather Ye Acorns" is my favorite episode of "Amazing Stories".

My rule is: "It's not a problem if you are aware that you do it." 

As a suggestion - there's an alternate way for you to "feel good" that you did not destroy the boat motor parts and yet not wait for an eternity for that 1 in 1000 person that wants it for an actual boat motor. Try to think of a way to re-purpose the parts into something else - like yard art, or furniture, or a sculpture, etc. And to take it a step further - can you find a local artist who already does something like this and give them your parts hoard?

In reply to Sparkydog :

I like this idea. I currently have a spare '66 Mustang tail panel hanging in my office as an art piece. I need to add lights next.