I've surprised myself on how much return I've gotten parting out old triumph tr4 parts I'm not using on the race car. So now I'm thinking parting a car here and there might add a few bucks to the kitty. What I'm wondering is what cars - orphans? - saabs, pontiacs, vintage? - fiat spyders, alfas, 944s - enthusiast? - maybe e46s, mr2s miotters, appliances?
Do it with cars you know well. I have done it with jeeps and old mustangs. There are certain components that bring good money and other stuff that i thought would sell high that ended getting scrapped because nobody wanted them. You just have to know them. For instance the axles from a 4 cyl jeep are worth 2-3 times the same axles from a 6 cyl. The only difference is gearing. A mustang toploader 4 speed without overdrive is worth $1000, but a toploader 3 speed or overdrive 4 speed is only worth about $100. So if you want it to be worth your while you need to get to know the market you are working in.
I think anything you would enjoy tearing apart that you can get cheap while still getting decent prices out of the parts. To evaluate a car I usually search the completed used parts auctions on eBay and add up the total of the parts that have sold for over $50. That gets me in the ballpark of what I can expect to recover from the car. Bonus points if you start a spreadsheet with those parts on it and when you get the car, pull those parts and list 'em first.
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