prelude
26th August 2021, 06:27 PM
I guess most of us have been confronted with it lately; unavailable spare parts, and I am not talking about the chinese flu having any part in that. What follows is a bit of a rant from my pov :)
30 odd years ago I started my adventures in motoring and as many people do I bought my first "banger" for the low price of 1k, this is before the euro. Not being native to .au it was not a holden but a honda. A prelude to be exact. the 1.8 ex was at the time of my purchase around 13 years old and ran just fine! In those days (80's vehicle) japanese cars, especially sports cars were way ahead of the curve. It cemented my love for the brand and japanese car brands in general. Funny story, when it came to buy my fist 4bee I bought a landrover [bigrolf]
Of course, rust was always a thing so I learned how to fix metal work over time. I am still not great at it but I can fix pretty much anything on petrol powered cars these days. Diesel and diesel pumps are a whole different story... Anyway, at 13 years old it needed some parts over time and whenever it did I could find brand new parts at my local Honda dealership and half a dozen imitation parts for my car. After prelude that followed more cars of course and spare parts were never really a problem, at least, obtaining them.
My last (before the rangie) big experiment was a honda legend from 1998 that I bought in 2012. Spare parts were again not a problem and it drove like nothing else. Fast forward a few years and the cheap banger legend I bought as an experiment was on it's way out and I bought myself a P38 from 1998. With a new high paying income and after a crappy divorce I was happy to spend 20K on the old girl fixing her up and improving everything I could find. Parts were not a real problem and the pricing was reasonable. Also, the rover V8 being so much loved and used had every possible option of rebuild and tuning available. Of course, having modified the P38 to be a tourer and off roader I decided to buy myself a new Legend as a faily driver, the facelift from 1999 this time and I was happy that I could go for years in those cars from that point on. I even converted my new girlfriend to the idea and she to drives a Legend as well as a mate of mine.
Then the "fun" started. The cars by now were 20 years old and even though 10's of thousands of those vehicles still drive around in the US as the acura RL (so there is a market for parts I should think) the parts supply started drying up, fast. My previous experience of parts being available quickly turned into frustration. The first things to go were the bumpers and panels, followed by trim and finally thing like the brakes, (not the pads) CV joints, aircon parts, bearings, you name it, all disappeared from the catalogues like snow before a hot burning sun.
With my recent land rover experience I was a bit surprised that those parts dried up so quickly but of course, lo and behold, the P38 parts bin is rapidly draining as well. It started with the VCU that is simply no longer being produced. There is a way to refurbish them which is a blessing since that is not a part someone could machine easily. Next up were the wheel bearings. From land rover you need to buy a whole hub and those have pretty much disappeared over here, not sure if that is rona related but there it is. There is still some britpart stuff around but no more originals. The separate bearings were offered from several brands, including the original from timken. That too has stopped. SKF still have them in their portfolio as a complete set (including new C clip and bolts) but when my latest wheel bearing gave way I looked into buying 4 decent brand bearings to do all 4 corners (since I used birtpart stuff before) but they would cost met 900 euro's (that's $1500 au?) and they are not even in stock but need to be ordered. This usually means that shortly from now they will be removed from the catalogue.
So I am left to wonder. As a car enthusiast and PETROL head, having lost my love for diesel a long time ago (you can't get anywhere anymore with a diesel in europe) and not being on board with duracell gokarts... What is a man to do?
I know fossil fuel is pretty much end of life but I guess with some effort it can last me at least till my retirement. I am not against electric motors but not powered by batteries. Also I do not like most of the modern gadgets in vehicles, not because I am a grumpy old git but I feel like losing control to driving and owning a vehicle and pretty soon privacy is going to be a concern with all those 5g connected playstations on wheels.
Having said that, an older vehicle is and remains to be my choice. I do not mind grabbing the spanners every now and then and to be fair, it adds to my enjoyment even. But, no spare parts means no working vehicle.
Recently a mate of mine bought a Jeep wrangler TJ. A fun little rig that he will use as a daily driver and tag along with us on some touring. Of course he bought the cheapest one he could afford and, well, it's not a lemon but it does require a lot of work. We started a body of chassis resto and started hacking away at it. Even in my small european country most parts are available and when you open up ebay or amazon I can find literally -every- single frigging part I need. Each section of the chassis is available as a rust repair piece etc etc. And the prices are ridiculously low, compared to honda pricing and even land rover. It made this grumpy old buggers cold heart warm up :)
With that experience under my belt I started thinking about my own vehicle future whilst sipping a nice scotch by a campfire on a warm evening. What could I possibly buy that would suit me and be repairable "indefinitely". After much thought I could come up with only a handful of options:
land rover
range rover
jeep
mercedes
small enthousiast cars
Any thing I have forgotten?
In case of land rover: either a series or a defender would probably have parts made for it until the cows come home. Mind you, ford has a very bad track record in terms of spares for engines (that's why my mate bought a jeep, he owned a 1998 jaguar XJ with the ford V8 which has NO spares) so the puma is out. I am not sure about the TD5 but certainly the 300tdi is such a loved vehicle that it will always have a supply of parts? I think the rover V8 will also have a support for a very long time to come. The body and chassis are a no brainer since they have been used for eternity so that would certainly always be available?
Range rover, I guess the classics are such collectors items it seems that spares supplies would be ok there too. The P38 might become a new classic but I doubt that it would help. Just too many parts like the VCU that are not easy to produce that would fall off at some point in time
Jeep, as mentioned above, a lot of enthusiasts for those rigs, certainly in the US so there us plenty to be gotten and will be for the foreseeable future me thinks.
Mercedes have a special branch for classics. You can get -anything- there but you need a pretty thick wallet.
Small cars like the 2cv, beetle, mini... There probably always be some niche market like that but it's not what I would want to drive.
Finally, there are a few japanese cars that have had spares available for quite some time but only the landcruiser is the one that comes to mind. the 80 series is pretty old by now but still quite well supported after market it seems due to the huge loyal following. I wonder though that once the cars dry up terrain tamer and the likes will still stock parts for them.
Anyway, a bit of a ramble from my side of the pond. What do you guys think?
Cheers!
-P
30 odd years ago I started my adventures in motoring and as many people do I bought my first "banger" for the low price of 1k, this is before the euro. Not being native to .au it was not a holden but a honda. A prelude to be exact. the 1.8 ex was at the time of my purchase around 13 years old and ran just fine! In those days (80's vehicle) japanese cars, especially sports cars were way ahead of the curve. It cemented my love for the brand and japanese car brands in general. Funny story, when it came to buy my fist 4bee I bought a landrover [bigrolf]
Of course, rust was always a thing so I learned how to fix metal work over time. I am still not great at it but I can fix pretty much anything on petrol powered cars these days. Diesel and diesel pumps are a whole different story... Anyway, at 13 years old it needed some parts over time and whenever it did I could find brand new parts at my local Honda dealership and half a dozen imitation parts for my car. After prelude that followed more cars of course and spare parts were never really a problem, at least, obtaining them.
My last (before the rangie) big experiment was a honda legend from 1998 that I bought in 2012. Spare parts were again not a problem and it drove like nothing else. Fast forward a few years and the cheap banger legend I bought as an experiment was on it's way out and I bought myself a P38 from 1998. With a new high paying income and after a crappy divorce I was happy to spend 20K on the old girl fixing her up and improving everything I could find. Parts were not a real problem and the pricing was reasonable. Also, the rover V8 being so much loved and used had every possible option of rebuild and tuning available. Of course, having modified the P38 to be a tourer and off roader I decided to buy myself a new Legend as a faily driver, the facelift from 1999 this time and I was happy that I could go for years in those cars from that point on. I even converted my new girlfriend to the idea and she to drives a Legend as well as a mate of mine.
Then the "fun" started. The cars by now were 20 years old and even though 10's of thousands of those vehicles still drive around in the US as the acura RL (so there is a market for parts I should think) the parts supply started drying up, fast. My previous experience of parts being available quickly turned into frustration. The first things to go were the bumpers and panels, followed by trim and finally thing like the brakes, (not the pads) CV joints, aircon parts, bearings, you name it, all disappeared from the catalogues like snow before a hot burning sun.
With my recent land rover experience I was a bit surprised that those parts dried up so quickly but of course, lo and behold, the P38 parts bin is rapidly draining as well. It started with the VCU that is simply no longer being produced. There is a way to refurbish them which is a blessing since that is not a part someone could machine easily. Next up were the wheel bearings. From land rover you need to buy a whole hub and those have pretty much disappeared over here, not sure if that is rona related but there it is. There is still some britpart stuff around but no more originals. The separate bearings were offered from several brands, including the original from timken. That too has stopped. SKF still have them in their portfolio as a complete set (including new C clip and bolts) but when my latest wheel bearing gave way I looked into buying 4 decent brand bearings to do all 4 corners (since I used birtpart stuff before) but they would cost met 900 euro's (that's $1500 au?) and they are not even in stock but need to be ordered. This usually means that shortly from now they will be removed from the catalogue.
So I am left to wonder. As a car enthusiast and PETROL head, having lost my love for diesel a long time ago (you can't get anywhere anymore with a diesel in europe) and not being on board with duracell gokarts... What is a man to do?
I know fossil fuel is pretty much end of life but I guess with some effort it can last me at least till my retirement. I am not against electric motors but not powered by batteries. Also I do not like most of the modern gadgets in vehicles, not because I am a grumpy old git but I feel like losing control to driving and owning a vehicle and pretty soon privacy is going to be a concern with all those 5g connected playstations on wheels.
Having said that, an older vehicle is and remains to be my choice. I do not mind grabbing the spanners every now and then and to be fair, it adds to my enjoyment even. But, no spare parts means no working vehicle.
Recently a mate of mine bought a Jeep wrangler TJ. A fun little rig that he will use as a daily driver and tag along with us on some touring. Of course he bought the cheapest one he could afford and, well, it's not a lemon but it does require a lot of work. We started a body of chassis resto and started hacking away at it. Even in my small european country most parts are available and when you open up ebay or amazon I can find literally -every- single frigging part I need. Each section of the chassis is available as a rust repair piece etc etc. And the prices are ridiculously low, compared to honda pricing and even land rover. It made this grumpy old buggers cold heart warm up :)
With that experience under my belt I started thinking about my own vehicle future whilst sipping a nice scotch by a campfire on a warm evening. What could I possibly buy that would suit me and be repairable "indefinitely". After much thought I could come up with only a handful of options:
land rover
range rover
jeep
mercedes
small enthousiast cars
Any thing I have forgotten?
In case of land rover: either a series or a defender would probably have parts made for it until the cows come home. Mind you, ford has a very bad track record in terms of spares for engines (that's why my mate bought a jeep, he owned a 1998 jaguar XJ with the ford V8 which has NO spares) so the puma is out. I am not sure about the TD5 but certainly the 300tdi is such a loved vehicle that it will always have a supply of parts? I think the rover V8 will also have a support for a very long time to come. The body and chassis are a no brainer since they have been used for eternity so that would certainly always be available?
Range rover, I guess the classics are such collectors items it seems that spares supplies would be ok there too. The P38 might become a new classic but I doubt that it would help. Just too many parts like the VCU that are not easy to produce that would fall off at some point in time
Jeep, as mentioned above, a lot of enthusiasts for those rigs, certainly in the US so there us plenty to be gotten and will be for the foreseeable future me thinks.
Mercedes have a special branch for classics. You can get -anything- there but you need a pretty thick wallet.
Small cars like the 2cv, beetle, mini... There probably always be some niche market like that but it's not what I would want to drive.
Finally, there are a few japanese cars that have had spares available for quite some time but only the landcruiser is the one that comes to mind. the 80 series is pretty old by now but still quite well supported after market it seems due to the huge loyal following. I wonder though that once the cars dry up terrain tamer and the likes will still stock parts for them.
Anyway, a bit of a ramble from my side of the pond. What do you guys think?
Cheers!
-P