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Login to post Forums » Off-topic discussion » People who collect junk and think its worth something

March 23, 2010 7:12 p.m. PHeller Dork

Rant on:

It really grinds my gears when I'm looking for an old mountain bike frame for my girlfriend to ride. Now I'm not being overly picky here. I want 1 1/8th headtube, size small for under $50. I know its a tight economy, but I've found numerous people now on Craigslist who hoard this stuff. They've got oodles of cheap bikes, but as soon as you show interest, suddenly they think everything they own is gold.

I've got lots of junk too. Lots of times, if I'm not using it, I'll sell it for next to nothing. Perfectly good parts at pennies of what I bought them for. Bicycles too. I've got a 1995 GT Zaskar. In good condition this bike would sell for $300, I'm selling the frame for $25.

I think that's why we've got the Chinese building us so much crap we don't need. All the hoarders who cling to stuff like its gold make justify buying a $100 new chinese made frame sound worthwhile.

It's only a matter of time before the Chinese start shipping cars into the US. They'll undercut even the used market, and people will buy their cars, and all those awesome rare cars the GRM guys swoon over will just continue to be hoarded by people who want too much money for them, and we'll end up with junkyards full of E30's and Miatas just rotting away.

Damn hoarders.

Rant off:
March 23, 2010 7:20 p.m. nutherjrfan Reader

just bought my second magna for $70 at Target, it'll last about 5 months, just like the last one, and just like the last one it'll be left unlocked for whomsoever thinks it's worth fixing when the rear hub seizes from all the abuse it takes on D.C.'s increasingly E36 M3ty streets.
March 23, 2010 8:23 p.m. VanillaSky Reader

If you were local, I'd let you have a small Peugeot mountain bike frame for $25. I'd actually be pretty happy to get that much out of it.

I payed $70 for my 1973 Schwinn Super Sport and $80 for my 2007 Diamondback Outlook. I payed $40 for a POS Columbia for my wife, but it had quite a few new parts on it.

I'm going to convert the Schwinn to a singlespeed freewheel and change from 27" wheels to some 700c wheels I have laying around. I just need to build me a truing stand out of an old fork I have so I can redish the rear wheel.

Don't be afraid to scope out the side of the road on big trash day. I've gotten about 15 parts bikes that way. Never anything super nice, but I used to keep myself in decent bikes that way when I was a young teen.
March 23, 2010 8:24 p.m. NGTD HalfDork

Tell me about it!

I just stopped the other day to look at an 87 Volvo 740. It has been in this guys yard for months. Guys says it doesn't run - ecu is junk, but his buddy wants $500 for it cause that is what the scrapyard will pay him. Right!

I am gonna offer him $200 and give him my number to call me when he is ready to take it. I want the engine to put in my 240.
March 23, 2010 8:45 p.m. VanillaSky Reader

I do have to admit that there's a car sitting in my yard that I "want" $1500 for. I don't want to get rid of it, and I figure if anyone wants it that bad, they can have it for that insane amount. This keeps my wife off my back about the car, because I have it "for sale," but the price is insane.

The reality of it is that I want to build the car up a bit and use it for track days. I have a lot of parts for it, and I'd have no use for them without the car, so they would go with. Right now, I don't have the money for the proper safety gear, so the car just sits, getting started and driven around once every few months.
March 23, 2010 9:48 p.m. Knurled New Reader

PHeller wrote:

I've got a 1995 GT Zaskar. In good condition this bike would sell for $300, I'm selling the frame for $25.

how much shipped to 44070

Seriously, though, I have a bunch of stuff but I am not particularly interested in parting with any of it. I have it because I'll probably need it someday and it's hard to find stuff. My standard answer for "how much you wanna sell me your car for?" is "$8000". It either drives home the idea that I don't want to sell my car, or it gets me seed money for a badass XR4Ti. And something to tow it with.
March 23, 2010 10:20 p.m. dxman92 Reader

The bike that eventually became my single speed was found in the trash. I rode it home on nearly flat tires also!
March 23, 2010 10:53 p.m. Trans_Maro Dork

I've got a large Trek 9000 frame I'll sell you for under $50.00

I'm not kidding either.

Shawn
March 23, 2010 11:21 p.m. P71 SuperDork

VanillaSky wrote:

I do have to admit that there's a car sitting in my yard that I "want" $1500 for. I don't want to get rid of it, and I figure if anyone wants it that bad, they can have it for that insane amount. This keeps my wife off my back about the car, because I have it "for sale," but the price is insane.

The reality of it is that I want to build the car up a bit and use it for track days. I have a lot of parts for it, and I'd have no use for them without the car, so they would go with. Right now, I don't have the money for the proper safety gear, so the car just sits, getting started and driven around once every few months.

Quoted for truth. This is my exact situation with the Hornet.
March 24, 2010 8:29 a.m. 16vCorey SuperDork

P71 wrote:

VanillaSky wrote:

I do have to admit that there's a car sitting in my yard that I "want" $1500 for. I don't want to get rid of it, and I figure if anyone wants it that bad, they can have it for that insane amount. This keeps my wife off my back about the car, because I have it "for sale," but the price is insane.

The reality of it is that I want to build the car up a bit and use it for track days. I have a lot of parts for it, and I'd have no use for them without the car, so they would go with. Right now, I don't have the money for the proper safety gear, so the car just sits, getting started and driven around once every few months.

Quoted for truth. This is my exact situation with the Hornet.

Yep, I've got one like that too. '94 Passat VR6 5 speed. Bad heater core. Haven't had the time or desire to fix it yet, and haven't drove it in a year or so, but don't want to give it away.
March 24, 2010 8:34 a.m. pinchvalve SuperDork

Watch American Pickers sometime. The prices people throw out for rusty crap sometimes really amazes me.
March 24, 2010 8:35 a.m. Clay Reader

This reminds me of my uncle. We stopped by his house over the weekend when I was back home for my cousin's wedding. I was wanting to see if he had anything interesting worth restoring (I've been getting an itch to restore an old aircooled VW). Here's a sample of what is sitting in his yard (non running): 70 Karmann Ghia conv, 61 Ghia, 61 Bug, 70 Bug, 73 Bug, Midget racecar frame, Dunebuggy, Buggy body, VW Pans (3?), El Camino, Intern Scout, 2 motorhomes, 2 Tractors, Roadscraper, 3 trucks. And tons of other stuff. Basically everything he's bought over the last 30 years or so, he still owns. The VW's were too rusty for me to consider starting on.
March 24, 2010 11:05 a.m. dimeadozen New Reader

I can't even begin to understand the mindset of a dedicated hoarder- I've been helping a friend clean out the estate of his uncle (big time hoarder), which has given me a new desire to clean/consolidate. In his back yard, we've found lots of worn-down dry rotted Chinese mountain bike tires, with no idea what their possible planned use may have been. Under a pile of fast food bags in the dining room, a like-new Miyata Six Ten that appears to never have been ridden- it even still has the brochure hanging from the bars.

His sister may have a sprinkling of instability as well, as when the subject of the disposition of said bike comes up, she's said everything from "Oh, it's just an old bike, you can probably just take it", to "We have to sell that and put the money into the estate- in that condition, it's worth $1500 !!"

He worked as a commercial electrician, and brought home every 4 inch scrap of copper wire he cut off, then stashed them in barrels around the yard/threw them on the living room floor. He always talked about taking it in for scrap, but "Never got around to it". We did, to the tune of $3400.

His house needed a new composite shingle roof, so what did he do? He brought home a roll of roofing membrane from a job site, spread it over the existing roof, and placed chunks of steel plate/stock on it to keep it in place. The house also needed a new furnace for quite some time, so he heated it exclusively with the dryer duct (with no sort of filter over the end of course). The real kicker is that at the time of his death, he had $85,000 spread across his bank accounts, so the way he lived was not a result of financial difficulties.

It's a strange feeling when neighbors of the person who used to live in a house approach you smiling and thanking you for finally doing something about the outward appearance of the house.
March 24, 2010 11:11 a.m. Karl La Follette HalfDork

Alot of urban sprawl and commercial center after commercial center signage , housing developments could be considered eye sores . I and I think those american pickers rip off old/all people .
March 24, 2010 12:51 p.m. Cone_Junky New Reader

My dad lives in the rural part of town. Every yard has at least one car on blocks, usually more. One of his neighbors works(ed) for CalTrans (our road/highway dept.) and he apparently collected everything he collected from the side of the road. The massive fires we had in San Diego a few years back was probably the best thing that happened to that neighborhood. Sad, but true...
March 24, 2010 1:01 p.m. Apexcarver SuperDork

Karl La Follette wrote: and I think those american pickers rip off old/all people .

I think it got turned around on them a bit when they came to the town I live in. They bought a business coupe out of an "Appalachian American's" basement and ended up finding out that they paid too much. (especially after paying to have it trailered back to their place)

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