Yesterday, I discovered damage on the seat of my BMW i3S and was quite upset — so much so that my wife noticed I was bothered and told me she was sorry that I was so annoyed. That’s when I realized: Why am I – someone who rarely gets upset about anything – letting seat damage bother me? I’ve never in my entire life given even an inkling of a damn about a damaged seat, but now I do? The answer is simple: This BMW i3 seat is rare, and finding a replacement (or even just the fabric to repair it) is nontrivial.
And it’s not just my BMW i3. I also own a 1985 Jeep J10 pickup — one of only 1,500 built in 1985, and probably one of under 50,000 built with that generation of grille and interior. By now — 40 years later — the truck is hyper-rare.
This is not a good thing. It means that anytime I break an interior trim piece, or scuff the grille or bumper, or even see discoloration in the dash, I’m bothered.
I could have it much worse. Even though the specific trim of my i3 and J10 means certain bits are hard to find, at the very least it’s not too hard to find mechanical components, since both vehicles are — at least mechanically — largely identical to hundreds of thousands of other vehicles built on the same platform. My J10 shares many Jeep Grand Wagoneer components, my i3 is one of 250,000 i3s built worldwide. I’ll be able to at least keep these cars on the road, even if it means I have to fabricate my own AC vents.
But my friend Brandon has it worse. He has an absolutely stunning Jeep J4600 (that’s it below). It’s the heavy-duty version of my J10, but a bit older and with the cooler “Razor” grille. It’s going to be the perfect farm truck for him functionally speaking. It’s got a torquey V8 (rebuilt, thankfully), an unstoppable T18 four-speed transmission, and stump-pulling 4.10 axles. But there’s a problem: He simply cannot get new brake drums — I mean that they simply do not exist.
Check out this post on FSJ Network; someone is considering buying a 1971 Jeep J4600 like Brandon’s, and user tgreese replies:
The main issue for these mid-weight trucks with the Dana 60-2 (semi-full-floating) is the 12″x2″ brakes. The drums have been gone for decades
The parts have been gone for decades!
Luckily, Brandon’s drums are in good shape, and given that this is a farm Jeep, I bet he’ll never have to replace them. But still. What a pain in the ass if he does.
My colleague, Jason, drives a Nissan Pao, and though he can get replacement mechanical bits since the Pao is mechanically similar to a Nissan Micra, finding trim is tough. In fact, I had to bring him a vent window all the way from Hong Kong! Watch as a I battle a large huntsman spider in the video above.
This is the kind of stress I just don’t want in my life. I don’t want to have to track down (via a forum/Facebook group/swap meet) a tattered old “Muscle” grille for my Jeep J10, pay over $1000, and then have to worry about parking it in LA parking lots. I don’t want to have to worry about spilling something on my BMW i3 seats. Brandon doesn’t want to have to worry about using his brakes too much. And Jason can’t just send someone to Asia to snag Pao parts. This just isn’t worth it.
This is a major reason why I’m considering parting with my beloved Jeep J10 and keeping my 1989 Chevy K1500 4×4 five-speed. What use is that J10 if I have to baby it? Do I really need the stress of worrying about tearing my door panel or cracking my AC vents or busting my grille? What if someone dings my front bumper; where am I going to get a replacement?
Meanwhile, that Chevy? I can get any part I want for it for nothing. I won’t even care if someone bangs into my bumper or if I break my grille — it just doesn’t matter. Look at how insanely cheap a new rear bumper is:
Look at how cheap a new grille is!
And if there’s a trim piece I need, I can go to any junkyard and find five trucks with the same parts. In fact, my local LKQ is stocked:
If you want stress-free motoring, which is the best kind of motoring, buying a rare car isn’t the answer, because there are very few things more miserable in the car world than having to be hyper-careful with your car, and then if something happens, having to spend weeks tracking down parts that you’ll have to pay an arm and a leg for.
I’m keeping my i3, because 250,000 of them were made, so if I do need to replace something like a seat, I can find a replacement, it just will likely be from Europe. The J10 though? It’s a truck; what’s the point of a truck if I can’t use it? If I’m bummed anytime something breaks? If I can’t service it easily and cheaply?
Who am I kidding. That J10 has my heart. Rationality be damned.
In terms of staff cars, I must have the final bosses of rarity: a rotary motorcycle, two JDM imports, a Euro diesel that was never sold in the U.S., an old transit bus, and a Honda Super Cub imitator so rare that not even the manufacturer can tell me how few it built. 🙂 I suppose the Plymouth is also probably rare just due to all of the rest of them rusting away.
Parts? I buy ’em when I find ’em.
Yes. Though smaller, you still have a fleet of eccentric and esoteric vehicles. Best wishes going forward!
I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of money on 1966 AMC Rambler 770 wagon taillight bezels. Like 1/3 of the value of the car.
Not to sound like a Cat Poster, but only you can determine your car’s value!
Wow! Your car brings back memories for me from when I was a wee lad!
My Dad’s first brand new car was a 1966 Rambler American 440 wagon. It had a tiny 199 CID I-6 engine with a one barrel carburetor! 🙂 We went everywhere in that thing!
I have a final-generation 9-5 and it’s definitely a concern. Mechanical components are plentiful, at least for the FWD Turbo4 cars. But interior and exterior pieces, especially lights…Saab did not pay their suppliers at the end, and the result is that there just were never more than a handful of spares.
Ironically, there are apparently more spare bits like tail lights available for the even-rarer 9-4X. I’ve also heard that someone had the front/center grille scanned then 3-D printed to repair collision damage on a 9-4 several years back.
I’m surprised that nobody has yet scanned, then made molds or figured out how to 3-D print the parts for the rear tails and light bars on a NG 9-5. I have a spare/working trunk light bar for my NG 9-5 (a car I originally swore off after owning the first one, but there’s always more room at the Home for Wayward Cars), but the clear plastic is broken. Go figure.
Otherwise, once cars get through the junkyard ecosystem (usually in the 10-20 year age range in the self-serve/pick-a-part world), used bits for anything get hard to find, fast, even if it was a high-volume car when new.
By the time I traded my early Saab 9000 for the latest 9-5, I had half of a parts car worth of spares (interior, some body parts, full drivetrain and lots of unobtainium fiddly bits), that went with the car. Loved my 9000 for close to 20 years, but loved getting half of my garage back more.
Yes, I think that the 9-4x’s run being truncated so fast probably helped a few things. The lights for the NG are going to be a serious problem down the line, as the plastics on some are starting to degrade. It’s a shame.
I’ve heard 9000 parts are very difficult to come by, but the reasons there are very different.
I have every single body component necessary to convert an Impreza wagon in to a 92X just sitting in storage. I daily drive a 92X and the parts are getting hard enough to find that I just stripped one at a junkyard and kept them. I’m lucky in that my solution to owning old things, just own 2 or more of the same one, is something I can indulge in.
It gets really frustrating when you have what is basically the same drive train as millions of LS Silverado’s yet for some reason Hummer decided to muck with power steering resevoirs, and water pump designs. not to mention bespoke Mercedes spec transfer cases.
I have started to stockpile parts so I have them, especially i they suddenly hit clearance on Rock Auto.
Right after I got the Yugo I bought everything that was still available through my NAPA store that I could find, whether I needed it or not, just to have, because they were going obsolete as fast as I could place the orders.
I deal with this a lot with my Laurel. Lots of engine related things like sensors and filters cross over to parts also used on U.S. Nissan engines or are still available overseas but lots of stuff is just unavailable. For example, last year my turn signal stopped automatically canceling only after left hand turns. I still haven’t been able to find a replacement switch assembly so that’s likely going to be a permanent “just remember to turn the signal off yourself” kind of moment.
I was looking at buying a Skyline last year but having to source parts in case of an accident felt like a pain.
Yeah, body panels is another big fear of mine that I just try to not think about too much. A Skyline would be better since way more of them have been imported so there’s more people parting out wrecked cars or selling off old stock panels when they get a body kit. But Laurels don’t get imported nearly as often so the parts pool in North America is much much smaller
I feel this, but it’s so strange how a seemingly common car can suddenly be bricked by unavailable parts!
I had a 1996 Pontiac Trans Am WS6. It was a blast, but two parts failed, with replacements near unobtanium. The Optispark died, and the only replacements were either knock-offs with a high failure rate, or expensive units from Mallory. The other part was the throwout bearing fork. Mine broke, and there’s only ONE GUY who occasionally makes a few. I was lucky. It only took 3 weeks for me to get one!
I’ve often considered this issue when used-car shopping. I really like the Olds Aurora and Intrigue, but most came with the 3.5 liter “Shortstar” V6. How many of those did GM sell? Not many, before long they introduced the 3.6 and it’s still hanging around.
The same issue applies to Lincoln LSs, which are Jaguars underneath. Even though they had Ford support, how many of those (and Jaguar Ss) did they sell?
If there are not a lot of your platform/engine/transmission/body style roaming around the US, then there’s not a lot of parts, either. Even Rock Auto gets pretty thin when you’re searching a rare car.
Friend of mine had a ’99 Intrigue with the Shortstar, thing was a screamer.
2010 Saab 9-3 NG here. Pain in the ass is an apt description. It’s giving me all the pains of a euro car but with no part availability for a lot of things. It has an ecotec for gods sake why can’t I find motor mounts. I’m getting a Prius after this
And I wish I knew that Saab was swedish for fluid leak, because I had my oil cooler blow, the damn power steering pump seal fail so I had oil and PS fluid mix, and then the valve cover gasket leak in a span of 3 months
I salute SAAB owners these days, that is a massive commitment.
Currently rebuilding an unserviceable driveshaft on a 1991 Audi 200 turbo Quattro 20V wagon…
Finding parts can get interesting. Fortunately for my Jaguar there still seem to be a fair number of parts left in the UK, so instead of the Fast and Furious overnighting parts form Japan I slow boat them from Britain. But the stress is always there of being able to find the specific parts. Still worth it, but I get the angst.
Counterpoint to DT’s “anything is available for GM trucks and it’s cheap”. My 2007 Suburban has a cracked dash, an exceedingly common problem that resulted in an unsuccessful class action suit. Cost to replace? Over $500 for the part alone and a lot of labor because the part is massive and a ton of work to replace. I can’t just lay a cover over it since it’s too badly cracked and so it may never get fixed. Using a salvage yard piece isn’t really an option since the point was that it was a flawed part and a used replacement won’t last very long.
Therefore, everyone should drive an XV20 Camry
I think I’d rather take the bus.
I’m on a bus right now, it’s pretty great.
Ironically the way that you fret over anything bad happening to the J10 makes you a great owner for a rare vehicle. You want to take care of it. Most of them became beater trucks and got destroyed doing beater truck stuff. I say you find a way to keep both trucks. The Chevy is more useable, but the Jeep is more you.
I was starting to get worried and then you recovered at the very end. 🙂
For stress-free motoring, I keep one modern – and stock – vehicle and one motorcycle, same. If something breaks, I can find OEM parts easily and the non-advanced age of both means that there is probably some aftermarket support as well, which definitely helps.
The parts hunting/modding/refurbing all belong to the old bikes that may or may not be rare. If they don’t work on a given day, that’s no big deal; however, I would still be annoyed if a rare part were damaged.
tl;dr – I don’t mind the stress for a toy/project, but don’t want it for the go-to vehicle
Things like this keep me from driving my Z3M as much as I’d like to. Luckily it’s 1000x easier to support popular rare cars than unpopular rare cars, and I’ve got a bunch of interoperability with normal BMW parts. Parts are similarly, incredibly expensive though.
Yeah I have an AWD manual V50 Volvo- when you add the AWD and Manual to websites for parts the numbers go down along with the price going up
I have a 3.6 4motion Passat wagon and it’s the same thing! Parts for the 2.0 turbos are plentiful, but as soon as you enter 3.6 4mo the selection disappears. I was hoping to find a hitch to pull a small utility trailer around, but no one in North America makes one. I’m so close to biting the bullet and paying the 2k and importing one from Europe. It would still be cheaper than buying a different vehicle…
I had a W8 manual Passat too
I agree. My first car was a Hand-Me-Down 91 Audi 90 Quattro 20v, only a few hundred imported into the US, but sadly the car is worth nothing so parts are rare and expensive.
I know a guy who collects Group B production cars, those parts might as well be made out of solid gold because it would be cheaper and more available, hell Porsche started 3D printing 959 Parts ffs.
The only exception to this are rare versions of common cars that are fairly modular. The example that comes to mind is the Iron Duke 3rd Gen Camaro. The Iron Duke isn’t uncommon, the Transmissions it used are not uncommon, The 3rd Gen Camaro is not an uncommon chassis. The straight axles it used and other straight axles are not uncommon.
Cars like the Iron Duke 3rd Gen Camaro are my preferred rare cars to collect, actual rare cars as you say ‘are just a pain in the ass’.
Please tell me you’re saying you have an Iron Duke Camaro. We need to see it.
I wish I did, 40+ mpg back in the day stock
I used to own a Cadillac XLR and had the same stress levels (especially with a scuffed headlight lens).
But I am looking at your BMW i3 seat and cannot figure out what you are upset about. Those seats look fine…
Was that XLR the nightmare people say they are?
Yeah, David is being a bit anal on that, but he really loves the car and wants it to be perfect.
The transfer case oil pump for my K3500 is unavailable. I searched for a year and couldn’t find one. Eventually found and bought a transfer case from a boneyard that’ll probably blow in a year. When it does, I’ll probably convert it to a newer NP/NV model with parts available. But then, custom driveshafts. $$$
And that’s ultimately the solution for the unobtainable brake drums. Swap out the axle for something newer.
I’m currently refinishing my Mercedes’ magnesium valve cover. Thin-wall die casting, not particularly well made. One of these parts that’s robust when bolted down in 12 places, but fragile in its own.
It’s long NLA. There are only a handful of used ones available and although not wildly expensive, all in much worse condition than mine. Every time I move it, I handle it like a live bomb, can’t wait to get it safely reinstalled. The car is essentially totaled if I can’t replace it.
If it’s magnesium it IS a bomb.
I remember that from High School chemistry class!
When they machined mag parts for aircraft engines at Allison they had buckets of sand handy for fire suppression. The factory structure was made of wood (because during WWII steel was prioritized to weapons) but amazingly it never burned down.
I feel this in my core. My first jeep was a 70 Jeepster commando that at the time, was 25 years old. Finding parts was terrible. My next jeep was an 82 scrambler. I didn’t learn my lesson after that. It was much more common jeeps. I know there were some parts for those that were either CJ-6 or CJ-8 parts, but still it wasn’t easy
I got my 68 Commando in 78, you couldn’t even buy sheet metal parts from the dealer at that time.
By the mid 90s it was very hard. I lucked out finding a tailgate. it was a miracle. I lived out of the jc whitney catalog.
This is (part of) why I’m selling my Holden.
The Viper community is active enough (and crucially, the owners are affluent enough) to keep a lot of parts alive for a long time, but I’m much less confident in less expensive vehicles.
I have a fuel injected, final year Yugo (less than 50 left registered in the US when I checked 8 years ago), so I can relate to this. Luckily I have a good source to get parts direct from Serbia, but there’s a finite limit to everything eventually. Every time I drop it off for service I tell the guy, “It’s 34 years old, not made very well, and everything for it is hard to come by, so be careful with it.”
On the other hand, hunting stuff down for very rare cars can be a sort of rush in itself.
Dont forget the youtube videos with 7 views that some Serb made in his barn and are NOT in english.. but that how you learn how to do stuff.
Luckily the Yugo community is pretty helpful, and there’s a guy in Iowa who kind of specializes in these, which is good because currently mine won’t start…
Per the October 2023 IHS data I have, there are 907 Yugos still registered in the US, 40 of which are 1991 models.
Thank you. I don’t have a personal friendship anymore with someone with access to Polk data. I do know the names to ask, it’s just a matter of if they would play along. Either way those are interesting numbers.
Can also relate – 93 4 door Pajero Exceed turbo Diesel. I do what i can to work on it, but i have my limitations. Finding any mechanic that will take a diesel that isnt domestic, or any car that isnt American market is so hard.
I have just started telling people its a montero –
Agreed!
Exhibit A: my fifteen-year-old car was totaled because the shop couldn’t find the right parts to save it.
Exhibit B: the other day my mechanic told me he was having a hard time finding a part so I helped out with some googling and discovered two for sale, so I bought both in case I ever need a replacement. Now I’ve cornered the market in the Northern Hemisphere.
Counterpoint: my forty-year-old car is awesome and I love driving it.
There are different ways that you can “afford” a car, this is just a different way. If the costs, either monetarily or emotionally, are too high then sell.
I can relate….<glances at 3 old Alfa Romeos (one that wasn’t even sold in the USA)>
I feel your pain, sir.