Guys,
I have a 1965 Dodge Polara and it's my first mopar. I don't understand why the parts are so hard to find. Every time I find a place that has catalogs (yearone, Classic Industries) they completely skip over the C Body. I'm not understanding why. Is there any vendor at all that sells new C Body parts? I need a headlight switch, taillight lenses and other miscellaneous parts. Is scouring for used parts the only way? (it can't be)
First rule of searching for parts is to KNOW what other Chrysler products use the same or similar parts. IF you are looking for sheet metal or soft trim parts, then you'll need an exact model year and model match. But if you are looking for mechanical items, there is some lee-way there, in other models/years of Chrysler products. AND, some of those things can cross with other Chrysler product platforms, including the beloved B/E-cars.
Going to any aftermarket vendor and asking for a part for a car platform they don't support will always come up short, BUT if you know that the same exact part can fit a Satellite or Challenger, then you might find something. BUT don't ask THEM about these things, as if their catalog doesn't have it in there, THEY will always say "We don't have that".
Similar things exist in GM products, too. The body mounts on my '68 LeSabre have casting numbers which are in the "Chevrolet number series" for the same year Impala. But ask the Chevy vendor if he has any Buick parts and you'll get the "We don't have Buick parts", when they most certainly might and do.
But searching for C-body parts is no different than searching for B/E-body parts 30 years ago, before the repro industry got cranked-up for them. It was about salvage yards and swap meets, back then. Going on word-of-mouth of what might be where.
In many cases, the "heavy cars" got crushed-out first, as there was more money in them than in the lighter cars. Plus, they were usually the slow-sellers for parts and such at the salvage yards. Just the normal way things were/are done in that business. Keep the inventory moving and crush what takes up too much space. Like any other retail business.
There are still some bright spots, as Murray Park is, in the Mopar-oriented salvage yard business. There were many more, in the past decades, but as owners retired/passed away, the "collections" were disseminated to other places and such. End result is "fewer now than then" in places to look for parts.
Get a copy of Hemmings Motor News or one of the major Mopar magazines, as many of the salvage yards and vendors will have ads in them. There are still some larger players in the salvage yard areas, just depends upon whose closest to you.
Don't feel like the Lone Ranger! The big-car Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Cadillac, and Mercury owners have similar issues! "Muscle car" rather than otherwise, when they look for parts.
You'll just have to check each vendor's catalog for C-body listings. It never will be like the B/E-body cars where you can buy almost every part NEW for those cars! Something we never suspected 30 years ago! When you could buy new fenders for a '57 T-bird, but not a '57 Fairlane. When the bulk of the repro parts were for '57 Chevys, early Mustangs, or Corvettes . . . cars which, for that time, were popular with collectors/owners/restorers. When "numbers match" meant additional judging points at national-level shows.
Chasing C-body parts now is no different than chasing B/E-body parts 30 years ago. Salvage yards/word-of-mouth/swap meets. In those earlier times, the annual Mopar Nats was usually the holy grail of swap meets/car events to find Mopar parts, including NOS/used C-body parts.
BUT, you need to do your own research on YOUR car and see what might work with other model years (mechanical parts, usually) of your car. There CAN be some cross-overs, but you need to know these things BEFORE you start looking. Relying upon the knowledge of the seller can result in wrong parts, by observation.
What parts are you seeking?
CBODY67
It helps sometimes going to a junk yard just up the street from me, but even this Enlightened Sage is down to just the front end of a 66 Fury III now. If you can score off a junk yard, do it.
