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OK so this post might need to go somewhere else..........
Being on the road hunting Mopar parts 1992-1994
My girlfriend and I did some serious Mopar buying trips.
Summer trips in my 1967 Dodge A-100 Van. 6 cyl, 3 speed
on the column. 2 bucket seats. It was an old Mountain Bell van.
No A/C. Short wheel base. It did have an AM radio.
We camped out about 95% of the time. We had a tent so we could camp out.
Lots of National Forests, Wilderness and open spaces in the west so that was easy.
We cooked on a fire with a small grille using the local woodthat was everywhere.
I live in Arizona so we are used to this type of camping. We went days on end with
no shower and often there were streams nearby for bathing. We did eat at local non-
franchised places too and had some amazing meals. Sometimes we camped behind
buildings in small towns, cornfields, large city parks, etc.
We mostly were able to keep clean using streams and the water we had
with us. We rarely spent any time in motels. We did eat at local non-franchise
restaurants too.
The strategy was to drive blind and never contact any dealership in
advance. I had a USA Road Atlas for guidance. Show up at a Mopar dealer
and ask the parts manager if they had any obsolete parts they wanted
to get rid of. If so, we would look at what they had and pile up what we
wanted and then agree to a price. Once we had a huge pile of parts we had boxed
up and I figured I'd pay around $2,000.00 for all of it. The guy says what was it worth?
I said what do you think? (I'm sure as hell not going to say what I thought it was worth)
He said 300.00 I said OK and held my tongue until later when we walked out of the place.
I was paying about 5 - 10 cents on the dollar for parts and sometimes less
as often they had written the stuff off and had no idea what they paid for it.
I had a tape gun and labels and we would box it up there so that the parts
arrived in one piece. Often, we would have to gather boxes all over town in order
to get it done. Then when we got home, I would send them the $ and they would
ship it.
If they didn't have any parts I would lay the map on the counter and ask if any
surrounding dealers and towns might have anything. Then off we went to the next
dealership. Along the way we stayed with friends and took a break from endless driving.
It was always great to go someplace with no real plan other than to clean out
Mopar dealerships of their obsolete parts.
I also collect old patent remedies that I got out of old drugstores starting from 1975
to 1994. Cough medicine, tooth powder, condoms, baby formulas, etc. I have cases of the stuff
on display. Items date from the early 1930's to the early 1960's all new and never opened.
So, while we were buying Mopar I hit the old pharmacies too.
Some of the trips we did were: California-Washington-Oregon, Montana- Idaho-Wyoming,
New Mexico-Texas-Oklahoma
So, my girlfriend kept a journal of our trips and I did add to it on occasion. Recently she gave it to me
so now I have a chance to look over this amazing document of our trips.
Some of the highlights were:
73 dealerships (Bought from 23) 122 boxes $4,050.00
85 Dealerships 36 days 5000 miles
Longview Washington 25 boxes $1180.00
Spending a night in a house across the street from a dealership w/o electricity
and inventorying all the parts they had in there using a Coleman lamp.
Seeing the Grateful Dead in Eugene Oregon then camping in the mountains.
Eating in a Diner (Joes' Spic and Span) in UT where they slid the plates of food
down the counter in front of you.
Getting to see small towns they we would never have spent any time visiting except
we were there buying parts and got to see some incredible places, eateries and campsites.
And of course, the people were mostly great.
We also stayed with friends along the way too and took some time off from buying parts
Some of the entries from the diary my girlfriend wrote are enclosed (I did at times chime in there too). The world's worst motel room
is over the top with "we could hear our neighbors yawn".
Being on the road hunting Mopar parts 1992-1994
My girlfriend and I did some serious Mopar buying trips.
Summer trips in my 1967 Dodge A-100 Van. 6 cyl, 3 speed
on the column. 2 bucket seats. It was an old Mountain Bell van.
No A/C. Short wheel base. It did have an AM radio.
We camped out about 95% of the time. We had a tent so we could camp out.
Lots of National Forests, Wilderness and open spaces in the west so that was easy.
We cooked on a fire with a small grille using the local woodthat was everywhere.
I live in Arizona so we are used to this type of camping. We went days on end with
no shower and often there were streams nearby for bathing. We did eat at local non-
franchised places too and had some amazing meals. Sometimes we camped behind
buildings in small towns, cornfields, large city parks, etc.
We mostly were able to keep clean using streams and the water we had
with us. We rarely spent any time in motels. We did eat at local non-franchise
restaurants too.
The strategy was to drive blind and never contact any dealership in
advance. I had a USA Road Atlas for guidance. Show up at a Mopar dealer
and ask the parts manager if they had any obsolete parts they wanted
to get rid of. If so, we would look at what they had and pile up what we
wanted and then agree to a price. Once we had a huge pile of parts we had boxed
up and I figured I'd pay around $2,000.00 for all of it. The guy says what was it worth?
I said what do you think? (I'm sure as hell not going to say what I thought it was worth)
He said 300.00 I said OK and held my tongue until later when we walked out of the place.
I was paying about 5 - 10 cents on the dollar for parts and sometimes less
as often they had written the stuff off and had no idea what they paid for it.
I had a tape gun and labels and we would box it up there so that the parts
arrived in one piece. Often, we would have to gather boxes all over town in order
to get it done. Then when we got home, I would send them the $ and they would
ship it.
If they didn't have any parts I would lay the map on the counter and ask if any
surrounding dealers and towns might have anything. Then off we went to the next
dealership. Along the way we stayed with friends and took a break from endless driving.
It was always great to go someplace with no real plan other than to clean out
Mopar dealerships of their obsolete parts.
I also collect old patent remedies that I got out of old drugstores starting from 1975
to 1994. Cough medicine, tooth powder, condoms, baby formulas, etc. I have cases of the stuff
on display. Items date from the early 1930's to the early 1960's all new and never opened.
So, while we were buying Mopar I hit the old pharmacies too.
Some of the trips we did were: California-Washington-Oregon, Montana- Idaho-Wyoming,
New Mexico-Texas-Oklahoma
So, my girlfriend kept a journal of our trips and I did add to it on occasion. Recently she gave it to me
so now I have a chance to look over this amazing document of our trips.
Some of the highlights were:
73 dealerships (Bought from 23) 122 boxes $4,050.00
85 Dealerships 36 days 5000 miles
Longview Washington 25 boxes $1180.00
Spending a night in a house across the street from a dealership w/o electricity
and inventorying all the parts they had in there using a Coleman lamp.
Seeing the Grateful Dead in Eugene Oregon then camping in the mountains.
Eating in a Diner (Joes' Spic and Span) in UT where they slid the plates of food
down the counter in front of you.
Getting to see small towns they we would never have spent any time visiting except
we were there buying parts and got to see some incredible places, eateries and campsites.
And of course, the people were mostly great.
We also stayed with friends along the way too and took some time off from buying parts
Some of the entries from the diary my girlfriend wrote are enclosed (I did at times chime in there too). The world's worst motel room
is over the top with "we could hear our neighbors yawn".
